Baltic Birch maybe ?
Yes BB is Baltic birch
You left off ‘how much do you wish to spend?’
If you’re after a cut the higher power, if you want to engrave, you don’t usually need higher power.
If it’s in between, like the rest of us, you make a decision based on what you want to do and how much you wish to spend to do it.
Most of us can’t afford what we’d really like (like, all 7 of them…)
Also most of us probably don’t know what we really like until we get one… My ideas have changed since working with mine.
Good luck, it’s a tough choice…
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I would love to have a CO2 laser but I lack the space for one with the cooling requirements and the exhaust ducting and the air assist… The funds are available but the space is limited.
I want to explore the best, most powerful, diode laser I can attach to my Ortur LM2. From what I can tell, it is the Neje 40640. Does anyone disagree?
I can’t speak to other brands, but Thunder Laser Nova 24 laser has an advertised 60-watt tube made by SPT that is actually tested out at 70 watts. That’s a $6k CO2 laser, though, not a $200 bottom of the barrel LED laser.
I’m very happy with my Neje A40640. I’ve not done anything yet with 1/4" ply but other YouTuber’s have…
Vince,
Remember that no matter what kind of laser, if you are burning (or heating) organic materials, it will give off fumes, some more toxic than others. You need exhaust to handle the fumes. Air assist helps to clear products of combustion out of the laser path.
I have the 40 watt NEJE and have been able to successfully cut Lowes’ 5mm Revolution plywood at 60% power in two passes including a light tan masking tape on top. That’s about all the power I want to try as I’m trying to keep the laser running well longer. I lost my 30W VERY quickly running the power at 80% or more sometimes. BTW the “Revolution” plywood is better in some ways and worse in others. In my opinion, it’s smoother, doesn’t warp as much, is cheap, engraves well (more of a “nothing or dark”, not much in between), which is good for me. It sands smooth like a dream. It does however develop smoke deposits quickly and doesn’t brush, vacuum or sand away easily, so masking might be necessary. Also, some might not like it’s weird grain?. It kinda looks like ultra thin plywood layers stacked. Also, it has what appears to be a mahogany tone on one side and a pine tone on the other. I kinda like it, but not sure how customers will feel as you can’t really call it “rustic”. Lol
Forgot to add, I was running at 200mm/sec.
The Thunder laser is a bit more than I want to go right now, but I’m sure it does a bang up job. For those of you running the Neje 40640, are you using the original Ortur power supply?
As a test, I have cut through 18mm MDF, with 100W CO2 tube, single pass, but quite slow.
For those diode lasers most cases they are quoting the electrical power and not the optical power output. Also as pointed out, the wave length of these lasers impact how well they can cut let alone if they can cut materials. Clear acrylic is one example of a material that can’t be cut, at least not very easily. So if you are looking to be able to cut a wide variety of materials and need speed too, CO2 is probably a good choice.
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Most equipment you purchase today is classified by input power.
A 1200 watt microwave oven draws 1200 watts of power. The consumer assumes (hopefully correctly) that a 1200 watt oven heats quicker than a 1000 watt oven. How fast it heats is really how much energy is making it to the food via the microwave transmitter and that is output power. A 50 watt bulb, draws 50 watts of input power.
As a radio operator, all FCC specifications are generally input power to the final amplifier. CB radio is allow 5 watts, input to the final amplifier. You get out whatever isn’t lost (heat) in the conversion.
We don’t see that with some lasers. It may be it’s just more difficult to measure input power than output power with this type of equipment.
I want to thank everyone for their input. It is most enlightening.
Has anyone run across this unit?(https://endurancelasers.com/diode-lasers/10w-endurance-laser/) I just saw a you tube on it. It is about $100 more than the Neje 40640 and the installation seems quite a bit more involved.
I’ve never worked with Endurance Lasers directly but I do know that there’s been some controversy about them in the community.
Take a look at Teaching Tech’s video about his experience:
Laser cutting 3D printer - Endurance Laser 10 watt honest review - Update in pinned post - YouTube
I think Datulab Tech had a better experience. I’ve seen quite a few mixed comments in Reddit as well but I see some of this coming from rival vendors so take it with a grain of salt.
One of my former managers used a factor of 4, but to multiply not divide, when looking at my time estimates for the software project I was on…
Hi The 20 to 90 input power is only “equivalent power” they claim not actual input power. A 12v 40w with 2amp is only 24w actual input. Apparently equivalent to a 40w co2??? However the cutting power depends on the spot compression of the diode and light density of the output beam. A 5w output may achieve higher density by compressing the spot size and therefore better cutting ability with longer fine point. But an independant standard is required to keep the sellers honest.
Don’t be deluded by these claims of power. The LED is input power, the co2 is output power.
Percentage wise, you would need an LED laser with an input power of about 4 times that or 160 watts to get the 40 watts out (at best.) Most LED lasers have about a 20% conversion factor, according to most of the Internet. However many claim up to 25%, so I used that value.
My 30 watt led laser is powered by a 24 volt, 2 amp supply, not 12 volts. Being able to supply 48 watts input.
Hi If it is 24v then why not 48w instead of 30w? I have a 12v 20w 5w output and a 40w 5w output. The only difference is the spot compression to reduce the spot size and increase the luminous density, not output watts. I have also see it compared to co2 in advertising. Just trying to get to the bottom of it with a rational explanation. I think 24v is to allow faster speed capability.
You want a supply that will be able to produce more than the equipment uses. The input wattage is how much power the devices draws.
When you talk about spot size, you are referencing the beams ‘power density’.
We do change this with the co2, by ‘de-focus’ the beam for a wider burn, same power, just a lower power density. You can do the same with your laser.
Where did you get the numbers for output wattage?
Why would a more focused beam draw more power?
The numbers just don’t seem add up properly.
Don’t think this will stand up to much scrutiny either.