Laser Cutter Running Cost Per Minute ???

[Robert Bonenfant]

Hello Everyone

Ive been working with a few lasers for about a year now, Thinking about buying one that can cut full sheets of wood 4x8 (Cutting my Cost & Lower my Wasted Materials)
Currently running a 80 watt laser cutting 1/8 - 1/4 wood and plastics -
Im trying to figure out what the cost per minute would be for the machine to run, its a 130 watt machine???
Im looking for an estimate , I know everyone's setups are different just seeing if im in the ball park
The Company Im buying from advertises that the machine cost per minute is right around $.11 - .15 Per Minute to run

If anyone could give me a little more info about Cost per minute or per hour that would be great

ps - Ive been looking around alot online but im finding either company sponsored info or retail cost for cutting

[Joe Pelonio]

I have a meter that I can put inline to measure kWh, as I am in the utilities business in my day job. My Epilog 45 watt came out to an average of 3 kWh/day, about 21 cents at our rates here, running 7 hours. Actually, the exhaust fan and compressor used more and all together it was costing me about $10/month for electricity. The real cost is in the maintenance replacement parts, such as belt, motor, mirrors, lenses, and especially the tube. My calculations show that your 130 watt machine would run about $0.75/7 hour day, just for the laser (at our rates, about $0.07/kWh) for the electronics and tube. If they are saying $0.11-15 per minute it must be much less efficient due to the gantry motors moving it around in that big size which our smaller machines don't have.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Efficiency varies Robert, a DC 130 watt laser is only between 8 and 12% efficient over input current.

Easiest way to work it is to take the plug input requirement of the whole machine and calculate from there. RF tubes are more efficient (30% in some cases) but cost more.

I run two flatbeds of the size you mention and electrical costs are so low I don't measure them.

For a DC machine 130 is middle of the road power, either go for 80 watt or 150 - 180 as the 130 is useless for engraving but slow compared to the bigger DC tubes for cutting.

cheers

Dave

[Leo Graywacz]

Get a Kill-a-Watt (http://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427428714&sr=8-1&keywords=kill+watt+meter) electric metering device and find out just by plugging it in.

[Keith Colson]

I came to the same conclusion Joe. The power consumed by the laser is less than the compressor and extraction for my machine. Here is the approx consumption on my system

1.1 kWh for the extraction
0.3 kWh for the air compressor 30% duty cycle at 900 watts
1.0 kWh or less for my 60 watt universal running full power. This is 100% duty cycle which is not realistic. Say 0.7 to 0.9 kWh in "real" usage at full power.
0.1 Kwh air dryer

[Rich Harman]

Here is the approx consumption on my system

1.1 kWh for the extraction
0.3 kWh for the air compressor 30% duty cycle at 900 watts
1.0 kWh or less for my 60 watt universal running full power. This is 100% duty cycle which is not realistic. Say 0.7 to 0.9 kWh in "real" usage at full power.
0.1 Kwh air dryer

Just to clarify, you mean 1.1kW etc., not 1.1kWh, correct? The difference is that "kWh" means a total power used (quantity of energy) over a certain period of time rather than a rate of energy (power) being used which would be "kW". For example you can use 1kWh in ten minutes, ten hours or ten days depending upon the current draw. Using "kWh" is not exactly wrong if you meant to say how much energy was used over the course of one hour, but it is not the conventional way of describing energy usage.

I think the typical laser uses so little power that it is hardly worth calculating. I expect most use less than $0.20/hr, and that's on the high side.

[Keith Colson]

Good to clarify Rich. That is indeed kWh or kilowatts per hour. This is why it has duty cycles attached to the descriptions because a compressor for example runs intermittently 33% in my case. Knowing the hourly watts you can apply that to "your" power costs.

[Michael Hunter]

Don't forget to factor in costs for laser tube recharging/replacement and the other parts (lenses, mirrors, belts and bearings etc.) which may need maintenance.

My 60W Epilog draws approx. 1.5kW when cutting continuously at high speed/full power and about 0.4kW when idle.

[Dan Hintz]

A sidenote... unless you need the high detail of a laser, I would think a CNC would be a better machine for cutting wood all day. Much faster, too.

[Richard Rumancik]

If you are trying to calculate just energy use, don't forget to include the increased cost of heating the building due to the exhaust system in the cooler months. You might be able to reduce cost by supplying some unheated air to replace vented air in the vicinity of the laser but this could be more difficult with an flatbed system. All the air that you exhaust to the outside requires cold air to be heated. Depending on climate this might not be negligible. Based on the flow rate of your exhaust system,the difference between outside and inside temperatures, and duty cycle, you could determine additional heating requirements (above what you currently use.)

[Kev Williams]

Our house has been an engraving biz since 1969. Every couple of months we get these 'neighbor comparisons'.
I put them on the wall by the front door, my customers get a kick out of them.
My equal pay power bill is just shy of $400 a month. But it's also paying to heat our hot tub,
keep 2 refrigerators and a freezer cold, dry our clothes, central air, etc... The rest is the CODB, and
without it I couldn't make a living... :)
FWIW, I work about 330 hours a month, and 3 'good' hours or so of that work pays for a month's worth of business power. Quite a bargain.

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/poweruse.JPG

[Leo Graywacz]

Don't they realize you are paying for it too? Never understood why they constantly bug you about usage when you are willing to pay. That's their business, right?

Sell electricity to those who are willing to pay for it. They should cut you a break, you are a wholesale user :D

[Matt McCoy]

A business plan is about half the $.00/kWh of residential rates in my area.

[Dan Hintz]

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/poweruse.JPG

Last one I received said in the text we were x% less efficient than the average neighbor, but that was highly misleading... they were comparing one month only where we were a bit above the average. However, when you looked at the graph, we held that same value (+/- 5-10%) throughout the entire year (including the nasty cold winter, etc.), and other than that one month, we were below average. During the cold months, the neighbors were easily 200% heavier users. Seems to me they should be asking our neighbors to save a little more, not us.

Of course, this new house is a different story :-/ Bills are coming in at $500/month, and we have gas heat/cooking/hotwater... and I don't even have my shop hooked up yet.