john banks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJph...layer_embedded

You'd think that a laser beam would be straight and go through material easily, but many of them have a very narrow depth of focus and the beam is an X shape as it goes through so it can be a challenge to cut thicker stuff.

The above shows 18.7mm wood vs 100W laser, part of our R&D to establish the limits and optimise the machine.

If of interest can post more of it cutting more sensible depths (up to 6mm is sweet) at much faster speeds (up to 100mm/s on 3mm laser plywood), and engraving an array of materials.

This from a friend is a little more artistic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3thY7JVDFig

Ballyscoob

iTrader: (3)

Alg

Could you strap one on a shark's head?

Ian

iTrader: (10)

anti speed camera device me thinks

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

What are you actually supposed to be doing with it other than cutting holes in planks?

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

I can't help it but whenever I think of laser beams and cutting things, I always think of that James Bond film where the guy is strapped to a table with a laser beam slowly moving towards him.......

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

"Do you expect me to talk, Goldfinger?"

"No, Mr. Bond! I expect you to DIE!"

boxst

I didn't think that lasers were very good at cutting wood as too much of the heat dissipates through the wood before the actual cutting occurs.

As opposed to metal (and other material) where the heat is concentrated and acts.

speedking

Surely it's the other way round? Wood is an insulator and so the heat remains concentrated, metal conducts the heat away?

Is it difficult to cut mirrors with it?

john banks

My wife is the artistic one, I just sort out the technicalities of the machine and cut holes in planks First quote request came in today to engrave some slates for a wedding, but we were not planning to start properly until April as whilst the machine is working well there is a product range to develop, photograph and advertise. You can make quite interesting things out of cut and engraved wood and the laser works well on it if you have the correct focus, power, speed. The beam is highly focussed and has a very small spot side. If you use compressed air as I do in the video and a good extraction setup you can avoid overheating the surrounding wood too much and get a nice clean cut. Acrylic is even better as it flame polishes it and comes out the machine with no further work required. Wood products often require a light sand to get a bit of resin off afterwards, but the detail of engraving and cutting is way finer than a CNC router. However, a router is much better for removing large volumes of material so good for depth and size.

One of our main product groups will be personalised wooden greetings cards, and we want to do clocks, sculptures, ornaments, models, furniture engraving, some sign work etc. Have been playing around with engraving wine glasses and bottles a bit too. We can test the market with a few different items and see what floats and build from there, the machine is versatile, and personally I find it great fun to play with.

For a CO2 laser, which this is, it will mark anodized or painted metals well, it will mark silver, stainless, brass etc with a marking solution at high speed, or without at low speed. This 100W machine is just on the boundary of being able to cut very thin metal, but it is really the wrong tool for it. The running costs of the bigger lasers used to cut metal make it difficult to make money with the.

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

there's a lad on facebook that does pyro stuff don't think he uses a laser though, the final product I'd pretty impressive though.

mart360

Hi John,

how much for the unit? running costs /maintenance....


We used to have smaller version for doing day/date / serial stuff on products we used to make. It was never utilised properly, i remember all the engineers having a geometric test pattern lasered onto the front of note books etc when they were running through the calibration / set up phase


Mart

john banks

This one was about £6k inc import duties, shipping from China, taxes, fees etc. 1200 * 800mm bed size. The tube to replace is about £800 and is supposed to last 10000 hours.

The equivalent UK machine which would have needed less tweakage was about £40k and replacement tubes on that would be about £15k, and they claim much longer life from their tubes but at that cost you would fear the day especially if it went just out of warranty. The Chinese machine was cheap enough that we ordered a spare tube, if it pops it takes about 15 minutes to change and realign and you've lost little production time.

The UK machine was built better and would have been setup on arrival. This machine we had to unload all 500kg of it and then sort out the teething troubles ourself.

Well worth the saving starting a new business these days if you are prepared to tweak and even secretly enjoy it like I do. I've taken a week in total off work so far to learn and set it all up, probably about 2 days of that was to setup (and repair a few niggles) the machine which the UK engineer would have done but at much greater cost.

When the laser is firing and all the ancillaries (compressor and extractor are running) it can draw about 2kW. All single phase 230V.

Most people charge out the machine time at about £1/min.

Small jobs with lot of going back and forth and design work can be a bit of a hassle and not too profitable. Engraving plastic name badges and pet collar tags isn't likely to make a living either. Artistic and unique stuff, or bigger runs can be more productive.

As a relatively low risk venture from an outbuilding we have done up for it, it should be good I think.

fitzscoob

Hi John,

Is this for a specific business purpose or are you looking to create business from this?

I'd be interested to see what you could engrave into leather. From artwork I'd supply etc and the desired results.

I've been asked about laser engraving logos and designs onto the items we manufacture before, and to be honest I've always declined the work as I didnt know anyone who could. We foil emboss in house and 99% of our work is embossed, however there is always the customers who would like to see something new.

If you're happy to discuss it or want to try on some leather, I can send you some material to play with.

Let me know.

Cheers

Mark

john banks

Mark, it is my wife's new business called LaserFlair after discussion on here about the best name I'm helping her with the startup and the tech support, so I take great interest in cutting or engraving new things, whether planks, rubber, leather, felt, fleece, acrylic, fabric etc.

I think we could engrave leather quite well from what I have researched and would love to try it, perfect the technique and try some designs. Will PM you contact details.

fitzscoob

Hi John

Thanks for the pm, I have sent an email across just now.

Cheers

Mark