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David Linahan
01-13-2013, 8:51 PM
Hi,
I'm still learning with my new 50w Zing 24. A question I do have is about the air assist. I find that using it can cause the residue to be blown down onto the project which often leaves a difficult to remove stain. I have occasionally forgotten the air assist and found the work to be cleaner..although if the material flares up it reminds me to turn it on. My compressor is a 16cfm unit I used for spray painting, and is quite noisy and power hungry...I am looking for a "smaller silent" one...but what output(cfm), is the minimum required for laser use? Many brands I see mentioned here are not readily available in Oz so I'll need to find one locally.

Thanks...Dave.

Joe Pelonio
01-13-2013, 9:40 PM
The CFM is not important with the small tube, it just needs 20 lbs pressure +-. I use a very quiet airbrush pump
that cost less than $100 and it's lasted 5 years with no problems. It's actually quieter than my exhaust fan. Check to see if the driver for that model allows you to engrave bottom up, so the debris blows away from the lettering.
Mine does not. Also, I never use air assist to engrave end never have any flareups, when cutting I use it but have no issues with debris since I almost always apply transfer tape prior to cutting, especially red Rowmark.

Rich Harman
01-13-2013, 11:34 PM
It might make a difference that the Zing uses an air assist "curtain".

Mike Lysov
01-15-2013, 8:41 PM
Hi,
I'm still learning with my new 50w Zing 24. A question I do have is about the air assist. I find that using it can cause the residue to be blown down onto the project which often leaves a difficult to remove stain. I have occasionally forgotten the air assist and found the work to be cleaner..although if the material flares up it reminds me to turn it on. My compressor is a 16cfm unit I used for spray painting, and is quite noisy and power hungry...I am looking for a "smaller silent" one...but what output(cfm), is the minimum required for laser use? Many brands I see mentioned here are not readily available in Oz so I'll need to find one locally.

Thanks...Dave.

Hi Dave,

I am from Australia too(Melbourne). If you supply air with 40 PSI as close material surface as possible there will be no residue at all. You will need a longer air asist nozzle as the standard one that comes with lasers do not do any good job. Its clearance from material is too high and it does not allow air to be pushed at high pressure directly to cutting area.

At least with my LaserPro a stock air assist nozzle is very short with at least 2cm clearance. Now I have installed the longer one and its tip is only 5-7mm from material surface.

Moreover you will see increase in cutting speed at least by 5% may be even 10% if you do all above. I spent years cutting MDF and sanding it with a sander. I did not know that if I install a longer nozzle and add extra 10-15 PSI I would not have to sand anything again. It also helps with engraving wood as with this combination there is no sticky residue left at all. What's left is just dust that can be wiped away with wet cloth. I think it has something to do with cold air and its pressure turning residue from wood into grey dust without creating anything sticky on the wood surface.

Re, the air compressor brand my laser came with an Oil-Less vacuum pump and it does the job for my 100W laser which I use mostly for cutting MDF. GCC LaserPro sells it for over $1000 but its real price is around $100, may be even less.
You can try to find the same pump on Aliexpress by its model DP-90V, but you may need to add some fittings and change the plug. It is not too noisy and runs at about 65 DB. The other option is to buy something like this https://www.gasweld.com.au/air/air-compressors-oiless/594138-toolex.html

Do not trust their noise specs though. I visited their shop last week because I needed an air compressor for my new 280W laser which requires 70PSI and 20L/M air delivery. I measured a noise level for this one and the other one with 20L tank I am going to mention below.

It was 63 DB for both of them which is still ok with me. I ended up buying the same brand but with 20L tank (https://www.gasweld.com.au/air/air-compressors-oiless/594140-toolex.html). These pumps can get hot if they are on and off too often so the bigger tank is better.

One more thing with their compressors is that both 10L and 20L one seems to have the same 2HP pump installed despite of specs on their website saying that 10L is only 1.1HP while the 20L compressor comes with 2HP. That actually may be the reason why the noise level was 63DB instead of 50DB for the small one. May be it is just a problem with stock in some particular shop and if you buy 10L one online it will actually come with 1.1HP pump.

Mike Lysov
01-15-2013, 8:50 PM
actually a regular airbrush compressor as suggested above should do the job for you too.

Rich Harman
01-16-2013, 3:35 AM
Again, the Epliog Zing lasers do not come with the type of air assist that directs air at the cutting point but rather an "air curtain" that stretches from side to side.

http://www.epiloglaser.com/zing_airassist.htm

251334

David Linahan
01-17-2013, 6:12 PM
I kinda thought that the air assist curtain on the Zing isn't that good. I might try to rig up an air nozzle directly to an outside compressor. Mike's experience with a closer air stream could solve my "residue" problems... Thanks for the assistance...