Yes, other CO2 laser tubes will work fine with our laser controller (including the Reci tube). Our laser controller is a digital based controller that controls the laser tube power supply, the motor drivers and other peripherals by outputting digital signals to these devices.

Laser controller URL:
https://www.buildyourcnc.com/item/Laser-Component-Laser-Control-System

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Can other types of laser tubes work with the controller you are selling, for example, the 80W Reci tube?

Cooling is not as tricky as you might think. There is 3 ways to approach this, only 2 really matter for a low scale 40w setup. First one is the cheapest and easiest. The higher the temp of water the worse your performance will be, from what I understand anything in the 30C range is about the most tolerable it gets. Lower is better. But not frozen...from what I've been told a very experienced cutter, he found 8C was the highest power he achieved.

1. Use a 5 Gallon resovoir system which gives you a fairly large space of water to heat up before you need to tend to it. Add about a cup of anti-freeze to the mix of DISTILLED water. You don't want ANY minerals in the water that might build up in your system. The anti-freeze works to keep algae and other ickies from growing in your water.

2. Use a smaller resovoir system (or even closed loop) and install 1 or more radiators found in CPU cooling systems with 120mm fans attached. This will continously cool your water system to ambient room temperatures, but with a tiny resovoir it will be difficult to add things like ice-packs to drop the temps if the ambient is quite hot.

3. Using an industrial coolant system. Overkill and unless your cutting A LOT, this is a very expensive option to take. You can also explore the idea of Peltier cooling but it is extremely expensive electricity/BTU wise compared to an industrial cooler.

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BUT DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING ABOUT COOLING THE LASER OFF - IS YOUR SETUP LIKE MOST OTHERS NEED BUCKET OF DISTILLED WATER TO PUMP THROUGH MACHINE?

Yes, it is found in laser components section

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DO YOU GUYS SELL THE POTENTIOMETER FOR YOUR LASER SYSTEM BY ITSELF

Cutting metals with a CO2 laser is nearly impossible with just the laser by itself, no matter what the power. The wavelength that a CO2 laser outputs is not best for cutting metals.

However, if you add oxygen as a cutting assist in the cutting process, metals can be cut, but we do not advise this as it is very dangerous.

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What metal sheets can I cut with the 80W laser? What thickness, alumium, steel? What about the 100 or 130W upgrades?

The blackTooth Laser cutter and Engraver can be built in a weekend. Take a look at the build instructions and try to determine if you feel you have sufficient capability to put together the laser system.

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HOW COMPLEX IS YOUR KIT TO ASSEMBLE, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY - HARD IT SETUP CONTROL THE LASER WITH MACH3?

The laser mount for the greenBull is designed and suited for a 40W tube only. The 80W tube is too large to mount on the gantry.

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The laser adapter for the greenBull can host laser tubes more powerful than 80W?

Mounting the extruder to the whiteAnt can be done a couple of ways. One is to take the 4 mounting holes located at the lower portion of the z-axis rail support and use long screws protruding out. Take a thinner material and drill the four holes matching the locations of the 4 screws and screw on nuts to hold it in place. The other option would be to use the metal bracket and fasten to the edge of the rail support.

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CAN YOU GIVE ME SOME HELP OR POINT IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION TO INCORPORATE MK 7 EXTRUDER WITH BOOK PLANS FOR 3D PRINTER?

The eyebolts are used in the squaring of the machine. I would use a standard carpenters square and first run the end mill along the edge of the square to first make it parallel with the long axis. Then run the end mill along the other edge with the short axis and adjust the eye bolts and chain according to the angle that the machine is out of square.

Additional Information:

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DO NEED TO SQUARE UP THE MACHINE AND IF SO YOU HAVE INSTRUCTIONS OR VIDEO FOR THIS?

Depth of Field. This is how far the focal point goes before re-expanding again. With a 2" lens, you have approximately 2-3mm of DOF. This means that you'll have 2-3mm of perfectly focused laser before it starts to re-expand again. If you have a 4" lens, you will have up to 7mm of DOF.

Additional Information:

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WHAT IS D.O.F OR DEPTH OF FIELD FOR THE BLACKTOOTH LASER AND LENS?

You can determine if the area is serviceable by:
- selecting the items you want to purchase on the website
- go to the cart (shopping cart top left of any webpage)
- log in, or register
- Enter the address and click on calculate shipping.

