I’m doing some testing with powder coating paints, engraving into text, artworks etc. Found a few interesting videos on YT etc. I don’t seem to be able to switch air assist off, the powder just gets blown away once I start in Lightburn (I have switched air assist off in the cuts/layers panel)
Machine is Gweike RF Metal Tube Co2 38w laser. Is there another place to switch it off, am I missing something ? tia Milezee
If you enable the Air Assist, does the pump increase the pressure?
Many air-assisted pumps continue to run at low power even when the air assist is turned off, as long as the laser is operational, to keep the lens free of soot and prevent a fire.
If that’s the case with the Gweike, I’m afraid your only option would be to physically disconnect either the air hose or cut power to the pump.
Looking around on the Internet, they seem to advise that these have a hi/lo pressure setting much like the advanced air assist.
If this is the case, it’s likely they are using the Wind output (goes low when an executing layer has air assist enabled) enable high pressure.
If it allows hi/lo pressure it’s likely running the compressor anytime the machine is executing a layer or the Status output on the Ruida.
Meaning running it without air assist may not be possible unless you can turn off the compressor unit.
Another option may be that they have the ability to adjust low pressure. There might be a chance the low pressure air can be adjusted.
Maybe @BillieRuben knows how these work for a more definite answer.
Thanks for the input, appreciated 
Yeh it may be a bit much for something I just wanted to experiment with for now. I do have a UV ink printer which is a nice combination with a laser machine for colour etc , appreciate you looking into this 
Yes this is indeed an issue. For my system I added a switch with a relay to simply just disable my my air pump.
I have done quite a bit of the powder coat with my CO2 laser.
Just keep in mind that you need to keep your power quite low.
Also if you mess up, you can simply blast the powder coat out by turning the laser up again. lol.
Thanks for tips . I have just tested using a slight spray of PVA (slightly watered down) and then chuck some powder in there and gently go over with a scraper to bed the powder into the small pocket, it kinda works 
. Not sure my need warrants drastic tinkering with the machine at the moment 
My process is a two step affair. I first engrave the design about .5 to 1mm deep.
Then fill with powder and scrape excess off with a card.
The real trick is taking the part off of the machine to keep all the excess dust and powder off your workspace. I tape some cardboard from a cereal box down to the work bed and then cut my shapes into that to reference my parts.
That way you can take your piece off the machine and fill your color and put it back on for setting powder. Using this method you can do multiple colors. Simply blow out the areas that aren’t set and apply a different color. 325mm/s at 15-18% power works best for my 100 watt machine.
Yes engrave a nice ‘pocket’ and then chuck it in, it’s early stages can’t you tell .
The power/speed really needs dialling I e found with these early tests. My machine is an RF metal tube co2 , 38w . I believe it’s equivalent to maybe a standard co2 60watt machine. I’ll play some more when I get a chance, appreciate the replies and info bud
Thank you for the inputs.
I remember that I have various colors of powder coating on hand, but I’ve never sintered them with a laser before. I should give that a try!
Feel free to send pictures of the results 
For sintering with a diode you have here (point 4) an air deflector.
@soniclab wow you done some interesting tests there with powder sintering. I have actually connected with Gweike engineers via their support, one told me it couldn’t be turned off, maybe dangerous to the lens ?? Another has given me advice how to uncouple the air assist line from the head, I believe it’s quite simple to do. I’m hoping to revisit when I get some more time to play. Thanks for the input Jeremy 
Air assist was primarily a lens protection system.
Maybe you could put a thumb restriction valve on it and reduce the output low enough to protect the lens, but not blow hard enough to move the powder coating?
I set mine really low when doing acrylic.
Are these all co2? What kind of power and speed are you using?
They look good… I think I’ll give it a shot.
Tried to do this on a rock with my fiber. I only have black powder coating, so I tried it on my rock.
Engraved about .20 mm deep and brushed on the power coat. Ran over with a single pass. Repeated brushing it on and lasing, a couple of times.
Any suggestions to ensure the powder coat has been set?
I had though the q-pulse was about 200, but this is what’s on the machine. This was used for engraving. I change it from 100 passes to 1 pass when trying to set the powder coating.
I love the detail!
Did you post that pix in the Fried Some Rocks thread?
No .. guess I should have.
Never tried on a fiber. Used C02 only so far. The powder will get glossy and unable to chip out once set
It’s hard to tell with such fine lines..
The other issue was the beam knocked off a bunch of powder coat as it was lasing.
