I am looking for a pass-through diode laser to cut up to 6" circles, rings, square, and rectangle out of 0.018" rubbery paper made with binder and zirconia grit mix on a tape cast machine. I want to feed the paper into the laser and be able to cut the shapes as the tape case machine (traveling only 0.5m/minute) is make the paper. Any suggestions of a manufacture that has a laser that could do this?
That zirconia mix is going to present a problem with any laser. Have you taken samples to a local laser shop and tested it?
The new 70w diode lasers might do it, but i am not sure.
The second part is called automation, and there have been some members that have had some success with using a conveyor or traveling table to have an automatic feed system. However, they are all using home grown solutions for the electronics and mechanics.
What is your approximate location? Maybe you could mail sample(s) of your material to another Lightburn member or two for testing.
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I cut 2.3 mm stamp pad rubber at 10 mm/s with 75% of a 60 W CO₂ laser. I doubt a diode laser can cut rubbery gritty paper much faster than that, so a 6 inch diameter = 475 mm circumference circle will take the better part of a minute to cut.
Given that the conveyor will move 500 mm while the laser chews through one circle, IMO this cannot work well.
If I’m off by a factor of ten, then the laser can chew through ten circles, but the trajectory planner must still compensate for 50 mm of conveyor motion while each circle gets cut.
You will need a buffer capable of accumulating all the incoming paper while the laser deals with whatever is on its stationary platform, then fast-forward the buffered paper to the platform.
Certainly, no standard laser controller can hit a moving target. Some folks have cobbled together conveyor systems started by an end-of-job event, but it is definitely not a standard operation.
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Yeah, I should have said a start-stop conveyor. The other option is a traveling laser head synchronized with the conveyor travel.
No matter what, this is not going to be an off the shelf or plug and play project.
Thank you for your feedback. I did not think this was going to be a simple task. I thought of the cut out dies but I have so many different sizes and shapes that this process was going to be time comsuming and expensive.
But punch dies are possible, which seems like a step in the right direction.
If the (moving) sheet is supposed to have multiple circles arranged across its width, a single laser can’t cut them. The sheet continues moving while it’s cutting one circle, so the beam cannot start another cut below the lowest point of the first circle. As a result, the laser can cut a single diagonal series of circles starting on one side of the sheet across to the other, not a series of circles across the sheet width.
If the sheet is wide enough for only one circle, cutting that circle will be possible, but IMO that’s as good as a laser will get.
I would recommend finding someone who can do some test cuts. Not sure a laser (burning) is the right tool. Have you considered a drag knife on a router?