3:24 The reason that doesn't work is because the buck converter is designed to produce a DC output. There are feedback circuits inside the converter that try to stabilise the output at the set voltage regardless of changes to the input voltage. It's not just due to the capacitors.

I seriously don't know why I keep searching youtube for various 3d printing tips and mods when all I ever need to do is come right here to your channel! Not only do you show how to do something, you also show the how and why and aren't afraid to point out all your small mistakes and defeats along the way! This saves me precious hours on research, which allows me to quickly get back to making my products and films. Thank you for the dedication you put into your amazing channel! 😎👍👍

Another excellent tutorial Michael. Not a conventional electrical drive solution but innovative. Not using a TTL or analogue control and modulating the 12V supply is actually much safer. The LASER I've got is LASER ON when control is open circuit which is not a safe situation at all. I'd also recommend mounting on the left side of the hot end shroud rather than in front. That goes hand-in-hand with some 3D printed X and Y Stop extension prods and reducing the bed size. The idea is to ensure that the LASER remains over the print bed as that's a safer place for it. I'll give the software you've identified a go. Pretty much all the software I've found either doesn't manage X/Y position on the bed very well, is not intuitive or just goes crazy at times. I've also found that a lot of LASER software doesn't work well with marlin (or ender 3) and it can hang, and hang in the on state. Not knowing where the LASER is going to be and the potential of it hanging is not good obviously. Lightburn was closest to bug free software I've found but even that had comms issues and X/Y placement issues. I'm using 2.5W and have found vapour and fumes in a well ventilated room was not as big an issue as I expected. Light wise, getting technical info on cheap safety glasses I found difficult and where you can get the info or Australian Standards the prices are silly. I found making an effort to match wavelength of interest, do a pass through test on the LASER you're using and never look directly at the reflects light was the best way to go. As you've already suggested, excluding others from the area is wise. Safety wise, positioning has been a much bigger concern that vapour or light. ABL is very useful as it avoids having to focus on the work piece. One good feature of Lightburn is it can step down the Z axis on vector burns which means it could possibly allow 0.5W LASER to do multi-pass cuts as well. Not seen any adverse effect but the hot end shroud doesn't appear to be a great magnetic shield/keeper so the LASER mounting magnets are probably effecting the hot end fans to some extent.

For anyone with requisite coding and electronic skills, the solution to the 24v/12v PWM dilemma would be to find all the fan speed commands in the G-code, halve all the values and re-compile the g-code. An RC network of suitable time period, paralleled with a 12v zener diode would provide the correct drive and stop anything bad happening to the laser.

Thanks a lot for this helpful video! I successfully used your tips and converted a CubeX Duo 3D printer into a laser printer, by using a 1000mW laser from a NEJE printer and a main board from Ender 3. My laser needs 5V to operate so I used a car USB charger (works with 12V or 24V input) instead of the 12V step down converter. Thanks again!

Well, you talked me out of that idea.

Back around Christmas I ordered a 2D Pen printer and ordered the option Laser (Same as what is used here) The Laser came, but twice the 2D Pen printer never arrived. So, I printed a mount to place the laser on my D-Bot (Custom built from Thingiverse) Thank Bob for this video to help me utilize it. WORKS GREAT! Pretty much same settings as was used in the video. Except my D-Bot is a 12V system, so I didn't need the buck converter. THANKS!

I had the kit for a year now ... just used your video as a tutorial and it worked on first try. Now to figure out how to do vector graphics...

Hi bud, look I'm gonna be honest. I'm not 100% sure on your pwm control circuit. These things are typically 5V TTL input for power control. I see you've used the negative on your fan (presumably because it's switched low side by a FET). But due to the switching nature of a buck regulator, it uses ground reference for the output voltage regulation with a resistor divider connected to a comparator from that out voltage pot. By removing the ground reference (with the low side switch for the fan) you basically allow the buck converter to free float and effectively run 24V straight through. You'll have 24V transients going into the fan header until the regulation catches up through the feedback circuit.... This is why you have a delay when the laser power is set to 0. Better ways for this circuit is a resistor divider set to 5V with a 5V zener to protect the input to the TTL rising above the set value. Alternatively, use the 24V fan circuit with a 1K resistor into an opto isolator and use the output to toggle the buck converter to a TTL own signal into the control unit for the laser. Either way... I don't feel confident in the pwm control wiring you have. It might work. But I'm not confident it won't have long term problems or wierd issues like your having for power control.

Michael, as cool as this is, I think there are many serious safety things that you have not mentioned. Certain materials will produce not just smoke, but TOXIC gases if they are etched or cut with a laser. PVC is one of those.... and you're engraving right above a PVC 3D printer bed!! The $2 safety goggles that come with these cheap kits are also often NOT sufficient, and sometimes they don't even match the wavelength of the diode... encouraging the attitude of "how cheap can we do it" really is inappropriate for something with as many safety hazards as this.

