Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

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

Postby iGull » Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:33 am

@tesla
Sorry, don't have a step by step :-) I just designed and built it - no doubt it includes some plagiarism, but nothing wrong with standing on shoulders :lol:
I did the layout in sketchup (dont mock it, for layups it's oustanding and the inferencing is excellent).
It's nowhere near the impressive Barton Dring School of Industrial Art, but it's sufficient for my needs :-)))
The pix on the buildlog should be sufficient to build from along with the writeup and sketchup file. - anything else, you'd need to shoot fom the hip.

@giri
Shenhui Laser, a bit like coletech - do the same kind of stuff...
en.shenhuilaser.com
Clone type controllers (similar to lightobject, but Marco will swear different :lol: ) I was quoted a cheaper price.
Software is nicer (I use the term loosely ;) ) RDCAM/Lasercad - same sort of thing. I have the lightobject controller, but it suffers from software quality (like the others).

Cheers

Neil
EMOs are a sign of weakness ...
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby macona » Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:04 am

Personally, I would build the machine with the laser on the gantry. This will reduce the amount of optics needed an eliminate a lot of the effects of the machine changing shape from loads and temperature.
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby iGull » Sun Sep 16, 2012 2:33 pm

Ok on the gantry laser, everyone talks about doing it, but to date, I haven't seen a diy version.
There are a few commercial versions, but they are ultra expensive and invariably use smaller (physically) RF lasers - which in turn tend to be air cooled. Only needing 24V to drive their inbuilt psus is a big plus too.

So, the chinese tube gantry laser is going to be long, has to drag it's water umbilical and probably either has it's psu on the gantry or has 25KV in the umbilical along with the water.
Ok, you can move the mass fast given a half decent servo system, but at what cost? I don't fancy a 100W reci laser rattling back and forth at +400mm/s if you want it to raster - even 50mm/s is fast enough!

Go for it I say, don't be a wimp - save yourself that extra mirror (or two if you mount it vertically :D ) and a bit of power loss.

Has anyone considered how wide a 100W gantry laser will be ? I'ts 1400mm + the x (or y) axis size :lol:
Unless it's mounted vertically - that would be a good idea :roll: The only other option is a moving bed which needs to be double the size in each axis making your 8x4 an 8x16.

Personally, in the year I have used mine, other than an occasional wipe with a damp cloth and a quick vacuum, that sums up the maintenance and alignment :lol: I haven't noticed it changing shape yet. That'll be the kybosh on my laser now then :lol: :lol:

I can see the desire to get a constant power across the bed, but perhaps not with a chinese laser - maybe they'll start doing cheap rf lasers soon?

Cheers

Neil
EMOs are a sign of weakness ...
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby Liberty4Ever » Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:50 pm

iGull wrote: I don't fancy a 100W reci laser rattling back and forth at +400mm/s if you want it to raster

The flying head optics (X axis) move at 400 mm/s for engraving. The gantry with the laser mounted to it moves much more slowly in the Y axis. A laser tube mounted on the gantry wouldn't be whipping around at engraving speeds. You'd quickly scan lines in X and slowly index rows in Y. The optics head moves at the fast horizontal scan rate, and the laser tube and gantry moves at the slow row index rate.
Apparently, I didn't build that! :-)
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby iGull » Sun Sep 16, 2012 8:08 pm

I'm assuming you are meaning single axis 'flying optics' as opposed to the dual axis optics we currently use and not true scanning optics ?
So on your 4x8', the beam _still_ has to travel a minimum of 4 feet (1200mm), not just the 4" (100mm) to the material ?
I thought the discussion here was a gantry mount sans mirrors ?
I'll just stay out of it then :lol: :lol:
Cheers
Neil
EMOs are a sign of weakness ...
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby macona » Sun Sep 16, 2012 11:01 pm

400mm/s is really nothing.
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby Liberty4Ever » Sun Sep 16, 2012 11:32 pm

iGull wrote:I'm assuming you are meaning single axis 'flying optics' as opposed to the dual axis optics we currently use and not true scanning optics ?

I'm simply trying to describe a laser configuration where the raster images are printed with the light weight final mirror and focusing lens rapidly moving laterally (left/right - in the direction of the gantry) to scan the lines of the raster image, and the much heavier gantry with the laser tube moving much more slowly in the longitudinal direction (down) a very small amount to advance to the next raster image line to be scanned by the laser.
Apparently, I didn't build that! :-)
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby Liberty4Ever » Sun Sep 16, 2012 11:39 pm

macona wrote:400mm/s is really nothing.

Most of the materials I cut with a 40W laser are cut at approximately 50 mm/s or slower. Thin paper is cut faster than that, but I don't cut much thin paper.

Most of the materials I laser engrave are engraved at approximately 400 mm/s or faster.

400 mm/s is kinda fast... by milling machine standards.
Apparently, I didn't build that! :-)
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Re: Has anyone built a 100w+ 4x8 laser?

Postby James628 » Mon Sep 17, 2012 3:36 pm

iGull wrote:
Shenhui Laser, a bit like coletech - do the same kind of stuff...
en.shenhuilaser.com
Clone type controllers (similar to lightobject, but Marco will swear different :lol: ) I was quoted a cheaper price.
Software is nicer (I use the term loosely ;) ) RDCAM/Lasercad - same sort of thing. I have the lightobject controller, but it suffers from software quality (like the others).



Hi iGull,

Which controller do you use from shenhuilaser? RD or TZ control board or yet another one? Do you have English manual for it? Could you tell some more details about your board?

Thanks in advance.

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

Postby iGull » Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:33 pm

Hi James
I don't have the shenhui controller, I have the lightobject controller. My friend has the shenhui unit - RD.
I think you can download the manual online - as well as the rdcam software - it'll run in demo mode.
From playing with it, rdcam has all the features that lasercad has - but the interface is a lot nicer to use. It doesn't have ethernet and suffers from the usual 'chinglish', but like lasercad, you can edit the language file to make it intelligible.
The importers don't crash so much as lasercad - simple things like forgetting to ungroup dxf data will cause lasercad to crash :-( They both work exactly the same really - just different data formats.No doubt RDCAm will have it's own foibles :-) Ask them for a quote.
There's a large user's forum at sawmill creek.
Cheers
Neil
EMOs are a sign of weakness ...
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