Laser Wood Cutting

[Autonow]

Has anyone had success cutting wood with a laser?
I have been able to cut up to about 1/8" thick with minimal burn marks and burning. But anything thicker that leaves an ugly surface! My best results have been to run at 100% power 60Watt and increase the feed until it is just cutting through. Lower power and slower speeds make more charcoal

My Ideal thickness I want to achieve is 1/4"

[Ken_Shea]

Autonow,
I do not have a laser (yet, working on it) but Art from Mach3 fame indicated that he did best cuts when he dipped the wood in water to get it somewhat wet first. If that's the case you may be able to slow it down a bit for a deeper cut.
Don't know anything beyond that but it may be worth a try.

Let us know.

Ken

[zax15uk]

The results depend greatly on the type of wood, but air assist using an inert gas will help.

Zax.

[Dennis Rech]

Originally Posted by Autonow Has anyone had success cutting wood with a laser? My Ideal thickness I want to achieve is 1/4"

What type of wood are you trying to cut?
I am using a FSE 40 watt and it does a great job on 1/4 inch poplar.
70% power and about one inch per 5 seconds speed. Some types of wood do not work nearly as well. Pine sometimes catches on fire and leaves a lot of oil in the machine. Not much luck with 1/4 inch 5 ply plywood. The glue causes problems. Oak cuts erratically, the grain can be problematical. I was told that walnut works well.
I give a light sand job to the surface to remove a bit of smoke stain. The edges are going to look dark, but they are not charred much at all.
This is what poplar looks like right out of the machine.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...1&d=1303450445

[ASTECH_CNCTools]

Yes, for wood laser cutting, need to pay special attention is: easily catch fire!
If not suitable laser power set, and right cooling system, this situation happens sometimes.

And for different wood materials, such as hard or soft wood, and different work demand, such as cut down, or surface machining, also with different processing methods.

Besides, if for 3D Relief sculpturing demand, then CNC Router should work best.
With help of different wood router bit models, the CNC machine can develop various beautiful artworks.

By the way, for professional settings, it also needs time to know and grasp. Try more, and you will be technical too~

Good luck!

[Autonow]

Originally Posted by zax15uk The results depend greatly on the type of wood, but air assist using an inert gas will help. Zax.

I am currently using an air assist but I like the Idea of inert gas.

The wood I was using was douglas fir since it was readily avail for test runs and free. My preferred wood would be Baltic Birch plywood. but other woods would be in the domestic hard wood category

[Rodney Gold]

Inert gas won't help much , a lot of the "charring" is due to resins and other stuff staining the cut edge. The heat a laser generates is not only due to O2 being present , the wood will still char with the inert gas , we have tried it. You will also have issues trying to flood the enclosure with inert gas and not having the exhaust , which is vital when doing wood , suck it out , just using inert gas in the air assist wont work well at all.
A lowish power laser is not a suitable tool for cutting thicker woods , if you have a hammer , not everything is a nail....

[Litografa]

Here is Baltic Birch plywood cutting without any finishing. As you can see quality is very good.
About inert gas - it work extremely well with different plastics and agree with Rodney that for wood it will not work effective

[zax15uk]

I agree that laser cutting some wood results in dark edges from resins, and this cannot be prevented, but where the inert gas helps is if you are getting flame-ups that are burning the edge (charring) or creating a lot of smoke and contaminating the surface. The original post mentioned burn marks and charcoal, so the suggestion seemed relevant.

Baltic Birch ply with interior glue seems to be one of the more laser friendly products compared to many other woods (especially ply).

Zax.

[Autonow]

Originally Posted by Litografa Here is Baltic Birch plywood cutting without any finishing. As you can see quality is very good. About inert gas - it work extremely well with different plastics and agree with Rodney that for wood it will not work effective

Great. What power laser go you have? What was the power setting and feed rate? Was the material 1/4"?

[Litografa]

It was done by my customers
1) First two with Spirit GE 30 Wt made by FORTIUS marketinga agentura Speed 2%, power 100%
2) Another two with Spirit GE 60 Wt made by ?RAMUSTA? - graviravimas ir pjovimas su lazeriu - NAUJIENOS
Speed 3% Power 100%

Material was 3-4 mm plywood, not sure how much it will be imperial .

[coase]

Hi,
Think about glass laser tube 100w or more. It would be better.