You can control our 40W laser power supply (which controls the laser tube) with an Arduino, if that is your intention. The trigger for turning the laser on and off uses a 5V level. To control intensity, you can use the Arduino PWM output. If you want the Arduino to move the machine as well (providing pulse trains to each of the stepper motor drivers) then you will need to make sure you consider the processing speed of the Arduino so you will be able to run the stepper motors at the speed you need for the laser engraving/cutting.
Our laser controller do all of these functions. Here is a link to our laser control system:
https://www.buildyourcnc.com/item/Laser-Component-Laser-Control-System
Additional Information:
Thank you! I am building a 3 axis cnc/ engraver and I think this would be a good option as well as the router head and the 3d printing head. How heavy is the tube? I may mount it directly onto one of the axis of the machine to eliminate the need to line up all three axis, similar to what you have with your xl engraver.
Additional Information:
The tube isn't that heavy, but when filled with water, it can get up to a few pounds. The key is to use the axis moving the nozzle for engraving as this requires fast back and forth motion. The cutting is generally dependent on the axes moving from vector to vector at a relatively slow motion, so this is not a problem.
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I would like to build a low cost laser engraver/ cutter, can your 40w laser power supply be controlled with an arduino or is it only controlled by the controller sold here?