Laser XY Scanner is an open source stepper motor based scanner. The components used are low cost and very accessible. This type of laser scanner is not extremely fast and has a fairly low resolution, especially with this driver, but it can still be used in a variety of applications. Draw, cut and or point with laser X and Y control.
There are many types but the traditional laser scanner is made with mirror galvanometers. These are very expensive and require even more expensive and complex controllers. You can think of them as high-speed servos. This XY Scanset in the photo above is currently $300+ and that does NOT include the controller.
This laser scanner is much simpler and slower but depending on your application it can still be very suitable. The simple 3D printed mount brings all these low-cost part together into something you can experiment with.
Happy laser-ing!
very cool project! how good would you say this is for a persistance of vision effect? that is, would drawing a rectangle at maximum speed end up with a stable rectangle to our eyes? (By the way, most of the videos on the article do not link anywhere to me)