Through Power in RDWorks: What does it do?

[Roger Feeley]

I was watching a series of videos on Youtube in preparation for a class on a Laser Engraver at NoVA Labs tomorrow. The guy was talking about settup cutting speed, power and stuff. He got to 'Through Power' and said he didn't know what it does. I googled it and the all-knowing internet says that it's a pause before the head starts to move so that the laser has time to initially drill through the material. That initial pause made me think of oxy-acetylene cutting steel where you have to pause before starting your cut to let the torch cut through the material. Is that what through power is?

Then I wondered if you could use a laser engraver to cut steel by piping oxygen into the head. The video showed that you can blow air through the nozzle to blow away smoke and particulates. Could you substitute O2 to facilitate cutting? I don't plan to do that but...inquiring minds...

thanks

[Doug Fisher]

Yes, your thinking is basically correct. With through mode you can delay the start AND/OR the final cut. You can also vary the amount of power during the through mode time.

Yes, you can add oxygen but that only helps so much. You still need a lot of power though. Much more than the average maker space machine possesses.

[Roger Feeley]

Yes, your thinking is basically correct. With through mode you can delay the start AND/OR the final cut. You can also vary the amount of power during the through mode time.

Yes, you can add oxygen but that only helps so much. You still need a lot of power though. Much more than the average maker space machine possesses.

Got it, thanks.
I remember a demonstration years ago (before CNC was a hobbyist thing). We had a motorized oxy-acetylene cutting torch. The instructor carefully tweaked a scenario where he could start a cut with the pre-heating torches on and then, when the cut was going well, he shut off the pre-heating torches and ran the cut on the oxygen cutting jet alone. it worked. The conversion from iron to iron oxide is exothermic and under ideal conditions, you don't need to add heat. The pre-heating torches just allow you to:
a. start the cut. You have to have the material hot.
c. much more latitude in the material, thickness, cutting speed, oxygen pressure, cutting jet orifice and so on.

It was cool to watch.

So, in theory, you could use a laser as a pre-heating torch with an oxygen jet. I'm not saying that you could use a 20 watt laser or that it would be a good way to do it when you probably have a perfectly good plasma cutter lying around.