Anyone working on building a CNC laser? I really thinking about building one, seams like their are allot of was to go about it. Here is a great design I came across.
Anyone working on building a CNC laser? I really thinking about building one, seams like their are allot of was to go about it. Here is a great design I came across.
I have had only limited experience teaching CNC milling to high school kids. Rather than make one, I would rather start with buying and modifying a 100+watt, CNC laser wood carver. I also need CNC software that would allow me to color portions of a picture that can be scanned by the same software to provide the depth data my high-pressure gas-assisted wood-cutting laser would cut on the z-axis. I welcome all suggestions.
Ron Davison
[email protected]
I'd be very much interested in finding out all I could about using LASER's for cutting. Building one, as well as operation.
Would this be of the class iv or v type??? Newbie question.
laser=$$$
not just to buy, but to operate.
Eric
I wish it wouldn't crash.
How much money are we talking about to buy and to operate?
I have seen a 64ftx12ft lazer, cutting 1" steel. forgot how many kilowatts, but it was over 500, maybe 5000. Dont really remember. The machine was a few million I bet.
Jon
a hundred watt co2 laser is around $5,000 used and the optics are expensive when you burn em out. $200-300 bucks a shot.
Eric
I wish it wouldn't crash.
I found a friend with an 80-watt laser that he used to etch out (~1/8" deep) his family tree on a mohagany slab; it looks great. I will get him to do etch the picture panels for the caskets and forget about high-relief carvings.
I believe http://www.co2laser.com sells (or used to sell) a sealed CO2 laser and components to integrate it into your existing CNC gantry mill. It has been a while, but my recollection is that the 35 watt version was only around $3,000.
They currently (on the web site) sell a 25 watt laser "printer" which is a desktop box that will do 12" x 16" cutting or etching, around $10,000.
Joe Dunfee
Look here for everything you ever wanted to know about lasers, and DIY lasers in particular:
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/laserfaq.htm
The laser type to use for machining would be CO2 (gas laser) or YAG (solid state laser).
Arvid
I've seen used SpectraPhysics 820 and 825 co2 lasers for under $25,000. There in the 1.5Kw to 2.5 kw range.
I had an Amada lasmac 644, at my shop with and 820 laser and It cut 1/4" steel well.
If you fine tune your focal hight and gas presure you can cut 1/4" steel well at 1100 watts.
The main downfall to these lasers is there size. They have a footprint of about 6ft cubed + you need a large water chiller, and three gas bottles.
sick minds demand sick toys!
I am. I have archival entries of the system at my blog:Anyone working on building a CNC laser?
http://nilno.com/laser_dir/blogger.html
which contains flotsam that has collected during the course of the project. Right now I'm building the laser controller and motor drivers which requires a lot of custom electronics. I'm using Jon Elson's universal controller board:
http://pico-systems.com/univstep.html
gecko motor drivers, and digital encoders.
The total estimated cost is about $12k. The laser itself was $6500, I bought a cnc table for $500, and the optics were another $2500. Other costs include 220 volt wiring, cooling and ventilation.
This particular laser should be of sufficient wattage to cut sheet metal and 1/4 thick wood. I hope to use it to make: cheap cnc parts for members on this web site, artistic products to sell, engravings on glass work that my wife does, wood boxes, and high end lamps.
I am guessing that the project will take around 6 months to complete.
Owen
Check out Bobs site here http://www.emissiontechnologies.com/
He has been selling CO2 laser kits and plans for a few years now.
I work with 3 Trumpf brand lasers. 2600, 3000, and 5000 watt. The 5000 cuts up to 1" mild steel. They were each 1 million when new.
http://repairfaq.cis.upenn.edu/sam/rconway/35wtkit.pdf
I want to learn result.
Information Unlimited is a good site to look at for laser tubes. I just bought a 20W CO2 tube for 395 bucks. I am planning on building a selective laser sintering machine with it so 20 Watts will be fine. If you want to do some cutting with it I believe that with the proper laser optics to focus the beam to the diffraction limited spot size (around 10 microns) you could cut thin metal with it. I have found that CO2 laser optics are somewhat expensive. Anyway, I hope the source mentioned above helps. I would have posted sooner but I just discovered this site.
Originally Posted by vortexdave
Where did you get you're laser for that priice at??
Gerry
UCCNC 2017 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html
Mach3 2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html
JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
(Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
Originally Posted by ger21
This guy is actually selling weapons! check out the laser gun.
I think his co2 cutting kit maybe a good low cost intro into laser cutting, anyone bought one??
I'm thinking of starting my own laser cutting machine, that tube would be perfect.