90W Laser Cutter From Scratch | Y-400 [Part 4]

It has been a while since part three of this Y-400 laser cutter build series was released! It is now time to finish up this project finally and put this laser cutter to use!

To make the alignment process quicker and more convenient, I decided to create some cardstock targets and 3D print custom target holders for the mirror fixtures. I used the print then cut feature of the Cricut to cut the alignment targets out of regular weight cardstock. The target holders were 3D printed on the Prusa i3 MK3S from PLA. I removed the stock targets from the mirror fixtures and replaced them with the 3D printed versions.

Aligning the laser is a process of moving the axis back and forth while adjusting the mirrors until the laser beam is traveling parallel to the axis you are aligning. The first step is to make sure the spot hits the target in the same area near and far from the mirror. Then you can position the targeted mirror for accuracy. This video is just a look at how my alignment worked out. Please refer to Further Fabrication's excellent video on laser alignment for complete information. I will provide a link below.

On mirror two, the beam ended up hitting just below the maximum travel I had available for adjustment, so I ended up swapping the mount to the bottom and 3D printing a spacer to raise the whole mirror mount upwards. The spacer allowed enough adjustment to finally get the beam hitting precisely in the middle of the target. On mirror three at the laser head, I ended up needing to insert a few M4 washers to raise the mirror mount up slightly.

With all the mirrors aligned, I installed the focusing lens and ran a quick test to find the nozzle's approximate distance to the material for proper focus.

Most of the acrylic panels were cut on a friend's table saw. A couple of the panels I CNC cut on the Shapeoko XL. I drilled mounting holes on the drill press with a stop block set to 10mm. I had to order specialty drill bits for acrylic after test drilling a scrap piece with a standard bit cracked the acrylic. The acrylic drill bits are a must-have! I used spring insert nuts in the 2020 frame to ensure the nuts wouldn't move once placed. The acrylic panels were attached with M5 8mm pan-head machine screws.

That's it for the laser cutter build! In future videos, I will be putting this thing to use on some projects!

Further Fabrication Alignment Video: https://youtu.be/rYX0zfWFnIM

🎬 CABINET PART ONE: https://youtu.be/A_JbFhbtPRQ
🎬 CABINET PART TWO: https://youtu.be/A2BxexjNvyg
🎬 SMOKE EATER: https://youtu.be/FNaEf3nQoiA
🎬 Y-400 PART ONE: https://youtu.be/v75h6Dl_n_U
🎬 Y-400 PART TWO: https://youtu.be/_t47x8h7q0U
🎬 Y-400 PART THREE: https://youtu.be/3kF0hMGbhE0

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📜 PLANS AND DOCS

Further Fabrication: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ72zDm2feverqV7qAbNH7Q

🤖 3D PRINTED PARTS AND FILES

Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4750178

Видео 90W Laser Cutter From Scratch | Y-400 [Part 4] канала A.C. Wright