The webpage will return the direct rates and whether your area is serviced or not. Feel free to enter any address as long as you are able to receive the package from that address.

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WAS WONDERING IF YOU COULD TELL ME WHETHER OR NOT SHIP ANY OF YOUR KIT PRODUCTS TO THE UK?

The motor that is attached to the 4th axis is wired as follows:

The motor should have red, green yellow and blue wires coming form the motor. The red and green are paired as one coil and the yellow and blue is paired as the other coil. You can wire the motor to a 3.0 amp driver with red to A+, green to A-, Yellow to B+ and Blue to B-

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HOW DO I WIRE THE 4TH AXIS THAT YOU SELL. I HAVE MACH3 SOFTWARE. NO INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR SITE

The greenlean requires 56 feet of 1/4 Inside Diameter and 3/8 Outside Diameter silicon tube for the spindle.

Additional Information:
20

Additional Information:
20

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HOW MUCH SILICONE TUBE DO I NEED FOR A GREEN LEAN TO CONNECT THE SPINDLE

Yes and properly soldered.

Additional Information:
20

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DO YOU SUPPLY THE MALE PORTION OF MOTOR CONTROL CABLES WITH REDLEAF?

The leadscrew length for the greenBull long Z-axis is 47 inches.

Additional Information:

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BUILDING ONE OF YOUR GREENBULL 6X LONG AND 2.2 KILOWATT SPINDLE DOES NOT FIT. SEEMS LEAD SCREW YOU SENT WITH KIT IS SHORT 42" LOOKS LIKE IT NEEDS TO BE 5 OR 6 INCH LONGER. THIS CORRECT? WHAT THE NEEDED LENGTH FOR UNIT?

Yes, we have the optional table for the blackToe, but we need to fabricate it, which only takes one day. We generally reserve one week for the total fabrication and packing of all parts.

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DO YOU HAVE BLACKTOE MACHINES WITH TABLES READY TO GO OR HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE MAKE ONE?

This video will illustrate how to test for laser power:

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HOW TO KNOW IF THE POWER SUPPLY OF THE LASER TUBE IS DAMAGED

An 80 watt laser can cut plywood up to 1/2 inch thick. Make sure to use a high pressure source of air to knock out all of the charring during the cutting process so the laser can work efficiently.

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I have a Chinese 80W laser. Just finished a cut test with 1/2" plywood. It cut through at 95% power 7-4mm/s with significant charring after two passes with no refocusing done between passes.

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That's great information. What is your PSI of the air assist on your laser? What focal lens distance do you have? And where did you place the focus of the lens (at the surface, or within the material)?

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What is the max thickness of material that the 80W laser can cut in plywood?

If you take the standard parallel cable BoB (Break Out Board), then you will need control software (Mach 3 or EMC2) and CAM software to make your G-Code (such as CamBam). Personally I use CamBam and Mach 3, they work beautifully but don't expect to turn them on and know how they work out of the box. Give yourself a few weeks to get familiar with the basics. CamBam is VERY powerful software for it's price. I'm surprised how much I keep learning on what I can do with it...I highly recommend it if you want as much control as possible.

Mach 3 + CamBam as a bundle costs $310. EMC2 will give you a free replacement for Mach 3 and is exclusively for Linux.

If you use the USB BoB, it will cost an extra $75 + $75 for the software. This is an all-in-one package so no need for Mach 3 or CamBam.

For etching rasters (jpeg, bmp, tiff, non-vectors, photos), I highly recommend PicEngrave. It has been a labor of love for the past 9 years and John has done a wonderful job with it. It easily compares in quality compared to software that is in the $200-$300 range. John's software runs $40 and can be found here: http://picengrave.com/ (don't let the modest website fool you, this stuff can do amazing things). DotG and the Mach3 engrave plugin are two other options and instructions can be found on Dustans page in the gallery on buildyourcnc.com website.

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WHAT SOFTWARE CAN BE USED WITH THE BLACKTOOTH LASER CUTTER?

You can find the wiring diagrams for the blackTooth on step 105 and 106 on the list of instructions on the blackTooth page. Step 105 pertains to the parallel breakout board and step 106 pertains to the USB interface board.

Additional Information:
wire size

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WHERE ARE THE WIRING DIAGRAMS FOR BLACKTOOTH LASER CUTTER IN INSTRUCTIONS?