Newbie- Looking into buying a laser

[kling8]

Hello All,

I have started to research different lasers. I'm looking to learn more about them, I have ran a few over the years, but im interested to know what brands have worked for you. Good contacts bad contacts. Power watts, thinking that I want at least 100 watts.
Looking to engrave wood, metal, but want enough power to cut through 1/2" of wood, and through sheet metal.
Any help would be great...
Thanks all
kling8

[zax15uk]

You may do better with a CNC router for those applications, or perhaps 2 machines.

Engraving wood, and even cutting 1/2" is reasonable for a 100W CO2 laser.

Engraving on metal would be possible with an additive process but is expensive, so for both engraving and cutting I would suggest Nd:YAG.

You need to define the equipment before I can suggest vendors.

Zax.

[paulwilson05]

Nd:YAG....I'm using one right now cutting features into Ti surface.

[benji2505]

Does the YAG Laser go into wood?

[zax15uk]

The wavelength of YAG is not suitable for cutting wood, just like CO2 is not suitable for engraving metals (directly).

Which is why I suggested a CNC machine to do both, or even better 2 machines.

Zax.

[kling8]

Thanks guys, I was thinking it may require 2 machines but figured I would see if 1 could do it. I got some info. from a few companies, looking into a few more.

[cicigweike]

Hi King,
what kind of wood do you want cutting? wood have different kinds, some hard, some soft.this decide laser cutting machine's cutting speed and cutting deep.

About metal sheet, only a little of laser engraving cutting machine can cut metal and can not cut very deep.

plasma machine and waterjet machine specially at cutting metal.

About CNC Router, soft metal is ok, but if the metal very hard, for example stainless steel, the cutter usually be damaged.

So, you should think over the hard of the material and your cutting deep.

Best Regards,
Cici

[kling8]

I'm thinking the wood I will be using various, I have a friend who has a saw mill, pine, maple, bass wood, oak, cedar, ash, focusing mostly on wood, and probably softer woods. The question on metal was, I was thinking if worked I could make templates for other projects was the metal idea

[zax15uk]

Slightly off topic, but I disagree with Cici's comment regarding CNC routers and 'hard' metals. Sure EDM would be preferable for some jobs but most small machine shops use CNC (with high speed spindles, coolant etc) for stainless steel. I work with stainless all day long, using diamond or carbide end mills and with coolant and the correct feeds/speeds they can last a long time and are a fraction of the cost compared to an EDM.

Abrasive waterjet, plasma and high power laser are limited to sheet materials and straight cuts.

Now back to the question from kling8, you could add a laser diode to a CNC router for the engraving and let the router do the rest. Cost would be lower compared to the other options and you can always add a plasma cutter to it later if desired.

Zax.

[fly007001]

cnc router is ok~

[paopaolo]

Hello Gentleman's,
I approached the laser cutters thinking "buy the machine and cut/engrave for free for the rest o your life!". So save time and money...

Now I could invest those 4000 to 8000€ into a laser cutter (and still I have to decide if the cheapest is really the best), but the question is to know if the machine really run for free, how often do you need to replace or recharge this CO2 tube? Are there other hidden costs you ran in to?

By the way, did you ever try to use the laser to shape the standard furniture wood (relatively soft, 18mm thick)? is there any risk that the all plate of wook catch up in fire?
Thanks tho those who may answer..

[fullspeceng]

My experience with cutting wood is that the laser ALWAYS leaves burn marks on the edges that you won't get with a CNC router.

I prefer this look as it looks like a black paint on the edges and has nice contrast. If you are careful you won't burn the tops but I've set fire to wood many times when not careful.

Even with my 40W laser I can cleanly cut through 1/4" hardwood in 1 pass with appropriate PWM power control. I can probably do 1/2" without too many problems with the 50W that are coming next week.

I don't think mounting the laser head on the end of the router is a good idea.

Laser mirrors are pretty cheap ($50) and you can keep the tube stationary and bounce the beam down to the surface.

That said, I wouldn't operate a non enclosed laser beam. Seems pretty dangerous to get a reflection into your eye.

Laser tubes usually last 1000-3000hours depending if you take care of it. PWM pulse mode is way better for the tube. Even the more expensive 80 or 100W tubes are only like $600 so I'd figure around 10-50cents/hr to run. Your electricity bill probably costs about the same so I say the laser tube life is a non factor..

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