Endurance Robots: How to connect a laser to a CNC machine

George Fomitchev, CEO of Endurance Robots, explains how to connect lasers to CNC machines

Tutorial: Connection of the laser, 1 W and more (1000 mW) to a laser engraver, a CNC machine, a plotter (MakeBlock Plotter XY 2.0, DIY), and a 3D printer (WanHao, Reprap, Ultimaker)

Customers often ask us how to connect a powerful laser to this or that CNC machine or plotter, if the circuit board of the device does not have a separate power supply for a laser, and the current going through the control board is minimal and does not exceed, for example, 0.5 A.

The DIY и MakeBlock engraver board is powered with 12 v and 0.5-1 А current, not more.
1W diode lasers require 1-2 А и 12 v current; 5 W lasers and higher need more than 3 A.

To mount a more powerful laser on a plotter (such as a MakeBlock XY plotter 2.0 KIT) or on a small Neje engraver additional power supply is needed. It is possible to install a separate battery unit and a driver, for instance. 

Endurance circuit MO 1 schematics

Connect the laser control to the МК and GND1 pins. The supplied power must not exceed 24 v. Connect the laser «+» to «+12v», the laser «-» to the «Drain» of the field transistor.

The GND1 and GND2 contacts may not be necessarily located on the same line. It is possible to use the «+12V» and «GND2» contacts of the lead-acid battery.

It is enough to have a bread board of 20х20 mm to place all the elements.

This schematics furnishes

12 v lasers with the current up to 5 A.

Use the current powering the DIY or an additional battery unit.

The schematics connection

The laser «+» and «-» contacts are controlling and located at the top on the right-hand side of the circuit board picture of the NEJE engraver. Connect them to the «МК» and «GND1» contacts of the Endurance circuit MO 1.

You can place the Endurance circuit MO 1 board inside a telephone box. When choosing wires, take into account the current stregnth depending on the laser power. A 5.6 W laser draws up to 3.5 А.

Connection of the Endurance circuit MO 1 schematics to a mini engraver Neje

Endurance schematics on a MakeBlock plotter XY 2.0

Anyone can assemble it independently. It’s a fully open source solution. We are happy to share useful technologies with the community of laser enthusiasts and laser engraving fans.

But if you want to get a ready Endurance circuit MO 1 board, let us know, and we’ll send it to you.

This article was written by George Formitchev, CEO and a founder of Endurance Robots, and EnduranceLasers.com, who also prepared the materials. George can be contacted by email at gf@endurancerobots.com.