DIY Fiber Laser Cutter V2 | Part 6: Leadshine EL8 Series Servos

If you want to build your own fiber laser cutter, join our Patreon group: / diyfiberlaser
Today we finally start installing the Leadshine EL8 Series servo drives and motors on my DIY fiber laser cutter V2! We also install the Leadshine servo drive for the Raytools BM110 auto-focus laser head focusing unit. Stay tuned…there will be a Part 2 video where we do the auto-tuning for the motors.
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Thank you to Leadshine for sponsoring the servo motors and drives for this project! If you would like to learn more about their products and get a quote for your project, visit their website at www.leadshine.com or email them directly at [e-mail]
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If you need laser components for your project, check out Sky Fire at alleriastore.com
You can receive a 5% discount on laser components use the code: “FROMTRAVIS”
(this discount applies to all products except for the laser machines)
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My website: www.id3ntitycrisis.com
My design portfolio: www.id3ntitycrisis.com/portfolio

[@pierreboone568]

That's a nice piece of work, I'm 73 years old and I really enjoy watching your videos.

[@ChromedOutDubs]

This series is advancing quickly, and I love it!

[@weldchip]

nice to see you are making some good progress, looks like it will be a nice build. some tips for general good control/machine design. your z brake and motor power & laser should be wired through an estop and the controller, i wouldn't rely totally on the controller, if the software hangs the machine may not stop. the 24volt for the brake should go through a relay wired to the estop . The laser and motor power should go through contractors also tied into the 24v estop chain. also don't daisy chain the grounds it will likely result in noise issues run a ground wire for each drive back to the central ground bar and follow a star topology. you may also want to put a separate noise filter on the power to the drive logic if your doing fast rapids the power put back on the ac line during hard deceleration can potentially cause spurious logic faults. with regard to the motors and gearboxes i think you may be able to remove the gearboxes and direct drive 400w motors on a little gantry like that. Its not like your machining so the loads shouldn't be that high. that should be plenty of torque and you can add brake resistors to slow it down quick, that will also reduce noise, back feed to the ac line. what are your thoughts on belt stretch? what accuracy are you aiming for? i notice you intend to run an enclosure you may have to mitigate for thermal expansion and belt slop if your running it hard all day

[@diyfiberlaser]

Thanks for all of your helpful feedback! Your comments make me want to go to school for this…I’d love to learn more about machine control and design. I should research if there are any online courses that I could take from home. As you pointed out, I lack knowledge in the estop, relay, contactor chain. The laser source unit is getting plugged into it’s own separate circuit (my garage has 3 separate 20A 240V circuits) and it has an estop integrated on the front. The motor drives will be getting contactors (as soon as they arrive) that are supposed to kill the power if there is torque overload with the drive’s STO function. I guess that wont prevent a crash, but just cut the power if there is one. If I understand correctly, the best solution would be to just have one contactor (wired to an estop) right after my main breaker, that can cut the power to the controller and motors? I’m not sure how to wire this. I can fix the daisy-chain ground wire…I was out of inputs on my terminal block…I think I need to add a separate terminal block so there is adequate space to make all of these connections. You very well could be right about the 5:1 reducers…I made a stupid mistake, I was going to first test the motors without them (I bought them just to have on hand just in case) I got ahead of myself and forgot to test, and now it will be a considerable amount of work to undo everything…ugggh. At this point, I think I’m just going to move ahead and see how the machine performs, then if they introduce too much backlash, I’ll start tearing everything apart. I’m not sure how much belt stretch will impact accuracy. This is my first time making a belt drive machine, so I didn’t so much have an accuracy goal, but instead am experimenting to see how accurate it can be. When we get to that point, I’ll have to do some test cuts with different top speeds and accelerations and see if it makes an impact. I’m not too concerned about thermal expansion…I don’t do production work, I’m only running my machines a few minutes to cut out a part or two at a time. Thanks again for your input…you give me a lot to think about!

[@Anatheme-]

wow I'm jealous. Those leadshine motors are super nice.

[@GlassImpressions]

This video series is awesome!!!

