Which laser?

[Ed Lang]

I want to get a laser.

I was not able to stay at the SawMill Creek swapmeet a few months ago, long enough to see the laser demo but did get to see the equipment.

What would you suggest as a good general unit and what material should I start reading?

I would like (if possible for a new guy) to engrave hand turned pens and tops of wooden boxes I make. Some boxes are turned, other are flat work. I would also like to make window ornaments and tree ornaments.

I am thinking I will need to keep the unit in my house as the shop might be too dusty for it as I don't have a upstairs to my shop.

What about venting the fumes outside?

I bet bigger is better and more power is better too. Just how much is needed and at what cost.

Also, what software should I be looking for and I hope that will not break the bank.

Take care folks and thank you

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Ed;
I suggest a good start would be to search the archives of this site for many past threads discussing the various lasers available and the evaluation process. Sounds like you don't plan to be a high volume production engraver and your needs would be satrisfied by one of the smaller units with max of 25 watts.
More power is always better but may not be needed -faster speed is always desired. No problem with fumes-I have my 60 watt Laserpro Mercury unit in my office on the first floor of our home and have a small 350 cfm blower mounted outside on the same wall the laser is on-minimum noise and odors inside.
For your needs, the Corel Draw suite is more than adequate and is considered the unofficial "standard" for the industry, but other drawing programs will also work depending on the laser. Photograv is nice to have if you're going to do a lot of photos on various mediums, but it's not absolutely necessary.
A lot of folks go into this with the idea that the laser is a "Starwars" type of machine that will do many things automatically. Sorry, but it takes some real work and effort to become familiar with the limits of the machine and the effects on various materials. You also need to develop a discipline of care and maintenance for the machine and its components.
Recommendation- read everything you can, see every machine you want to consider in actual operation, talk to current owners of each machine type, define a list of must- have specs and optional features, and then use this info to find a machine which also has a great technical support system in place. Good Luck
George

[Lee DeRaud]

Pretty much second what George said. I'm a notch or two down the food chain from him: 25W ULS Versalaser (12"x16" cutting area).

For the kind of stuff you're talking about, you can trade-off power (and cost) against time: it will just take longer to cut/engrave with a lower-powered unit. "Size matters" for some things, but the price goes up (more-or-less) with the product of surface area and power.

You definitely do not want this thing in your shop: it's a lot easier to get the dust/fumes from the laser out of your house than it is to keep the dust from the shop out of the laser. As far as venting goes, I used a $100 portable 550CFM dust collector from Lowes: laser inside, 3" hose through that wall into the garage, 4" hose to the dust collector mounted on a shelf high on an outside wall, plugged directly into one of those flapper-valve dryer vents.

A couple of other notes:

Depending on where you install it, you'll probably want/need another computer, dedicated to the laser.

The lower-powered units are somewhat limited in the thickness/type of wood they can cut for general woodworking. But they do a dynamite job on 1/4" MDF router templates.

Between the vent system, software, and furniture to hold everything, I ended up spending about $800 in addition to the laser to get set up properly, but I had most of the parts laying around to build the extra computer, so figure $1000-1200 in extraneous costs.

If you have a decent bandsaw, plus a planer and/or drum sander, you'll save a lot on materials. But in any case, figure on going through a bunch of material the first month or two: combination of "learning curve" and "playtime".:D I keep a whole bunch of 1/8" and 1/4" poplar and MDF panels on hand, pre-cut to the max size my laser can handle, just for experiments.