Travis Reese
12-30-2015, 11:36 AM
I've been reading this forum for a couple of months now even though this is my first post. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to answer questions for those new to laser machines. The reason I've not had to ask any questions yet is because of those of you who have answered others.
I had been looking to purchase a laser for a while now. My purchase was for hobby use and not a business. Would I eventually like to recoup a little of my investment? Sure I would. But it's not necessary. While I've never worked with a laser I had a CNC Haas Mini Mill for several years. For anyone that knows the Haas machines you'll know that a mini mill by Haas is anything but mini for a garage workshop. I'm a tinkerer. I spent most of my time with the Haas making parts for my other manual machines. I read all the posts about the big 3 as well as the Chinese machines. I finally settled on what I think is a good choice for me and went with Ray at RabbitLaser in Ohio. The machine arrived about a week ago and sat in the garage waiting for his technician to arrive to set it up. I ended up buying the RL-60-9060. I needed something that would come apart to fit through a standard 36" door. The tech was finally able to come from Los Angeles to my house in Houston to get it set up yesterday.
So, now I have a laser! Let the questions begin! Again, I've done a tremendous amount of reading here. I'm doing my best trying not to ask questions that have been answered. I'm sure I'll manage to fail occasionally in that regard.
What I'm curious about at the moment is setting the pulse value in the LaserCut 5.3 software. The technician set it up such that when cutting a thin (guessing about 1/16") Rowmark that a drawn 1" square produces a part that's 1" square. Is that how machines are typically setup? Or should the part plus the kerf equal 1" such that the square left in the material is 1"?
I had been looking to purchase a laser for a while now. My purchase was for hobby use and not a business. Would I eventually like to recoup a little of my investment? Sure I would. But it's not necessary. While I've never worked with a laser I had a CNC Haas Mini Mill for several years. For anyone that knows the Haas machines you'll know that a mini mill by Haas is anything but mini for a garage workshop. I'm a tinkerer. I spent most of my time with the Haas making parts for my other manual machines. I read all the posts about the big 3 as well as the Chinese machines. I finally settled on what I think is a good choice for me and went with Ray at RabbitLaser in Ohio. The machine arrived about a week ago and sat in the garage waiting for his technician to arrive to set it up. I ended up buying the RL-60-9060. I needed something that would come apart to fit through a standard 36" door. The tech was finally able to come from Los Angeles to my house in Houston to get it set up yesterday.
So, now I have a laser! Let the questions begin! Again, I've done a tremendous amount of reading here. I'm doing my best trying not to ask questions that have been answered. I'm sure I'll manage to fail occasionally in that regard.
What I'm curious about at the moment is setting the pulse value in the LaserCut 5.3 software. The technician set it up such that when cutting a thin (guessing about 1/16") Rowmark that a drawn 1" square produces a part that's 1" square. Is that how machines are typically setup? Or should the part plus the kerf equal 1" such that the square left in the material is 1"?