Cameron’s Laser Build

Death of a Dremel

Ah, the woes of setbacks continued this weekend with the death of Cameron’s 20 year old Dremel. This sent him out of the basement and into the wild that is Lowe’s on a Saturday afternoon. This delay added to the lost “spring forward” hour as well as the energy that the time change always seems to take with it. Sigh.

Okay enough moaning, here is what happened this weekend. And I warn you, it doesn’t sound like much (nor does it LOOK like much, but I assure you the join on this belt is peak tedium and a glacially slow process. The photos below will provide more insight.

You may recall that the white belt (that looks like plastic but has 8-9 steel wires running through it) moves the bed up and down to position what ever material you’re cutting or etching or engraving at the proper distance from the laser head. Last week he got the belt on but had not spliced it together. I’ve seen Cameron splice electrical wires together lickity split…this is not that.

Belt on the drill press having teeny tiny holes drilled into it so metal pins can be inserted into each one.
Tedium
Pins going through the holes he drilled into the belt to splice both ends together.
The splice
The belt spliced together and on the machine. The yellow goo is contact cement.
Close up

Now Cameron is turning his attention to the electronics aspect of the build. He laid out the electrical panel in an arrangement that he isn’t yet 100% settled upon and says he needs to order the actual panel and finalize his decision about placement. This is his wheel house, or one of them, so I expect this piece of the journey to proceed at a pretty quick clip. Ha! Famous last words! Anyway, here is the layout.

Electrical panel layout (tentative)

Like I said, it doesn’t look like much was accomplished this weekend. I often ask him if I will feel “the wind in my hair” when he recounts what he did over the weekend. I did not, but I have high hopes for next weekend! Until then, have a great week everybody ????

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  1. DEBORAH DATCHUK

    I can’t imagine the patience that would take! It looks to me like you got a LOT done, especially considering the time change. (Saturday’s at any hardware store are always crazy!)

    Reply
    1. Cameron’s Rezo Laser Build

      He said that the belt is definitely one of the slower parts of the build and that there are stretches of both slower and faster roads ahead. He does have a lot of experience with detailed processes and does well with them. I admire people who have the skill AND patience to pursue a build like this; it’s way beyond anything I would ever endeavor. Hell, I wouldn’t buy a laser off the shelf and believe I’d successfully learn to operate it on my own!????

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