What Kind of Laser is this?

[Kristopher Powers]

Hey all,

While searching for how to laser cut leather I found the following videos. What are they using to do this at such an incredable speed?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qZmI4PmPXw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf0OHO9f8Uc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRF8BWKWlWo


are they specialized lasers for fabric?

[Scott Shepherd]

They are galvo head lasers. Most ones people here use are gantry style, where the head moves, that style has 2 little mirrors that direct the beam around. They are really fast. You can get them in CO2 and Fiber sources, so you can mark or cut a lot of different things with them.

[Kristopher Powers]

This blew my mind. All I could think was ... OOO If I only I had the cash...

[Jeff Belany]

Curious -- on the second video (EmbroidMe) why does the laser skip around to do the letters? Did do it on the initial shape. I guess I haven't looked at that many videos but just thought it was odd.

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

[Matt Geraci]

The galvos use different software. I think the skipping around is an algorithm used to prevent intense heating and allow the area to cool momentarily to prevent warping of solids materials, mostly on metals. I've got a galvo fiber coming in soon to mark and engrave metals.

Curious -- on the second video (EmbroidMe) why does the laser skip around to do the letters? Did do it on the initial shape. I guess I haven't looked at that many videos but just thought it was odd.

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

[Keith Winter]

I'm not sure the technical reason, but it's due to using the auto calculation optimized path in my experience. I would speculate it has to do with a path that both does not overheat the surface and is also optimal for speed. Since the letters are not connected it can do this. If they were connected I would suspect it would follow the line more as you were expecting. Keep in mind the head does not move on these galvos in the videos so, the way they function and engrave is significantly different than traditional co2 lasers.

[Jiten Patel]

I don't think it has anything to do with path calculation or heat build up. It looks to me as bad file setup or it has been setup that way for the "wow" factor on the video. Amazing machines, we are looking at getting another to add to our setup. The new Trotec Speedmarker GS is on the cards - it's a super-pulsed laser but it's around the £80k mark which is around $120k which is a sizable investment.

[Keith Winter]

I don't think it has anything to do with path calculation or heat build up. It looks to me as bad file setup or it has been setup that way for the "wow" factor on the video. Amazing machines, we are looking at getting another to add to our setup. The new Trotec Speedmarker GS is on the cards - it's a super-pulsed laser but it's around the £80k mark which is around $120k which is a sizable investment.

To second your remarks I have noticed how the file is setup on co2 lasers can cause this jumping around when cutting, layer/path order in illustrator seems to make a difference. I would assume it could be similar on a galvo as you said.