Hello All,
Still waiting on my CNC to arrive but I have been contemplating of embarking on rather ambitious project.
The question is would it be possible to make a combination CNC with a high powered laser. I am not talking about 15w laser. I am thinking more along the lines of an 60 to 80 watt laser. With the Onefinity you already have x, y, z to get things started.
Some of my primary concerns is that it seems like on most laser cutters the bed is adjusted rather than the head. I am not to worried about the dust as I think things could be done to minimize that issue.
I don’t know much about laser nor CNC so just getting started.
It’s good to hear that I’m not the only one having dangerous ideas!
I think the simplest way to keep your workpiece in the correct focal range would be to shim up the piece being lazered. I guess you could also build a scissor lift bed if you were feeling fancy.
My main concern is that raster engraving speeds could be as high as 60,000 mm/min with powerful lasers and I don’t think the 1F has that kind of giddyup. Even if the steppers can run that fast you’d probably want to remove the router/spindle due to mass/momentum reasons. If you have to turn the laser power down significantly to account for the theoretical max speed, then what’s the point of the powerful laser?
My thinking is that when you get above those few watts of power you really need a dedicated machine. Your laser is likely then going to be a CO2 tube requiring cooling, ventilation and connected to the head by a series of precision aligned mirrors. Maybe there is a diode laser in that power range, but I’ve never seen one. Also in a dedicated laser you would generally have a safety interlock so it wouldn’t fire without the eye protection enclosure lid down.
CLW, you bring up some valid points as well.
-For the cooling I am planning on having a water cooled spindle so thinking a joint system.
-Planning on building a enclosure. Something like Mitz Pellicciotta enclosure with rated panels.
-The mirrors, i was thinking some removeable caps that have positive pressure to keep dust out.
My main concern is fire really, due to the waste booard even if O put an metal plate underneath. I would love to just have Lazer but I am very limited in space in my garage.