Testing out a laser cutter

[Things]

Got a laser cutter from eBay a few days back, thought I'd test it out on something useful. I glanced over at my poor FB3 in it's mangled up box from trying to get the holes in the right positions, so decided to go from there .. and thought I'd share, of course Sketchup/DXF files for the box are available if anyone would like them, designed for 2.5mm acrylic.



Of course I needed a nice green-cyan LED to finish it off

Dan

[Jem]

Can we have a picture of the laser cutter please

[Things]

Sure thing



Heaps more images and info here if you're interested

[Jem]

That looks a nice little machine, very compact. Thanks for the pic and the link

[Things]

Yeah, it is quite nice for a "cheap" machine, although it still weighs a freakin tonne! Even a 2 person lift (especially without handles) is a bit of a task

[Jem]

Just out of interest, what thickness and what materials can it cut? I guess it's probably wood/acrylic etc & maybe 3mm?

Pretty damn useful tool to have around though

[Things]

Pretty much all wood, acrylic, leather, canvas, engraves on glass, anodized aluminium, marble, pretty much anything. Only thing it won't really touch is bare metal. It'll cut 10mm acrylic, although very slowly and the edge isn't very nice. It'll cut 6mm slowly, but with a decent edge, and just slices through 3mm.

There are a few materials that it will cut, however are highly risky. Such as PVC, which produces chlorine gas. It'll turn the machine to a pile of rust in a week! ABS also produces hydrogen cyanide (which I found out about the hard way a few days ago), and yes, actual hydrogen cyanide, the stuff used in gas chambers, nasty!

PVC and bare metals are really the only things I wouldn't touch in a laser cutter this size and power

[Jem]

Thanks, I didn't know about the fumes. In fact I had never even considered it as a potential risk. Just goes to show that there's always much more to most stuff than can be taken at face value.

Impressive that it will tackle 10mm acrylic, albeit slowly.

Cheers

Jem

[Things]

Oh yeah, fumes are a huge pain. Even with ventilation in the cutter, when I first tried ABS, it knocked me out with a badass headache for over an hour, just from the small amount of smoke that managed to seep into my garage. I probably would have killed myself if I didn't have any ventilation going. Most plastics smell pretty nasty and will give you a headache, but some are outright scary.

[White-Light]

What's the problem with metals then, reflection?

Thats a great box you made and this kind of tool looks great for engraving alu etc but I noted the warning on metals.

I have to say in any event, I'd go nowhere near the window with 40W Co2 floating around even if it is filtered glass. Not sure I'd even want to be in the same room!