100 Watt Vs 80 Watt

[Walt Langhans]

So things are going relatively well and I'm looking at getting a second laser (going to stick with Shenhui) and I'm debating between another 80 watt and getting a 100 watt. My thought is I already have a spare 80 Watt tube, and I'm not sure I really want to go through and redo all the settings for an 100 watt but if the increase in speed is good enough then maybe I should... heck I don't know...

That's why I count on you guys

Thoughts / opinions?

[Robert Tepper]

Extra power never hurts.

Robert

[Kev Williams]

Depends on if you have a need for LOW power at times...

With my 25w ULS or 40w LS900 machines, I can "test drive" my engraving with blue painters tape. I just use low power and full speed, and I get a nice white mark, and the laser never penetrates the tape.

With my 80 watt Triumph, the lowest power setting that will fire the laser is 9%, and that setting the laser will fry right thru the tape and mark the wood, anodized aluminum or plastic beneath it.

That's just one example, there's others of course. Me, I do WAY more engraving than cutting, and the 80 watts is almost too much at times!

[Rodne Gold]

Stick to the same power , all interchangeable spares , all the same settings etc...

[Mary Lee]

80W 100W no big difference only with more current on 100W .
If you want change to 100W from 80W,you need to match with a 100W PS.
You use stepper motor I mean the speed ? What speed you usually set ?

Regards,
Ms.Mary

[Mike Troncalli]

It can never hurt to ask a question here, but I think you are going to have to answer this one yourself. What do you use your laser for? Like Kev, I do 99% engraving, and buy blue painters tape in bulk.. The extra 20W isn't going to buy you much in that arena.

If you are mostly cutting then you are going to have to decide how much more speed 20w will give you and do you need that much more productivity. If not then I have to agree with Rodne, all interchangeable spares and all the same settings.

[Walt Langhans]

Stick to the same power , all interchangeable spares , all the same settings etc...

Yeah that was my initial gut reaction

[Walt Langhans]

you are going to have to decide how much more speed 20w will give you and do you need that much more productivity.

And yeah that's the main question. I cut (and do a good bit of it) around 20ms and if the 100 Watt will take it up to 30ms... then yeah no thanks. But if it reduced the time by more than half then that might be something to consider.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

[Dan Hintz]

And yeah that's the main question. I cut (and do a good bit of it) around 20ms and if the 100 Watt will take it up to 30ms... then yeah no thanks. But if it reduced the time by more than half then that might be something to consider.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

For the same thickness material, you can expect cut rates to improve linearly with increases in power (ballpark). If you're getting 20mm/s (what I assumed you meant) now, moving from an 80W to a 100W, will net you a 25% increase in speed, give or take... 25mm/s. This assume, of course, your machine will not have issues moving the gantry at that speed during curves and the like.

[Gary Hair]

This assume, of course, your machine will not have issues moving the gantry at that speed during curves and the like.

And that is the crux of the speed vs power issue. You also have to consider ramp up and down time as well as the size of the engraving area. I have quite a few jobs that run faster when I slow down the speed - it's counter intuitive until you realize that it takes time for the laser to get up to full speed and then to decelerate and reverse direction - the faster you try to make it go the further it takes to make that transition and the more time it takes. So even if you had 100 watts that could allow you to run a bit faster, will it really buy you any difference in processing time? Doubtful unless you are cutting or engraving at 100% power and the increase in speed won't make the ramp up and down take longer.

[Rich Harman]

I don't think the difference between 80W and 100W is enough to justify it. When/if I get another laser it will be with the highest power tube available (180W?) because most of what I do is cut.

[Dan Hintz]

And that is the crux of the speed vs power issue. You also have to consider ramp up and down time as well as the size of the engraving area. I have quite a few jobs that run faster when I slow down the speed - it's counter intuitive until you realize that it takes time for the laser to get up to full speed and then to decelerate and reverse direction - the faster you try to make it go the further it takes to make that transition and the more time it takes. So even if you had 100 watts that could allow you to run a bit faster, will it really buy you any difference in processing time? Doubtful unless you are cutting or engraving at 100% power and the increase in speed won't make the ramp up and down take longer.

This is true for engraving, but vectoring suffers from a different set of issues. Since the OP is doing vectoring/cutting, his top speed will be limited by the machine's ability to make a clean curve (no "wigglies") without slowing down compared to a straight line. There is significantly less ramp up/down necessary when it comes to vectoring as the overall speeds are about an order of magnitude slower.

[Gary Hair]

That's true Dan but my driver actually changes speed, and/or power, to accommodate curves vs straight lines - it sure makes kiss-cutting sandblast stencil nice when it doesn't blase through the curves or undercut the straight lines.

[Larry Robinson]

Well as others have said, depends on what you use your laser for. I do 99% cutting and I upgraded my 80 watt to a 130 watt and am so glad I did. Not just the speed, but less charring, and less heat leaving my house in the winter since I exhaust outside.

[Rodne Gold]

Getting another machine is almost the same as doubling your power and speed on one , your thruput doubles and you have redundancy