DanielBauen.com
Laser Cutter Water Cooling System and Cart
Water Cooling System:
The 40W CO2 laser tube being used for this laser is water cooled. Using surplus parts we already had, we went a little overboard with the water cooling system. It uses a radiator from an industrial dehumidifier, and a water pump from a surplus contact lens assembly line machine. A reservoir is custom built from a piece of 4 inch PVC pipe, and uses a flow switch as feedback.
Laser Cart:
Picked up the perfect cart for a great price at KpSurplus.com. The cart has an access panel in the back, so we created a module for the cooling system out of plywood, and installed the whole module inside the cart so that it was accessible through the back. I also picked a bunch of usefull fasteners and motor vibration isolation mounts from KpSurplus.com.
The cart looks good, and has lots of storage place for materials and supplies.
Cooling System:
Flow Switch:
The flow switch sits ontop of the reservoir. Flow coming into the reservoir, through a pipe, forces a cap and rod upwards. A washer at the top of the rod normally contacts the microswitch. When the pump is running, and the rod is forced upwards, the washer also moves up and the microswitch is deactivated.
The cap below has a rapid prototyped part screwed to the top that has the pasthrough for the rod, and attachment points for the microswitch.
