7 watt Next Wave Laser

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bbb2541
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7 watt Next Wave Laser

Post by bbb2541 »

I just obtained a new 7 watt laser attachment from Next Wave. It is advertised that it will cut thin material and 1/8" plywood. What are the set up parameters necessary to cut through material?

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Tex_Lawrence
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Re: 7 watt Next Wave Laser

Post by Tex_Lawrence »

bbb2541 wrote:
Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:58 pm
... What are the set up parameters necessary to cut through material?
Perhaps you could be a bit more specific about what "material" and how thick it is?
Tex — Crooked Wood Products
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bbb2541
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Re: 7 watt Next Wave Laser

Post by bbb2541 »

Sorry about that. In too big of hurry I guess. 1/8" birch Plywood

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Tex_Lawrence
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Re: 7 watt Next Wave Laser

Post by Tex_Lawrence »

I cut 0.1" plywood in 3 or 4 passes at around 90 - 100% power. That's probably a practical limit (for me anyway.)

Now the JTech has a great lens that has a large depth of field for the focus. I can't really tell the difference within a 0 to 1/2" range. However, when I tried a test cut on 1/4" plywood it might have cut 1/2 way through, but that took 8 to 10 passes at 100%.

If you have a regular lens, you might not have that kind of reach.

You might also find it cuts, but you'll most likely find that it just takes too long to do it. The strong suit of these lasers, to me, is all the lettering that I don't have to cut with a router bit! And if I have to paint broad lettering, the laser cut profile is kind of a "wall" to the paint making me look much better than I am! :D
Tex — Crooked Wood Products
Now there's a man with an open mind – you can feel the breeze from here.

bbb2541
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Re: 7 watt Next Wave Laser

Post by bbb2541 »

Thanks! I'll just have to do some trial and error runs to get a feel for the capacity of my laser.

Auger
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Re: 7 watt Next Wave Laser

Post by Auger »

I've been trying to get this 7 watt laser to operate as it should for the past year or more.

Vectric did a lot of testing to try and get the Nextwave Lasers to operate properly. Because of the problems, you will see they have removed the laser from being supported in the laser module at this time.

I agree with Tex, that the laser is great for lettering and the like, but the current issue they are dealing with is pictures.

I tested the files and firmware with Vectric on the 2 and 7 watt lasers.
A basic picture 4"x 4" takes about 2 hours or less on other lasers. On the 7 watt, the same file took me 12 hours.

For what ever reason, Nextwave is testing pictures on their Ready2Raster program. A picture in that program takes about 2 hours to do, the same picture in Vectric software takes 5 hours plus. I am hoping they are using the R2R program to help them rewrite either Firmware or Post Processor for the CNC.

As for burning/cutting with the laser. I'm sure it can, as I have a number of photos that basically burned themselves through the wood. I have not tried to cut out anything with it at this point. As Tex said, it will take a number of passes to accomplish this. 1/8" plywood would take at least 7-10 passes in my opinion. 90-100% laser at 20-25" / minute. (All a guess).

If anything ever gets fixed with this laser I will post. If it doesn't get fixed soon, I may start posting phone numbers and e-mail addresses to people at Nextwave in an effort to light a fire under them to get this going. This is not a Vectric problem at this point.

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Tex_Lawrence
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Re: 7 watt Next Wave Laser

Post by Tex_Lawrence »

Auger wrote:
Fri Dec 03, 2021 2:50 pm
... If it doesn't get fixed soon, I may start posting phone numbers and e-mail addresses to people at Nextwave in an effort to light a fire under them to get this going....
Although, I don't have a dog in that fight, its never a good idea to go publicly "posting phone numbers and e-mail addresses". If someone else is having the problem, they already know how to contact the vendor.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents on that subject.
Tex — Crooked Wood Products
Now there's a man with an open mind – you can feel the breeze from here.

Aintright
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7 WATT Laser burn Preview

Post by Aintright »

I having problems seeing my burn on the 3D page I have even adjusted My burn rate to 15,000 and I still don't see anything

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