Laser Engraver/Cutter - Questions and Decisions

[Gary Hair]

Haha

For convenience and also to clear some floor space I have thought that maybe the below might be a better solution, sorry for my sucky drawing abilities but how about this? (I do not intend to use the door and want it barred as its a security risk)

Capture.JPG

The idea is to mount the extractor on one of the "barring" braces I am putting on the door using the supplied hanging clips, on the photos above you can see the holes in the base that the hooks fit into, this will have the inflow facing the machine and if i measure it right I can get it in the exact same height line as well, the output will then be facing the floor and will turn a casual 90deg into an exit duct through the door.

Thoughts?

I think the door will vibrate off its hinges and drive you crazy in the mean time. I would probably leave it on the ground with rubber feet instead.

Is there any way you could put it outside and run the duct through the door? That would eliminate a lot of noise if you could.

[Jack Clague]

Hi Gary,

The Brace will not be touching the door, the brace is being securely fixed to the two supporting wood braces either side of the door and will be heavy duty timber, do you think this will still cause some issues?

I could place another brace at the lower part of the machine as well so instead of it "hanging" there is will be essentially bolted to the wall?

I think the door will vibrate off its hinges and drive you crazy in the mean time. I would probably leave it on the ground with rubber feet instead.

[Gary Hair]

Mine is bolted to the wall in my shop and it isn't too terrible, although it is about 16' above me with ceiling tiles between it and me and the walls are 6" steel studs with two layers of sheetrock sandwiching a sheet of 3/4" plywood. Not sure why they built it that way but it sure is strong!

Hi Gary,

The Brace will not be touching the door, the brace is being securely fixed to the two supporting wood braces either side of the door and will be heavy duty timber, do you think this will still cause some issues?

I could place another brace at the lower part of the machine as well so instead of it "hanging" there is will be essentially bolted to the wall?

[Jack Clague]

I have decided to visit the local exhibition here in Melbourne that is hosting the 3 main manufacturers for engraving and will be revisiting my options for the machine, although I have signed a "proposal" to purchase no money has changed hands so I want to make sure I am making the right decision with the machine before I pay my deposit.

The good thing is now I know exactly how much I have in my budget and that I am ready to purchase on the spot.

[Tim Bateson]

You are not locked in, so if you find a better deal, jump on it. Also dealers tend to have their lowest prices at these shows, so go ahead and push for a better deal or more items thrown into your deal.

[Jack Clague]

Thanks Dave, noise wise it actually not that bad, its about the same as vacuum cleaner just a bit deeper, with some home made sound proofing it should be very tolerable, I will be looking at filtering options at the show this weekend as well and seeing if there is something that might work to help keep the smell down, or even a home made filter just for the smell

Jack,

Not sure if this would work for you. But a number of people here have described placing their fans outside in an insulated, covered but ventilated box they built just for it. In some cases the boxes have included filtration systems to cut down on fumes for the neighbors. This has the advantage of freeing up space in your shop, and also reduces the noise in your shop. And since your pipe in the garage would be on the suction side of the fan leaks will not be an issue. Not sure how noisy that unit is when running. If it is like my Chinese fan I think I would stand a fair chance of winning a competition with a Boeing 737 jet engine.

In my case, I had the house crawl space on the other side of the garage wall where the laser is. After pondering a bit it occurred to me to run my vent hose into that crawl space and put the fan in there, right where it is blowing out of the house. The crawl space is dry, stays above 50 in the coldest weather (I kept watch on temps under there all last winter) and the space is well insulated so the noise of the fan is hardly noticeable in the shop. The noise also can't be heard in the house (it is below the kitchen anyway so a little bit of noise would have been fine) and it doesn't bother my neighbors at all, either for noise or fumes. (I keep checking with them out of courtesy) Anyway.....I also set it up so I have an air intake to the laser from under the house so when the fan is running the replacement air to the laser is not coming from my heated shop but instead comes from the crawl space. I put a gate in the pipe so I can swap for intake from the garage directly if I want.

