Enclosure to keep laser beams out of my eyes and smoke out of my lungs.

This is a massive work in progress that is way more fun and over engineered than it needs to be, which is exactly what I look for in my hobby pursuits.

I had been dreaming of a laser cutter for 6 years and finally went for it. Given that my workspace is a basement that has limited ventilation and dogs and people passing through, my immediate concern was getting the smoke and other gasses out of the house, and keeping the laser beams away from eye balls.

The answer is to build an enclosure!

The basic process I followed:

  1. Build a window exhaust vent box
  2. Prototype enclosure out of cardboard and duct tape
  3. BURN STUFF!!!!!
  4. Brainstorm what I want out of the real enclosure
  5. Become totally overwhelmed by scope, time, and cost
  6. Prioritize and form my minimum viable product (MVP)
  7. Go shopping
  8. Build the MVP
  9. BURN STUFF!!!!! loving every second of the waaaay better enclosure than that cardboard beast.
  10. Re-prioritize my original thoughts and gold plate my MVP
  11. Go shopping
  12. Apply gold plates
  13. BURN STUFF!!!!!
  14. Finish this web page to show the world
  15. BURN STUFF!!!!!

Window Exhaust Box

Window Box Full View

A key requirement for me was to vent the exaust out of the window without making any changes or cuts to my house. There’s a standard glass block basement window with the little rectangular window with a hinged door. When swinging open, the hinge is surprisingly big, so I decided to build a big box that sits flush agains the window with room enough inside to allow the hinge full range of motion.

Window Box Raw Lumber
Window Box Frame

To help me notice if the window is open or closed, I also added a small plexiglass portal so I can visually confirm the window state without walking over there and reaching under the box.

Window Box View Port 1

A small 4 inch kitchen/bathroom exhaust fan provides ample negative pressure to the system. For fun, I used cobwebs pulled from the basement ceiling and walls to verify that air is flowing in the direction I want at various key positions in the system.

For fun, and also to attach a 4-inch hose to the box, I designed a mounting plate in Fusion 360 and 3d printed it out of PLA.

Window Box Hose Mount 1
Window Box Hose Mount 2
Window Box Hose Mount 3

Cardboard & Duct Tape Prototype

The prototype has a sophisticated hinge mechanism to keep the smoke and laser light in the box, that is to say I bent the cardboard and hold it pressed down to the table while cutting, wearing goggles because it is like swiss cheese.

Ductape Prototype 1
Ductape Prototype 4

A beautiful peek inside the cardboard and duct tape prototype enclosure, along with a finely sealed (i.e. already peeling off) USB wire passing through.

Ductape Prototype 2
Ductape Prototype 3

Design Notes

This section is my original notes about the features I want to put into the enclosure. It’ll be lots of fun to compare this brain dump to what I actually implement as the MVP and then what I settle in on as the fully gold plated version.

I’m writing this at the point that I got the laser working yesterday, enclosed in a bunch of cardboard and duct tape. The window fan box seems to be working as planned, as no harsh winter winds are blowing into the house and no excess smoke is filling my basement.

Time to make the donuts.

  1. Interior Dimensions: 30x30x12
  2. Exhaust port with hose attachment (rear)
  3. Air intake hole with protective cover (front)
  4. One electrical wire coming in (panel mount shrouded male header)
  5. 4 receptacles / 4 switches a. laser a. fan a. lights a. pizero
  6. USB panel mount connector
  7. Hinged top
  8. Interior lights
  9. Laser window
  10. Handles on the sides
  11. Some way to hold the lid up while I’m positioning stuff a. wooden rod with a notch in the lid and the interior a. chains if it folds past vertical a. rope from top to a hook on the ceiling
  12. Some way to secure the laser in place a. Needs to be removable in case I need to lift the laser higher to put a CNC project under it a. drill holes in the laser’s feet and screw through the bottom? a. 3d printed clips that screw down to the floor and trap the laser’s feet (:thumbs_up:) a. Need to mark the origin (prob can just burn along the x & y axis to get started)
  13. Some way to mount the pizero so the camera faces the action

After I do some more experimentation, I’ll want a way to secure common types of stuff.

  1. Thin plywood for silhouette cutouts
  2. Aluminum business cards

Do you need a spoil board underneath for cutouts? Should it be a ceramic tile or other non-wood material?

Shopping List:

lumber: (qty 1) 1/4 inch plywood 4x8 sheet (PLAN the cuts so it fits in the car) Cuts: 30 inches 12 29.5 12 (leaving 12 left over, if the leftover is less than 12, I can cut it off the 29.5 waste section

-OR- 42 inches, single cut

-OR- 30 inches, single cut (this leaves 5’6” to fit in the car, go test it out)

-OR- 30 12 leaving me with a little over 4 feet to fit

(qty 3) 1x2 lumber

hardware: (qty 3) hinges (qty 1) box 7/8 wood screws

electrical: (qty 1) 3-gang junction box for receptacles (qty 1) 3-gang junction box for switches (qty 1) receptacle cover (qty 1) switch cover (qty 2) double switch (so total 4 switches) (qty 2) double receptacle (so total 4 receptacles) (qty 1) USB panel mount connector (USB-B on the inside, whatevs on the outside)

lights: 24v power supply, or some other lights?

Helpful Lumber Cut Planner

These saved me $200! My original layout of cuts through rough stock lumber would have cost me over $200 more than the optimized layout planned by these two web tools: