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FABtotum releases the Laser Head

PCB Prototyping, Design and Engraving with Laser Head for FABtotum 3D Printer

We have come to a final version of the much-awaited Laser Head, the addon which will make the world’s first Personal Fabricator even more multifunctional. The new module will add laser engraving and laser cutting on top of the 3D printing, 3D scanning and 3D milling functions.

 

Easy, fast, useful
The FABtotum Laser Head just needs to be plugged onto the 3D printer’s carriage: that’s how anyone will get a laser engraver and cutter on his/her desktop. With a power of (almost) 500mW, it can engrave many materials such cardboard, wood, balsa and many more. It can even cut thin layers, mainly paper. And it can make PCBs. Oh yes.

The Laser Head will be available for purchase from today directly on FABtotum’s store and it will work on every unit ever delivered. As always, the aim is to have a machine which can constantly be updated, enlarging its potential and/or making the main hardware performing better than ever.
The software included will just make things easier: having a draw transported on the choosen material will be possible in a few clicks.

 

Precision is the word
A laser beam can draw with incredibly high precision. The cartesian axis of the FABtotum Personal Fabricator are perfect to drive the Head on the surface: the FABtotum’s software will automatically move the tool on the X and Y. This new technology will exponentially open up to different works ideas and projects. Even a simple jpeg photo can become real and reproduced on a real surface. The result will just surprise.

 

What will be the main uses of the new FABtotum addon?
The Laser Head in conjunction with the Milling Head will expand the possibilities as they’re meant to cooperate: their potentials are completely different. While the second can cut off and carve deeply any material, included woods and thin metals, the Laser Head will work better for different tasks. Here are a few examples:
1. Wood/balsa engraving: the 500mW beam is enough to mark those surfaces and with the possibilities to choose between none and 255 (but, honestly 10 are more than enough!) shades of greys it will be possible to reproduce with precision all the pictures and photos. Also, it’ll be possible to choose from different profiles to decide which final look is preferred. Of course, FABtotum’s Software will be needed in this case.
2. Paper/cardboard cutting: with the FABtotum Personal Fabricator and the Laser Head addon is easy to create many artcrafts such as foldable or pop-ups models, origamis and so on. The light beam is strong enough to both make the surface easier to be bent or to cut it in one step. With the help of FABtotum’s dedicated sofware, also, everything will be even easier thanks to the preset profiles.
3. PCBs: that’s the big deal. While the Milling Head could be used as well, there’s nothing as precise as a laser. The strong brushless motor, anyway, will still be a valid alternative and will also help to cut out the board in the desidered dimension. The Laser Head will work for both positive and negative photosensitive PCBs. In the positive ones the beam will polimerize the layer that should not be eroded by the acid. When a negative board is chosen, the beam wil then be directed on the parts taht should be eroded by acid.
This method of creating PCBs is costs and time saving. Easy, cheap and fast, is the best solution for both makers and any business that needs many prototypes.

laser_paper_cut


A dedicated software
The Laser Head will benefit of a user friendly software* completely developed by the FABteam: the pre-set profiles, the ease to upload a picture and get a GCODE done will make the user able to create in a few minutes. Whether the project is a PCB or a kirigami, the FABtotum’s software will set everything up. Of course, skilled makers will still have the chance of changing some settings or even use a different method to generate the GCODE.
The Laser Head is the perfect tool for anyone: from makers to artists, from small business to schools and education centres. The classB laser has enough power to make a lot but it can still be considered safe when properly used. Available as an addon to be purchased alone and/or bundled with the FABtotum CORE.

Get today’s limited offer!


The FABtotum CORE
FABTOTUM srl has been funded by Marco Rizzuto and Giovanni Grieco in late 2012 in Milan, Italy, where it is still based today. A year later the first model of the FABtotum Personal Fabricator has been described like the most innovative machine on the market; at the same time it become the most successfull crowdfunded product of all Europe.
The first FABtotum has been delivered in 65 countries and it counts more than a thousand units delivered.
The FABtotum has been the first to offer a multipurpose machine and to understand the important of having a device that could update itself endless times and get a mini laboratory on a desktop.
In the 2016’s Q4 the FABtotum CORE edition was officially presented during the company’s first Milestone. Between the advantages of this new model, there are a renewed Printing Head and Milling Head, a Hybrid Bed V2 and a complete new set of electronic boards. While the outside might look similar, the inside is completely revisited.
What else apart from Heads and Bed? We now have a Totumduino V2, a Raspi3 set and a Flex V2.
Want to upgrade? Contact us.

Once again, we’re happy to share with you what we’ve done so far, surely you’ll love it!

 

*The software will be free until June 2017.