[@nielviljoen5276]

I would recommend not daisy chaining grounds but have one central eartpoint - great series very keen on building my own

[@diyfiberlaser]

Thanks! Another commenter also mentioned that….now that I know, I will make the fix

[@VectorGameStudio]

Good job

[@movax20h]

I just discovered your channel, not sure how I missed it. Pretty nice setup. I find it a bit weird that these power cables from drivers to servos, are not shielded. Hopefully it will work all fine tho. Still big thanks to Leadsine for sponsoring. Also I also do not understand how in 2024, we still are getting these crappy LEDs displays on drivers and inverters. Navigating menus is still nightmare.

[@nevillesidneygerber150]

Im a cnc laser technician do work work for most Chinese companies H.S.G, Sengfeng and oree

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Surprised those Leadshine units aren't DIN Rail mounted - thought this was pretty universal these days

[@LeoMGames_]

i think its so you can use the mounting plate for passive cooling

[@luke1811]

Awesome. I recommend installing a nice machine main switch on the outside instead of the circuit breaker, they are pretty cheap and look/feel better, plus you're not fumbling around in your electrical cabinet with live wires all over :)

[@diyfiberlaser]

I hear ya, that would be way more convenient! For all of my machines lately, I've been purposely not adding convenient power buttons as a safety measure, as I have 3 young boys that love to push whatever random buttons they come across. I also have my 240V outlets on the ceiling and leave everything unplugged when not in use, so hopefully it will be years before it would even be possible for them to turn on any equipment themselves.

[@LeoMGames_]

@@diyfiberlaser Almost every main switch has a hole for a padlock so that no one can turn it on/off

[@diyfiberlaser]

@@LeoMGames_ oh really...yes, that's what I need : )

[@luke1811]

@@diyfiberlaser Ah I see. There should be many different designs for main switches which aren't that easy to turn on. You've definitely got the hard parts like wiring and layout figured out, looks really good. Personally like to build out actual electrical cabinets, because often they have optional cut-outs for (example) 120mm fans (good fans are dirt cheap), which if you put a filter on a magnetic square on the outside of the inlet it will keep your electronics cool (run better + longer lifetime) and the filter keeps everything mostly dust free. I do at least two of those filter/fan setups - one usually at the bottom blowing in, at the top blowing out. Many electronic parts are nowadays advertised as passive cooled but somehow they hold up way less long than with active cooling... Who would've thought

[@diyfiberlaser]

@@luke1811 The other commenter mention power switches with holes for a padlock, I could probably get one that requires a key as well...I need to do some more research on my options here. I'm planning on using the laser itself, to cut out metal panels for the lower enclosure...I will definitely add some holes for mounting fans on the rear side panels.

[@Arek_R.]

Should've gone with taller cable trunking especially with such tall devices (those come in various sizes).

[@diyfiberlaser]

for sure...was justing using some I already had on hand

[@plasma453]

Fibre lasers create quite a bit of dust not dis similar too plasma. Wondering what your plans are for that?. Great project by the way.

[@diyfiberlaser]

Thanks, it will be fully enclosed at the end, with fume extraction.

[@AD72and0]

What software did you use to create your wiring cheatsheet? Im currently building my first cnc and am at the point of creating schematics and wiring diagrams. Im using powerpoint, which is far from optimal. Looking for recommendations please! Very jealous of your shop btw, keep it up!

[@diyfiberlaser]

Adobe Illustrator...I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, I'm just familiar with it from my graphic design days...there my be free alternatives, do a search for free vector drawing software

[@GeoffHou]

I'm not sure if you have a contact at leadshine but as I wanted to inform myself about their products, their website seems to be down.

[@diyfiberlaser]

It's down for me too...weird, I was on there last night. I don't have a sales contact.

[@experimental_av]

How hard would it be to add a 4th axis for tube cutting to the current design?

[@diyfiberlaser]

Not hard, you just have to get a different model Raytools controller for combo machines.

[@TAMARbarCNC]

Hey Travis do you have any discount code for purchases is leadshine?

[@diyfiberlaser]

Sorry no, they didn't give me any discount codes or purchasing links...you just have to get a quote through their website.

[@TAMARbarCNC]

@diyfiberlaser got it. Also I would love your thoughts on something. How cam I contact you? Email?

[@tomaszkarwik6357]

How much do those drivers and motors cost? Roughly

[@diyfiberlaser]

You would have to get a quote from Leadshine. I don't know the approximate cost.