I have an old laser engraver. It was built in 1998 and worked quite well until this summer 2023. So I would say that it was a very reliable machine but it now suffers from its old age:

• laser tube is dead
• software is very very old fashioned and runs (tries to run) under windows 95 operating system

So it was time to trash this machine... But it looked so professionnal that decided to refurbish it with more modern electronics.

• As I am an hobbyist I couldn't afford to buy a new RF laser tube, so I decided to change it to a cheap 40W CO2 tube
• As I love ESP32 and micro controllers I decided as well to design my own controller boards based on GRBL FluidNC software.

This board is mainly an IO board allowing:

• to control 3 stepper motors
• to detect 3 independant home switches
• to apply PWM to the laser controller
• to detect interlock door switches
• to drive 4 220V relays for air assist, vacuum pump, water cooling and light

Project is fully described on hackaday : https://hackaday.io/project/193893-retrofitting-an-old-laser-engraver

And the very first test of this board controlling my laser engraver (poor pen plotter mount !)

And finally the laser performing its first cut !