[KingPraun]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum, so hi everyone!

A little about myself, I am from the UK and have been using a CNC router to cut acrylic for several years now. I learnt the trade at a young age drawing and manufacturing bespoke 3D wood carvings/panelling etc. From here moved to acrylic and now have my own business, I am currently running a AXYZ 6010ATC (3 x 2m bed).

Business is picking up and want to expand, heard that lasers can be more efficient for the 2D elements. So I am very experienced with acrylic and routers, however with lasers I am back to square one.

With a budget like this I don't want to make any mistakes, and with the only requirement being the ability to cut 5-10mm acrylic there is a lot of machines out there to choose from. I have seen the names bystronic and trumpf but not sure where these brands stack in the pecking order.

If someone could shed some light that would be great, thank you all.

[fishface]

I haven't used them myself, as I'm a hobby user with a very ugraded £500 Chinese A4 laser, but RS Laser - Laser Cutting and Engraving Machines might be worth a look - they appear to have happy customers and you can take your stock their to try before you buy.

[fixtureman1]

What size are you looking for. How fast do you want to cut at. I have an LG500 60 watt that I cut 6mm acrylic I cut it at 75% power and 4mmps.

[KingPraun]

I haven't used them myself, as I'm a hobby user with a very ugraded £500 Chinese A4 laser, but RS Laser - Laser Cutting and Engraving Machines might be worth a look - they appear to have happy customers and you can take your stock their to try before you buy.

Cheers fish face they look great, but I was looking for something with a larger cut area.

What size are you looking for. How fast do you want to cut at. I have an LG500 60 watt that I cut 6mm acrylic I cut it at 75% power and 4mmps.

I was looking for something with a minimum cutting area of 2 x 1m. With the router I am cutting on average around 2.5m/min so I was hoping to have something that can cut faster than this.

[KingPraun]

I haven't used them myself, as I'm a hobby user with a very ugraded £500 Chinese A4 laser, but RS Laser - Laser Cutting and Engraving Machines might be worth a look - they appear to have happy customers and you can take your stock their to try before you buy.

Cheers fish face they look great, but I was looking for something with a larger cut area.

What size are you looking for. How fast do you want to cut at. I have an LG500 60 watt that I cut 6mm acrylic I cut it at 75% power and 4mmps.

I was looking for something with a minimum cutting area of 2 x 1m. With the router I am cutting on average around 2.5m/min so I was hoping to have something that can cut faster than this.

[Exsecratio]

Hiya KP,

Err Forget Trumpf and Bystronic at that price point. 5 times that will get you somewhere close for a resonable one over here.

Have a word with Chris Jacobs at HPC up in Halifax, the HX2515 has a 2.5m x 1.5m cutting area and can be fitted with a 180 watt EFR tube for under 50% of your budget.

5mm acrylic on a 150 watt EFR tube is going to run about 18-25mm per second linear rate with 10mm acrylic running around 12 to 15mm per second.

Drop by HERE and you will find quite a few guys with the bigger HX machines that do exactly the kind of work you are wanting a laser for.

£50k would get you very close to 3 machines of 2.5m x 1.5m from Chris

cheers

Dave

[KingPraun]

Hiya KP,

Err Forget Trumpf and Bystronic at that price point. 5 times that will get you somewhere close for a resonable one over here.

Have a word with Chris Jacobs at HPC up in Halifax, the HX2515 has a 2.5m x 1.5m cutting area and can be fitted with a 180 watt EFR tube for under 50% of your budget.

5mm acrylic on a 150 watt EFR tube is going to run about 18-25mm per second linear rate with 10mm acrylic running around 12 to 15mm per second.

Drop by HERE and you will find quite a few guys with the bigger HX machines that do exactly the kind of work you are wanting a laser for.

£50k would get you very close to 3 machines of 2.5m x 1.5m from Chris

cheers

Dave

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the great reply, they look great. I was thinking of going with more than one machine, as fundamentally more heads = more efficiency.

My only reservation is the feed rates, as at the minute the router is cutting at around 40-50mm per second, I was hoping a laser would be able to double this or even more.

I guess I am looking for that middle ground between the HPC's and the Trumpfs and Bystronics, but I just cant seem to find any manufacturers or distributors.

Having said that I will be near HPC end of Jan so I will not rule them out and see what they have to offer.

Thanks again for the great reply, has given me a lot to think about,

KP

[Exsecratio]

Hiya KP,

There are few if any lasers outside of big industrials that will match routers for speed of cutting in acrylic sheet 6m a minute is in the land of 5-6kW lasers with powerful servo drives for 10mm sheet. There comes a point with lasers where no matter how much power you induce into the material the effect is the reverse of what you want with quality suffering and edge quality going to hell very quickly.
If you can go to 400 watts from a western source (Coherant, Synrad, GSI or suchlike) you may get good results but even those machines are in the £100k range.
I think Chris has a 600 watt fiber there (in the £35k range) although I'm not sure how well they will work on acrylic as I have never tried it with mine.

cheers

Dave

[Rodney Gold]

The only real benefit a laser has over a Router in cutting acrylic is a polished edge and smaller kerfs. Sometimes , especially with thick stuff , router and flame polishing gives far better results. Of course the other benefits are that you are essentially using a "bit" in the laser of minimal thickness and there is no contact with the substrate thus no hold downs required etc
You could actually buy 5 good large format routers from China for 50k quid (maybe even 7)

[EXLASer002]

Hi KP ，
We are on a laser promotion now . Do you interested with laser bed 1325 cutting area 1300*2500mm ? we still have two sets . I recommend you get a 100W tube for cutting 5-10 mm thickness acrylic .

We also have routers on sale . Normally cutting speed running at 2.5m/min no problem , it also can cutting at 4-10m/min . Layered cut is adopted normally .
Our Korea distributor had bought 5 double heads routers in past months . You are welcome to visit our website : CNC Router Laser Cutting Machine CNC Engraving Machine-XYZ Machinery LLC and send email to me : [email protected]

Best regards,
Mary

[zmxinyu]

hello,KP
maybe you can choose a China machine.G.weike has specialized in the laser machine for many years.laser engraving and cutting machine is very special for acrylic engraving or cutting,For the more than ten years manufacture experience.working on acrylic is best among all the materials,maybe you can see it:LC1225 laser cutting machine-Laser cutting machines-Products-Laser engraving machine|Laser cutting machine|CNC router-G.Weike Laser
Hope it will be helpful to you.Any questions,you can contact me
Best regards,
Emily
Mail:[email protected]
Skype:emily.zhang189

[gweikelaser]

Hi Kp,
send PM to you ,please check

Best Regards

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the great reply, they look great. I was thinking of going with more than one machine, as fundamentally more heads = more efficiency.

My only reservation is the feed rates, as at the minute the router is cutting at around 40-50mm per second, I was hoping a laser would be able to double this or even more.

I guess I am looking for that middle ground between the HPC's and the Trumpfs and Bystronics, but I just cant seem to find any manufacturers or distributors.

Having said that I will be near HPC end of Jan so I will not rule them out and see what they have to offer.

Thanks again for the great reply, has given me a lot to think about,

KP