Hello to the SawMill Creek forum
Many thanks to you all for the info I've picked here in the last year of my adventures in laser cutting!
I'm writing tonight as I consider adding a new cutter to the stable to augment my production capacity! I'm thinking a 2nd machine would add speed and redundancy to my system. So I'm considering my options and thinking about what I'd like to improve on the 2nd go around.
Forgive the long long post!
Right now I'm running an epilog 30 watt 18x24 helix. It has been a great place to start in the field and has met most of my needs internally for engraving wood plates for my presses and cutting paper and thin plywood for my own line of products.
As I think about the future though I'll be engraving more wood plates (it would be nice to do quicker) and in addition vector cutting more a lot more 1/8" wood plywood and lots of cover weight paper stock.
When working for others speed is key!
Most of the work I do is pretty intricate and I need some advice on where I will see diminishing returns from higher wattage and the increased speed that the power will allow. Right now I know that when cutting paper which I can effectively cut it as fast I want since power isn't an issue but over say 30-40 speed I start noticing an increase in the squiggles in the work to the point where I have to back off. Is there a limit to all machines when vector cutting for precision or is it just an issue with the helix line ?
Also early on I burnt out a motor or two after some production runs and when I sought answers as to why I got some info from Epilog about not running the speed too fast on small engravings and vector cuts!? I totally understand the concept that the motors have to ramp up speed and brake and that this generates heat but I was annoyed that no one warned me in advance or that the software couldn't adapt the power to compensate.
Ever since I've been very cautious about speeds and always run my small engravings and vector cuts at really low speed settings. I wonder what other folks results are? Am I being paranoid? What speeds do you all typically run your jobs at?
Further I never really got a straight answer on the vector cutting - can I safely run it wide open on my intricate art cuts or am I asking for trouble? I suppose the real limit currently is where the art starts to degrade...but I wonder at what point I'll be damaging the machine running it fast. Is it possible to run the machine too fast in the vector mode assuming other factors are still within usable form?
Now that I'm cutting more wood specifically 1/8 th birch plywood I'm running into the limits if my machine's wattage . It's got me thinking a more powerful cutter would speed up my operation in thicker materials.
I'm wondering how much more speed I'll get from going up in wattage on my next laser and where the sweet spot is when cutting wood like the birch? I assume there is an upper limit to how much power you can use on a material before it ignites or chars the details.
But where and how much speed do you get before that point 50-60 watts/ 20-50% speed increases?
I'm also torn about sticking with epilog since it is a known entity or trying for a trotec if I can ever get them to call me! How much different is the workflow? When vector cutting is one machine noticeably faster? I've been looking for epilog lpi numbers but I haven't seen anything current listed.
I'm interested in the new features of the epilog fusion line but wonder if they will actually help a guy just starting to get into production work more than say another helix or possibly and ext?
And on and on
Lots of questions
Thanks for your help
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