[ClickDraw]

Hi there,

I've worked on two different Chinese made lasers for the last few years. One is 100 watt and the current is 150 watt.
Questions:
Should I not see a noticeable difference in the cutting ability between the two? 50 watt difference...
What is a good and safe power percentage of max for running the laser?
What is the best laser lense spec wise for cutting 1/8" to 1/2" thick acrylic?

It seems that the 100 watt laser I worked with first ,laboured less when cutting compared to the 150 watt. Any ideas why?
In the software Laserworks, the right side has tabs and one is user. There is a setting "focus depth". Is this something I need to be aware of for setup? It is set at 5mm currently.

I would really appreciate some help and input.

Thanks in advance.

Jeff

[RogerClark]

I'm not sure if this is related, but what focal lengths are the lenses in your two machines.

I have been in discussion with several people about the differences between different versions of the same 50w laser machine, where the older machines seem to have better cutting ability than the new ones.

We are not sure if this is the reason, but my machine has a 51mm focal length lens fitted, but the older machines have a shorter distance lens (38mm I think)

Also the 51mm lens is a Positive Meniscus lens, where as the 38mm is Piano convex ( flat on one side).

The focal distance and also possible the lens shape means that the lens in the older machines may have over 8 times more energy density, which may explain why they cut better.

I have just ordered a 38mm lens, but it won't arrive from China for about 2 weeks.

You may also want to check your lens has been fitted the right way up. Many people have reported that their machine arrived with the lens up side down.
Piano convex lenses need to be fitted flat side down. Positive Meniscus lenses need to have the concave side down. I.e in both lenses the convex side is up.

Re: focus control.

Does your machine have a focus pen / detector ? and the ability to control bed height from the controller, rather than just manual bed height controls?
If your machines don't have those optional extras, I suspect the focus settings in LaserWorks will make no difference to your cutting.


While I remember, there is another possibility of differences in cutting with different focal length lenses is that the air assist flow rate and pressure will be less for the 51mm lens than the 38mm lens, assuming the same air assist pump is used, purely because of the distance rom the nozzle to the cut point.
However I have not had time to experiment with an additional air assist on my machine to determine how much difference this makes