Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby Modelart » Fri Sep 14, 2012 2:12 pm

I have something similar, my laser is a 1.2x1.5 mts travel, 40w (60w on the way), fixed gantry, with y axis flying optics on it and height adjust, moving x table.
the only problem is that full swing in x axis travel is 3m you need space for that.
My idea was to keep beam path travel to a minimun.
It has no enclosure on the table, but the table have extraction underside, linked to a dust collector.
The only thing that i made in a really stupid way (dont do it), is to place the tube atop the gantry one mirror 45 dregrees downwards, one mirror 45 upwards redirecting the beam to the flying Y optic. The mirror facing upwards gets easy contaminated by ambient dust and sometimes the gold plating degrades causing thermal shock and breaks the mirror.... :roll:
Now my table is smaller than that, built with some eggcrate like, roofing sheet, really cheapo, bad for constant focus all the way.
Have to buy some perforated honeycomb to do a double layer table, with aluminum facings bonded on the flat with epoxy, very light.
Anyone knows where to buy time to do it?
Regards
Rick
PS: if someone needs pics only ask.
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby TLHarrell » Fri Sep 14, 2012 3:52 pm

Yes, the very large, super expensive commercial lasers usually have the laser tube inside the gantry (X-axis).
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby canadianavenger » Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:13 pm

TLHarrell wrote:Yes, the very large, super expensive commercial lasers usually have the laser tube inside the gantry (X-axis).



The one's I've seen have it off to the side, but in-line with the gantry.

For a DIY version, I would consider placing the tube under the cutting table as another option, and then just have an enclosed box running up the side for the beam-path to keep the mirrors protected from dust. [assuming fixed gantry, and moving cutting table] This keeps the laser out of the "fire zone" should something go wrong.
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby Tesla » Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:48 pm

ok....deff need some images if something has already been done, granted i tried to look for a video of the 2.X in use (that showed clearly what was going on inside) but nothing. I would like to check out the internals fully assembled and to determine the mods needed to be done, the rails i got covered but its laser parts and 45 deg 180 deg...that gets me unless i see a visual :)
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby Tesla » Fri Sep 14, 2012 11:10 pm

Ok, so my mission is 2x4, now if i extend "1"to 4 feet, would i have to do anything with the tube or the mirror on the same rail ? or if i extend 2 would that be any issue ?
Attachments
extend laser.JPG
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby Liberty4Ever » Sat Sep 15, 2012 9:35 am

Enraged wrote:The only change I want to make to my 2.x build is increasing cutting area so I can cut off the shelf 12" x 24" sheets of plywood or acrylic.


Exactly my thoughts. I buy foam and acrylic and polycarbonate in 1' X 2' sheets. I'm currently using a commercial laser (VersaLaser) with 12" X 24" capacity. It would severely crimp my style to have a laser that has a table slightly less than 12" in one direction and slightly less than 24" in the other direction. Once below those critical dimensions, anyone working with standard size sheet materials might as well have an 8" X 8" hobby laser. I'm sure there were design constraints that resulted in the slightly less than 1' X 2' work space, but it's a deal breaker for me, otherwise I'd enthusiastically build a 2.x laser from the plans. As is, I'll still build a laser and I'll use a lot of the tips and tricks on this forum, but I'm going to need to make it a little larger. I could probably scale up the X and Y axes slightly, but that seemingly small deviation changes everything. I'm still leaning toward cheating and buying the XY stage, and building the frame from Misumi aluminum extrusion.

If I wanted to make a much larger laser, I'd definitely cheat and see how the big commercial lasers are made. I'd think rigidity would be very important, and it might be beneficial to build using materials with low coefficient of thermal expansion? I think laser labs often use large surface plates for their laser optics experiments.
Apparently, I didn't build that! :-)
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby mikegrundvig » Sat Sep 15, 2012 4:26 pm

It would severely crimp my style to have a laser that has a table slightly less than 12" in one direction and slightly less than 24" in the other direction.
I absolutely, unequivocally, 100% agree. I chose my mill with this in mind and realized after the fact that it was likely the best decision I could have made. It makes everything SO much more convenient. My desktop router will use these dimensions as the baseline as well for this reason.
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby iGull » Sat Sep 15, 2012 10:08 pm

lumberjack_jeff wrote:I've considered buying 2x4 from china, but $1200 in import fees ticks me off.
Can I use EMC and g-code, or should I buy a laser controller box?

Hi Jeff
just picked up on your post.
Checkout my blackhole 60W buildlog - it's 1200x600 (48x24") - I've had no great problems with alignment, contrary to popular opinion. It's been in use for about a year now. I regularly cut 1200x300x3 mm liteply over the full bed.
I would REALLY recommend buying a laser controller - either the lightobject or shenhui (shenhui software is better) - they work really well and are designed for the job. Both accept dxf, so will probably fit in with your mechmate workflow.
To be honest, I seldom use any CAD apps now - just adobe illustrator. It's ultra simple to create toolpath offsets for the beam width compensation.
Using a mechmate, you probably haven't noticed different qualities of liteply/aircraft ply - you WILL if you get a laser - a lot of it is just garbage - you need to spend some time finding quality stuff.
Best regards
Neil
EMOs are a sign of weakness ...
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby Tesla » Sat Sep 15, 2012 11:17 pm

iGull wrote:
lumberjack_jeff wrote:I've considered buying 2x4 from china, but $1200 in import fees ticks me off.
Can I use EMC and g-code, or should I buy a laser controller box?

Hi Jeff
just picked up on your post.
Checkout my blackhole 60W buildlog - it's 1200x600 (48x24") - I've had no great problems with alignment, contrary to popular opinion. It's been in use for about a year now. I regularly cut 1200x300x3 mm liteply over the full bed.
I would REALLY recommend buying a laser controller - either the lightobject or shenhui (shenhui software is better) - they work really well and are designed for the job. Both accept dxf, so will probably fit in with your mechmate workflow.
To be honest, I seldom use any CAD apps now - just adobe illustrator. It's ultra simple to create toolpath offsets for the beam width compensation.
Using a mechmate, you probably haven't noticed different qualities of liteply/aircraft ply - you WILL if you get a laser - a lot of it is just garbage - you need to spend some time finding quality stuff.
Best regards
Neil


Neil, that's freaken awesome ! im reading your thread now but did you buy the hole kit like that such as all the parts ? if not please tel me you have a step my step :)
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby GiriPod » Sun Sep 16, 2012 1:23 am

@iGull/Neil

Can you give more details of the shenhui controller? I've search the forum and Google'd but didn't turn up much.

Thanks,
Giri (Expat from near Sheffield now in Portland, Oregon)
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