Ortur diode laser Z-axis using furniture bolt

Special Interest Groups Laser SIG
#1

Sometime procrastination pays off. A z-axis adapter was made for the Laser Master 2 which uses a screw and tight fitting slotted parts to adjust the laser head up and down for focus instead of turning the focus knob all the time.

But it would not fit our Laser Master 1 machines because of the very different rail mounting method Ortur used between the two. ie LM2 uses acrylic plates on both sides of the rail and 4 wheels but LM1 uses just one acrylic plate and 3 wheels. A solution to make the LM2 z-axis adapter fit the LM1 was to move the upper 2 mounting holes inward and shrink the hole diameter. Another mod needed was to remove some plastic in the lower left corner so it would not interfere with the Y axis rail motion mounts.

Voila: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4611099

He added a modified moving part too which adds another row of screw mounting holes for the laser head in case you need extra range.

Will let you know how it works out.

1 Like
#2

It works!

It’s working on my LM1. I 3D printed some 3.72mm spacers to go between the acrylic mounting plate and the Z-axis mount(2x).
I needed to get 35mm long screws to replace the short wheel screws and the nut size was too large so I reversed direction(nuts at the wheels).
I removed the metal stand-offs from the laser head and used 3D printed 2.8mm high spacers instead and used 2 m3x10mm screws with pan heads. I did this because I didn’t have 8mm long pan head screws so the 10mm long ones bottomed out in the stand-offs and would not tighten. I’m getting better with FreeCAD so it was a couple minutes to create the spacers and a couple minutes to print them.
I put 2 more 2.8mm spacers at the bottom 2 holes to keep the laser head parallel to the Z-axis mount. While the mounts don’t match the holes in the heatsink at the bottom, I used 2 m3x6mm screws just to hold the spacers there.

1 Like
#3

Do you know if the mounting holes are the same on this Ortur Laser Master?

Ortur

#4

That is the LM or also known as the Laser Master 1(LM1). That is what I have. I tried to explain that the ‘standard’ z-axis that all the forums are buzzing about is made for the Laser Master 2 and all the things which are different from our Laser Master(LM1). AND I pointed out there is a modification to that z-axis(also linked above) which is what I made and used to mod my LM.

Anyone who is thinking about doing this mod should read my post and make sure you understand what I’m saying. It is not a print and bolt in on modification. You need extra hardware(screws of differing sizes and some nuts too) and you will need to make or acquire some spacers.

#5

Thanks for the clarification, Doug.
Most of us know our lasers as the “Ortur”.
Obviously the distinction is important to know.

#6

Laser Master is the model name and Ortur has been manufacturing lots of other products since we all helped get them off the ground. Many now get the larger open frame(square) Laser Master 2 so lots and lots of parts on Thingiverse are for the Laser Master 2(LM2) vs LM/LM1. But I love how small our little laser is.