Confirmation on which upgrade kit I'd need for K40 upgrade

[pwoyorkie]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum and somewhat new to laser engraving/cutting. I ordered a chinese 40w laser which arrived on Monday and took a few days to set up, allign and slightly mod the machine. The machine works great, however, the software (Moshidraw) is probably one of the worst pieces of software I've ever used. After a few days tinkering I've managed to figure it out however it has a knack of pausing, crashing and deciding to cut through the middle of engravings.

I've decided that its just not a viable way for me to do what I need the machine to do. Rather than cut my loses I think I'll upgrade to the DSP kit. I'm by no means an electronics expert but I think I can just about fumble through the upgrade with help from Marcos tutorial....which is where I'm now stuck.

My machine doesnt look like the one in the PDF. Now I'm unsure which kit (or components) I would need to purchase.

Would any one be so kind as to peruse the uploaded photos and confirm what I would need?

Many thanks,

Yorkie

[NickWL]

I recognise this one all too well! It's what I started with.
Basically, all the electronics have to come out and the optical endstops (two of) need to be replaced with microswitches.
The 'floor' is held up on four posts, that has to go.
The control panel goes too.
Then ask Marco (or study the LO shop) for a full DSP upgrade kit including PSU, air-assist and ideally a z-table and honeycomb.
You could keep the 12v PSU but I changed that to the LO one as well since the supplied one was a bit feeble.
Then add in (non-LO) some lights, a couple of interconnect switches (lid and maybe water flow), a cooling system (LO's should be favourite) and a decent fume extraction system.
In UK £s this should come to around £5-600 and will leave you with a very nice laser cutter/engraver.
Nick

[pwoyorkie]

Thanks for your reply

Seems like a bigger job than i was expecting

How difficult would you say the entire upgrade is?

To start with would the DSP upgrade kit (including air assist) and new PSU be sufficient until a time when i can replace the work area?

[weeb]

Yes, the DSP kit and PSU is not a difficult conversion, it's logical steps. I have just done it and I had never seen a home laser before let alone used one. I needed something to cut panels for my flight simulator cockpit and I thought the laser was the way to go. I had to send the first one back to China, it was so badly put together, I was scared to use it. The replacement arrived and it looked like it had been wired by Stevie Wonder. So I went for the conversion. I replaced the working area with a z table at the same time as it was necessary to take the X.Y assembly out to fit the limit switches, but you could use the one it comes with until you can afford the z table. The difference is night and day so I would recommend you do it, theres enough of us here to give you advice/assistance if you need it m8.

[pwoyorkie]

OK,

So in my basket I currently have...

AWC608 DSP upgrade kit for D/K40 small CO2 laser machine

&

40W~60W PWM CO2 Laser Power Supply (AC 220V)

Is this the bare minimum I need to upgrade? I just want to be sure that I'm getting everything I need in one go

[weeb]

Yep, your good to go m8. Everything there you need.

[Tech_Marco]

You may not need the LPSU. Just follow my post or from others to get the wire connection setup. You should be fine
If it doesn't work, then you may try our 40W PWM LPSU

Marco

[pwoyorkie]

Thanks guys,

Marco im just concerned that if i do need the psu i would need to then pay another lot of shipping....and wait longer lol