Hey! Thanks for letting me join this group. I have some questions if you have the time to help me with them. A little history first so we are all on the same page: I am not new to lasers but I am new to CO2 lasers. I have owned a few diode lasers in the past but wanted to move up to being able to cut wood.
I recently found a K40 mini on Facebook for sale. The person that I purchased it from said it only had about an hours worth of use on the laser tube. From what I understand, it is what is referred to as a “mini”. The actual model is US-320S-BW if anyone can confirm.
I know this may not be ideal but I haven’t fired up the laser yet. I wanted to go over it first with a fine toothed comb so I basically gutted it. I removed the exhaust port entirely (just felt that it was in the way) and I cleaned it out because there was a lot of dust and Styrofoam randomly floating around inside. I removed the bed, the standoffs that it was resting on and then began to inspect it thoroughly.
I have a plan for the Ventilation, Smoke assist, air assist, cooling (including flow control and temp gauge). It has LED lights already inside and for now I don’t want to upgrade the control board or the controls. However, I do have some questions regarding upgrading the laser nozzle and/or the bed.
With the diode lasers you can focus the beam. I have looked at some of the aftermarket nozzles and they look like they do telescope but from what I understand they don’t focus the beam. So would it be better to buy/create a bed that moves up and down or am I wrong about these nozzles? It seems like a nozzle that would move up and down would be better/faster/cheaper than purchasing a bed that moves up and down but I am ignorant to the K40 if I am being honest.
Other questions I have - I live in the USA and have the typically three prong power outlets. Do I need to ground my machine? I am not a dummy when it comes to electronics or schematics but my experience is working with much smaller parts; capacitors, diodes, transistors, resistors, etc (from building my own guitar pedals).
I plan on using an external power strip for the vent fan, air assist pump, and water pump and I have also planned on converting the Flowmeter and temp gauge to USB and connecting them to the external power strip (which includes 4 USB ports). But I also want to connect an 80mm fan for smoke assist, a red dot indicator, and LED lights to backlight the flowmeter. Can I connect them to the existing PS? If so, does anyone have a schematic? From what I understand I have the 2nd type of PS. The one that has the test button on it. I included a picture of it so you have a better idea of what PS I am using.
I really appreciate any advice.
Thank you in advance,
John
