Laser cutter.

[John Stevenson]

Just had notification that I have won nearly 13 million on the Nigerian lottery, just got to send a few thousand for clerical costs then I'm buying one of these.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190617222388

Anyone got one, know of one etc ?

Seriously forget the lottery but one of these will fill a small niche market I have been looking at and I'd like feedback.

Read up a bit and the main contention is they never come lined up but having run big 3Kw laser cutters for some years this will not faze me. End of the day, for the price some corners will have been cut, what corners ?

[DFMiller]

John,
I know Ken Shea who used to post here bought a laser from China a while ago. I know he had several issues. I am not sure if his was that size or slightly larger. With any luck he will pop in and tell you what he found.

Dave

[wierdscience]

Oh great,somebody in China combined an EasyBake oven and a Laser pointer

[oldtiffie]

Why not contract/farm out a trial lot to see what the costs are.

If there are significant "issues" (real or potential) is it better to farm it out get a good price and put a margin on it?

[lazlo]

There are several Open Source CNC Laser Cutter projects that are using the Chinese Co2 laser tubes:

http://www.buildlog.net/cnc_laser/index.php

If you could scavenge an old plotter, it would radically shorten the build.

[ftl]

I've been using one of these occasionally for the last couple of months.

It looks identical to the one you listed, except it is 80W.

It works very well to cut 1/4" clear acrylic, and 1/4" birch plywood. It can engrave on steel, but not cut anything metal. It struggles with cutting ABS as the smoke seems to block the beam. At 1/4" thick there is a bit of beam spreading so the sides of the cut are not completely parallel.

With acrylic, the cuts are nice and smooth and clear. With wood, they are a slightly burnt brown color.

It has been used in the past to cut paper and cardboard, but you've got to be careful of fire. The unit I've been using was badly damaged by a fire when cutting mattboard while it was not being watched.

If you've got the room it's a nice toy.

[oldtiffie]

My guess is that as John S would probably be using it professionally (to make a profit) that he'd need a "pro" cutter that is quick and reliable in a "pro" setting.

[Weston Bye]

...be using it professionally (to make a profit)...

Wouldn't we all?

[John Stevenson]

I've been using one of these occasionally for the last couple of months.

It looks identical to the one you listed, except it is 80W.

It works very well to cut 1/4" clear acrylic, and 1/4" birch plywood. It can engrave on steel, but not cut anything metal. It struggles with cutting ABS as the smoke seems to block the beam. At 1/4" thick there is a bit of beam spreading so the sides of the cut are not completely parallel.

FTL,
Thanks, seems 60W is the max I can get here in that size.
The job I intend doing on it will be in 1/8" or 3/16" ply, the slant side isn't a worry as there will be a finish operation.

I was under the impression to engrave on steel you needed the spay on Thermark spray which is insanely expensive at £100 an aerosol.

I'm interested in this as currently I am having to engrave some stainless gauges in quantities of 200 at a time and this would be faster if it didn't use Thermark as the Thermark spray is actually a ceramic coating that the laser fuses onto the surface and it stands proud which isn't an option on these gauges as when they close they would remove the marking.

[ftl]

I've engraved some tools with my initials (they were mine). It worked fine, but it was not bare steel. It was oxidized black. It did take two passes at a slow speed to get a good engraving. The metal part of the tool (a crimper) was uncomfortable to hold afterwords because of the heat. It may work if you paint with hi-temp paint?

Very shiny metal like aluminum foil won't cut because it reflects all the IR energy away rather than absorbing it.

Apparently if cutting a mystery plastic, it is a good idea to burn a sliver of it first. If the flame is green, it is a bad thing as the plastic contains chlorine which will be released in the fumes. It is very corrosive and bad for humans and laser parts. That's what the people that own the laser tell me anyway.

The slant on the cut edges is small. Probably less than 1 degree, but it is there. I have not had a chance to measure the kerf yet, but I'd guess it is around 0.010" - 0.015".

The 80W unit cuts through thin plywood very quickly and leaves a very smooth edge - just slightly charred looking. Again, I'd worry a bit about fire if you were doing a lot of cuts in a small area (i.e. perforating the plywood with a bunch of small holes). There did not seem to be a problem with any smoldering on simple cuts.