Hi,
Sorry this has ended up as quite a long message. This is the version after I've done some fairly brutal editing :)
My current understanding of the hackspace laser(s):
We have a Trotec CO₂ laser that doesn't work. It goes through process fine from SW point of view but doesn't actually seem to fire the laser. It used to be a bit intermittent and if you rand it a few times it would start working, but lately (for a maybe years long version of "lately") has been giving nothing. A couple of folks have had a look at diagnosing/fixing it but not really got anywhere.
We also have a K40 CO₂ laser (on loan, rather than actually being hackspace property) that does work (or did when I last tried it, but that was at our last location so before 2019?) but would need cooling and extraction/filtration sorted to be able to use it in the space.
Is all of that correct? I'd be surprised if the years long passing on of details between various folks or me misremembering hasn't gotten some of it wrong.
I think the Trotec would be a good base to work from to frankenstein together a working laser.
Extraction and filtration good enough to use a laser in our current space without getting a visit from the fire brigade (or giving anyone cancer from breathing the fumes) is likely to be trickiest bit to solve for a DIY laser. That is already a solved problem for the Trotec so we "just" need to bodge a working laser into it without breaking that.
Building a fankenlaser will be a lot easier if we replace the Trotec controller and SW with open source versions. I've been doing some reading on what current options are (things have moved on a lot since the days when GRBL was new that I last played around with this stuff). I'm leaning towards FluidNC for controller and Rayforge to feed it. But haven't actually used either so would be keen to hear from anyone who has, or has other preferences.
http://wiki.fluidnc.com/en/homehttps://rayforge.org/
One of the FluidNC devs sells a variety of boards: https://www.elecrow.com/store/BartDring
The other high level thing we'd need is a working laser to control. It's possible the existing laser tube in the Trotec can be made to work but I wouldn't rate that as very likely.
We might be able to take the working laser and HV power supply from the K40 and transplant that into the Trotech. Unknowns there would be if the K40s owner is OK with us gutting it for parts and how much bodging would be required to make it fit to the Trotec.
If we want/need to get new parts I've seen some recommendations for Cloudray.
Tubes: https://www.cloudraylaser.com/collections/glass-co2-laser-tube
Power supplies: https://www.cloudraylaser.com/collections/power-supply
Matched bundles: https://www.cloudraylaser.com/collections/tube-bundle
Another option would be to go for diode laser rather than CO₂. That simplifies some things (no need for HV, water cooling or aligning optical path through the machine, much longer lifespan than CO₂ tube) but possibly complicates other things (can the existing gantry support the weight? Is there enough Z clearance? Blue rather than IR changes material compatibility. Might need to replace the window on the lid to be safe with the different wavelength).
Random aliexpress listing for an idea of cost/options going diode route: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007444269352.html
What I'd like to do now: buy one of the FluidNC controller boards and hook that up to the Trotec to see that we can get it moving and starting chiller, extraction+filter etc. Then (or in parallel) figure out details of what would be needed for the different options for actual laser to make a decision on that.
Anyone have opinions on that plan?
This is likely to go a lot faster if someone else can run with it (it's been languishing on my TODO list for ages already and all I've actually done is spend a couple of train journeys reading about options). I'm definitely keen to help with this but if just left to me it's likely to get lost among the may other things I'd like to do when I have time and then get forgotten about for a few months.
Well done to anyone still reading at this point :)
Robert
________________________________________________________
Robert McWilliam rmcw(a)allmail.net argh.technology
I go the extra mile.
Usually because I missed the turning I was supposed to take.
Hi, happy Tuesday
How's it going? Hope you're well on this lovely sunny spring day. It's
open evening at the hackspace today, so there will be all sorts of hacking
and making occuring in the space, and other adjacent activities.
We're at:
Suite H Kettock Lodge
Innovation Park
Campus Two
Bridge of Don
Aberdeen
AB22 8GU
There is sort of useful info on:
https://www.57north.org.uk/open-eveningshttps://www.57north.org.uk/contact.
Press buzzer H and someone will come and let you in after the wee bit of
time it takes to get to the door buzzer.
Reply if you have any questions, if you want to share your plans, or if
you'd like a lift.
I'll be in at around 7:00, probably digging around for parts for a daft
music project.
See you there :)
Andy
Hi, happy Tuesday
Hope you're doing fine. It's Tuesday again, so open evening at the
hackspace, come along and join for the usual Tuesday things. It's a lovely
day for it.
We're at:
Suite H Kettock Lodge
Innovation Park
Campus Two
Bridge of Don
Aberdeen
AB22 8GU
There is sort of useful info on:
https://www.57north.org.uk/open-eveningshttps://www.57north.org.uk/contact.
Press buzzer H and someone will come and let you in after the wee bit of
time it takes for someone to walk the 30 meters to the door buzzer.
Reply if you have any questions, if you want to share your plans, or if
you'd like a lift.
I'll be in at around 6:30 I think, doing some 3d printing and tinkering
with a new web UI framework bits and bobs.
See you there :)
Hi
Hope your day is going ok.
It's open evening at the hackspace today, so there will be all sorts of
hacking and making occuring in the space, and other adjacent activities.
We're at:
Suite H Kettock Lodge
Innovation Park
Campus Two
Bridge of Don
Aberdeen
AB22 8GU
There is sort of useful info on:
https://www.57north.org.uk/open-eveningshttps://www.57north.org.uk/contact.
Press buzzer H and someone will come and let you in after a wee wait.
Reply if you have any questions, if you want to share your plans, or if
you'd like a lift.
I'll be in around 7:30, maybe 7:45, doing some web dev tinkering. Reply
and share your plans if you like.