Excellent detail, thx! Have been thinking about doing this with my Artillery printer, and even though I'll probably end up buying a 'dedicated' laser engraver, this was still informative if for no other reason than it gives me an idea of how much is actually involved beyond simply 'swapping out the heads'.

Of all you videos, I think this is one I’ll watch only once. It’s seems to be just a pretty expensive and troublesome wood burning kit. Love your vids though. Taught me a lot. Thank you.

That 500mW laser is very under-powerd and quite expensive. There are more powerful and cheaper modules out there. Great video. Keep up the good work.

I went to engineering school with Nebarnix. Brilliant person, now a rocket scientist. Look up their photography, you won't be disappointed.

Nobody should laser Chuck Norris until they have their settings perfect!

Great video and the use of the Toyota AE86 was fantastic !

Thanks for doing this video. I've been wanting to do this on my Ender 3 for awhile and bought a 5W laser from BG when they had it on sale for US$119.

3 Kilowatt IPG Fiber Laser mod please. When I tested mine I cut through the cardboard, base, table, tile, foundation, and water line. I think it might be too much.

I just watched this and having just backed the exchange project on kickstarter I would be keen to see or talk about how to install a laser using that mod for my printer when it arrives.

Your channel is a poison to my brain. I love it

This is awesome! Very tempted to try this. Thanks for posting it.

This must be the 1000th video where someone explained PWM to me

Can confirm. Wear your glasses, I was messing around with a 1.5 watt laser. Laser reflected off a cd, it didn't take long, but I now have a little blind spot in my vision.

G'day Michael. another excellent video.

Great project inspiration! I went ahead, crossed my fingers, and purchased the cheaper, higher-powered laser with the TTL-level input. As suggested in some of the electronics channels on KZfaq, I used a resistor network across the 24V fan, thinking it would drop voltage safely and instantly down to TTL levels. And it did. What's more, there is no delay turning on the laser, because there is no buck converter. And I did not have to unplug the fan. In fact, the fan speeds up cutting of cardboard. I have to use many passes at high speed to avoid flame out. Please never leave unattended.

This would be perfect for Prusa Mini owners!

Love the AE86 one!

I would use the DC-DC converter to get 12V from 24V, then a resistor voltage divider from the fan PWM to control a MOSFET that is powered from the output of the DC-DC converter (12V). The output of the MOSFET circuit will feed the laser PWM. The goal is to preserve the sharp rising and falling edges of the PWM square wave that directly impacts the sharpness and accuracy of the laser power and the engraved image.

I’m gonna try this on my old monoprice maker select v2 which thankfully is 12v. I’ve since moved on to some newer printers so it will be nice to get some utility out of a machine. Thanks:)

Nice! Cheap and easy trick! 👍👍👍 I'll try it for myself, maybe i'll make a video on it too. Thank you very much for sharing! Keep it up!

You are the best teacher ever!

well now i wonder about setting this up. Someone gifted me the Creality laser and i was coming back to watch this again and seen the buck converter being used which is fine since i have extras from the Noctura fan mod but my laser says 12/24v so i figured it had internal components to adjust voltage down if needed and would work on either just by pluggin into the fan header but now i got more questions. too anxious and wanna try it lol. great video btw

Oh man, you should use a relay after the buck converter with the fan connected to normally on and the laser connected to normally off, then add a button in octoprint to turn on the laser for when you want it used.

Great video,. Thanks. I have been looking for a solution like this for a while, and I want to do this with a 17 Watt 450nm laser. I don't want to use the printer as a printer once I convert it so it can replace the nozzle completely. Going to use one of the homemade CoreXY printers for this so it can have an enclosure that I can ventilate. Funny thing in your selected laser is that nowhere they mention the power of the laser. It's only stated to consume max. 2100mA of power for the whole circuit.

Appreciate the help. I have an old 3d printer that the heating element is broken and I thought it'd be cool to convert it. Thanks

esa protección con el convertidor dc es la mejor solución par proteger los mosfet de la tarjeta madre

it takes a lot of experimentation for each kind of material and even thickness variants of the same material; speed, power and image conversion settings can be a nightmare to tweak

Excellent video

could you do guide to cutting paper with this lase and inkscape ? please....

PLEASE for the sake of your eyes, buy some proper laser safety glasses. You only have 2 eyes, and for $60 total how much do you think those glasses are worth? Get some with actual safety ratings for the wavelength you are using. Generally these diode lasers are around UV 450nm.

