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• Project Box

  Zachary Marlow • 02/19/2014 at 02:41 • 0 comments

  ​This section is going to very short , it's just going to explain the content of the project box and then we will get back to the construction of the laser setup.The laser project box so far is pretty simple it has the arduino,screw shield and the relay shield which are all stacked together, then their is the wire relay boards they are not actual RELAYS I just call them that because the help organize the wires.Simply put they help keep the stress of the laser circuit and the power system from actually interfering with the arduino section.Is this the best way of doing it? I dont know but it is simple.So we shall see if it actually works .Ohh I almost forgot the 9v battery powers the relay (I'll go into this in farther detail when I get there).And yes I know the photo sucks sorry It was getting late.

• Micro Switch Additon

  Zachary Marlow • 02/19/2014 at 02:39 • 0 comments

  ​Well my hope from the beginning was some how use the board it came with (which is called EBB Control Board) to interface the laser and controls .This idea unfortunately did not work out for that the programming of their board was specifically designed to only do so much which did not include adding a high powered laser .At least from what I could see that the commands available we would not work out how I would like.

  So from that small headache, I came into the idea that I would have to add a switch to a separate micro controller.For those that don't know how the watercolorbot works the bot simply has a servo that raises and lowers the head which is where the pen or pencil would be.Because the head raises and lowers this gave me the idea of using a small switch to tell the arduino (We will discuss more about the arduino later on) to provide power to the Laser.So in conclusion when the head went up the laser would turn off and when the head went down the laser would turn on. In this design you don't significantly change the design of the bot.The design of this is quiet simple, I found out that double back tape is very useful in this idea for you can find the right spot for the switch without ever drilling a hole.After you get it working and in the right postion pre-drill two holes and attached it.(I will go into this later about programming it).Also you solder the farthest solder points which are negative and normally open.This micro switch can be purchased at your local radio shack.Then attach the wires to the other wire harness this is to keep it out of the way.

• WaterColorBot Laser Beginning

  Zachary Marlow • 02/19/2014 at 02:37 • 0 comments

  So after ordering one which cost about $295 dollars and building it took about a day(probably should have taken less time but I was willing to take my time) the great mod had began.
  

  
  Here is a list of what I have bought or already had or going to purchase for this project the list includes estimated price:
  
  1)WaterColorBot: $295.00 Source : www.evilmadscientist.com
  2)Laser 2W 445nm with Current Regulator: 140.00~(you can probably buy cheaper but I wanted something powerful) Source :Yet to be purchased
  3)Arduino Uno: 35.00~(knockoff arduino would probably cut the price dramatically but your taking risks)Source : radio shack or ebay or amazon
  4)Relay Board Shield : 20.00~Source : Radio shack ( at the moment mine is a seeed studio relay shield v1.3 )
  5)Screw Shield : 15.00~ Source : I think it was ebay
  6)Project Box: 5.00~ Source : Dollar General
  7)Heatsink :10.00~ Source : Probably will be something in lowes
  8)Wire : 8.00~ Source : Radio Shack
  9)Perf Boards and screw connectors : 10.00~ Source : Alibaba express
  10)Power Supply : 10.00~ Source : Yet to be purchased
  11)Switch:3.00~ Source : Radio Shack
  12)Extra Head Mount:2.00 each (I ordered 5 lol) Source:evilmadscientist.com
  Total So far : $563.00~
  
  Now this price may dramatically rise and lower all depending on what supplies you already have and what modification of the design you make.Example of this is that I already owned the arduino, the relay shield, the Screw shield, the wire , the perf board, and the switch and the water color bot because I didn't actually purchase the watercolorbot to make it into a laser which means I only spent $177 dollars more to build it.This supply list may change also for that im still working on this project.

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