HI Folks,
our Chinese Goldenlaser (130watt) has been trundling along and I'm happy with it- but I had a bed of 2" high letters to cut from 20mm cast acrylic, and at 1.2mm per second, it ran for 16 hours and still not finished. I've used E-cut's 'extend nodes' option so the start and end of the path are off the letter, and I set overlap at about half the material thickness to give the beam time to get through the acrylic to the bottom, before it reaches the real letter.
I can cut at about 1.5mm/sec, but the bottom edges of the letters are a bit oddly shaped after the top turns a corner before the bottom has. Slowing it a tad has helped a lot.
I've cut 25mm acrylic at a pinch, just to see if it was capable - but fitting it under the air nozzle was a test - speed about 0.4mm/sec, and power settings 100% max, 98% min in the software - which translates at 21-22mA at the power supply- or about 80% of the tube's max recommended power of 28-30mA.
I've instead, routed the 25mm letters, but there are times the insides and gaps of R, A etc can't really fit an endmill without an ordeal or risk of breaking something after running a path at several successive depths...
I'm keen to read ideas and opinions for a chineesy laser in the 180watt department, or feedback on speeds and power settings others are using for thicker acrylic.
I still have heaps more 20mm letters to cut, including a couple of days cutting small letters from 15mm opal acrylic also. I've also masered 25mm by lasering 20mm and gluing a 4.5mm lasered face on top - 24.5mm is near enough to the inch for most spec's by architects.
Thanks!
PS I'm not out to spend money on the great American made ones, sadly!