Thanks a lot for posting your progress, very interesting and super helpful as I begin tackling adding a laser to my machine. I’ll be hitting you up for advice - looks like you know what you’re talking about!
Thanks… but looks can be deceiving =;^)
Actually, since I’ve been away from this for a while – long enough to forget a lot of stuff – I’m just trying to get my creative juices flowing again. I was never happy with the big, clunky Z-axis I’d made so I’ve reworked the X-carriage and am trying a couple of ideas for modest Z-lift, a couple of inches or so. Don’t really need it for laser but it is helpful for finding best focus and testing materials for engraving/cutting. I’ve just fired up a brand new Banggood 3.5 watt laser and am testing it now. I hope to retrace my steps described earlier in this thread and get it operationally equivalent to the MPCNC I’ve got set up as a laser engraver, complete with Jeff’s v1pi image running on a Pi ZeroW. The timelapse video functionality is a lot of fun…
Get going on your laser setup and keep us posted on your progress. – David
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Don’t know who gets these but I got an email this morning… Banggood Mid-year sale until 6/25. Same 3.5 watt laser for $70 and free shipping… just had to have another one so ordered it just now. Spare… or another machine? 
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Thank you very much! Got a laser and an applicable pair of safety glasses. Some protection ought to be better than none. They at least match the wavelength range. If I can get a camera set up to watch it, then there wouldn’t be much reason to actually stand and watch it directly.
While I do agree with that sentiment to some extent, I believe it is something to be wary of in this scenario. Depending on the optical density (OD) of the glasses, they could reduce the beam output enough that you feel comfortable looking at the beam spot, but damage is still being done to your eyes. Also, the blue diode lasers often put out IR light in dangerous amounts if they aren’t properly filtered, and I never trust that these Chinese lasers are properly anything at first use. Once you get your glasses, if they aren’t marked on the frames or lenses with their protection rating, I wouldn’t put too much trust in them. There was another thread on the forums here about laser glasses from survival laser and I picked up a pair, and they are very nice for the price.
Thanks for posting the stl files! I’m working on a hypercube type printer using emt conduit and corexy mechanics and still experimenting with mounts for the xy pulleys, these will provide another look at the process.