Junior Member
cutting white paper
Hello, I am interested in making a laser cutter according to directions found on http://www.instructables.com/id/Lase...-under-50-dol/
Unfortunately, I'm interested in cutting white card stock rather than black construction paper. I would appreciate any info that guides me toward choosing an appropriate laser for this project, while keeping within a reasonable budget.
Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
carbon diode lasers rule for this task, Diode is so so for paper and tends to burn it. Just a few watts of co2 and a little air for a assist gas make this a easy task.Originally Posted by officermike
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-60W-CO2-LASE...item35a52dacd1
One nice thing about co2 is ordinary polycarbonate makes a OK safety goggle, and all you have to do is enclose the machine and interlock the lid and most safety issues go away. If cutting plastics or a lot of paper or wood you need to extract the nasty fumes.
Co2 is at a 10 micron wavelength, so ordinary glass optics are out, but due to the massive proliferation of co2 based paper cutters, you can get the replacement parts dirt cheap.
Guys who make instructables often don't have a clue. first choice co2 , second choice qswitched 1064 nm yag, third choice 808 nm diode.
1064 cuts by preforation, co2 just vaporizes whats in the way. Diode burns it slowly.
Steve
Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
When I still could have...
Junior Member
Due to my limited budget and experience, I'll probably go with the cheap and easy diode. CO2 certainly sounds attractive, but I wouldn't know where to start with setting it up, powering it, and otherwise using it.
As for the diode, would this be sufficient? http://cgi.ebay.com/808nm-150mW-lase...item58849551aa
Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
NO.
If diode was the easy way for paper cutting, nobody would be making small co2 tubes any more. Diodes are a lot cheaper to make. But cutters for organics are almost always co2.
Feed rate is proportional to power and spot size. So you want a lot of power and a tiny spot size. This is the problem with the instructables video, Hes cutting black paper with a near UV diode because the black paper has a dye in it that adsorbs UV. And hes cutting slow. White paper has a ceramic powder in it to make it bright that makes laser cutting it a pain using 808 nm. The co2 laser is far infrared and is readily adsorbed by anything organic. You'd need to blast through the titanium dioxide white powder. 808 doesnt do that well at less then 10 watts.
Hey Ben or Junktronix, if you guys are reading this, try a fiber coupled 808 and see where you get a clean cut on white cardstock or balsa? I'm getting two watts for a slow burnthrough but no feedrate. I know 250 mW will burn through with badly charred edges if you have a really good lens.
I imagine he could use a 40 watt FPAP or a 12 watt butterfly, but he's gonna need a good driver , and by the time he gets that he's close to a chinese 10 watt co2 tube with driver in cost...
And he's gonna need good OD6 safety goggles at 808, so another 50-100$.
BTW< the 808 wavelenght is really, really dangerous to your eyes.
So is 1064.
Diodes are NOT the professionals first choice for cutting organic things like paper and cardstock.
Mike, where are you located? we often have members here that can help and may be close to you...
Steve
Last edited by mixedgas; 11-27-2009 at 17:06.
Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
When I still could have...
Junior Member
Central Florida
New thoughts arise...
If relatively low-powered diode lasers (such as the one in the instructable) can cut black paper effectively enough, how well can they cut along black lines printed on white paper with an inkjet printer?
Last edited by officermike; 11-27-2009 at 20:06.
Senior Member
Hey, if you can't afford a laser, may I suggest scissors?
How much card stock DO you need to cut? May I also suggest making a basic return-on-investment calculation?
Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
Not very well. Toner maybe, dye not at all So once you cook off the toner layer, your back to slow burning. Most ink jet dyes are black in the visible, but pretty much clear in the IR, so no difference. Remember black ink only has to appear black to your eye, so there is no reason to make IR opaque ink. Toner is carbon based, so its IR black to begin with.
Big diodes are usually used to blast preforations into the paper, and you tear along the lines of dots. You really, really, need 7 watts of co2 or more to do this. We had a 7-10 watt co2 machine at my former employer and ones running from 40 to 150 watts at my present employer.
As I said before, if diode were good you'd have things like laser printer sized cutters. Have you tried one of the 250$ machines with a swivel knife instead of a laser?
Steve
Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
When I still could have...
Junior Member
I'm a mechanical engineering student, and as a little personal project, I want to design and build a paper clock. I'd really like to keep it reasonably small, so I'd need a reasonably precise way of cutting. Cutting hundreds of pieces for Whitewings airplanes with an Xacto knife in my childhood gives me memories of sore fingers. I was just hoping there was a better, but still reasonably affordable (working minimum wage for 12 hour weeks) way of going about doing this.
As for you, mixedgas, what if the diode laser in question wasn't IR? Is there any conceivable way that a visible light diode would cut decently along printed lines?
Senior Member
What school do you go to? If there is an architecture program available there may already be a laser cutter lurking at your school...
Or maybe see if you could contract the work out to someone who already owns a laser cutter.
Either way, I would like to see pictures of a paper clock... when you're done make sure you post 'em
Senior Member
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote