![]() ![]() The desired specs are listed in Downloads 1 as well. If they aren’t available, there are numerous other similar units that will work. The links to them are in the file marked “Downloads 1” with the rest of the article extras. The mirrors then quickly move the beam to the XY coordinates of the next dot, etc.īoth the main components were available on eBay when I wrote this article, so hopefully they’ll still be there when you read this. The laser briefly pauses at each dot for about 100 ms and burns a tiny spot. The two main components are the 1/2 watt blue laser and two galvanometers (galvos) that steer the beam, as seen in the close-up shot in Figure 4.įIGURE 4: The 1/2 watt blue laser bounces off the X and Y galvo steering mirrors and travels six inches to the pencil.įigure 5 graphically illustrates the laser path and Figure 6 shows how a 5x7 character is formed.įIGURE 5: You can use a low power red laser pointer to test the galvos before mounting them.įIGURE 6: The characters are formed using a 5x7 matrix. Be sure to check it out, so you’ll know which components I’ll be referring to.įIGURE 3: The laser engraver with all its components labeled. (Pretty silly I know, but I thought it was clever at the time.)įigure 3 is a more detailed view of the board, with labels on the major parts. So, I grabbed the “retired” one and the rest is history. Coincidentally, my wife had recently replaced her old cutting board in the kitchen with a new one.įIGURE 2: The complete laser pencil engraver system built on my wife’s old breadboard. Just for fun, I decided to build the project in breadboard form, instead of packing it in a big aluminum enclosure. I think I opened Pandora’s box.įIGURE 1: Examples of fun messages you can engrave on No.2 pencils and popsicle sticks.įigure 2 shows the layout of the completed laser engraving system with a keyboard to enter the characters. Not just yellow ones, but all kinds of screwy colored pencils. The only problem right now is that all the grandkids want their own customized pencils. (Free shipping! Such a deal!)įigure 1 shows the final result which I’ll describe in the rest of this article. I ordered a 1/2 watt blue engraving laser and two galvanometers from China. THE FINAL RESULTĪn hour later and two clicks of the mouse launched my latest brainstorm. Perhaps it could be my name or my grandkid’s names, or even a happy birthday message to my lovely wife. 2 pencil with one of those powerful diode lasers available on eBay. I wondered if I could burn some characters into the yellow paint of a No. Several months ago, an idea popped into my head for a fun project. ![]()
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