Ok, I have a stupid question. If you try and cut reflective material with the laser, is there a danger of the laser being reflected and reducing its ability to cut?
And a second question, do you have to wear tinted goggles when using the thing, to protect your eyes?
David Maynard said:
Ok, I have a stupid question. If you try and cut reflective material with the laser, is there a danger of the laser being reflected and reducing its ability to cut?
And a second question, do you have to wear tinted goggles when using the thing, to protect your eyes?
David - I have read that cutting reflective material (aluminum, perhaps) can cause damage if the laser goes back into the laser tube. If I try anything like that I think I will put blue painter’s tape on it or spray paint it black before cuttine
I do not wear such goggles but I probably should!
dave
Dennis Rayon said:
Here is a good selection for thin plywood and laser board
http://encompass-media.townvustore.com/
It is a good price also.
I am happy you have found and posting info on lasers, they are one of the most fun toys/tools
you can buy for the hobby
Dennis
Dennis - thanks for the URL - I may have to order some of their boards - might even do a road trip as they are only 4 or 5 hours away and my wife loves to visit that area of PA
dave
#1 these machines WILL not cut any type of metal
They will not etch a mirror
If you want to do something neat, laser the mirroring off the back of mirror, it is tough if you try it on good mirror
cheap chineeeeese crap works the best,
I made my GRR logo out of Redwood.JPG)
As far as I can ascertain from various fora and videos whilst getting all the “gen” of these Chinese machines NO…they CANNOT cut metal…They are not powerful enough**…ALTHO** … some can cut thin metal particularly if it is paint sprayed first…(this avoids the laser reflecting onto its own mirrors and lens an ruining the thing. (sorry about omitting this when I firsyt wrote this post).
Most E bay adverts for them tell you what they can cut and some tell you also what they cannot cut.
A good video about these machines is here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhhOHUe_b6o
Life of the laser tube varies but it is not recommended you buy a second tube as “standby” - because these tubes leak the gas very slightly over time and the stored tube will be the same…so…come time to change it…poor or dead standby tube.
By the way. The video above shows the appalling wiring in one section of the machine being demonstrated, so if you ARE tempted to buy a Chinese made machine… before plugging the thing in…get the wiring checked by a pro electrician.
David Bodnar said:
Gary Buchanan said:
How thick is the material that you were cutting for the faceplate ?
It is about 1/8", Gary - I haven’t tried but I have heard that it will do up to 1/4" acrylic.
dave
Even 1/8 acrylic is good enough for LS. All of my EBT cars were 1/8" or 1/16" (though this laser is too small to cut whole sides as one piece)
Very interesting thread, looking forward to more!
The video link in Ross’s post goes into aligning the laser and while informative it tends to gloss over the fact the mirror adjustments can move the beam in two planes so it’s not quite as straight forward as it looks and the potential for getting this way out of whack is pretty high. I once did alignments of low powered helium neon laser measuring equipment and it wasn’t that hard because the beam was visible. In this case you can only see where the beam hits and that would make it much more difficult. I would approach doing so with caution.
While 1/8" may be plenty good enough I have a fairly large quantity of 1/4" material I could use if the machine is up to it. My biggest issue is I’m not sure exactly what exactly it is whether it’s plex, acrylic, lexan or ?
I agree with Gary on this aspect…(mirror alignment)
The instructions for these machines is abysmal and many of the videos, whilst quite comprehensive ,seem to be made by individuals “learning their way around the machine” but at the same time missing one important aspect or another.
There ARE good reviews of these machines by people who have operated laser cutters before…its finding them tho’
A good friend of mine just got one of these. It’s actually the next generation of the same machine that Dave got. They are not plug and play. You should expect to have to do some minor wiring, maybe fix a broken part or two. Mirror adjustment is another big factor. He made little paper labels to put on mirrors that way he could see where the laser would darken the paper and know where it was hitting. He has been tinkering with it three weeks now and just finally produced a good etched part yesterday. He has used lasers before so he had prior knowledge. He did say the instructions were useless, and had no information on power settings, mirror alignment or machine adjustment.
