The laser is finally cutting! I got all the last details together, aligned the mirrors, and got Machinekit properly configured.

The Smoothie is dead, long live the… whatever comes next. Some crappy wire fried my control board so now I’ve got to get a new solution.

The laser has basically sat in my tiny apartment for the last three years in Los Angeles. Now that I’ve left my job for graduate school, I finally have the time and space to work on the laser again. The laser is nearing completion and a few big things have changed since the last time I worked on it.

Holy smokes! Working motion control on my laser with the Smoothieboard! Click through, there is a video.

Magnetic door interlock switch! this stops the laser from burning your eyeballs out when you open the door. It’s also a required piece of equipment for a class 4 laser. This is an update on my laser.

My biggest and craziest project so far! A 90 watt CO₂ laser cutter with a 2 by 4 ft work area driven by a smoothieboard and steppers.