3D printer to laser engraver for under $60 

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

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'.

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!

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

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

You are the best teacher ever!

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!

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.

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

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

Thank you, very helpful tutorial!

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.

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...

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! 😎👍👍

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.

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!

Pretty cool mate, nice videos and very good content.

Excellent video

Love the AE86 one!

G'day Michael. another excellent video.

Great topic. Thank you for explanation.

Very helpful video! Thanks a mint!

Nice walk thou Thanks for sharing :-)

thanks for posting! the website is so useful!

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.

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:)

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

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.

Thank You for this video

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

great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

Well, you talked me out of that idea.

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.

Hi this is a great video thank you. I’ve been trying to get this working on my ender 3 pro for around a week now and I just can’t seem to get any good results at all any other advice or tips ?

Hi. Great Video. Any recommendation regarding the wires minimal diameter? how many amps are flowing ?

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 RU-vid, 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.

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

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

Great, great, great!

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

Great video! I would like to do the same thing but my laser is 15w , and my printer a little da Vinci printer, do you think that I need an external power supply for the laser ? Please advise

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

This would be perfect for Prusa Mini owners!

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

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

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

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

@Teaching Tech, I own a ender 3 stock, can I use with the buck or without the buck converter?

That’s a nice looking benchy.

any tips & tricks for setting up the anchor Point & focal length without damaging my workpiece ? And also positioning :/ I'm asking for a Cp-01 but I guess it pretty similar

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) .

Hello and thank you for your video which helped me a lot. I transformed my alfawise U30 into a laser engraver. Everything is fine except for one thing: when I want to burn letters in vector mode, some text pieces of these letters are missing. I have tried everything and I don't understand what is going on. I checked the GCODE, there is no command code in the G to turn off the corresponding fan when part of the letter is missing. Could you help me I thank you in advance cordially Franck. A small clarification: all the other engravings in vector mode work very well, it just bugs for the letters ... Thank you, Franck.

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

hi tech, how do you change the engraving size of objects? Do you adopt external software to change the size of the images?

Hi, would this work on my Geeetech E18? I am BRAND NEW to 3D Printing, and i'm just unsure about a lot of things, however I do understand the GCode.

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

Great video. I'm considering a laser for my Ender 5 (stock board). I do not understand the significance of grounding the laser to the part cooling fan. I don't see why it would fix your issue. I suspect the reason for not working is that the buck converter isn't enjoying a PWM input. Are you able to elaborate, please? Hmm... I wonder if there's a way to keep the laser circuit powered, and only PWM the diode...

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.

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

If the ttl input on the laser is 5v would the voltage need to be stepped down from 24v to 5v ?

Have you tried any higher powered lasers, as to being able to cut through items like thick cardboard, or mat board?

What program did you use to control the parts fan

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?

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

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.

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 ?

Obrigado por colocar as traduções em português 👏

very useful information, but i'm having a problem. my board has a PWM frequency of 7.8Hz, the laser was tested on 1Khz and worked fine, but on the much slower 7.8Hz of the mainboard, the laser is unusable. do you have any suggestions? (using the silent board, ender3 V2). Thanks in advance.

Where do you get the extra wires to connect it

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".

Would 2 amps be too much to ask of the 3D printers fan output? Considering the 10 watt version. Thanks:)

Your video regards stock board usage. If I am not mistaking the skr mini 1.2 have pwm built-in. What is your recommendation for working with this board and laser engraving?

Cool :D Trying to get the laser working now on my Ender 5 Plus but having trouble. And when I save the g-code from the website, I can not open it in any slicer... Also when the engraving starts the laser works all the time, no pulses to leave out what should be white... Also I can not figure out how to make it start printing in the corner...

Thanks for this great video again. The Creality works cause the pwm from the board is on the down side. Bit what about a Chinese 30w laser with a ttl wire, which need a pwm on the up side? I don't know how to wire it. Any help would be absolutely appreciated. 😅

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?

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

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..

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.

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.

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

Can you add the home command in the gcode after it's generated by the software?

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???

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

Can you use a 15w laser module with kossel delta?

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)

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?

Thank you for this! What software did you use to control the fan for the initial calibration?

I tried to open the gcode with 2 slicers( Ultimaker Cura and Creality slicer) but it doesnt show anything. What can be the problem/which slicer can show the preview?

Would this converter work that is on Amazon? I don't do Banggood if I can avoid. WHDTS DC-DC Boost Power Module Adjustable 100W 3.0~35V to 3.5~35V Also can you do halftone with these systems?

hi , your tutorial encouraged me to add a laser to my 3d printer , in fact i am new to 3d printing too. laser module i bought from the same site (5500 mv) but it has board mounted on laser itself. has two input sockets, one has three pins and the other has two pins. 3 pin says - 12v + and TTL/A- and 2 pin says TTL/A+. now i am confused how to wire and connect it to my fan port which is 12 v system. this laser has a separate 12v power supply . kindly guide me with diagrame for wiring. many thanks

Can u change the laser for a bigger one like 10 or 15w? do i need something else¡?

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

The kit I ordered came with a laser module labeled 12 - 24 Volts. Is there any reason for me to still use a buck converter and run the laser at 12V instead of plugging into the 24V supply on the printer directly? I have an Ender 3 Pro, if it makes any difference.

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?

Any idea if a laser of this power could cut through EVA foam tiles? I'm thinking of making custom tool box inserts.

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

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??

Is there a 3.5w module that works? I want to cut 2mm plywood