Got my new laser today!

[jason harris]

Imported directly from China. This one was from G. Weike. I have only had it unboxed for a short time and not wired/plumbed it all up.

Its looking really good and I cant wait until tomorrow to see if I can get it firing!

I got the 80W version but as it is the new RECI tubes just released a few weeks ago it is the new 90W RECI. Table is 1500x1200 (59"x47"). It takes a fair bit of space in its current but temporary position.



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[Mike Null]

Congratulations. That's a great looking piece of equipment. Hope you have lots of fun with it.

[Ross Moshinsky]

That's a big laser.

What do you plan on using the machine for? How was your experience with G. Weike?

[Dee Gallo]

Whoa, that's a big boy! Have fun and report back with some projects so we can see what this guy can do!

cheers, dee

[Steve Busey]

its current but temporary position.

What, you're not going to leave it in front of the bathroom door? ;^} Congrats! Looking forward to a full report when it's online.

[Roger Leiva]

Jason, I join everyone in congratulating you on your new laser.I wish you success, above all, I really enjoyed your machine and is very good.
Roger Leiva (Helix 24 60 watt, Costa Rica)

[Frank Corker]

Jeez that's a monster!

[Jiten Patel]

Wowsers - I can imagine Jason saying in his head "you call that a laser, now this is a laser" in his best Australian Crocodile Dundee accent! Nice one!

[jason harris]

Yes, it is big, very big! Mostly plan on cutting small parts from balsa in sheets that I can only get at 4"x35".

No, not really It is a little overkill for what I would most frequently use it for but I will have the odd thing that can maximise the width of it.

I dont use it for a living but it is another tool in the worksop like the lathe, mill, cnc router etc. It can do some things better than others and vise vera. The first thing it will be doing is making some replica aircraft panel parts.

I have the water flowing but not much else yet. I am a little worried about the grounding, as I have a new 3 phase board but this will be connected to the older board which runs off one of the phases. It should be OK but I may just go and knock a steel bar in to the ground for this one, thats probably easier than testing my current ground.

With luck I will be cutting today!

[Jeff Monson]

I shouldn't even respond. So I decided I won't, at the least, type what I was going to say.

Good choice Jason, congrats on the new machine, PLEASE post the progress you make with the machine and how you like it.

[jason harris]

So, it's been two days now. Not a lot done on the first day as I set it up. I was a bit lazy and I have not checked alignment on everything, I will do that soon but for now it's working well.

The chiller seems to be doing it's job. I plugged in my 180 litre air compressor as I didnt want to put up with the noise of those little ones all the time. I must remember to turn on the air all the time though! it does make a difference I have found out. One power with no air will not cut through but the same power with air will. Must remember

I have not used the USB key and dont plan to at this stage, I have a spare laptop I have put on the machine for using it. Lasercut seems easy enough to use once a couple of things were learned via google. Too bad that some fonts that I want to engrave do not make their way acroos to it in dxf intact. I have had to remove the text and reinsert it with lasercut to make it work.

I have a quick vid and one picture. I tried some acrylic, this was my first attempt and not very good. I placed it on another piece of acrylic and had far too much power, it cut through both pieces and I could see vapour sliding in between. That stuck them together so you can see the goo around the edges and some fracturing as I tried to pull them apart. Not the fault of the laser, in fact it did a pretty good job I think. The picture doesnt do justice to what is good about it. The acrylic is old and not in tip top shape either. I am almost hesitant to show it incase it reflects badly on the laser. It's all the operator learning

The kids wanted something so we did the spidersaurus that I am sure a lot of you have done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHAaGAT47lc

More playing around tomorrow.
fpanel.jpg

[john banks]

Looks great.

You should be able to automate the air and exhaust through the motherboard and a few relays/solenoids. Just finishing our setup to do this with a few parts delaying it, 3kW compressor remotely installed with all the adaptors, filtering, water traps etc.

[jason harris]

Thanks John, I will do that after I get past the playing around with it phase

I am posting a few more pictures of the machine for anyone interested. I have read about the machines coming from different factories and at different sizes and qualities. It seems like other equipment that I own which is chinese there is a difference between the cheap machines and the more expensive machines.

I don't own any 'cheap' machines, my lathe is around the $13kusd mark, similar with the mill etc. All of these I have been happy with and I can see the difference in quality between them and the entry level stuff that makes a lot of machines attractive pricewise to people.

So, I did not know exactly what to expect from the laser. I am still very happy, the fit and finish is better than I expected from other peoples experiences, a lot admittedly have bought 40W desktop machines. There are a few things I notice that are much better than other peoples experiences, e.g. the wiring is very tiday, cable ties, sleeves, different colours etc.

It was easy to trace back and see the machine was in fact properly grounded and using the ground from the wall. Ground is optional in the states but as we run over double the voltage it is not optional and most houses will have a good ground connection. No loose parts, it only required a minor tweak to a couple of mirrors. I have to set up the autofocus. As it came it could not be used, I need to adjust the height but not such a big deal.

Mine came with a end cap to go over the laser where the wire connected. I have seen a few thread about insulating with silicon etc, this seems to be an easy effective way to do it.

It was clean but was covered in the thin film of oil which I needed to remove.

Mechanically I think it is excellent, I could fool anyone in to thinking it was made in any other part of the world.

I am having a little trouble with the software, nothing major. It's easy enough to use but I want to track down a couple of features.

Specifically, how to adjust the width of the cut. I don't want to resize DXF drawings to cater for the width of the cut. Surely there is a setting somewhere to compensate so that when I cut something 3mm wide I dont have to tell it to cut 3.08mm wide to actually get 3mm?

I have read that it has been possible to do 3d engraving using a process including lasercut 5.3 but I cant track down anything. I would like to try it for the roof of a model.

Any tips to that would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Jason


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[Steven Cox]

Specifically, how to adjust the width of the cut. I don't want to resize DXF drawings to cater for the width of the cut. Surely there is a setting somewhere to compensate so that when I cut something 3mm wide I dont have to tell it to cut 3.08mm wide to actually get 3mm?

Hi Jason, I don't have Laser Cut 5.3 but in my software there's a setting called Inside to Outside in the Laser Export parameters. Setting this tells the laser cut to outside of the object. Unchecked it will cut inside the object. Perhaps you have a similar setting in 5.3

Hope this helps.
Steve.

[john banks]

I was told that LaserCut 5.3 doesn't do 3d engraving, but you may be able to simulate the effect with dithering. The response time for varying PWM power on a glass tube with a typical power supply is too slow to run it for most production purposes anyway IMHO.