Laser Recommendations


Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Laser Recommendations

  1. #1
    Member Matt_McCoy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Posts
    3
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Laser Recommendations

    Hi everybody,

    I’m looking for advice and recommendations on a 5x10’ fiber laser to cut 0.25” steel. I don’t have a budget in mind, but not opposed to importing a machine.

    Thank you!

    —Matt

    Similar Threads:


  2. #2
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    6
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Laser Recommendations

    I have a smaller one I got from Bescutter they are a Florida based importer of machines.. I have an enclosed 500 watt 4x4 table that we have had two years.. I have a small shop and only cut up to 14ga with regularity. I've cut some 1/4” but it was not really pretty because I just don't have the power. I saw one of their 10,000 watt machines and it did a better job on 1" plate than mine did on 1/4”. I did a little video about it.



    I think you would want something around the 2000 watt range. Maybe you could get by with a 1500 but honestly sometimes it's best just to pay the bill.

    I will say I was a little jealous when I saw that exchange table in action, lifting anything bigger than 16 ga into a machine is rather unpleasant.



  3. #3
    Member Matt_McCoy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Posts
    3
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by csspecs View Post
    I have a smaller one I got from Bescutter they are a Florida based importer of machines.. I have an enclosed 500 watt 4x4 table that we have had two years.. I have a small shop and only cut up to 14ga with regularity. I've cut some 1/4” but it was not really pretty because I just don't have the power. I saw one of their 10,000 watt machines and it did a better job on 1" plate than mine did on 1/4”. I did a little video about it.



    I think you would want something around the 2000 watt range. Maybe you could get by with a 1500 but honestly sometimes it's best just to pay the bill.

    I will say I was a little jealous when I saw that exchange table in action, lifting anything bigger than 16 ga into a machine is rather unpleasant.
    Thank you.



  4. #4
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    6
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Laser Recommendations

    Check out the YouTube channel Ramsey customs. He has a 1000 Watt and has a few videos cutting 1/4”.

    One consideration is electric availability. The 500 and 750 watt raycus laser supplies I am running are single phase.. the larger units are normally 380v three phase and often come with a power conversion unit that turns 230v three phase into 380v. You want to confirm that you can power the machine before you buy.

    One thing if you are in the USA is that there is a tariff on Chinese laser machines. So prices on Chinese websites are not reflecting that.. supposedly there is another laser maker in Singapore that is not affected by the tariff. I'm not sure they are as good as raycus.

    I suggested Bescutter because I've bought two machines from them and am mostly happy with the machines. Definitely for the price, both machines have been very productive once we figured out how to make them do what we wanted.



  5. #5
    Member Matt_McCoy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Posts
    3
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Laser Recommendations

    Thanks!

    I reached out to (Gary) Ramsey—he’s about 1.5 hours away and has graciously agreed to a visit at his shop. Several people led me his way.

    I have RFQs in with several of the manufacturers that I’m familiar with—both U.S. resellers and direct from the factory. The machines I’m looking at are almost all identical (e.g., fiber unit, head, rails, servos, software, etc.) but the prices are anywhere from ~$50k to well over $100k. My preference right now is to purchase from a U.S. reseller to receive set-up, calibration, and training. I think this will be the quickest path to get everything online without swerving all over the road.

    I have years of experience with DC CO2 lasers and my background is in design and fabrication, so I know enough CAD/CAM to be dangerous. I am aware of the power/consumables requirement for these machines, but I’m sure I’ll have lots of questions as we go along.



  6. #6
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    6
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Re: Laser Recommendations

    One thing I will say about Gary is that from watching a couple of his videos is he is not as paranoid about lasers and CNC gantries as I am. But I almost got my head smashed by the gantry on mine by being stupid and having my body in a crush zone while moving it, and I have a dark spot in my right eye from a handheld blue laser from a decade ago, so I don't like exposed lasers at all.. I barely trust the glasses, I'd rather see the laser work from a TV screen, because I know the laser can't come through a TV.

    I agree on the US based retailer, most are more like importers because they take your order and then order the machine to be built and shipped.. But it gives you more assurance that you will receive the machine, because you have legal options if they don't deliver.. To me that was a big thing, I requested prices from over a dozen companies, ended up going with bescutter because they had an enclosed machine that was well within my budget.. Bosslaser had a more impressive location but they only had open machines at the time, same for cam5. Kern only had co2 at the time but they have fiber now. Over half the companies I contacted never gave me a price or replied.. I did like Bescutter for actually having publicly posted prices.. Boss did not have listed prices at the time, which resulted in us having already mostly agreed to buy the bescutter machine before we had a price from boss because they wanted us to come to their showroom before giving us a price.

    The service/tech support that any of them offer is likely not the same level as Haas offers on their mills. I had my Z axis burn out on my Mini mill 2 and had a haas service guy over like the next day. But those machines are all over so they have guys all over working on them, plus the haas machine is almost all proprietary parts. The laser market is more fragmented so I'm betting that service is more spotty and would take several days. In my case I'm so used to owning older machines that I normally solve the problem and order the parts and have it fixed before I even think that I could have called someone.. Like right now I have a defective temperature sensor in my water chiller, so I ordered a 10 pack of replacements. I own two similar machines so having spare parts makes sense.. And until the sensors come in I'll just adjust the one thermostat to compensate for the bad sensor.. Anytime something breaks I order two.. And the machine has been mostly trouble free for how much I use it.

    I would highly suggest an enclosed machine, laser smoke is nasty it's very fine metal dust and is really bad for health. I've seen a few shops try to just eject the smoke with fans but it does not really work... The smoke is heavy because most of it is metal dust, so cyclones can work followed by a fine filter and then ejecting the final exhaust, because there are gasses generated with the larger laser machines that are not good to breath in high concentrations.

    Most of the import machines use Cypcut and it's simple once you get the hang of it. It's closer to the software for a plotter printer than it is to CAM. From what I have seen using it for a couple years, there is no access to G-code or similar machine code it might be in one of the menus but I've never gone looking for it.. You only work with the software settings and your drawings. The nesting software is not super powerful on most because the computer they are using is an older model processor for some reason.. Not sure if they can be upgraded.

    Currently I'm mostly cutting 22ga 1050 so that's not a big deal, but I have some projects calling for high grade stainless sheet on small parts and I'd like to get the nesting working better to save some cost because that stuff is expensive. Same applies to thicker plate as well, getting the parts nested well is a major cost savings. Another option I have yet to look into is using fusion 360 to nest the parts and to compensate the parts on my design computer. Or buying a stand alone nest software to preform the task, again on my design computer.



Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


About CNCzone.com

    We are the largest and most active discussion forum for manufacturing industry. The site is 100% free to join and use, so join today!

Follow us on


Our Brands

Laser Recommendations

Laser Recommendations