Yes we have tried cutting acrylic, Clear is a no go even with multiple passes. Colored or tinted is possible with multiple passes but at this power the laser is better suited for foams and paper items or wood burning.
Thanks for sharing! I purchased a R7 coming up on a year ago and still yet to make dust with it. Living in Alaska, I'm not afforded much work space in the winter, but this would be a nice alternative. Once again, your information was greatly appreciated! Corey
It's a 2 w laser commercial lasers from companies like epilog are 40, 60,80 watts and up so consider the scale. On what it can cut that is very open ended and thought to answer. Depending on thickness material and number of passes lots of variables.
With the understanding it is a cheapo laser, but a laser nonetheless, I was expecting a clean cut through the foam. It appears you need quite a bit of tweaking still, to get it to cut clean through the material. Some areas seems like the laser was struggling, this could be the density of the foam itself not being consistent in the manufacturing of the foam sheet itself, or the power delivery to the laser not being consistent also. There are streaks of what appears as smoke residue on the surface of the material as it jumps from cut to cut, or could be a delay in on/off cycles of the laser creating a left over power as it travels from cut to cut. If you plan on selling these as kits, may I suggest getting all these things worked out and you will have a nice kit provided it cuts clean and thorough. Don't forget to add the glasses and the power supply on your kits. Cheers!
+Mario I. Arguello "LCheapo" is the brand name not sure we are talking about the same video it cuts clean through the foam and you can see the burn marks on the spoil board. I bought this and put it together I have no intention of selling this I think you may be commenting about a different video.
i just tested one when tool is up laser out of focus cant cut then go to next shape but planning to add a switch when turns power on toll is down for cut no electronically but mechanically
I have a BOBsCNC machine, so far I'm happy with it. I was wondering how to connect a laser cutter to it? I'm sure I can make a mount and brace it, my concern will be shutting on and off the laser, at the right times. It already navigates on X, Y, and Z, should I hook up another microprocessor, and switch the wires out everytime?
i have got two doubts: 1. Does this laser produces smoke , on changing materials ? 2. what is the base for your CNC ,what are those tapes and what did you use as a base?
The laser itself does not produce any smoke. When it cuts through different things there is a little smoke but very little. I have an exhaust fan near by. The CNC machine has an aluminum base but I have a thin sheet of MDF wood that I do the cutting on. The tape covers up the holes that are not in use. The MDF has a vacuum hooked to it so that it acts like a vacuum table and holds the material down and flat.
@@DesertFabworks yes I didn't check the motors. They seem massive enough. I'm a fan of high speeds as I do some productions from time to time and for me having a light bridge is important to push the motors to their max.
I'm just an end user. There are lots of options these days compared to when I made this video. Every table and operating system are unique and the system has to be designed to work with this. Find a good quality laser, mount it and work backwards from there connecting it to your system.
This the link just above your comment : robots-everywhere.com/re_site/purchase/l-cheapo/ and when I click on it, it works fine. What link are you talking about?
It looks like it isn't being turned off during rapid moves, is it? If it's not, why is it not cutting? Would that be because of the focal length setting? It will only cut at a given distance? Oh, and can you mark metal with these?
oxiroxt In the video I did not have the the gcode set up for the on and off between cuts in a piece only on at beginning and off at the end. It does not cut the material both due to the focal length and the speed of the rapid moves.
@@DesertFabworks why bother with g code? Just use a solid state relay on the z axis connected at + and the direction pin of your breakout board. Goes from high (on) to low (off) and then set the retract in mach to about .001 in. Make a power connection on the relay between the laser and power supply. Works perfect for me and has for several years
@@larryelliott9157 The entire system runs on g code and all is based on a mach 3 router system. I have since added in a relay but there is not a traditional breakout board so it took some tweaking but it works better than before
@@DesertFabworks Assume you meant to type relay rather than reply. So what are you running as your plasma table? I have a 5 x 10 Dynatorch and it works very well now for several years. Getting it set up to run a water jet cutter running at about 4500 psi by just removing the plasma head and setting aside as it's magnetic mounted. Hope to have it working soon.
