Need Help!- cutting 6mm wood

[phil1878]

Hi all

Need a laser engraver capable of cutting wood upto 6mm thick. I understand from reading around various posts here that you will have different results depending on the type of wood. Low resin wood, less burning?

So 2 questions really.

1/ Which types of wood would be best considering I would want to engrave the top as well as cut the profile?

2/ What spec of machine would i need (rather than the supplier at this stage). 40W, 60W, higher?

Will probably go for a small work area (A4) at first to keep the cost down, then a larger capacity if I can make it pay.



Phil

[Melody-gweike]

Hi Phil,

1) Good wood for engraving & cutting is neither too hard nor too soft, No deformation, No crack, easily painted. Most of the woods are OK, but you should not choose as Density board,plywood..

2) 6mm is easy work. You can set different power and speed according to different kinds of wood. But should pay attention to the focal length to avoid burning. If you have a lot of cutting work to do , I suggest 80W. You will have good speed with that. If you engrave more, 60W also Ok.

[Rodney Gold]

To cut 6mm wood with a reasonable edge , you need 150w. You might do some 6mm woods with 60/80w/100w but you will have a lot of charring. A good rule of thumb is that if the wood feels dry and light *alder etc* , it will be easier to cut. Higher resin woods and plys are a huge issue when cutting , trying to cut 6mm teak or ebony or the like will be almost impossible with low powers. Plys have lots of glues and binders , also makes for dreadful cutting.

[phil1878]

Melody/Rodney Thanks for your feedback.

Hmm. As I suspected I'll have to choose my wood carefully as a 150w machine is not an option.

Rodney, I have read a lot of posts from you and you clearly speak with a lot of knowledge, so I bow to that... but I would be interested to hear from anyone has successfully cut 6mm wood with a 60w with minimal or no charring, and specifically what was it?



Phil

[bpoulin]

I have cut 1/4" wood with my 80w, which is 6.35mm. No problem cutting at all. Slight charring, but increasing the pressure of the air assist will help that. Also if charring and burning happens more with a particular type of wood, you can look into inert gasses instead of compressed air. The gasses can help reduce charring.

[MonoNeuron]

Charring is a fact of life when you are cutting wood with a laser but it can be minimised by speed and power. The more power the better and faster you will cut. Also the amount of smoke it will generate is immense so you will also need to set up a fume extractor and vent the smoke outside somewhere.

I can cut 16mm Pine wood at 6mm/sec with my 100 watt laser. I could probably cut faster but I want to make sure it cuts all the way through the knots and also have the part fall free after cutting. Sometimes I set the focus at the top and other times I set it in the middle. It seems to cut better when it's focused at the top probably due to the small focal point getting the burn started.

The charring is minimal and it leaves a dark brown finish, not carbon black, that doesn't rub off on your hands unlike cutting chipboard or thin cardboard.

I haven't tried really thick MDF but I can cut 6mm MDF at 20mm/sec with no problems. Just don't breath in the fumes as it will kill you. :-)
Rich.

[fly007001]

hi Phil

100w RECI tube is no problem to cut 6mm wood no matter what kind of wood.

[bpoulin]

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[MaryB]

I cut 6mm with my 60 watt all the time with no problems. 100% power and I think I was at 7mm/s

[bpoulin]

Originally Posted by MaryB I cut 6mm with my 60 watt all the time with no problems. 100% power and I think I was at 7mm/s

Just a friendly tip. To extend the life of your laser tube, avoid using it 100% You wold be better off firing it at 90%, slowing down the speed, and increasing the air pressure of the air assist. Think of it this way, would you drive your car with engine revving at it's maximum RPM all the time? Yes it can handle it, but for how long?

[cinematic2]

60W RF Synrad is enough for 6mm wood.

[Cat cat]

Originally Posted by phil1878 Hi all Need a laser engraver capable of cutting wood upto 6mm thick. I understand from reading around various posts here that you will have different results depending on the type of wood. Low resin wood, less burning? So 2 questions really. 1/ Which types of wood would be best considering I would want to engrave the top as well as cut the profile? 2/ What spec of machine would i need (rather than the supplier at this stage). 40W, 60W, higher? Will probably go for a small work area (A4) at first to keep the cost down, then a larger capacity if I can make it pay. Phil

Hello, Phil!

Do you remember me? We have contacted by emails.
About the wood, may different according to the density of the wood. If the soft one, 60w can be Ok. If the hard one, 60w may difficult. So we often take acrylic as standard.

Salley
Web: Liaocheng Xinxing Electronic Co., Ltd.
E-mail: sales07@raylaser.cn Or raylaser06@hotmail.com