1
Cut a platform for the base of your machine out of wood, using a circular saw or a table saw. The size of your base will depend on the size of the scanner you use to put your CNC laser cutting machine together. The base itself does not require any additional construction. It simply needs to be a flat piece of wood that the scanners can sit on. Your CNC laser will consist of an x-axis and a y-axis that the laser follows, while remaining between the two scanners. The same mechanisms that drive each scanner will also drive the laser for your cutter. When determining the size of the base, lay out your scanners side-by-side, leaving room for the metal rods in between. This formation will give you a basic guide for determining the base size.
2
Cut the end off of one end of your scanners' connection wires. This is the wire that normally connects your scanners to the computer. The wire consists of multiple tiny wires inside. Using your multimeter, connect the wires individually to the meter and touch the pin connector on the other end with a screwdriver tip. Each time you get a reading, mark down the pin number and the color of the corresponding wire on a piece of paper. Realistically, you only need to mark about the first nine or 10 wires.
3
Remove the glass face from your scanners. The method for doing this will vary by scanner type, so examine your scanner carefully. Most likely you will need to remove four or more screws from the bottom of the scanner. Remove all the parts from the scanner except for the motor, the metal rod, the pulleys and the plastic carriage.
4
Place the aluminum tube in a vice and cut 2 to 3 inches off with a hacksaw. Cut the tube in two so that the two pieces are about the same length of aluminum rods. Smooth out the inside of your aluminum rods with a pipe brush.
5
Solder the scanner cables to a piece of prototyping board. Splice the wires from the scanner's parallel port to the wires in the cables. On the first scanner, use wires two through five to connect with wires three through six on the cable. On the second scanner, use wires six through nine to connect to wires three through six on the cable.
6
Ground the motor by taking it out of the scanner and locating the ground wires. The two wires of the same color will serve this purpose. Cut both of these from the white pin holder and then splice them together. Cut another piece of unused wire on both ends. Splice one end to the two colored ground wires and then splice the assembly to the number nine pin on the connector wire. The other remaining pins, numbers 10 through 14, go exactly where they are intended to go, into the same numbered pins. Repeat the wiring process for the other scanner.
7
Solder the 12-volt adapter to the middle of your prototyping board. Solder the positive wire of the adapter to the number nine pin of your wire assembly. Solder the negative wire to the number eight pin.
8
Attach the rods to your scanners by drilling a 3/8-inch hole in the carriage of each scanner so that the scanner head can run along the rod. Secure the rods in place with a pipe bracket. Do this for each of the scanners.
9
Cut two 3-inch long pieces of the 2.5-inch aluminum tube. Slide the tube over the aluminum rod that attaches horizontally to the scanner heads. Affix the tube to the 2-by-2 wooden block by sliding the rod through the tube and attaching a pipe bracket to the top of the block of wood with a 1-inch wood screw. Repeat the process for the other tube, placing this one on the underside of the wooden block and perpendicular to the horizontal axis. It will slide along the vertical axis.
10
Lube the rods so that the aluminum tubes can slide along the rods in response to commands that you program into the computer. Ensure that the scanners sit at least 1-inch up off of the cutting surface so that the tip of the laser is just above the cutting surface.