Cheers
Andy
Hi, cheers Rob, I'll be in around 7, sketching stuff and maybe doing some
content on the JJR McLoud website that I keep forgetting to update. See
you there :)
On Tue, 10 Mar 2026 at 16:58, 57North Announcements <
57north-announce(a)lists.57north.org.uk> wrote:
> Hi
>
> Tuesday has rolled around again. Open evening at the hackspace is today,
> so there will be all sorts of hacking and making occurring in the space,
> and other adjacent activities.
>
> We're at:
> Suite H Kettock Lodge
> Innovation Park
> Campus Two
> Bridge of Don
> Aberdeen
> AB22 8GU
> There is sort of useful info on:
> https://www.57north.org.uk/open-evenings
> https://www.57north.org.uk/contact.
>
> Press buzzer H and someone will come and let you in after a wee wait.
>
> Reply if you have any questions, if you want to share your plans, or if
> you'd like a lift.
>
> I should make it along today. Will probably be looking at my TODO list for
> EMF and trying not to panic. It's still 4 months away, there is plenty of
> time to do all the things...
>
> Robert
>
> 57North Hacklab Ltd. is a company registered in Scotland (No. SC470230).
> 57North and 57North Hacklab are trading names of 57North Hacklab Ltd.
Hi
Happy Tuesday, spring is in the air, and it's all go, though that's
probably just the excess coffee talking. Open evening at the hackspace
today, so there will be all sorts of hacking and making occuring in the
space, and other adjacent activities.
We're at:
Suite H Kettock Lodge
Innovation Park
Campus Two
Bridge of Don
Aberdeen
AB22 8GU
There is sort of useful info on:
https://www.57north.org.uk/open-eveningshttps://www.57north.org.uk/contact.
Press buzzer H and someone will come and let you in after a wee wait.
Reply if you have any questions, if you want to share your plans, or if
you'd like a lift.
Planning to be in at around 7pm, doing some 3d printing and web stuff, and
maybe some low intensity puttering and tidying. Reply and share your plans
if you like.
Cheers
Andy
Hello,
Please find details below of the call for participation for Open Source
Hardware Camp 2026, which will mark 15 years since the very first
OSHCamp was held at C4CC in London.
Tickets are not on sale yet, but these will be £12/day and this includes
lunch, plus tea/coffee. Those presenting and running workshops will
receive free tickets.
Budget accommodation is available at Hebden Bridge IOU Hostel, which
adjoins the venue, and there are plenty of B&Bs, plus a number of small
hotels in the area.
Any questions don't hesitate to get in touch!
Cheers,
Andy Bennett
//
-+- Open Source Hardware Camp 2026 -+-
This year Open Source Hardware Camp will take place over the weekend of
Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th August, at The Birchcliffe Centre,
Birchcliffe Road, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX7 8DG.
Proposals for talks and workshops for OSHCamp 2026 are invited!
There is no theme and topics may include, for example:
* Open source hardware projects
* Open development practices and principles
* Novel/interesting/fun projects built using open source hardware
* Tools (hardware and software)
* Skills and techniques, e.g. PCB fab, DIY SMT assembly
* Relevant technologies, e.g. SPI/I2C bus programming
* ...something else relevant to the community
If you would like to give a talk on the Saturday and/or run a workshop
on the Sunday, please submit details via the form at:
https://forms.gle/CgJFtjpMUmsMpvQa8
Any questions can either be sent to either myself or andrew at
abopen.com.
~~ A social event is planned for the Saturday evening ~~
**** Note that the deadline for submitting titles and abstracts is
Thursday 30th April at 17:00. If you would like to discuss ideas etc.
please get in touch sooner, rather than later. ****
--
andyjpb(a)ashurst.eu.org
http://www.ashurst.eu.org/http://www.gonumber.com/andyjpb
0x7EBA75FF
Hi,
I've got 5@Cisco Catalyst 2970 24-port Gigabit switches available FOC.
I can bring them to the HackSpace next Tue if anyone is interested?
Otherwise, they are going in the skip...
Bye,
Tony.
--
Minke Informatics Limited, Registered in Scotland - Company No. SC419028
Registered Office: 3 Donview, Bridge of Alford, AB33 8QJ, Scotland (UK)
tel. +44(0)19755 63548 http://minke-informatics.co.uk
mob. +44(0)7985 078324 mailto:tony.travis@minke-informatics.co.uk
Hi, happy Tuesday 🙂
It's opening evening today, hope you can make it along. Things occuring
will most likely include tea/coffee/beer drinking, tinkering, hacking,
chatting, chavin, making, soldering, looking for things, making mess and
tidying.
We're at...
Suite H Kettock Lodge
Innovation Park
Campus Two
Bridge of Don
Aberdeen
AB22 8GU
There is sort of useful info on:
https://www.57north.org.uk/open-eveningshttps://www.57north.org.uk/contact.
Press buzzer H and someone will come and let you in after a wee wait.
Reply if you have any questions, if you want to share your plans, or if
you'd like a lift.
I'll be in around 8pm, fixing a cat spa, maybe also some PHP and 3d
printing.
See you there :)
Andy
Hello :)
Hope you're well. February eh, woosh, not sure how that happened so fast.
It's opening evening today, hope you can make it along. Things occuring
will most likely include tea/coffee/beer drinking, tinkering, hacking,
chatting, chavin, making, soldering, looking for things, making mess and
tidying.
We're at:
Suite H Kettock Lodge
Innovation Park
Campus Two
Bridge of Don
Aberdeen
AB22 8GU
There is sort of useful info on:
https://www.57north.org.uk/open-eveningshttps://www.57north.org.uk/contact.
Press buzzer H and someone will come and let you in after a wee wait.
Reply if you have any questions, if you want to share your plans, or if
you'd like a lift.
I'll be in around 8pm, fixing a water thing, maybe also some PHP and 3d
printing.
See you there :)
Andy