Good afternoon how can I have laser circuit scheme considering that I've tried to create much more until now I have only 2w to 5w wanted to have a model like this.
+Kevin Silovich yes thin cardboard works ok but the thicker you go the more problems you have due to the focal point on the laser. Since its such low power it has a very small cut window with the focal point. With thicker cardboard I have found that it cuts only about half way through and you do not get a clean cut on the bottom side.
Tiny Houses it's connected to a relay that is connected to the control board. The control board thinks it's a plasma cutter and when it sends the signal to fire the plasma it fires the laser just like it would Fire the plasma.
Desert Fabworks LLC Welding - Plasma Cutting I finally found the info about the correct laser wavelength to cut aluminium. Thankyou, here you get the link: www.industrial-lasers.com/articles/print/volume-29/issue-3/features/high-power-direct-diode-lasers-for-cutting-and-welding.html
You likely already know, but cutting PVC does require care to avoid the corrosive off-gassing. You may want to research which plastics are "safe" to cut with a laser. Safe can mean safe to people or safe to machines. Interesting topic.
+Leon Crist Hi, we are manufacturer of laser cutting machine and CNC routers for 12 years in China. We offer the real factory price. Call me:+8615552878118, SKYPE: cnclaser2 E-mail: jc_cnclaser@163.com. WhatsApp: +8615552878118 I’m Yannie Website: en.sdjgcnc.com
I have not tried it but I really doubt it, but I will try and get a chance to try it and let you know. Hopefully in the next couple of days or so. Lots of projects on our CNC plasma side right now.
Yes and no, Foam comes in many densities and how much it cuts in each pass will depend on that. Because it varies and the height is so high and there is a small focal length where the cutting is most effective it would likely have to be done in multiple passes with adjusting the height in each pass.
Hello good day how long the laser can be switched on without burning. I would like to place it on a cutting table 900 millimeters by 600 millimeters and not if it is too long for cutting thanks
+Phasma Dark Hi, we are manufacturer of laser cutting machine and CNC routers for 12 years in China. We offer the real factory price. Call me:+8615552878118, SKYPE: cnclaser2 E-mail: jc_cnclaser@163.com. WhatsApp: +8615552878118 I’m Yannie Website: en.sdjgcnc.com
+Desert Fabworks LLC Welding - Plasma Cutting Now I've never tried this myself, but your add on laser to the router mount is eerily similar to an idea I had....almost identical lol....brilliant minds think alike! But as I was saying, I havent' tried this myself, but I used to order all kinds of laser cut acrylic from a local sign shop....I went to the shop once or twice and talked to the guys who ran their lasers....the trick is? to leave the mask on to cut clear.....either the blue poly or the brown paper.....now this was 10 years ago and they were getting out of laser and expanding their water jet....but I seem to recall the guys who ran the laser that you can cut clear without any paper mask, but the laser has to be SO powerful it cuts through your table. I seem to recall them saying something about painting the mask black as well..... Oh yeah, they also had a crazy powerful exhaust fan because of the fumes melting acrylic makes.....btw, extruded acrylic is softer than cast acrylic so it has a lower melting point as well..... The reason they were going water jet is because to get a laser to cut plastic, you have to melt the plastic....but if you dwell too long in one spot, you'll get a "round". It is very time consuming to determine the feed rate, focal point and laser wattage for all the various thicknesses and types of plastic. No issue of this with water jet, it cuts clean through whaterever you put in and you can increase the feed rate exponentially and no fumes...(just water spraying everywhere lol the room they had their water jet in was always soaked).....
