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diyAudio Member
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: London, Ontario, Canada
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Nice machine, man! You have my envy.
I once worked a place with a 25W CNC laser engraver. At about $500 per watt how can you possibly afford one on a DIY budget? Never mind... sometimes I buy tools just to have them, with no specific purpose at the time of purchase. Heh!
Anyway...my experience is that metals don't easily cut with this type of laser. For that, you need a YAG (Yttrium argon gas) based laser.
I recall that they are really good at cutting through organic material such as plastics, wood-based and VOCs like paint, epoxy, etc. When you talk about etching, that is only for the natural Al-oxide surface and not the actual alloy. Also, some materials cut more cleanly than others. Acrylics, ABS Corian, wood, paper and paint-coats are great for slicing through. I think that PC and PE are less friendly to the beam. We were pretty careful, and never bypassed the safety mechanisms. Could you imagine getting your finger in the beam? Or worse, having it reflected into your eye... the thought still scares the poo out of me.
Travis, I assume that you've had some training on it so this next part is FYI to everyone else who may not know...
It is almost never necessary to dial up the unit to maximum power. Often, the focus on the lens and the type of material requires considerably less power. Imagine the kind of localized energy with a 5W beam of .008" diamter typical. Also, there is likely some kind of fume ventilation system as the vapourized plastics and VOCs can provide quite a hazard. Anyone with a request should really be prepared to repay him for his risk and electrical utilities.
Wish I could have brought the one owned by my ex-boss home with me. Although, if I asked, he might let me use it just to see what I was up to.
Regards,
:)ensen.
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Those who claim to be making history are often the same ones repeating it.
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