Cutting and engraving

[munich2007]

Hi all,
I'm thinking about purchasing a (chinese?)laser cutter for electronic prototyping.It should cut acrylic face-panels and some wooden elements but also allow to engrave fine scales and text.
What power will I need? Is it true, that a higher powered laser (80 Watt) is good for cutting, but bad for engraving?
I'm located in germany, any service here?
Or should I import from UK?

Thank you, Frank

[LadyCutter]

I haven't read much good about the Chinese lasers. They seem to be hard to set up and difficult to trouble shoot. Having said that, I have also read a FEW reviews that were very happy with the laser once it was finally set up and all the troubleshoot was done.

Power: the more power the the thicker & harder the material you can cut. However, A GREAT many people do extremely well with 30 & 45 watt lasers. All lasers engrave awesomely unless there is something wrong. Alot depends on what you are planning to do, and how much space you have. Exhaust removal is a very important item consideration.

[kyfds]

Originally Posted by LadyCutter I haven't read much good about the Chinese lasers. They seem to be hard to set up and difficult to trouble shoot. Having said that, I have also read a FEW reviews that were very happy with the laser once it was finally set up and all the troubleshoot was done. Power: the more power the the thicker & harder the material you can cut. However, A GREAT many people do extremely well with 30 & 45 watt lasers. All lasers engrave awesomely unless there is something wrong. Alot depends on what you are planning to do, and how much space you have. Exhaust removal is a very important item consideration.

I am a Chinese laser machine supplier. I do not want to argue for Chinese lasers. But, if you just notice the words which I have already colored in ladycutter's post, you will get some your own ideas.

[lamicron]

Hi Frank, If you need to cut most of the time, you should consider buying a laser of 60watts and up. lasers with 40w or less cancut, but take too much time, like 50% or 60% more than a 60W laser.with a 60w. laser you can cut at low speed 8 to 10 mm acrilyc in one pass, you can see in some threads 40 w laser owners trying to cut it in 3 passes at full power.
You cant have a 60x40 or smaller machine with a 60 w laser because of the size of the tube, 1.250mm length ( 4' length). 50W X each 1000mm .
Also consider to buy a machine from some brand with speaking english people I think most of the companies with no response after sales have this problem.
In the forum you can find good comments about hx laser * (rabbit laser) , zhongtai ( my machine) redsail, wklaser, all with some problems in the starting, but i think that makes you more happy when you put your machine to work.
Try one, many people in the forum can help. And be sure there is a lot of fun with these machines!
Luis

[lamicron]

Uhh, I forgot answer all, 80w laser as 60w can engrave and cut. You dont need to much power to cut. Also you can ask for a machine only for one of the options.
Luis

[munich2007]

Thank you all for the nice replies!

Originally Posted by lamicron You cant have a 60x40 or smaller machine with a 60 w laser because of the size of the tube

Ooops, I didn't know that the tube is so long. Thank you for this information. Actually i considered a smaller one (60x40).
Do you think I can cut PMMA Acrylic glass in one pass, if its only 1/8 to 1/4 '' thick ( 3 to 6 mm) with a 60 Watt Laser?

Thanks again, I will read through the older posts to fetch more infos.
Frank

[lamicron]

Yes, you can cut up to 6mm with 60w, 6mm is about 6mm/sec, with 80w 10-14mm/sec. 3mm with 60 w is about 10-13mm/sec.
The 9060 machine is 1400mm width and comes with 60w(1250mm length) Any laseer machine you buy get sure that comes with 3000 series water chiller not less than that.
Luis

[munich2007]

Funny, i found a 60 W laser with 500x300 mm work area size,
see the attachment. Look at the arrow I painted, Luis is right, the tube won't fit!

I did a search on the forum and found some entries, but it seems nobody had purchased an a4dableww.com machine.
This has water-cooling, seems to be unusual, is this good or bad?

Frank

sorry, attachment did not work.

[hany321]

Dear All
iam starting a small Project
I need a machine that can do both ( Cutting & Engraving ) tasks
on several materials ( Wood , Glass , Acrylic , Metal, Lather ........etc )
Iam intrested in Taiwan or China Machine also I have a Limited budget
i knew that GCC provide good machines ( There is a dealer for it in my country )
I wonder if you could suggest a machine model of GCC Comapny or a another company name to buy that system
waiting for yor reply
Thanks

[lamicron]

laser machines can do both operations, all depends on the size you want, if you want to engrave can use a little machine if you want to cut more than engrave Isuggest you buy a 9060 or bigger machine.
'This kind of lassers don do metals, take a read in the forum and there you can have a decision.
Luis

[mikegaylor]

Hi All,

I Have reciently converted one of the cheap chinese Laser (similar to HK40) Although not branded as such cost about $900 £500 Approx and Inported it to the UK ordered a spair tube for it from the offset incase the tube was brocken in transit (but it was OK) I converted this to run from Mach 3 as the chinese software with the ( DOG- Dongle in english ) is apsolutely CRA* I Have posted on our forum a breif description of the mods I did but if any one has any comments please feel free to ask here or post a comment on the Routout Forum. Link: http://www.cnczone.com/Forum/index.php?topic=17.0

Best Regards

Mike Gaylor

[hany321]

thanks
Now i understand that laser Power will determine the ability to Engrave or Cut in Laser Systems.
actually I found a china laser systems ( about 1100 $ ), I will post the brand name and its details to know if it is suitable or not