Re: (was cutting fabric ? now LASERs

>
> I have watched threads about LASERs in the past, but never paid a
> whole lot of attention.
>
> If I stick with cloth, then I assume one LASER would do all the

work.

>
> I think one of the things that has kept me from looking too hard
> (besides price) is that as I understand, they have a finite life

and

> there is no way to tell if there is an hour left or 10,000 hours.
>
> I would assume that cutting at lower than maximum, one could get
> longer life.
>
> as for cutting, speed is not an issue. can I expect that a 10watt
> will cut pretty much any fabric up to heavy denim, but that more

watts

> just means a faster cut ?
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> Dave
>

Well, at least for the Synrads, they don't just put out 15 watts one
day and 0 watts the next, unless you run over it with your car or
something. They will gradually die off and require a recharge from
Synrad (which costs about $400 for the 10 watter I believe). If you
get one that is hot (ie, a 10 watter doing 15+ watts), then you can
probably get at least 3000 hours before you even think of needing a
recharge. 3000 hours is forever in the hobbyist realm :-)

Mine is dated 1997, was used in an industrial marker machine for
several years before I got it, and does 17 watts! I think it was
only used at 25% power or so in the marker...

I would think a 10 watt could cut most fabrics. Sometimes you get a
cleaner cut with higher power because the material is vaporized so
fast there is little heating up of the surrounding material, if that
makes any sense. Anyway, I will do a test cut at low powers and let
you see it in action and see a closeup of the cut