Bill and JR celebrate the two spaces working together.

When fellow makerspace MakeHaven started in New Haven, they inherited a laser cutter which had been abandoned. The model is the Universal Laser System M300 (50 watt). Make Haven now has sights on a new project: Two used Epologs in better condition. The m300 was then mothballed. MakeHaven’s first thought was that they could scrap it for parts or sell on ebay, but they decided they would rather see another space in Connecticut use it if there was interest. CT Hackerspace has taken on the challenge, and now will be actively pursuing rebuilding the broken laser cutter for use here at our space!

History of this machine:

The model is the Universal Laser System M300. The M300 had orginally fallen victim to someone going out to get a sandwich while it was running (and a subsequent fire). It is 50w machine, although the age of the laser has much less effective power. MakeHaven cleaned the cutter, added new glass, belts, electronics, and installed new optics. Make Haven got the machine partially working, but the heat must have damaged the mechanism in z-axis. (Adjustable laser bed) MakeHaven still used the machine a fair amount since the bed could be manually adjusted to the right focus length. Most recently a MakeHaven member went to use it and the M300 did not fire up at all. MakeHaven’s assessment is that there is not much hunger here to put effort into the fix of the M300. This is most defiantly a project laser needs plenty of work to be really usable, and CT Hackerspace will be rolling up their sleeves to see if they can bring this machine back to life.

The Universal Laser System M300