What Did You Buy Today?

It's a little bit more complex than just metal is reflective. Different metals are more reflective to different colors of light than others. There are different wavelengths of lasers available. Some 'laser engravers' are blue (~450nm), Co2 (~1064um), with many industrial being Nd:YAG (~1064nm.) Some of the choice of wavelength comes from cost of the laser source. 450nm blue's (Laser Diodes) are pretty simple and cheap to make. CO2 are cheap-ish but a bit more complex. Nd:YAG is a pumped laser crystal, and a bit more complex.

Note, we have 1064nm welding lasers at work. We use them quite often to weld all sorts of unusual things together. Butt welding .008" diameter wires, welding plugs into exotic metals, etc. Think of a microscope with cross hairs and 2mm to 0.5mm spot size. I've even used them to drill a .5mm hole through an 3/16 hardened steel.

I almost bought a Nd:YAG laser head for engraving. This would have been a diode pumped solid state laser. The average power was ~10W, but since these are pulsed peak pulses are actually closer to 60KW! This laser head would engrave, and even cut 1mm copper and steel, cut glass, or just about anything without coating it. Part of the deciding factor against the purchase (other than cost) was the safety aspect. Wasn't completely sure that I wanted something like that in the shop. Very certain a suitable enclosure could be built, that the enclosure/process was part of the factor against it.

If anyone buys a laser, please brush up on safety with these. Anything that can cut or mark metal is going to be Class 4. One false move could mean the loss of an eye before you even realize it happened. These things are no joke, and eyes are important!
 
Whatever you do, do NOT attempt to check the laser with your remaining good eye!

I was reading the review for the filtering glasses on Amazon. The Darwin award had to go to the person that said:

These glasses are great. The one that came with the laser I bought always messed up my eyes, and these don't do that.

If using a laser of ANY type, and they "mess up your eyes". . . STOP!!!
 
IMO, those open diode lasers are a terrible idea. A stray reflection can take out an eye instantly. Spend the money on an enclosed laser, make your own enclosure, whatever, but running anything that can mark even wood in the open is probably a bad idea. Anything you can see through needs to be chosen for the specific wavelength of the laser source. The various types need specific materials to block reflections.

The other thing people forget with these, is whatever you are marking, you are burning. Most things, don't smell great when you do that, and some of them will harm you. For example, PVC creates an acid that can damage you and the machine. The enclosed setups can vent that smoke outside, and it's a good idea to do so.

To make good marks on bare metal, fiber is probably the cheapest laser that will do it. I just remove coatings with a 60W CO2. It does make really nice panels for electronics enclosures though. Anodized aluminum burns the color off, leaving some really nice marking. You can also remove a mask and paint or blast the underlying surface. There are marking paints that work sort of like a laser printer. You basically burn the marking onto the surface.
 
You can cook powder coating ONTO stuff with a laser too.

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Today, my universal motor and speed control from @The Custom Crafter arrived.

The 1500w servo motor has a lot more low end torque than signal-chopping VFDs, and the speed control is better than the unfiltered SCD from treadmills. These are modified versions of motor kits available from China marketed for commercial sewing machines running up to 2kw. The Custom Crafter makes it worth our while as hobby machinists to purchase his kits by providing the following modifications:

1. Shaft turned to standard 5/8 keyed making it universal
2. Mounting plate turned flat for easier mounting options
3. Potentiometer for fine adjust installed in the ESC or as a remote pendant
4. Programming pre-set by The Custom Crafter
5. Customer support for any application in well-written english

These added features mean that either they have a too-good-to-be-true bulk price tier, or they're really operating on a tight margin, because the package added by The Custom Crafter only costs about $30 over the price of the unmodified kit. I think that is a killer deal, and hope they continue selling into the future.

So this goes on the band saw, ASAP. Anything else where I need motor control, I know who to call.

PXL_20230814_231915278.jpg
 
I'm thinking about that unit for my bandsaw. Please start a thread. Currently I have a Jet 18" with gearbox. It is painful to change speeds and I don't have variable speed. I wish the control box on those was "cooler" but I can probably fix that.
 
pontiac428 said:
Today, my universal motor and speed control from @The Custom Crafter arrived.

