Major Update: 500Mw and Neje 30Watt Laser Height Adjustment Tool for 50cm X 40cm Laser

Major Update for this Instructable.

I have been playing with this Laser engraver with the new modifications I made recently, the Mods worked great for Laser module changeovers, but a bit of a chore trying to set the focus distance from the laser to the workpiece so I decided I needed something better, something so I could fine tune the up and down movements of the laser's.

The Modification update is a sliding carriage, where I can attach my lasers the same way as I did before but now, I can move them up and down with ease.

Most "Z" Axis sliders have, the 8mm stainless bar and the linear bearings, with the X Axis only been a single piece of extrusion I couldn't afford too have too much weight so I designed a close tolerance slider which has a 8mm nut block within the slider, through this nut block there is an 8mm Lead screw, I'm using a flanged bearing at the top of the component the type which you can lock onto the shaft, and at the other end there is a 8mm Locking collar, I designed the whole thing using Fusion 360, and 3D printed the components, I was really Impressed with the outcome, this slider is so simple but really effective, making the adjustments really easy now, and the laser changeovers are just as quick.

Please checkout the Fusion 360 screen shots and the short video and photos.

The slider has the channel allowing me to slide my Lasers into the channel on the slider, then lock in place as I did before, the slider Allen head bolts Allen key is positioned with a magnet close by for laser module changeovers.

Using split body, the part which fits onto my XAxis can be removed, then holes made in the design to suit many Laser Engravers.

The photos of the new slider are at the end of this Instructable

Hope you enjoy the update and thanks for looking.

In this Instructable I would like to show you with the help of Fusion 360 and a 3D printer how I go about making height adjusters to facilitate both 500mw and 30W Laser's which wouldn't you know it don't have the same way of securing to the backplate, I'd like to use both these lasers at different times for different purposes so it would be great to "A" Swap them over easily and "B" have a means to adjust the heights for optimum engraving or cutting.

So the plan is to have the lasers on sliders which slot into a channel mount which is secured permanently onto the Laser carriage.

So what I'm thinking is using the dimensions of the original mounting plate for the mounting holes and making a new mounting plate and adding a channel to it with adjustment tightening screw/s, then with an adaptor on each laser which will slide up and down the channel on the mounting plate.

What I am looking for is around 100/110mm of height adjustment as this laser has no spoil board, and with the legs which it stands on, it makes the laser head quite a long way from the piece you want to engrave or cut.

On with the design in Fusion 360

Fusion 360

3D Printer

3mm Allen Head Bolts

5mm Allen Head Bolts

Allen Keys

Nothing fancy to start off with, this is a functional adapter so In Fusion I create a new sketch and opting for the Top face I sketch a rectangle 94mm x 50mm and fillet the corners 10mm then extrude the adapter to 8mm

I take the securing hole dimensions 6mm off the original 500mw laser mount and transfer these to the sketch, I sketch a vertical centre line and use this as a guide to measure the fixing holes which will be horizontally central on the component, with the holes sketched I extrude both circles using the all tab as we want to go all the way through.

The next task is to make an upside down "L" channel for the sliders which will carry the Lasers, you only have to do one of these, and use the mirror function for the other side, I didn't really have much as far as dimensions go, only the width of the biggest laser which was the 30Watt Neje, so using this dimension and offsetting a few mm

I made the height dimension of the upright 40mm and the width 6mm and extruded this to 10mm then selecting the face of this made another rectangle exactly the same then extruded that 5mm, I will create a new sketch and use this new dimension as a template to extrude the L shape top piece, see screen shots, to be honest I messed with the L shape a bit until it looked ok, when I was happy with the shape I mirrored it and using the centre plane mirrored it to the other side, to finish, I filleted 1mm to the bottom outer edge and ends, leaving the inner angle clean for sliding purposes.

The final thing to do was make some 5mm threaded holes, these will allow me to fit some 5mm Allen head bolts in to tighten against the slider to secure it in position,

Making the Laser slider arrangements:

In this section I cover designing the Slider arrangements for both Lasers, both lasers have different securing fasteners, but I want a slider for each anyway to make Laser changeovers easy.

Using the end of the slider channel mount as a guide I initially wanted to project the end of the mount, I couldnt get this how I wanted to so end up selecting the end face and sketched a corner to corner rectangle of the opening where the slider would fit, with that done I offset the rectangle inwards by -0.2mm this would be enough clearance so the slider will slide within the channel mount.

With that done I deleted the original rectangle and extruded the rectangle slider symmetrically to 110mm and created a new body, I can now make a start on making the laser mount on the slider, I will sketch one arrangement then just change holes and hole dimensions for the other slider.

I want as much slider movement as possible, so with this in mind I create a 24mm wide 36mm high rectangle, this was extruded 6mm and joined to the existing slider, the final thing to do is create some circles for the holes to secure the laser to the slider, bearing mind that whatever fixings you use must be flush at the rear of the slider, creating a recess for the head of the bolt so to speak, I did the Neje 30Watt laser first, taking the fixing hole dimensions on the laser and transferring them to the extruded block for the laser mount, I then extruded all way through, then flipping the slider I could create the recesses, on the Neje the holes are 5mm and 3mm on the 500mm Laser they are both 3mm.

All components were 3D Printed and the sliders were a very good fit with hardly any play, which is what I wanted, its not to important because the Allen Bolts clamp it up.

I did make an error when sketching the holes for the 500mw laser, for some reason, the larger recess was still there from the 30Watt laser fixing, its offset to the 3mm hole but it still worked, albeit I had to file the Allen head bolt down a Smidge, saved on redesign and reprinting another slider, and it performs great.

The assumptions:

When I initially purchased the Laser, it came with a non adjustable 500mw Laser, I added a 30Watt Neje Laser this had some adjustment but only around 20mm or so, I wanted to make a slider arrangement so I can quickly swap over both Lasers and equally fine tune them as well, with the slider arrangement.

I have achieved what I set out to do, I made an adjustment to one of the cable power inputs on the pcb I trimmed the front edge away, so now I can use one lead for both Lasers as the power connectors were reversed.

All in all a great job and will save a lot of time and effort for the future, that's a result.

As always I love creating something that is actually useful and has a purpose because prior to the Modifications the Laser was really hard to set up and swap over, now it's a piece of cake.

I hope you liked this Instructable and it's given you some idea's for your own Laser set up, for those who have the same laser set up as me I include the 3D Print files.

Thanks for Looking.