At the end of it all he is very happy with it. It just needs to have some time put into “tweaking” before running. He did mention that larger laser tubes could be put in this model but it involves a cabinet extension and mirror recentering. Lots of extras for this machine at light object.com
Randy Lehrian Jr. said:
A good friend of mine just got one of these. It’s actually the next generation of the same machine that Dave got. They are not plug and play. You should expect to have to do some minor wiring, maybe fix a broken part or two. Mirror adjustment is another big factor. He made little paper labels to put on mirrors that way he could see where the laser would darken the paper and know where it was hitting. He has been tinkering with it three weeks now and just finally produced a good etched part yesterday. He has used lasers before so he had prior knowledge. He did say the instructions were useless, and had no information on power settings, mirror alignment or machine adjustment.
At the end of it all he is very happy with it. It just needs to have some time put into “tweaking” before running. He did mention that larger laser tubes could be put in this model but it involves a cabinet extension and mirror recentering. Lots of extras for this machine at light object.com
I fully agree that they are not plug-n-play, Randy, but I am surprised that your friend did not get it running well sooner than you describe - We, literally, had it aligned and printing (etching?) in less than an hour after getting it unboxed.
Perhaps we were lucky that only one mirror needed tweaking and that I have had a great deal of experience with 3D printers and CorelDraw. I also read extensively about the machine and viewed many, many videos while waiting for delivery!
In any event, it is a super machine- I have a few more things that I’ll be adding to the web page soon.
dave
Hey Dave, the bracket that held the focus head on his machine was broken in shipping. His also had a cracked mirror. While he was replacing those things he also got a better X-Y carriage and larger better lense. So he may have had it up a little sooner but was trying to make some improvements while he was in there. He is doing some projects where he is etching black anodization of of aluminum. His finished product looks very good, I just can’t go into detail about it at this point.
I see that it can engrave, do you know if it can engrave that two-layer plastic that’s used for name tags and such? i.e. laser off the black layer and let the white layer show through?
Bob McCown said:
I see that it can engrave, do you know if it can engrave that two-layer plastic that’s used for name tags and such? i.e. laser off the black layer and let the white layer show through?
Bob - not sure about its being able to work with such laminates - best guess is YES - if I can find it on eBay or the web I’ll order some and see how it turns out
dave
Bob McCown said:
I see that it can engrave, do you know if it can engrave that two-layer plastic that’s used for name tags and such? i.e. laser off the black layer and let the white layer show through?
This is exactly what my friend is doing with a different material. He’s got some (probably .032") aluminum that is completely black anodised both sides. He uses his laser to etch/engrave where he wants so that he has a nice contrast between the black anodization or bare aluminum.
Bob McCown said:
I see that it can engrave, do you know if it can engrave that two-layer plastic that’s used for name tags and such? i.e. laser off the black layer and let the white layer show through?
Bob - just did some quick tests - see: http://trainelectronics.com/LaserEngraver/#Quick_Name_Tag
I painted the front of some clear acrylic with a light color and the back with black - engraved on the front and get very nice contrast.
Sample below.
Lots of possibility.
dave
Yep. This is another reason I’ve been looking at engravers. SWMBO labels her plants, but stick-on ‘weatherproof’ ones dont survive the weather. Plastic with engraved information would.
Hmm…
I should think that they would - I have 3D printed plant labels and the ABS has lasted more than two years in the sun and snow.
dave
One final experiment for the day.
This name tag has been painted white on top and the back has been left clear. You can clearly see the light shining through - interesting idea: Put some LEDs behind with a little box to contain the light - cool!
dave
Dave: I have been looking at this with much interest. I have one question. Have you tried cutting HIPS Hi Impact Poly Styrene with it? . I have read the information about the things it can and can not cut and it soes not mention Poly Styrene. I know that your can not cut anything with Vinyl in it like PVC or Sintra, and have my doubts about ABS plastic as well. I do have a need for cutting both wood and Plexi, but also would like to be able to cut out windows and doors out od .040 styrene. I am close to hitting that Buy Now button, but want your input.
Thanks, Dan