+Phasma Dark They say it can but in my experience no not practical. They told me to do multiple passes but I did not find it practical or powerful enough to cut plastic.
i'm not an expert but i know people that tried with more powerful lasers.No..you need at least many tenth of Watts for etching directly the copper,and still you have 3 problems 1)to use a laser with a wavelength that is non reflected by copper(some lasers can cut steel but are reflected by copper) Removal of vapors 3)Avoid that high temperatures transform the glass fiber in carbon like stuff,that is very conductive. I think that all of videos showing a 2000 mW laser used for making PCB are about paint etching,and not copper. I think that an acrylic spray is used,and then you still need chemical etching. For the price of a small car,i mean some tenth of thousand Euros ,brands like LKPF sell direct laser etching machine for PCB prototyping.
A continuous wave laser won't ablate copper. You need a *pulsed* Q-switched laser, from 25-30 watts continuous power and up, and from 10kHz pulse rate. They usually have pulse powers of several hundred kilowatts, some go into megawatts for short pulses. Look up chinese "Q-switched laser marking" machines(just like that in the search terms), they usually run around $2500-4500. Those have enough power to ablate copper in a few passes(~10min for 10dm^2).
How about pre-coated PCBs? Sorry I don't know the correct name. I Google around and found some people use black paint, but there are pre-prepared boards as well. Use the laser to burn off the coating and then remove the copper with etchant?
I'd be interested to know if my CAM software BenCutLaser would work on your laser machine? I run a support forum for low power laser machines (here: www.BenboxLaser.us) and my CAM program is in the Software section on that site. You should be able to just use BenCutLaser to generate the gcode and send it to your laser.
It likely would work but I use Sheetcam on my machines since its a dual purpose machine and sheetcam works for all the processes on the machine and my other machines. I like to keep it simple in the shop one cam program on all the machines.
Yes we have tried cutting acrylic, Clear is a no go even with multiple passes. Colored or tinted is possible with multiple passes but at this power the laser is better suited for foams and paper items or wood burning.
Thanks for sharing! I purchased a R7 coming up on a year ago and still yet to make dust with it. Living in Alaska, I'm not afforded much work space in the winter, but this would be a nice alternative. Once again, your information was greatly appreciated!
Corey
It's a 2 w laser commercial lasers from companies like epilog are 40, 60,80 watts and up so consider the scale. On what it can cut that is very open ended and thought to answer. Depending on thickness material and number of passes lots of variables.
With the understanding it is a cheapo laser, but a laser nonetheless, I was expecting a clean cut through the foam. It appears you need quite a bit of tweaking still, to get it to cut clean through the material. Some areas seems like the laser was struggling, this could be the density of the foam itself not being consistent in the manufacturing of the foam sheet itself, or the power delivery to the laser not being consistent also. There are streaks of what appears as smoke residue on the surface of the material as it jumps from cut to cut, or could be a delay in on/off cycles of the laser creating a left over power as it travels from cut to cut. If you plan on selling these as kits, may I suggest getting all these things worked out and you will have a nice kit provided it cuts clean and thorough. Don't forget to add the glasses and the power supply on your kits. Cheers!
+Mario I. Arguello "LCheapo" is the brand name not sure we are talking about the same video it cuts clean through the foam and you can see the burn marks on the spoil board. I bought this and put it together I have no intention of selling this I think you may be commenting about a different video.
+Desert Fabworks LLC Welding - Plasma Cutting sorry, I thought you were part of the guys that developed it. Yes been watching to many laser videos.
i just tested one
when tool is up laser out of focus cant cut then go to next shape
but planning to add a switch when turns power on toll is down for cut
no electronically but mechanically
I have a BOBsCNC machine, so far I'm happy with it. I was wondering how to connect a laser cutter to it? I'm sure I can make a mount and brace it, my concern will be shutting on and off the laser, at the right times. It already navigates on X, Y, and Z, should I hook up another microprocessor, and switch the wires out everytime?
There are so many machines and setups hard to say on your application. I'm not familiar with that machine and its setup.
