Re: Laser Engraving

> In respect to laser engravers, I had extensively questioned the life

of the

> tube because the warranty on the tube itself was much shorter than

on the

> rest of the machine and their pushing of an extended warranty.

(spidey sense

> kicking in =)

It may well be that some of the commerical laser engraver systems will
not have the industrial strength nature of a synrad.

> Laser engravers are usually under the 250 Watt level and dont
>require bringing in 400 Amp service panel which is what I suspected
>he was interested

You can cut steel with 250W, see the synrad website although I seem to
remember someone saying peak powers of their 250W lasers were higher,
the same with coherents lasers. I just wanted to make sure people
did not rule out CO2 for metal cutting totally.

> Just curious, what wattage is used to cut sheetmetal and 1" thick
>steel?

Well 250W and up will do useful cutting, 400W will definately do 3mm
plate, I don't know what you need for 1" thick.

> Something I forgot to mention...
> When using a laser the gases from the material being cut MUST be
>exhausted! This is a critcal thing. You can NOT use PVC, Vinyl Sign

Lettering

VERY GOOD POINT, that stuff will kill you as soon as look at you and
will also eat your machine, linear bearings n all.

> flare-ups (like wood catching on fire) and to get a cleaner finish
>when cutting (not marking/etching) plastics.

Indeed, see Synrads page for a nice video of perspex cutting, with the
right pressure you get a flame polished edge.

Graham