Upgrade Your Desktop Laser: 3D Printed Laser Rotary Unit

The 3D printed laser rotary unit is a must-have for anyone who owns a desktop laser. The rotation unit makes it possible to process cylindrical objects such as glasses or flower pots. The construction of the 3D printed rotation unit should not pose any problems. All parts are very easy to print. I printed the parts from PETG. But also any other material works.

The assemblies of the laser rotary unit

Here you can see the laser rotary unit and the drive belt. The unit is very simple and hardly needs a description. Pictures say more than a thousand words.

The three-jaw chuck consists of a rotating spiral. The 3 jaws engage in this and move together symmetrically. It is important to start with jaw „A“ when inserting the jaws.
For the jaw chuck, an aluminum part with a diameter of 12mm and a length of 27mm must be manufactured.

The support foot can be used in conjunction with the three-jaw chuck for long parts.

The belt was peeled off with a cutter knife up to its tension member. On the opposite side was done from the other side. Thus, the belt can be cleanly connected by means of super glue. The transition is thus nice and smooth and there is no step. This is a good solution for belts that are not exposed to alzu high load.

If you decide to use endless belts, you could use a belt about 220 mm long for the shorter section and a belt about 440 mm long for the longer section.

The Laser

The ORTUR Laser Master 3, a 10W laser engraver, was kindly provided to me by Geekbuying. After extensive testing, I am extremely impressed with its performance. The 3D printed rotary unit can be connected to the port provided. Pressing the toggle button activates the rotation. The cable for the rotation unit is included with the laser. The laser is controlled via the Light Burn software, which allows the laser to be controlled conveniently and wirelessly via WLAN.

The configuration of the 3D printed rotary unit requires some settings in Light Burn. Initially, it may be necessary to experiment with the values to be entered. A helpful approach is to use a round object and move the laser once in a circle. The deviation can be measured and then corrected in the software to achieve optimal results.

And this is what you can do with the rotary unit.

There are no limits to your creativity. Other ideas would be for example the lasering of flashlights, laser pointers, glasses of all kinds and much more.

Have fun building the machine.