New Laser coming, things I should have?

[Brad Patturelli]

I have a laser coming soon. I plan on engraving and cutting wood, acrylic and maybe glass and metal (with cermark) down the road. What are some things other than stock materials I should have around my shop? I have read Denatured alcohol is good to have, magnets for hold downs (recommended size or strength for magnets?), fire extinguisher. Anything else you veterans always use or suggest? Thanks in advance, I have been reading a lot and gaining a lot of knowledge from you all!

[Mike Null]

Brad

Glad to have you join us. Please list the kind of machine you have and your location if you don't mind.

[Tim Bateson]

Small level. For hold downs, I use a bunch if 1/4 inch aluminum blocks. Plenty of rags. Small (cheap) tape measure - the type that are often free giveaways. Micrometers are extremely handy.

[David Somers]

Congrats Brad! Like Mike said.....listing your machine will help us help you. Put it in your signature and then it gets put on all your posts automatically. You might also put your City/state/country in your location. That certainly effects answers as well. Not much help if you live in London and get references to someplace in New Mexico for supplies.

For magnets, assuming your honeycomb is steel of course....many are not....I use the 1/2"x1/2"x1" N52 grade Neodymium magnets from kjmagnetics.com. They are wicked strong and will hold down modestly warped 1/4" ply. But they are also wicked strong and you will lose some when you lose control of one and two slam together and shatter. Wear safety glasses. No matter what sizes you use, keep them away from children and pets since if two are swallowed they can wreak havoc in the stomach and intestines if two end up attaching to each other across some tissue.

I use a decent digital caliper a lot, with metric. The cheap tape Tim mentioned should include both metric and inches.

For the fire extinguisher I would try not to use a chemical extinguisher. They work just great, but make a bloody mess of your laser and will result in hours of cleanup. See if your local fire extinquisher service shops can find you a used but serviceable CO2 extinquisher. It will work great and leaves no residue at all. Go for used if you can. New CO2 extinquishers tend to be expensive. Halon extinquishers are also excellent but very expensive as a rule, and there are health issues breathing the gas. Great for data centers and things like that, but maybe not so good as a small confined shop area. CO2 would be preferable in my mind.

Gotta run.....will check later and see how the list is going and add more if I think of it! You might look at Rabbitlaserusa.com and look at some of the documentation there. Ray Scott has listed tools and things that are useful in one document and that might help you out.

Dave

[Doug Fisher]

A powerful LED headlamp is invaluable when working on/in your laser doing leveling, mirror adjustments, etc. If you bought a rotary attachment, start collecting glass bottles and jars to use as testing pieces. Krap Kutter or similar cleaner is good for cleaning up the gunk off of the bed/table. Masking tape is a poor man's masking/release paper for etching and engraving. In addition to the cheap tape measure, I like to keep a metal ruler next to my machine with mm and inches.

You don't say what kind of machine you have but if you have a Chinese unit with water cooling, have 5ish gallons of distilled water ready plus a large white bucket for the reservoir (easier to see bad junk forming in a white bucket versus the Home Depot orange). Steel wool is good to knock off any rust that formed during sea shipment. A tube of lithium grease is great to lubricate the rails and any rusted parts after you clean them up with steel wool.

[John Lifer]

Get a few magic erasers for cleaning metal. I made about a half dozen small acrylic rulers that I seem to lose around the area. Good practice and you can download one off Epilog site and elsewhere. I use metric as much as possible so I did them two-sided. If wood, magnets work well.

[Bert Kemp]

I don't think I saw a Spray bottle listed. Small water filled spray bottle on the machine will put out most all fires if you catch them at the start. Never NEVER! leave machine while cutting any material. If you need to pee put it on pause and go the hit start when you return.Machines and get fully involved while you fill your coffee cup.

[Brad Patturelli]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I updated my location (thought I did it before) and my signature. Dave, I do appreciate your use of word wicked.
Rags
Tape measure
CO2 extinguisher (I was looking into them and they were expensive new, thanks for info to try to find a used one)
1/2"x1/2"x1" N52 (or around that size)
LED Lamp
Test glasses (my wife hand paints glasses so I have a bunch of imperfects I can test on)'
I will have a CW-5000
Gunk cleaner
masking/release paper
Lithium grease
Spray bottle
magic erasers
Calipers (I have)
Micrometer

I might have missed some things but I will keep going back to this thread. Bert I won't walk away I had a ULS Versalaser about 12 years ago, but used it for one thing only and didn't learn too much about anything else and haven't touched a laser in a decade. Thanks for all the help so far!!!

[David Somers]

Cool Beans Brad!!! <grin>
I grew up in CT and spent a lot of years in central and coastal ME. Wicked was a pretty common term!!! Fun to use it out here in Seattle and note when someone perks up at the sound of it! Usually their heads just lift a bit and I get a squinty eyed look. Everyone else just looks quizzical!

[Tim Bateson]

You missed the Micrometers or Caliper.
http://www.harborfreight.com/digital...ter-68305.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-...per-47257.html This is what I use... a lot.

[Brad Patturelli]

Your right. I added. I have Calipers. I will get a micrometer too.

You missed the Micrometers or Caliper.
http://www.harborfreight.com/digital...ter-68305.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-...per-47257.html This is what I use... a lot.

[David Somers]

If you happen to do wood turning as well Brad you might get a 6 inch all metal, non digital caliper too. I have one and use it on the lathe a lot to transfer diameters. I will use the interior blades to scribe a line on the end of a turning piece, having taken the diameter from a matching piece with the calipers. I dont need it to be digital. I am just transferring that setting once, piece to piece. They are cheap. If you aren't turning or using a mill I probably wouldnt bother. (I dont use my good digital unit because I dont want to damage it if I accidentally send it flying during the scrubing process.) The good digital gets used when I want an accurate digital measurement. The non digital cheapy is a transfer tool only)

[Brad Patturelli]

No lathe Dave. They do look fun though. Videos I have watched make it look easy ,which I know it's not!

[Guy Hilliard]

I cannot believe it has not been mentioned yet but a "Dust Buster" (or similar hand vacuum) is absolutely indispensable.

[Joseph Shawa]

Magnetic paper towel holder from Harbor Freight Tools. Get the magnetic bowl and tray too. Also magnetic hook to hang things like pliers.
Don't forget the magnetic latex glove holder....you don't really know what carbon compounds are produced when cutting plastics and woods.