Bigger laser

Discussions on optics for laser cutter/engravers

Bigger laser

Postby dwessels » Mon Nov 21, 2011 2:51 am

Guys,

What is the highest wattage laser that anyone has put in the 2.x?

I think I would like something a little beefier in my laser... Right now I have a 40w tube, when I am trying to engrave anodized al, it doesn't seem to burn through something that has been hard ano'd. If it is regular anodizing, it works fine, but the stuff that I want to engrave is hard anodized.

Thoughts?

-d
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Re: Bigger laser

Postby r691175002 » Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:23 am

It seems that hard anodizing varies in thickness but apparently you can do it on 40W if you go really slow.

Otherwise 60-80W is recommended for reasonable speeds. You can stick pretty much any tube in there as long as you can get it mounted. I don't think anyone has gone higher than 60W.
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Re: Bigger laser

Postby dwessels » Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:50 am

r691175002 wrote:It seems that hard anodizing varies in thickness but apparently you can do it on 40W if you go really slow.

Otherwise 60-80W is recommended for reasonable speeds. You can stick pretty much any tube in there as long as you can get it mounted. I don't think anyone has gone higher than 60W.


The slowest you can make the DSP cut is 1mm/s and that doesn't seem to do it on the thicker ano'd parts. I have also tried multiple passes, but it seems to not make that much difference.

60W sounds nice. Does that fit in the standard 2.x mechanicals?
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Re: Bigger laser

Postby deviker » Mon Nov 21, 2011 2:57 pm

I'd also like to know if a 60W CO2 tube could fit in the standard 2.x mechanics.
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Re: Bigger laser

Postby bdring » Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:45 pm

It will not fit the standard 2.x. Some people have extended the frame either in the work area or off to the side to make it fit. Some commercial laser get big tubes to fit by extending a square tunnel of the side.

See this build viewtopic.php?f=16&t=801#p6649

Also: Here is a image from the web

80W_Laser_Cutter.jpg
80W_Laser_Cutter.jpg (15.68 KiB) Viewed 16873 times
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Re: Bigger laser

Postby lasersafe1 » Fri Nov 25, 2011 1:08 am

I am also thinking about a bigger laser. Seeing the video of cutting 1/2" acrylic with a clean edge is making me want an 80W. Seeing 100W cut thin stainless is making me want 100. I have no problems extending out the side of my ULS-25. What is giving me pause is the thought that I might be losing the "finesse" that I have now with my 40W system. I am enjoying the black granite engraving and I know that power control is critical. I'm wondering if the 80 or 100W will simply be too powerful for doing fine art because it can't be dialed down enough.

Anybody else have any experience with this? Perhaps if the power supply can't turn down accurately, a series resistor can be added to limit max current to 40% of max when I want low end power control.
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Re: Bigger laser

Postby TLHarrell » Fri Nov 25, 2011 5:44 am

I don't know... I saw video of a 400 watt laser doing 3D raster cuts from greyscaled images. Now I want a 400 watt laser.
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Re: Bigger laser

Postby dwessels » Sun Nov 27, 2011 6:45 am

[quote="lasersafe1" ] I'm wondering if the 80 or 100W will simply be too powerful for doing fine art because it can't be dialed down enough.[/quote]

I was wondering the same thing. I think I may try to go with a 60W and see how that does.

I guess I am going to need new mounting brackets for the 60W tube, so I will have to figure that out. Has anyone built any of those?
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