Here's some stuff off my new YAG laser

[Bruce Boone]

I can't get over the resolution of the YAG laser. It does crazy thin lines in titanium. I've experimented and been able to cut right through a normal 2mm thick ring, but it takes a while. Here's some pictures of rings I've done.

[Bren Kano]

Looks great. Like the map of the world a lot.

[Chuck Thomas]

Those look great. I'm still in process of getting a 50W fiber. I have a few more things I'm waiting for, not the least of which is the guts to take the leap. I've seen a lot of simple samples but seeing your work gets me even more excited.

[Jiten Patel]

Bruce, those are incredible. Very very impressed.

If you don't mind, how much was the set up to get an operation like that running? Laser, materials etc?

[Frank Corker]

The samples you have posted are very impressive. I love watching the Yag lasers do their stuff on YouTube and have to admit from my lottery win, after my new waterjet this is likely to be the next purchase. I just have to get six numbers on a certain day and this stuff is mine all mine!!!

[Dan Hintz]

Frank,

If you come to The States, you just have to wait for Ed McMahon to drop off your Million $ check... he has plenty.

[Mike Null]

Bruce

More remarkable stuff. I wish I could do it.

[Bruce Boone]

Thanks guys. It's a lot of fun to dial designs in. For once, the designs aren't limited by the process as was the case with milling out designs or using Cermark, which had a resolution of around .008" or so. Resolution here is about 10 times finer. Jit, buckle your seat belt. Cost was around $115,000. The laser is more powerful than most due to higher wattage and tight focus lens. It has a very extreme power density. I was the first in the US to get this model. The tradeoff is that it can't do large areas of stuff with that lens. My flat area is only 2.5" square. It's a very specialized machine tuned to exactly the stuff I have to do. Materials are minimal, although it does take deionized water, which now is considered a chemical, and can't be delivered to a house! The machine itself was turn key with no consumables. It vaporizes metal rather than melting it like a high power CO2. There is a slight amount of slag thrown up when doing a high power pass, but it is easily sanded away. Like any new machine, it has quite a steep learning curve to get it to do what you want.

[Dan Hintz]

it does take deionized water, which now is considered a chemical, and can't be delivered to a house!

Something is wrong with this, Bruce... who considers deionized water a chemical? It's about as inert as one can get, other than having the ability to pull ion from surrounding materials, like copper/aluminum piping, etc. You can get electrolysis and filter systems for several hundred dollars that would allow you to create as much as you need on demand... lab grade filter systems aren't much more expensive if you shop around. I assume this is a YAG that needs cooling water for the lamp and not a fiber system? If you have to buy in any quantity, I would look into the filter setup and say good bye to those odd hazardous chemical shipping fees and such.

[Bruce Boone]

It's surprisingly hard to find deionized water, even on the web. I found a chemical company that had it but they wouldn't ship to me. I don't know what else it's used for, but they consider it a chemical. I had to go to Grainger to pick it up! The laser is LED fired, but still uses DI water. It only needs a few gallons, to be replaced twice a year or so, so it's probably not worth buying an expensive filtration system.

[Joe De Medeiros]

Wow, those rings are amazing Bruce.

[Dan Hintz]

Bruce,

It depends upon what you need... if it's simply DI water, a small reverse osmosis machine (<$100) will do you fine. They even sell filters with a DI resin (you have to clean the resin with a recharge solution from time to time) for about the same amount. Without speaking to your manufacturer, my guess is they simply don't want you putting tap water down there with Chlorine, Fluorides, metals, etc. gumming up the works. You could distill your own water (boil and collect the steam), and it would be more pure than the DI water, but it would be a pain to set up (but dirt cheap).

[Dan Ashlin]

Frank,

If you come to The States, you just have to wait for Ed McMahon to drop off your Million $ check... he has plenty.

That would be a double win for me. Not only would i get a million bucks, but I could then enact my Zombie survival plan!

[David Fairfield]

Awesome!! Did you get the German machine discussed in an earlier thread?

@ Frank, when Ed sends me my check, I'm getting a high res 3d printer.

But in all seriousness, one great thing about being in the making-stuff business is you can buy a hugely cool and expensive gadget, and make it pay for itself.

Dave

[Bruce Boone]

The machine was made in Italy. The make the machine pay for itself theory is the one I'm going with. ) I had a SolidScape 3D printer. It did some awesome stuff. The only drawback was that it used molten wax, and you had to use the machine a lot in order to not overcook the wax, which would then create very fragile parts. It would also take a long time to set up and run. I found that I was doing a lot more work for a local jeweler than my own stuff, and it was taking hours and hours of my time, so I decided to lease the machine to him and just have them run my parts any time I had one. It was a win-win; I got to write off the machine, not have wasted hours and maintenance issues, and get free parts as well. They use it all the time and the son of the owner does the CAD work. He just one a design award with it.