Technical, Techniques, Hints, and Tips > Laser & Water-Jet Cutting
Laser cutting machines etc.
Unsinkable 2:
Fantastic job you are doing :-)) . So professional and looks amazing. It's good to see someone realise their dream. Well done, and good luck with the sales. U2
Brian60:
I've had mine for about 2 weeks now and I'm still learning my way around it. I'm in the middle of carrying out some upgrades to it. The extractor fan supplied is a real abomination and doesn't have a good seal to the rear of the machine, they supply some foam tape to help here.
But I am making the extraction slot on the rear of mine larger and installing internally a couple of 6 inch computer cooling fans. I'm making up a new coupling to fit the rear of the machine so it can fit flatter up to a wall, run out some 3 inch tubing parallel to that and couple the whole lot up to the original extractor fan out side. So at the end of the day I will have a much neater/quieter unit with extra fans! Also mine does not have the air assist lens head included in the buy price, so I have one of those on order.
The laser cuts its line in the material, but depending on the base material it can burn/melt easily. To combat this you can get attachments for the lens head, that direct a jet of air downwards that keep the work cool and help blow out any small flame that might develop. Carl is correct about the water temperature, anything over 20-22c is going to kill the laser tube quite quickly, but this would only apply if the thing is running for hours at a time like a production line. Mine so far manages about 15 minutes of work. The reason is I don't have lots to cut with it! My time is taken up drawing the stuff in Coreldraw. I've spent 19 hours over the last 3 days drawing hull frames in Coreldraw. The laser can cut one of those frames in about 6 minutes if using 5mm plywood, or considerably less if the plywood is 3mm or styrene!
ballastanksian:
Interesting knowledge chaps. A friend of mine, who does a little work for Vintage model workshop, is considering buying a Laser cutter and I have been feeding him your pearls of wisdom. He has looked at a few machines but I think he needs the time and opportunity to invest.
Reading what you say about regimens shows that in fact, cutters and printers do not seem to be for the faint hearted {:-{
Brian60:
Ian the laser is just a tool, just like a craft knife, simple to use in reality. The clever part is being good with the software to actually draw the parts, its a steep learning curve, but once you have the drawing package, corel draw, rd works laserdraw or whatever is used mastered, everything else is easy. If you can already use coreldraw or similar it is even easier!
Perhaps we need to move the laser stuff to a new sub forum? MARTIN!!!!!!! I can already see that they are the way forward for all modelling not just boats/ships.
essex2visuvesi:
Have you guys considered adding some kind of coolant additive?
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