RECI 100w vs 150w: What differences, please?

[tommy suriady]

Hello all,
So I have been shopping for new laser machine, namely the BS1325 from Baisheng.
I was thinking of using this huge machine (1.22m x 2.44m bed size) for cutting up to 20mm plywood and acrylic sheet.
local Plywood here is made of diferent woods depending on what they can get their dirty hands on (law and regulations), but they are mostly tropical hardwoods (I am in Borneo). So cuts well, some cuts bad.

Also cutting MDF boards.

The thing is I was told by the BAisheng that I will get stability on 100w tube, but not 150w tube (both reci).
Ofcourse, being the person that I am, I called up RECI and ask them. They are telling me to go for the 100w also.

So I would like to hear your opinion on this.

I am told by many people here that what matters when cutting plywood is the blow strength. I have personally seen someone cutting a 20mm plywood (though I am not sure what kind, but a little soft for hardwood) with a 150w laser and a 1hp compressor.

The speed was reasonable and the cutting is actually pretty nice: not much charring and slightly less than 1mm kerf.
the problem was that below 30%(if remembered correctly), the laser doesnt even fire when we tested carving. Operator said that is normal for 150w laser to be like that, when I asked RECI, told to calibrate the control board to minimum of firing voltage at minimum power. So I assume it is ignorance on the operator's part.

So please advise if that tube not firing is what is called instability, or are there many other considerations?
Thanks!



Tommy Suriady

[Ross Moshinsky]

Any reason you're going with a laser over a CNC router? Unless you're doing very intricate cuts, a CNC router is the right tool for what you're looking to do.

150W tube might be okay for cutting 20mm acrylic but I couldn't imagine it being the most efficient tool for plywood, especially plywood that is known to be inconsistent. A good CNC router should be able to cut 20mm plywood in a couple passes at 200-300in/min or about 85-127mm/sec. Including two passes that's 43-64 mm/sec. That's going to be A LOT faster than what a 150W laser could do. I'd say it's easily 10x faster to cut 20mm plywood with a CNC.

[Lucy Lee]

Hi Tommy,
100w Reci can cut 20mm plywood and acrylic, but the speed may be a little lower,but it is more steady than 150w tube ,or you can consider the middle one ,130w

Anyway it is upon your choice

Best Regards
Lucy Lee


Hello all,
So I have been shopping for new laser machine, namely the BS1325 from Baisheng.
I was thinking of using this huge machine (1.22m x 2.44m bed size) for cutting up to 20mm plywood and acrylic sheet.
local Plywood here is made of diferent woods depending on what they can get their dirty hands on (law and regulations), but they are mostly tropical hardwoods (I am in Borneo). So cuts well, some cuts bad.

Also cutting MDF boards.

The thing is I was told by the BAisheng that I will get stability on 100w tube, but not 150w tube (both reci).
Ofcourse, being the person that I am, I called up RECI and ask them. They are telling me to go for the 100w also.

So I would like to hear your opinion on this.

I am told by many people here that what matters when cutting plywood is the blow strength. I have personally seen someone cutting a 20mm plywood (though I am not sure what kind, but a little soft for hardwood) with a 150w laser and a 1hp compressor.

The speed was reasonable and the cutting is actually pretty nice: not much charring and slightly less than 1mm kerf.
the problem was that below 30%(if remembered correctly), the laser doesnt even fire when we tested carving. Operator said that is normal for 150w laser to be like that, when I asked RECI, told to calibrate the control board to minimum of firing voltage at minimum power. So I assume it is ignorance on the operator's part.

So please advise if that tube not firing is what is called instability, or are there many other considerations?
Thanks!



Tommy Suriady

[tommy suriady]

1. We still work on acrylics >75% of the time.
2. CNC seems to generate alot of dusts. We cant have dust with the other printing machines. they are like sick babies.
3. Do not want multiple machines in workshop. I already have too many machines in the place. Machine=capital.
4. laser seems to produce finished works, but not cnc, especially on acrylics. we do lots of keychains, signages, frames. we cut, then print on them.
5. We have been cutting 5mm plywood without any problems. but alot of contractors actually need to cut on something thicker for structural purposes.
6. I charge by the minute anyway. so those who needs knows what they are paying for and pass on the charges to their customers. They only bring the absolutely impossibles to me to cut anyway.

[Rodne Gold]

Regardless of your reasons , the laser is NOT a good tool for 20mm thick wood or 20mm acrylic if you are at all concerned about edges and cut quality. 100W will not "cut" it for either application..you will need a lot more power ... yes , its possible to make a hole in wood with a screwdriver - but it won't come out good...

CnC with a dust collector for wood and CnC with water cooling for acrylic will work a whole lot better . Use a flame polisher for the acrylic edges. 80-100w Laser will work nicely with acrylic under 10-12mm and with thin ply/wood (but you will still have charred edges)
The more potent tubes are pretty expensive and glass tubes are somewhat flaky..I would rather go with a 80-100W at $500-600 tube and put up with its limitations vs something like a 150-180W tube at 3x the price ...especially since the extra power is not really going to give you a "better" cut..you will still have bad heat affected zones.

[Dan Hintz]

So please advise if that tube not firing is what is called instability, or are there many other considerations?

To answer your overriding question about stability... yes, there may be some tweaking possible with the hardware driver settings, but the larger tubes are (by their very nature) a less-stable setup. Can it get better than 30%? I cannot answer that as I've never worked with that high of a power on the glass tubes, but my guess would be "yes, but not a whole lot better."

[Rodne Gold]

Stability will depend mostly on temperature...if you can maintain it constant , the power should be constant.
The issue is minimum firing power, values of less than 10% power could result in variable firing , ie you would be limited to 18-25W on a 180w tube as minimum power..considering the chinese lasers are "slow" you might find that you are overpowering material at that minimum.

[tommy suriady]

Now, I am really tempted to get a router. Well, maybe next year, eh?

So right now, I will have to advice my customers to just stick with 5mm plywood and join them after cutting...
well, i am going to get myself a 1hp compressor that can output 6bars pressure constantly. Cost about 420usd for a taiwanese one around here.

Will see how thick I can go with my 80 watt laser with different materials.

Sure to keep you guys posted!

[john banks]

Our 3HP compressor cannot output 6 bar continuously through our 4mm diameter nozzle, more like 3 to 3.5 bar IIRC, we run up to 2 bar for wood and with our 100W RECI would be dubious about cutting much more than 10 to 12 mm thick wood (have tested 18mm at 3mm/s which is very slow) for best results in terms of heat affected zone and time/cost to cut. You could try making the nozzle smaller if your alignment is really good and the nozzle is near the focus so the beam isn't too wide and likely to reflect off the inside of the nozzle?