Lasercutter

Lasercutter
Owner	Jglauche
Status	Untested
Tool	Yes
Tool category	Fabrication

Lasercutter

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Pew Laser

Specifications

• Class IV
• 60x90 cm bed
• 90W CO2 Laser (dont run above ~70%)
• Needs some love! (XP software currently MIA, electronics could get a good upgrade, needs calibration)
• 25 kg (lol) purified water
• CW-3000 water chiller

Todo

• Fill system with purified water (30 * 1L available)
• Solve exhaust fumes extraction problem

Exhaust fumes extraction problem

Options:

• Remove window above hallway door, replace with wood. mount pipe onto wood.
• Cut hole in door, fit pipe over hole in door
• Cut hole in air duct, mount pipe over hole

• Decide on coarse filter, as the supplied filter will clog if use without.
• Open door and toss out hose when in use. Revert when done.

Electrical problems

• Get power to the other side of the room
• Hook up ground

Manual

• File:Lasercutter-manual.pdf
• File:Help-chiller-3000.pdf

Old Discussion

Moeten we als nurdspace investeren in een LaserCutter en hoe gaan we dat betalen.

Money stuff

What does running the cutter cost

• Per hour use?
• When does the tube die and how much does a new one cost?

Cha0z: 60W CO2 Laser tube $150-$230 aliexpress
The0: plus 200$ shipment, and length&power are related so getting 60W in a 40W frame might be difficult
The0: Life expectancy of a tube varies: between 1000 and 4000 hours. 1000 hours seems more realistic
The0: So far the predominant failure mode I have heard people complain about seems to be mishandling: 
  Forgetting to switch on cooling, freezing of coolant during winter, and mechanical abuse. 
  Do we need to take stupidity into account?
The0: lenses and mirrors deteriorate over time, especially if fume extraction is not working properly or 
  (output lens) if there is no air assist. 
  A lens will set you back about 40,-, a mirror about 20,-

In favor of getting a cutter

• zarya
• The0
• niz
• FwD
• buZz
• Cha0z97

In favor of a fee per hour to amortize acquisition and running costs

• The0
• Cha0z
• Zarya

I want to *lend* money for a cutter

• The0: up to 1000,-

I want to donate monyz for a cutter

• The0: 100,-
• FwD: 100,-
• buZz: 100,-
• Cha0z97: 200,-
• Fierman: 50,-
• Niz: 100,-

What can we sell to buy a cutter

• The audio multi track recorder/mixer
• 3x APC UPS -> Sold for €200, which is now available.

Technical

What do we want?

• Size?

• • The0: 20x30 cm seems to be the smallest, 40x60 is one size up and considerably more expensive
  • The0: some cheap ebay engravers seem to support only 20x20, with variable reports of mechanical limitations (short axes) and software (irrelevant) causing this

• Features?

• • Cha0z: Should be able to cut through 0.15mm steel to be able to produce SMT stencils.
  • Theo: motorized up/down and rotation axis (engraving round objects) would be neat.

• Hardware?

• • The0: performance of software-only solution is horrible. while in theory they could achieve results extremely fast (with a fast computer), even the best software only solutions are rumoured to have difficulty cutting even paper. So, I, for one, am definitely in favor of a hardware solution,.but not definitely against some software-hardware combination.

Where to get one

• Ebay?
  • "cheap" 40W ebay lasers come in two varieties. The first (and cheapest at ~ 700 euro including shipment) variety has a fixed 20x30 (sometimes 20x20) cm platform and no air-assist. The second variety has a movable 40x60 cm platform, sometimes comes with a rotary attachment, has air-assist and costs ~2200 euro including shipment.

The second variety has recently been banned from sales in the EU because of non-conformity (see last item on http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/safety/rapex/alerts/main/index.cfm?event=main.weeklyOverview&web_report_id=922). Curiously enough this ban has led to an enormous price increase for this type (now ~12000 euro). Possibly related to this, the EU outlets for the smaller variety seem to have shifted offices from Porthsmouth (UK) to Karlsruhe (DE), and several of these "German" sellers are now also offering spare lamps at ~170 euro + 20 euro shipment, which is quite competitive. Are they canabalizing non-conforming lasers and selling off the parts?

• HPC Laser
  • http://hpclaser.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=40 (but in need of electronic's change)

The0: Buy cheapest ebay (~600,-), eventually replace controller (e.g. laoslaser.org), total budget ~1200,-

The0: Mood swings. Cheap ebay requires upgrades to become marginally usable, and will forever be stuck with puny working area.

The0: Aluminium t-nut profiles have become remarkably affordable recently. Add motors, pulleys, belts, nuts and bolts, and you have a XYZ robot. Then mount your choise of extruder/spindle or a laser head and mirrors and you have an ultimaker-ultra/CNC mill/lasercutter. Mount all and you have fireworks. Lets design a frame and put a price to it, so we can decide if this is feasible.

buZz; motedis

bjornl: remcoo (tkkrlab) advised us to look at Lasersaur, an open source laser cutter: http://labs.nortd.com/lasersaur/ (Link is dead)