I’m hoping to make a decision on a fiber laser for marking of some plastic enclosures that I do regularly and have some questions:
I’m currently running a CO2 laser at 10% power (fitted with a 100W tube). I’d like to get a fiber laser with a 300x300 working area installed. Given the low percent power I’m using on my CO2, I’m assuming 30W will suffice, but the laser supplier is suggesting 50W at the larger working area of 300x300mm. I’ve seen some videos on YouTube showing people marking metal with a 20-30W at this working distance, so I presume I am OK. Can anyone with more direct experience comment on this?
Do lenses exist that can engrave larger than 300x300mm? Taking a quick look at the GWeike G6 and the Cloudray fibers (the QS series), they all seem to max out at 300x300mm. Just curious about options for the future.
Because those two lasers operate at vastly different wavelengths, you must be absolutely certain the fiber will produce the results you want on the “plastic enclosures” you intend to use.
The effects on metal are completely different than the effects on plastics. For example, your current CO₂ laser has no effect on steel, where a fiber laser can produce pretty colors.
@jkwilborn has useful examples made with both lasers.
Yeah that’s a very good point. I am not absolutely certain, and I probably will never be unless I’m able to actually test it
I’m not really interested in marking metals. Mainly plastics, powder coated items, and even sintering of plastic powders (eg. Nylon).
I’m assuming that materials absorb wavelengths differently, but looking at SLS 3D printers for example, shows that some of them range from the CO2 wavelength, to the fiber wavelength (1064nm)…which leads me to believe that the materials absorb enough energy to sinter regardless.
Hoping that some experienced users with both machines can shine some more light on this and my question about the lenses.
I have not tried plastics, but lots of people mark firearm parts such as magazines or stocks that are plastic. Here’s a few videos I’ve seen.
I have this machine from Cloud Ray, 60W JPT MOPA M7 that I really like… I ordered it with an F420mm lens for 300x300mm coverage.
I’ve not seen anything that does larger areas, but conceptually there is no reason you can’t put a longer lens on it… I’m sure we don’t see these around over 300x300mm for some reason.
I got the long lens as the column needs to be rather long to allow things such as rotaries or other items you might want to lase… My column is 800mm (80cm) in height… You can see the lens markings on the column. I will suggest you keep it under 100W… once you get to 100W the lens prices go up by about 8 times.
If you have questions, ask, I might not know the answer, but I’ve done lots of searching…
Depending on the material, most of these put out a fair amount of smoke… You can see it with the PMAG video.
Laser Everything has lots of videos… if you can deal with the site software, it’s not a bad site… They have a laser masters group, when I was there they charged $8 US a month for access. The regular site is also good.
My main concern is around the SLS powder sintering, which I don’t think many people have done
I suppose I’ll have to just try…the least risky thing to do is buy a CO2 Galvo since that’s most similar to my CO2 gantry laser right now…but they are a bit more expensive and seem less versatile for the rest of my business.
Hopefully I can get my hands on a fiber laser locally and then just give it a try.