Thanks for the great content! Save me the trouble of even bother trying... Useless at best...

Thanks Mike! Good stuff... as usual. 🤙

for just over $100 banggood has a 2W laser that works extreamly well on the CR-10, substantialy cuts down on engraving time. I can do a 200mm x 200mm picture in just under an hour. last year I initially tried the laser that you have and just found it to underpowered. there is a great tutorial on KZfaq about the 2w laser from banggood. if I can find the link I will update this comment.

Nice video, was wondering what performance to expect when I set up my laser head, got a 500mW 405nm one too (mainly for PCB photoresist exposure), seems like a good choice since I don't really need a laser cutter, an engraver would be more useful for me.

So, does that mean the one controlling the PWM is the blue wire (-)? So what he did is getting the full 24V power from the PSU directly, stepped it down, and use the (-) terminal to pulse width modulate? This means I could theoretically use a 12v fan this way as well?

Great topic. Thank you for explanation.

Thank you, very helpful tutorial!

Can try cheap zonestar mini z6fb 3d printer build for laser engraver upgrade also

Pretty cool mate, nice videos and very good content.

Wondering if you'd get better results with a lower max setting and higher low setting, but slowing down the laser a bit. This seems like it would have the effect of "Turning down the contrast".

I bought Creality Laser kit, it does have built in buck converter, but it doesn't help, I always have 12V out regardless of power percentage and or PWM frequency for that mater. I'm trying to hook it up to the Ender 3, it works with 24V fans, and buck converter does the job but always gives 12V no mater what I do. (I tried your wiring to get ground from other place, nothing happens always 12V)

I have a 3 connector laser GND, Positive,PWM I am assuming you're only using the ground and Positive and Activate the button I tested my laser with the supplied AC to DC transformer and all you need is the Activator switch depressed for this wire loom to work..

This is an awesome video! Really like checking out your videos for mods I'm looking at doing on my Cr-10s :)

You missed one vital test in all of this, engraving on 3d prints! I've had this laser for over a year and yesterday I was thinking of trying again as I got bad results when I bought it.Your video has now helped me with the software side of it. Creality's software is unusable from a year ago. the gcode wouldn't even configure properly and had to manually add code with notepad++ to get it to work. I just struggled to get the right speeds. I will be engraving on 3d prints this week!

thanks for posting! the website is so useful!

Is there currently working software that allows you to generate programs for a 3D printer, files from a laser?

Fantastic. I have that very laser sitting on my desk and a bunch of buck converters. I guess it's time to figure out how to mount it, as I'm running a Bullseye part cooler on my Ender 3.

I can say that 500mW laser it's very bright even when it pointed to wood piece... Use glasses always

never focus at 100% use the PWM.... you can set the gcode to about 6 out of 255 and focus it there with little chance of damaging your finger. so say (your code for the laser to turn on) s6 example M104 s6 then send the code to kill the laser after properly focused

Hello, I've watched your video and have a few questions to ask. Firstly, is your laser engraving head operating at 12 volts? In the video, you used the xl6009 module to convert the motherboard's 24 volts to 12 volts for the laser head. How smoothly does this configuration work for you in practice?

Dont know if you will read this.. I am thinking about buying the Anycubic Vyper, however i also would like to do Laser Engraving. The Anycubic Mega Pro is an Option, but i like the Great Upgrades the Vyper has with Autobed levelling and the likes. Do you think this Laser option could be Performed on the Vyper ? Yes i am ok with doing it myself. Love your Content. Great Channel.

This channel is awesome, making 3D prinitng less of a headache.

Hey I need a guide that teaches how to start the laser in the middle of the print bed. And teaches a little more about using the software. Do you have any suggestions?

Hi, could you plase show how to mount the laser kit to ender 3 v2., and which laser used, plase Hola, puedes mostrar como montar el lase en una ender 3 v2 y que tipo de laser, por favor

Hello, I connected the laser as you showed here, but the laser power is not controlled, the laser is blinking! From 1% (slow) to 99% (fast). At 100% Burns full power all the time! In this mode, only can be used 0% (off) and 100% (on) !

Why is the DC to DC needed? You can set by firmare for 50% PWM on the fan, or just well use the Fan gcode to only half??

Super helpful video, only difference I noticed, was my voxelab aquila actually does turn off the laser when moving, instead of just speeding up like yours. Super weird, not sure why that is

I tried it your way (on my Ender 5Pro). Does not work. Connecting your way, FAN on 0% shows -12V, FAN on 100% shows 12V, but it pulses (PWM), not constant on. Looks like my PWM (Blue) is pulsing between -24V and 0V. Adding 12V from PSU does not help.

