I finally got my J Tech laser tweaked in so it cuts almost a good as a higher powered laser.
This is one side panel for my model railroad bridge. I have the laser dialed in so cuts clean with little to no charring
I found if you run the laser a little faster with more passes you get less charring.
Just running a Chinese CNC with the J Tech 7 watt laser and Mach 3.
John
New Project with J Tech 7 watt Laser & VCP 10.5
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johntech2014
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Wed Jan 17, 2018 7:32 pm
- Model of CNC Machine: CNC Router Parts
New Project with J Tech 7 watt Laser & VCP 10.5
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Re: New Project with J Tech 7 watt Laser & VCP 10.5
Looks nice. I am curious as to how long it took to cut that and the material size and thickness?
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Beltramidave
- Vectric Wizard
- Posts: 528
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- Model of CNC Machine: FLA Saturn 4x4 / 7W & 60W lasers
- Location: Bemidji, MN
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Re: New Project with J Tech 7 watt Laser & VCP 10.5
What is the material thickness of these parts?
I see your profile shows a CNC Router Parts machine, is that what you have your laser on?
I see your profile shows a CNC Router Parts machine, is that what you have your laser on?
Dave
https://lakesedgewoodcraft.com/
https://lakesedgewoodcraft.com/
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johntech2014
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Wed Jan 17, 2018 7:32 pm
- Model of CNC Machine: CNC Router Parts
Re: New Project with J Tech 7 watt Laser & VCP 10.5
Thanks for the replies!! The material is 3 mm plywood and it's 23" x 6". The 10 center panels took about 1 1/2 hours to cut out. The rivets and gusset plates were about 5 minutes and the outside profile about 1 hour.
The first side piece I cut had lots of burn marks since I was running it a lot slower, 2 ipm at 2 passes. When it would try and cut those spots in the wood that were harder or glue spots, it would burn worse.
After trying different settings, I figured out that if I ran the feed rate faster, 20 ipm, and increased the number of passes to 20, that I would get a much cleaner cut. That way that laser didn't have time to char the wood when cutting. With the multiple passes, it made cutting through the "hard" spots cut farther through the wood. I still had a couple spots that even after 20 passes didn't cut all the way through but a quick cut with a utility knife fixed that.
As for the laser, it is a Chinese CNC machine that had a 36 volt DC motor for a spindle. I replaced the spindle with the J Tech 7 watt laser.
I still have the CNC Router Parts 2424 Desktop Pro for my router.
I had thought about selling the Chinese CNC machine and buying a $2500 Co2 laser. Now that I have this dialed in, even though it takes a little longer to cut, I am happy with its cuts so I just saved myself $2500.
John Frankforther
The first side piece I cut had lots of burn marks since I was running it a lot slower, 2 ipm at 2 passes. When it would try and cut those spots in the wood that were harder or glue spots, it would burn worse.
After trying different settings, I figured out that if I ran the feed rate faster, 20 ipm, and increased the number of passes to 20, that I would get a much cleaner cut. That way that laser didn't have time to char the wood when cutting. With the multiple passes, it made cutting through the "hard" spots cut farther through the wood. I still had a couple spots that even after 20 passes didn't cut all the way through but a quick cut with a utility knife fixed that.
As for the laser, it is a Chinese CNC machine that had a 36 volt DC motor for a spindle. I replaced the spindle with the J Tech 7 watt laser.
I still have the CNC Router Parts 2424 Desktop Pro for my router.
I had thought about selling the Chinese CNC machine and buying a $2500 Co2 laser. Now that I have this dialed in, even though it takes a little longer to cut, I am happy with its cuts so I just saved myself $2500.
John Frankforther