Can I get a email address so I can send you what Microprocessor I'm working with? Any info is much appreciated.
Use the email form at www.desertfabworks.com/
i have got two doubts:
1. Does this laser produces smoke , on changing materials ?
2. what is the base for your CNC ,what are those tapes and what did you use as a base?
The laser itself does not produce any smoke. When it cuts through different things there is a little smoke but very little. I have an exhaust fan near by. The CNC machine has an aluminum base but I have a thin sheet of MDF wood that I do the cutting on. The tape covers up the holes that are not in use. The MDF has a vacuum hooked to it so that it acts like a vacuum table and holds the material down and flat.
You added so much weight to that axis....not really good but well done for the mount
There really is no weight on there its over powered for what it is. The machine does not even know its here. Its all Ball screws and way over done.
@@DesertFabworks yes I didn't check the motors. They seem massive enough. I'm a fan of high speeds as I do some productions from time to time and for me having a light bridge is important to push the motors to their max.
I am wanting to do this on a Laguna SmartShop 2. I have not had luck with other laser attachment companies. Would you know where to start?
I'm just an end user. There are lots of options these days compared to when I made this video. Every table and operating system are unique and the system has to be designed to work with this. Find a good quality laser, mount it and work backwards from there connecting it to your system.
Here is a link for where to buy: robots-everywhere.com/re_site/purchase/l-cheapo/
This the link just above your comment : robots-everywhere.com/re_site/purchase/l-cheapo/ and when I click on it, it works fine. What link are you talking about?
The Links I have checked work and the web address is in the video description. Please let me know what links were not working for you.
What cnc machine is that?
which laser can you recomend for cutting acrylic ?
It looks like it isn't being turned off during rapid moves, is it? If it's not, why is it not cutting? Would that be because of the focal length setting? It will only cut at a given distance?
Oh, and can you mark metal with these?
oxiroxt In the video I did not have the the gcode set up for the on and off between cuts in a piece only on at beginning and off at the end. It does not cut the material both due to the focal length and the speed of the rapid moves.
That's very informative and looks like it worked perfectly for your purpose. Thank you
@@DesertFabworks
why bother with g code?
Just use a solid state relay on the z axis connected at + and the direction pin of your breakout board. Goes from high (on) to low (off) and then set the retract in mach to about .001 in. Make a power connection on the relay between the laser and power supply. Works perfect for me and has for several years
@@larryelliott9157 The entire system runs on g code and all is based on a mach 3 router system. I have since added in a relay but there is not a traditional breakout board so it took some tweaking but it works better than before
@@DesertFabworks
Assume you meant to type relay rather than reply.
So what are you running as your plasma table? I have a 5 x 10 Dynatorch and it works very well now for several years. Getting it set up to run a water jet cutter running at about 4500 psi by just removing the plasma head and setting aside as it's magnetic mounted. Hope to have it working soon.
Wow! 2 Watts! Very nice!
Completely forgot my laser glasses. Watched the video then spent all my savings on btc 😳
you can buy L-Cheapo laser on our official web site
endurancerobots.com/products/laser-cutters-accessory/
Is the 2 watts enough to do engraving on hardwoods for signs.. ? Or like engraving the logo on a baseball bat??
It will definitely burn the wood but you wont get much depth unless you do multiple passes.
Could you please post the info on where to buy the laser?
Good afternoon how can I have laser circuit scheme considering that I've tried to create much more until now I have only 2w to 5w wanted to have a model like this.
I'm sorry I do not have any schematics for what I did.
How about cutting paper adhesive covered with transparent plastic adhesive? Is 2.5W laser enough to cut it trough without burnings?
Thank you!
Do you have an example of some commercially available product I could purchase and try? No positive on what you are asking about.
have you tried to cut cardboard with it. If so how well did it work.
+Kevin Silovich yes thin cardboard works ok but the thicker you go the more problems you have due to the focal point on the laser. Since its such low power it has a very small cut window with the focal point. With thicker cardboard I have found that it cuts only about half way through and you do not get a clean cut on the bottom side.