Thanks to this video I get my fan pwm back. Before that I powered fan from Out+ and In- which was incorrect.

Hi im having issues with a neje 30820 laser in the 3d printer. it semed to burn everithing even if i use speeds up to 4000 mm and turn down power of the laser to 25 in img2gco any ideas ? if i turn down voltage of my laser under 12 v maybe ?

i have some question. when i start laser engraving the bed and laser module collide each other. the bed rises up to tht level of laser thrust point. in thid case hiw should i do???

Can I use the same steps to connect a higher wattage laser ie: 10w output?

Hi, please help. Ender 5 pro and neje lasaer 12v 30w with control board. Connected with external power supply and ttl 2 wire plug with buck converter. Laser works when test button pressed and on full power. when I checked voltage on the fan pins, it is constant 24v on full power and jumping from 0 to 24v when set to anything bellow 100%. When fan is connected is straggling to turn if set to below 70% and makes pulse noise. Is my board (v4.2.2 silent) broken?

how do i wire it up when my Laser module have 3 pins. V, G, and PWM?

Nice mod! Does that mean you can do those cool 3D aser engraving images in acrylic?

This safety glasses please upgrade kapton tape.

I just bought the 10W laser from creality Also interested on how to cut (through) with the engraver (using multiple passes) Watched your video prior to the package arriving to be better prepared and know a bit more on the settings and tips. hope to figure real cuts during the process.

Very helpful video! Thanks a mint!

I have a a CR-10 with the SKR 3 motherboard do you have a tutorial on connection a laser to it? thank you your videos are some of the best on KZfaq.

Just installed this, but looks like my 4.2.7 board cant run it due to low PWM frequency - has anyone else had this issue and found a work around? also looks like the image3gcode doesnt work anymore

Have you ever attempted to run a rotary axis on ender 3? I have an ender 3 that I converted to a full time laser cutter/etcher and want to convert the E axis to a rotary axis. I use Lightburn software and it has an option to use A axis, is this something I can change in the firmware? If so would love to know how, I have done some googling but having found anything yet. You seemed like the best person to ask (I love your videos) .

so as i understand, you removed modulation with stabilizer... i was trying to understand - i got ender 3 pro and 500mw laser 12-24v... also i got skr mini v2, so by default there no pulse modulation visible..... also in marlin configuration firmware files - you can define fan will be with pwm or not, i think - its 2288 line FAN_SOFT_PWM

First off very good and informative video for an upgrade I can see myself trying in the future, big thumbs up, but can the same wiring technique be used to power a pwm fan? the reason i ask is because i have an ender 3 v2 and want to use noctua a4x20 5v pwm fans for the hot end and part cooling and your is the only video that seems to show a way round this, sorry if this is going off topic but any help would be appreciated

how would one do this conversation on a BIQU B1?

Can this kit engrave glass? We need to put Names on drinking glasses as a present. Don’t want to do it by hand…

Obrigado por colocar as traduções em português 👏

please if someone can help i cannot find a solution. same laser wired the same way to my ender 3. the only difference is the buck converter that came with mine is not adjustable. if i set my fan speed (laser output) to anything below 50% i get -12v.. so 0% is -12v, 25% is -6V, and 50% is 0v.

Wow, 3 hours for only one layer is crazy. I won’t be laser engraving anytime soon.

great tutorial, thank you! just one question. is this compatible with the Creality 4.2.7 board with out having to install the buck converter? thanks for the reply

Will that work with a 8 bit 3d printer mainboard? For example... will that work with a Sunlu S8?

Does your laser have separate power for the cooling fan mounted on the actual laser module? If so, what did you connect this to?

cura wont give a preview. just a greyed out nozzle. what slicer software do you use?

How many amps can be drawn fron the motherboard? Is 5.5 W optical power module adaptible? (2.5A)

can you laser cut balsa/plywood with this?

wood it work any 3d prnter? like the tronxy xy2 pro or sunlu s8

Do you know if the 5 W laser can engrave stainless steel?

Do I have to remove the spade connectors to the power supply if I want to switch back to normal printing? Or can I just remove the connector to from the cooling fan port and plug my cooling fan back in?

In some videos they connect directly to the 24V supply, Can we do it with this laser? or we must use regulator? Also Can we seperate the fan cable to 2 pieces?

My laser have VCC, GND and POWERIN

Hi, In this video you covered the 2 pin laser and mine is 3 pin 2.5 W laser and I am not sure about the wires, there is ground, pwm and 12v, I have a Cr10s so 12v I'll plug into hot end fan positive, then should I solder ground to the part cooling fan buck converter out negative or should I take it from the hot end fan too ? and pwm pin should propably be the lovered voltage from the converter right ?