The 1500w servo motor has a lot more low end torque than signal-chopping VFDs, and the speed control is better than the unfiltered SCD from treadmills. These are modified versions of motor kits available from China marketed for commercial sewing machines running up to 2kw. The Custom Crafter makes it worth our while as hobby machinists to purchase his kits by providing the following modifications:

So this goes on the band saw, ASAP. Anything else where I need motor control, I know who to call.
Click to expand...
Looks like a great option for many tools! It seems like EVERY time I go to use my old Craftsman drill press the speed range is in low when I want high and vice versa. Loosen the motor mount, slip both pulleys off and flip the order. Looks like a 300 - 3500 RPM speed range (some up to 4500 RPM) for a 3/4 - 1 HP equivalent motor for under $250. Thanks for the tip!

Bruce


p.s. Here's the link from a google search:

The Custom Crafter Servo Motors, Mini Lathe kits, parts, repairs and Upgrades | Servo Motor Upgrade Kit

ServoMotorKit.quick Upgrade Kits convert mini metal lathe milling machine, Band Saw Motors servo motor service upgrade variable speed 2hp electric servo motor repair smithy granite 1324 lathe milling machine 1,500 w upgrade craftsman grizzly 1HP 750 watt metal lathe harbor freight clutch grizzly
www.servomotorkit.com www.servomotorkit.com
 
pontiac428 said:
Today, my universal motor and speed control from @The Custom Crafter arrived.

The 1500w servo motor has a lot more low end torque than signal-chopping VFDs, and the speed control is better than the unfiltered SCD from treadmills. These are modified versions of motor kits available from China marketed for commercial sewing machines running up to 2kw. The Custom Crafter makes it worth our while as hobby machinists to purchase his kits by providing the following modifications:

1. Shaft turned to standard 5/8 keyed making it universal
2. Mounting plate turned flat for easier mounting options
3. Potentiometer for fine adjust installed in the ESC or as a remote pendant
4. Programming pre-set by The Custom Crafter
5. Customer support for any application in well-written english

These added features mean that either they have a too-good-to-be-true bulk price tier, or they're really operating on a tight margin, because the package added by The Custom Crafter only costs about $30 over the price of the unmodified kit. I think that is a killer deal, and hope they continue selling into the future.

So this goes on the band saw, ASAP. Anything else where I need motor control, I know who to call.

View attachment 456955
Click to expand...
That is a great price. I have often wondered what it would take to convert a wood bandsaw to metal. I have bookmarked that link.
 
pontiac428 said:
Today, my universal motor and speed control from @The Custom Crafter arrived.

The 1500w servo motor has a lot more low end torque than signal-chopping VFDs, and the speed control is better than the unfiltered SCD from treadmills. These are modified versions of motor kits available from China marketed for commercial sewing machines running up to 2kw. The Custom Crafter makes it worth our while as hobby machinists to purchase his kits by providing the following modifications:

1. Shaft turned to standard 5/8 keyed making it universal
2. Mounting plate turned flat for easier mounting options
3. Potentiometer for fine adjust installed in the ESC or as a remote pendant
4. Programming pre-set by The Custom Crafter
5. Customer support for any application in well-written english
Click to expand...
Hi John and thank you for the review.
As for # 1.
The strait shaft version is custom made for our motors and it is actually 15 mm. It is fit to a AK2 sheave with an adapter bushing. Each is tested to run true as 1 in 2 made in China sheaves do not and must be thrown away. There are three adapter bushings.
15 mm to 5/8" short
15 mm to 5/8" long
15 mm to 16 mm long as found in Smithy machines.
We have our own sheaves that always run true but not yet in 2" OD to fit US 1/2" wide belts. See the red anodized pulleys.
There are 4 more sizes in manufacturing right now. This includes 1 stepped and designed to fit the 2 hp to certain smithy machines.
One stepped to fit the new wide angle belts found on mid size lathes. One stepped to fit M7 M5 and L2 pelts and one to fit the LMS mini mill conversion.
As for # 2.
The flat face plate is exclusive to our 1500W motors. We control the tooling for these and for now there are none available through any other company.
We have a second face plate for the smaller motors in R&D. It is also flat but has two bolt patterns to all direct fit on several brands.
Thanks
Dan
 
rwm said:
I'm thinking about that unit for my bandsaw. Please start a thread. Currently I have a Jet 18" with gearbox. It is painful to change speeds and I don't have variable speed. I wish the control box on those was "cooler" but I can probably fix that.
Click to expand...

I was playing with the kit and doing some head scratchin' and figuring over how to mount it. I am thinking about mounting the control in the cabinet out of the metal dust, and extending the front panel to fit where the factory saw power switch is. That will keep the wires at the supplied length for the controller to the motor as well. The control box is pretty solid when held in the hands, it's mostly heat sink.

I'd love to see the torque/rpm chart for this motor, it would help me choose my final ratios the first time out.
 
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