Where you have connect the on off of the laser? on the z axis or motor on?
The on off control for the laser is done via g code in the software and its tied into the mach 3 controller.
Where did you connect the laser so it turns on/off when you run the g code?
Tiny Houses it's connected to a relay that is connected to the control board. The control board thinks it's a plasma cutter and when it sends the signal to fire the plasma it fires the laser just like it would Fire the plasma.
Hi, will the L-Cheapo marking.engraving Alluminium? Thanks.
***** I really doubt it not enough power but I have not tried.
Desert Fabworks LLC Welding - Plasma Cutting I finally found the info about the correct laser wavelength to cut aluminium. Thankyou, here you get the link: www.industrial-lasers.com/articles/print/volume-29/issue-3/features/high-power-direct-diode-lasers-for-cutting-and-welding.html
Great work. Thanks for sharing.
Hi, What is the maximum thickness of pvc cut ?
Sorry we have not tried cutting pvc yet
You likely already know, but cutting PVC does require care to avoid the corrosive off-gassing. You may want to research which plastics are "safe" to cut with a laser. Safe can mean safe to people or safe to machines. Interesting topic.
how fine of line and will it cut depron foam board if so i want one
+Leon Crist it cuts very fine think laser line thin. The place I got mine from is listed below.
+Leon Crist
Hi, we are manufacturer of laser cutting
machine and CNC routers for 12 years in China. We offer the real factory
price. Call me:+8615552878118, SKYPE: cnclaser2 E-mail: jc_cnclaser@163.com.
WhatsApp: +8615552878118 I’m Yannie Website: en.sdjgcnc.com
Will this cut tin foil like you use in the kitchen
I have not tried it but I really doubt it, but I will try and get a chance to try it and let you know. Hopefully in the next couple of days or so. Lots of projects on our CNC plasma side right now.
WILL YOUR LASER CUT 2 IN FOAM?
Yes and no, Foam comes in many densities and how much it cuts in each pass will depend on that. Because it varies and the height is so high and there is a small focal length where the cutting is most effective it would likely have to be done in multiple passes with adjusting the height in each pass.
very good tutorial video, but laser cutters are no good due to burning process they leave ''burning marks'' on the material
a little stupid question but how to replace appearance of mah-a
hello, that is the laser power (mW?) thicknesses and materials that can be cut?
Abel Tapia About 2MW
Desert Fabworks LLC Welding - Plasma Cutting
2000mW . It is true?
Danilo Lettieri 2MW not 2000
Desert Fabworks LLC Welding - Plasma Cutting I take it that'd be 2mW(milliwatts) as opposed to 2MW(megawatts)
Correct not two Megawatts but I thought that was obvious
Hello good day how long the laser can be switched on without burning. I would like to place it on a cutting table 900 millimeters by 600 millimeters and not if it is too long for cutting thanks
Freddy Mendoza Noto Not sure I understand your question. Once the laser is turned on its on and its burning what ever the laser touches.
Have you tried cutting acrylc yet?
+Still Vapin Yes I was not successful
can that cut plastic
+Phasma Dark all depends on the type and thickness. I have not had any luck with clears but very thin colored maybe.
+Phasma Dark
Hi, we are manufacturer of laser cutting
machine and CNC routers for 12 years in China. We offer the real factory
price. Call me:+8615552878118, SKYPE: cnclaser2 E-mail: jc_cnclaser@163.com.
WhatsApp: +8615552878118 I’m Yannie Website: en.sdjgcnc.com
+Desert Fabworks LLC Welding - Plasma Cutting Now I've never tried this myself, but your add on laser to the router mount is eerily similar to an idea I had....almost identical lol....brilliant minds think alike! But as I was saying, I havent' tried this myself, but I used to order all kinds of laser cut acrylic from a local sign shop....I went to the shop once or twice and talked to the guys who ran their lasers....the trick is? to leave the mask on to cut clear.....either the blue poly or the brown paper.....now this was 10 years ago and they were getting out of laser and expanding their water jet....but I seem to recall the guys who ran the laser that you can cut clear without any paper mask, but the laser has to be SO powerful it cuts through your table.
