I picked up my first laser, a $200 Creality Falcon 5w, at the beginning of summer and haven’t looked back. It completely revolutionized my sewing workflow and led me to developing techniques i never would have even considered. However, the 400mm work area is a massive limitation, and so I’m relegated to using the laser for small accents and quilting. It’s not really big enough for full scale clothes. The vast majority of fabric is sold on a 42" bolt and sewing patterns are generally designed with this in mind, so i figure a work area of 42-ish square inches would be about what I need. However when I went looking, every laser in this size category was a CO2 or Fiber. I have absolutely no use case for either of these-- at most I’d probably upgrade to 10w so that i can cut a little more quickly. Is a 10w 42" laser even possible? This first-generation Falcon uses standard aluminum extrusion but i don’t think i have the knowledge, understanding, tools, or even the time to extend it myself without breaking something. Are there other options out there for a large, low-power laser?
Previous discussions may provide some ideas, albeit with a generous dollop of DIY:
The Sculpfun S30 series features a frame upgrade that gives you 930 x 900 mm roughly. If you are able (or know someone that is) to change the cables yourself, then you can just buy standard aluminum rails and extend it further.
I think there is an Ortur with a huge size as well.
Thank you, this sounds like it could be a good fit!! I also intend to look into the previous threads that were linked above but something that’s meant to work like this out of the box seems like it might be my best bet given my constraints.
Have you ever taken a look at the Openbuilds Arco,
You can also have the lengths of the parts made longer to order. Maybe that is a solution for you.
Greeting
Bert Klappe