My Chinese built DC-K40III 40Watt CO2 Desktop Laser Cutter Engraver.
These cheap Chinese machines are REALLY GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY in my opinion.IF you have sufficient electronic knowledge to allow you to UPGRADE one of these machines with new motor drivers and MACH3 software then you will be able to turn one into a handy and versatile workshop tool.
NOTE - IT WILL NEED CONVERTING TO A TRUE CNC MACHINE BEFORE IT BECOMES PRACTICAL TO USE.
REPLACEMENT STEPPER MOTOR DRIVERS and Artsoft MACH3 software will make it a real winner!.
WITHOUT DOING THIS IT IS BASICALLY ONLY GOOD FOR LOW RESOLUTION ENGRAVING, and who wants to do that??.
The LASER and the OPTICS do appear to be capable of excellent precision.
They do have their quirks. Mine had a missed solder joint in the laser power supply and it would not run until I fixed it.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE!
There are other SIMILAR MACHINES which now offer MACH3 ADD ON BOARDS for around $250 more. Please search the WEB before deciding on WHICH machine you will buy.
I have removed the original motor driver board and fitted a replacement driver board arrangment.
I am using the amazing ArtSoft MACH3 CNC CONTROL SOFTWARE to control the machine.
I cannot give this software enough praise. It is simply EXCELLENT!!!!, and GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY!!!!
I have a cutting / engraving area of 320mm * 240mm which is much greater than that using the manufacturer supplied driver board and the horrible NewlyDraw software.
I can engrave at 180mm per second without any problems.
I can also cleanly cut 3mm acrylic at 10mm per second.
I can high precision cut 0.1mm Mylar film stencils with slots and holes as small as 0.25mm.
Cutting samples.
This is a sample solder paste stencil.
It has been sanded to smooth off any cutting burrs. This provides improved paste release.