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Sneak Preview: Hybrid Head V2, Laser Head and…

Best CNC and rapid prototyping materials: paper and cardboard

Hi everyone!

After a short break we are already back with some updates for you. Expect more in the near future, you’ll hear from us again really soon.
In the meantime we can tell you that, after two years from the start and one of production/deliveries, we have a bunch of new things that will be available in the upcoming days.

The Hybrid Head V2
We told you in the previous post that the Hybrid Head V2 is on its way: we’re not done yet with it though: we are still working on the last details; the final result will offer you the best performances ever and a better quality of prints.
While waiting for some smaller parts to be delivered and tested, we are already watching it printing fine objects.
In the picture below you can see some samples that show you the improvements: higher temperatures let us try different materials and we can proudly tell you we can print PLA, ABS and NYLON.

Samples of prints with the Hybrid Head V2

Samples of prints with the Hybrid Head V2

The specs are the ones previously released but we take the chance to sum them up:

  • full metal body hotend;
  • improved fans system;
  • completely interchangeable nozzle (which means easier maintenance/replacing);
  • completely interchangeable cartridge;
  • different nozzle sizes available (we will tell you more later on);
  • 260° max working temperature.
First pictures of the Hybrid Head V2: final look may still change

First pictures of the Hybrid Head V2: final look may still change

 

A new Feeder
The feeder mechanism has now become simpler and does not require any action to switch between additive and subtractive mode.
No more buttons to be pushed: new FABtotums will have a slightly different feeder and won’t have any hole on the back inner panel.

What if you already have a FABtotum and want this to be available on yours as well?
We will add a dedicated note on our wiki as you need to manually change it before switching to the new version from the settings of the FabUI.
This is something we decided to change as a consequence of the community’s experience. That’s why, once again, we are always looking for your feedback.

Scanning update
Out of the three first capabilities of the FABtotum, scanning option has always been difficult to be used. Results were not always reliable and satisfying. We worked hard on this as we wanted to offer you a better product. In the upcoming months we will focus even more to have you less stressed when postprocessing. Shapes will be less deformed, the camera is going to add colours and details to the final result. We will tell you more as soon as we have news and we will always update our development log on the forum as well.

Developing the scanner results

Developing the scanner results

 

A more complete Wiki
First year of FABtotum’s life also gave us a better idea of which were the main obstacles between a bad print and a good one: 3d printing can require a bit of knowledge first and our machine as well need to be “discovered”.

To help you (and to help us as well) we are little by little completing the wiki: a lot of new contents have been added every now and then and still are. Our Team together with the community increased the literature available online so that troubleshooting and first steps became easier.
You can give it a look and find out yourself here

 

An idea of all the components of the FABtotum

An idea of all the components of the FABtotum

All the documents are now on GitHub
We have gone even further than that: loyal to our Open Source identity, on Git Hub we added every missing specification. From hardware (already available on GrabCAD) to software, everyone can see what the FABtotum is made of and how it works. Suggestions are appreciated, simple curiosity is also welcome.
Here is where you can find everything

Laser Head
It has been in our projects since the beginning and it is now pretty much ready. We are still testing it, but the first results have seen our smiles rising and shining on our faces. It is not mentioned to cut hard and thick materials: we still prefer to leave this kind of job to the milling motor. Now you can throw away that smelly mutated seabass of yours.
With the laser head of the FABtotum you can:

  • engrave woods, plastics etc;
  • cut thin sheets of paper, cardboard and plastic.

You cannot:

  • cut thick plastics or other thick materials (>0.2mm)
  • pretend to be an evil scientist.
Testing the laser precision and quality

Testing the laser precision and quality

The new head won’t replicate the capability of the milling head. However, as you may know, laser engraving has a much more higher precision. You will be able to write or draw lines on the mentioned materials, as well as cut what would be too soft of thin for a drill bit.
The power of the laser we will use is 500 mW: nothing too powerful, just enough to do what’s needed.
This means that it won’t be too dangerous or require special equipments, but it will still be better to use a bit of extra care when turned on.
This is how it will look like, more or less:

First pictures of the Laser Head - final look may be slightly different

First pictures of the Laser Head – final look may be slightly different


It will be easy to be mounted on the FABtotum and won’t require extra calibrations in addition to the ones you would normally do.

Coming soon…
Today, then, we can say we already pushed the envelope a bit further than the first idea of FABtotum, born two years ago on Indiegogo.

The three Heads: the V1, the V2 and the Laser Head

The three Heads: the V1, the V2 and the Laser Head

But, as said at the very beginning of this post, we still have other great news coming soon…

teaser

Keep following us!

 

*Available from next release, due on 20th August.

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