Anyway....just thoughts!! Fun to watch someone else going through the "pre-laser" process!!

Dave

Hi Tim,

Thanks, I felt bad telling Epilogs dealer I wanted to hold off but its allot of money for me to invest so I need to be 100% sure I am making the right decision

You are not locked in, so if you find a better deal, jump on it. Also dealers tend to have their lowest prices at these shows, so go ahead and push for a better deal or more items thrown into your deal.

[David Somers]

Hi Jack,

If you are toying with the idea of a homemade filter, check out Dan Hintz thread about it from a ways back. There were great ideas, Dan's included, along with lots of thought and experiences. It got so popular he put it in his blog entry on this site so it was easier to find. Here is the link to it.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/blog.php?26182

I am fortunate in that I haven't needed it. If you are venting outside you may not need one at all for your protection inside the shop. In that case the main concern would be people near you who could be affected by the output, or any laws that affect you regardless of where you output.

Dave

[Jack Clague]

I found this site recently, thought it was a great place to link for those like me that need to know what NOT to cut with their new laser: http://atxhackerspace.org/wiki/Laser_Cutter_Materials

[Gary Hair]

Just beware that they say it's ok to cut teflon and it is certainly not ok! The two materials my laser manufacturer specifically say not to use in the laser are teflon and pvc. So, just because someone puts a list together on the internet doesn't mean it's correct... caveat emptor

[Jack Clague]

Just beware that they say it's ok to cut teflon and it is certainly not ok! The two materials my laser manufacturer specifically say not to use in the laser are teflon and pvc. So, just because someone puts a list together on the internet doesn't mean it's correct... caveat emptor

Thanks Gary,

I will add that to my own list, any new material for me I will be ensuring it is all ok to do the work before quoting a client or running the machine. I'm sure the manufactures also have a good understanding on what not to cut or engrave and I can fall back on them if I cannot find out from multiple sources online.

[Scott Shepherd]

Jack, here's a good list of things....

http://www.ulsinc.com/materials-libr...arch/material/

Note that is does say you can laser Teflon. I've always heard you can't, but they are showing it as something you can, with no cautions at all. Interesting.

[Kev Williams]

Not sure why Teflon would be considered not-laserable, if it was poisonous when burned I doubt they'd be coating frying pans with the stuff?

quote Wiki:
"While PTFE is stable and nontoxic at lower temperatures, it begins to deteriorate after the temperature of cookware reaches about 260 °C (500 °F), and decomposes above 350 °C (662 °F). These degradation by-products can be lethal to birds, and can cause flu-like symptoms in humans."

I'm thinking 'flu-like symptoms' can be caused by LOTS of stuff considered 'ok' to laser.

I tried to cut thru some 10 mil teflon once with my 25w ULS, very slow and not very good results. Never tried since.

[Tim Bateson]

I found this site recently, thought it was a great place to link for those like me that need to know what NOT to cut with their new laser: http://atxhackerspace.org/wiki/Laser_Cutter_Materials

Jack, maybe use that site as a "rough" guide. I believe the site is a good attempt and means well, so I won't pile-on with additional inaccuracies.

[Jack Clague]

Jack, maybe use that site as a "rough" guide. I believe the site is a good attempt and means well, so I won't pile-on with additional inaccuracies.

Yep plan to, taking every bit of info I get online with a large pile of salt on the side.

[Jack Clague]

Righty o, I'm off the exhibition tomorrow here in Melbourne, all the laser guys will be there touting their machines, any thing to look out for that I may not already know?

I'm taking some scrap leather with me and a USB with a vector logo on it to ask if they demonstrate their machine on my own design and material, it should be a good test to see how much they know about their own machines and to see how well they can engrave and cut into 4mm leather hide

Will take the Camera and get some shots of the models on display