CNC Laser machines

[CNCadmin]

I saw a CNC laser for the 1st time and the show. Pretty nice, I was suprised how slow it runs, their were burning images onto wood vineer.

[balsaman]

The guy who does my laser cutting can go 180" per minute. He has splitter optics that devide the beam so he can cut two at once. His laser is 100 watts. He mostly cuts 1/8" ply and balsa for models and doll houses.

Eric

[Nono]

I used to run a 1000w Mazak, It could cut about 60 to 80 ipm through 1/4in mild steel and anout 150 to 160 ipm through 1/8.. The difference from plasma is the draft (taper of the cut) a laser is very straight and depending on the feed rate very smooth.

Was very cool blowing through a 3/4 inch sheet of plywood at 110ipm.

[owhite]

Originally posted by balsaman The guy who does my laser cutting can go 180" per minute. He has splitter optics that devide the beam so he can cut two at once. His laser is 100 watts. He mostly cuts 1/8" ply and balsa for models and doll houses. Eric

Balsaman, I need to farm out for some cutting, could you give me the email address of your guy?

Owen

[JFettig]

I think the reason he was cutting so slowly is just for show, so he doesnt cut out 300 parts while he is there


I saw a 12x64ft lazer, I think it was around 100KW if I remember right, at the time it was cutting 1" mild steel

Jon

[trent2530]

owhite, I saw this guy at a trade show in Atlanta. http://www.engravingsolutions.com

[CharCad]

Originally posted by owhite Balsaman, I need to farm out for some cutting, could you give me the email address of your guy? Owen

We've been successfully using several local award/trophy shops to do laser cutting for architectural model parts from various plastics, and also cardstock and light woods. Many of the better trophy shops now use have Universal Laser Systems, usually with lowest power 25w laser tube.

For anyone needing to occaisionally cut thinner plastics up to about 1/8", wood to about 1/8" and cardstock this would be the most economical way to go. Two or three reruns of the same file will probably be necessary for the thicker materials. And when using a 25w ULS, you should expect a slight bevel on the edges of materials thicker than 1/16" (just like a CNC Plasma cutter)

The Universal Laser System uses Corel Draw to drive it. This means you can bring your files in DXF format (ACAD release 14 compatible has worked best for us), which Corel Draw can directly import. The ULS/Corel Draw combo will interpret this drawing as a vector drawing and make vector cuts. Convert everything except circles and arcs to polylines, especially any spline curves

It's not necessary to create closed polygons although this will speed up the job. The Corel Draw/ULS driver will merely run all vectors, even including "lines on top of lines"

Color code vector 'cut' lines in red and 'score' lines in black.

Using Corel Draw the ULS also does a lot of raster cutting, although we have done very little of that.

Once we finish building our own CNC router I'll look into adding a CO2 laser capability to it. I'm incorporating water recirculation tubes in the umbilical cable leading to the gantry to prepare for this future contingency. And also incorporating a compressed air supply line for other future add-on expansion.

[Laser Doctor]

Originally Posted by CNCadmin I saw a CNC laser for the 1st time and the show. Pretty nice, I was suprised how slow it runs, their were burning images onto wood vineer.

They probably ran it slow for Demo and watching puposes. Who's CNC was it? What power laser and who's laser was it ?

The Laser Doctor