I seem to recall them saying something about painting the mask black as well.....
Oh yeah, they also had a crazy powerful exhaust fan because of the fumes melting acrylic makes.....btw, extruded acrylic is softer than cast acrylic so it has a lower melting point as well.....
The reason they were going water jet is because to get a laser to cut plastic, you have to melt the plastic....but if you dwell too long in one spot, you'll get a "round". It is very time consuming to determine the feed rate, focal point and laser wattage for all the various thicknesses and types of plastic. No issue of this with water jet, it cuts clean through whaterever you put in and you can increase the feed rate exponentially and no fumes...(just water spraying everywhere lol the room they had their water jet in was always soaked).....
+Phasma Dark They say it can but in my experience no not practical. They told me to do multiple passes but I did not find it practical or powerful enough to cut plastic.
Yes, it can cut on many materials. These machines are universal and can be customed made. Please get back to me for your order
hi, you know if this laser cutter can be use for make PCB??? without chemical process??
Not sure on that I have not tried it and I'm not sure what goes into doing that.
+Sergio Giuffrida You would likely be better off using a V bit to cut out the PCB. I know some lasers can do it, but I am not sure which ones.
i'm not an expert but i know people that tried with more powerful lasers.No..you need at least many tenth of Watts for etching directly the copper,and still you have 3 problems 1)to use a laser with a wavelength that is non reflected by copper(some lasers can cut steel but are reflected by copper) Removal of vapors 3)Avoid that high temperatures transform the glass fiber in carbon like stuff,that is very conductive.
I think that all of videos showing a 2000 mW laser used for making PCB are about paint etching,and not copper.
I think that an acrylic spray is used,and then you still need chemical etching.
For the price of a small car,i mean some tenth of thousand Euros ,brands like LKPF sell direct laser etching machine for PCB prototyping.
what power can etch a pcb board?
Not sure have not tried it, sorry.
A continuous wave laser won't ablate copper.
You need a *pulsed* Q-switched laser, from 25-30 watts continuous power and up, and from 10kHz pulse rate. They usually have pulse powers of several hundred kilowatts, some go into megawatts for short pulses.
Look up chinese "Q-switched laser marking" machines(just like that in the search terms), they usually run around $2500-4500.
Those have enough power to ablate copper in a few passes(~10min for 10dm^2).
thank you man
How about pre-coated PCBs? Sorry I don't know the correct name. I Google around and found some people use black paint, but there are pre-prepared boards as well. Use the laser to burn off the coating and then remove the copper with etchant?
Kent VanderVelden Burning it off won't work, but exposing photoresist can work.
Can i cut BALSA wood with that?
+Ferdinand Quiqueran Thin balsa in one pass should not be a problem thicker may require multiple passes
Google LCheapo laser. You can get it from any of the ones that come back on that google search.
Pretty slick :)
CL plug is one of the worst connectors i've ever used. I would never use it voluntarily anywhere outside of car appliance ecosystem.
man..you sounds just like Ichiban Moto.
I'd be interested to know if my CAM software BenCutLaser would work on your laser machine? I run a support forum for low power laser machines (here: www.BenboxLaser.us) and my CAM program is in the Software section on that site. You should be able to just use BenCutLaser to generate the gcode and send it to your laser.
It likely would work but I use Sheetcam on my machines since its a dual purpose machine and sheetcam works for all the processes on the machine and my other machines. I like to keep it simple in the shop one cam program on all the machines.
it was very interesting
This looks like a violet laser
This is cool as shit
More video and pictures available on endurancerobots.com
Plus stl for 3d printers mountss
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