My father and I got a “Fox Alien 4040 Masuter” and a “FoxAlien 20W fixed focus laser.”
Got the Air assist so we could cut but we haven’t been able to cut more than 2mm of plywood/MDF.
Starting to think we just didnt get enough of powerful laser to cut, till i saw this.
I have to be doing something wrong, we have been setting the focus to 30mm.
My dumb *** cant figure this out…
Just wanna cut out my keychain.
The $31 is also 10000. It should be zero. This could be confusing the controller.
Changed this and wrote to the controller, thanks I just ran a quick test in the shed.
Still looks the same. The laser is barely getting thru the first layer of plywood.
Seems to be a focus issue but it is set at 30mm.
We need some info…
5000mW Optical Output
3,4,5. I am running this cut at 1mm 100%
This cut is only cutting about 2mm.
With a 10w laser, I cut 2.8mm ply at 800mm/min, 85% power, and 5 passes. More passes seems to work better than a single pass. Also, having Air Assist makes a big difference. You might investigate if that is an option for your laser module.
Is this your first project with this laser? Have you tested it on other materials, or did you start with this?
Bought it initially to in engrave have had not issue what that, but I should able to to cut.
I have a air assist with the nozzle which is on.
I’m doing test cuts at 1mm/s 100% 10 passes.
Starting to feel like I just bought a bad product.
I’ve been running a Two Trees 5.5 watt (optical) . I’ve been cutting 2mm plywood using 2000mm/min, 100% power, & 12 passes. To cut, the laser needs to be focused on the middle of the material. To engrave, my old laser was focused 20mm above the surface. To cut 2nn plywood, I set the height to 19mm above the surface.
It worked for what you originally bought it for, right? Not a bad product, just less power than you now decided you need. A 5w laser has the smallest dot compared to the hower power units. That means the highest precision for fine detail work. It can do pretty much what the higher power units can do, just not as fast.
1mm/sec is 60mm/min. 2mm/sec is 120mm/min. The normal (“best for”) setting for diode lasers is mm/min. Using similar units makes it easier to compare notes when talking about materials. You may have noticed @Trek2120 and I both used the same speed units.
I ask this because your problem is also consistent with a laser that has been damaged by repeated deflection.
When I first got my laser, I established parameters for cutting and engraving various materials. But I also kept experimenting with various reflective materials. I knew that success was unlikely with most of these, but I didn’t understand that I was also damaging the lens. My laser became extremely weak, and it was not until I examined the lens under magnification that I saw why. After replacing that damaged lens, I was immediately back up to full power.
Good to know, thank you! And you are right it did work for what we initial bought it for. I can just cut it out on the bandsaw.
Limitations make good art anyway.
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