Cutting lots of acrylic, looking for faster options..

[Kieran Mannings]

Hi Guys,

We've currently got a Trotec speedy 100 (25w or 30w I can't remember from purchase, is there a way to find out?) and its great we can't fault the machine, we can fault Trotecs service but the machine has been fab. We have recently started cutting 3mm acrylic day in day out and it is quite slow on this machine, the attached bed takes around 11 1/2 mins to cut out of 3mm acrylic, (settings 0.73 speed 100 power PPI at limit) the machine is currently running 10 hours a day, this is profitable work but it doesn't leave time for new products we want to be making.

So my question is really is a higher wattage machine the answer? We have been looking at larger Chinese machines with higher wattage, increasing the bed size will open up new jobs for us, but will speed be an overnight difference. We will be sorry to see the Trotec go, we could pretty much do a straight swap for a Chinese machine cost wise or could about stretch to keeping this machine and adding a larger machine, we're just conscious of regretting loosing this machine. Our work is now 99% acrylic cutting so maybe it is the time for a change..

Any advice or feedback would be much appreciated.


242811

[Steve Clarkson]

Hi Kieran,

Yes, more power will give you more speed. However, in the meantime, you might want to consider optimizing your cutting. Take a look at the attached drawing where I sort of welded two pieces together. I think if you did this for the entire worksheet, it might save you some time and you might get a few extra parts out of each sheet.


242812

[Mark Ross]

We have a 45W Epilog and just recently purchased a 75W for a second machine. Exact same machines except for the power level. Speed of the 75W is 2.5 times as fast vector cutting 1/8 inch acrylic. Wish we would have had the 75W on the original machine. Always buy as much power as you can afford and then some. You can always reduce power on a higher wattage machine, but you can't go past 100% power on the lower wattage machines.

[Paul Phillips]

Kieran,
to answer your question, yes a higher wattage machine is what you need to increase productions speed, when we bought our machine we took the advice of "buy as much wattage as you can afford" so we got 120 watts and I find myself almost always using 100% power when cutting acrylic so the only variable then is speed (I cut 3mm at about 7 speed). Your decision then is which machine to buy? Have you considered asking Trotec if your laser tube is upgradeable, if you can change out your 30watt for a 60watt that will effectively double your cut speed. If you're mechanically minded and don't mind some fixing and troubleshooting then maybe a Chinese laser is the answer, they supposedly do a nice job at cutting acrylic and there is lots of help on this forum for getting the kinks worked out.
Hope this helps,
Paul

[walter hofmann]

Hi all
I am a bit buffeld because I cut 3mm acrylic with speed 20 to 30mm/s and 45% power (15mA) with my converted K40.
I allways clean the mirrors and lense in the morning every three days I also clean the laser tube exit lense because especially with cutting acrylic
I found out that this lense gets a kind of foggy and I loos about 15 to 20% power.
just my experience
greetings
walt

[Scott Shepherd]

Hi all
I am a bit buffeld because I cut 3mm acrylic with speed 20 to 30mm/s and 45% power (15mA) with my converted K40.


Speeds are relative to manufacturers. 7% speed on a Universal is not the same as 7% speed on anything else.

[Ross Moshinsky]

25-30W machines are designed primarily for marking/engraving and some cutting. They are not designed for cutting all the time. If your business is cutting acrylic all day long, you need to buy a new machine. It's really that simple.

As for what machine to get, that's a tough call. If you're cutting all day, you want the most power you can afford. The chances you'll see a Trotec Speedy 300 cut faster than a Chinese laser is minimal. The reality is, you'll never be able to achieve the high speed the Trotec is known for while cutting unless you start looking at really high wattage lasers.

The question is, do you need to produce high precision parts or trinkets? If you're producing high precision parts, going with a Chinese machine is risky. If you're producing trinkets, a Chinese machine will be fine. The other thing to look at is what your work flow. If you're putting a sheet down and doing 5 of this, 2 of that, and 7 of another and the products and the quantities are constantly changing, the Trotec's software will be hugely beneficial. If you're sticking a sheet down and running one item nested, the Trotec's software will become less and less of a benefit. I'm not sure if that's worth $10-15k in additional costs, but obviously the Trotec offers other advantages as well.