Chase East’s Work Log

1/13/24 – 1/27/24

Rough Drawing of the Lasersaur

To Do

• Download FreeCAD for viewing Lasersaur parts
• Find or recreate the broken part that holds the second mirror in place

Work Log 1/26/24-2/2/24

• Soldered laser diode so that we had an alignment laser
• Determined that our laser diode did not shoot at the same angle when rotated along its central axis
• Installed GRBL software on personal machine for connecting to the Lasersaur
• Connected to the Lasersaur using the GRBL software
• Attempted to move the brackets holding the laser guiding mirrors
  Gcode was sent to the machine but no movement was observed

To Do

• Design a bracket for mounting the alignment laser that allows for varying the angle of the laser diode
• Design a process for using the bracket and laser diode to consistently be able to align the CO2 laser prior to its firing
• Use the GRBL software to send Gcode to the Lasersaur AND observe movement
• Determine which limit switches we need to replace and order replacements

Winter Carnival Break 2/2/24-2/8/2024

Work Log 2/9/2024 – 2/15/2024

• Redesigned diode mount V2 with two locking screws for augmenting diode alignment inside casing
• Decided that the M5 nut would be emplaced into our diode mount.
• Determined that V3 would have three locking screws

Work Log 2/16/2024 – 2/22/2024

• Finished cad model of diode alignment laser V2
• Printed V2 of our diode alignment mechanism

Work Log 2/23/2024 – 3/04/2024 (Spring Break)

• Started working on V3 cad model
• Determined a meeting time to test Lasersaur electronics under Dr. Shane’s supervision

Work Log 3/5/2024 – 3/11/2024

• Determined nut wells needed to be made deeper in V3 of the alignment mechanism
• Discovered why no power was being delivered to the Lasersaur
• Reconnected cooler wire to allow operation

Work Log 3/12/2024 – 3/18/2024

• Tested Lasersaur operation under supervision
• Arced power supply wires for CO2 laser
• Replaced power supply lead ends and
• Disconnected CO2 laser power supply from the junction entirely

Work Log 3/19/2024 – 3/25/2024

• Tried fighting the machine to get gantry movement
• Failed
• Enlisted Joey Klapkowski for a meeting to help debug

Work Log 3/26/2024 – 4/1/2024

• Found the original config file for Lasersaur
• Swapped current config file with old one
• Gantry movement was observed
• Alignment testing was begun

Work Log 4/2/2024 – 4/8/2024

• Continued tweaking alignment screws hoping to get consistent diode alignment
• Finished modeling V3 of the alignment mechanism
• Accidentally reprinted V2 instead of the updated V3

Work Log 4/9/2024 – 4/15/2024

• Burned out our only diode laser
• Successfully uploaded a flattened svg file to LaserGRBL
• Successfully traced the test pattern using the gantry movement
• Laser alignment could not be tested due to the destruction of the diode
• Submitted proposal for project continuation – Laser Interference Burns