Preparing for the arrival of the 64W J Tech. The video interview with J Tech mentions the idea of dialing down an air compressor to 5 to 20 pounds for the air assist. I do have a very quiet smaller compressor mainly used for pin nailing.
Question: Is anyone using a tank air compressor as an air assist?
I would not mind adding a dedicated airline, separately dialed down, and I’m thinking it should include a water separator.
Is the above a good or bad idea?
Thanks Bill
I use an aquarium compressor. Quiet and compact.
some of the tips videos i’ve watched suggest upgrading to tank air compressors for cleaner cuts. They also confirm your inclination to have a good water separator since you don’t want moisture in your cut.
On the flip side, i’ve also read you only need enough air to keep the smoke off the laser lens.
I’ve been playing with my 60W laser this week and use a fairly small Gast doa-p701aa pump I measured at about 20psi and it seems to cut great.
I’m considering hooking up my shop compressor to try too, but I don’t have any moisture filters yet, so definitely report back if you try it!
Thanks…. I have a very old water separator from the days of spray painting.
I see there are some nice inexpensive all in one units…will order one.
This will give me something to do while waiting for the laser!
After the laser arrives I will look at exhausting fumes ideas.
How do you like the laser? Have you done any engraving or just cutting? I’m on the fence and so I welcome any feedback.
Mick
I’m really enjoying the upgrade to 60 watts from my 10 watt laser. Cutting at a 800-1000 mm/m instead is maybe 10-20x faster than i could do before. It’s really fun to be able to fill engrave birch ply at 35% power at what I think is around the max speeds of my BB journeyman, 10k mm/m (400 ipm). I’m space limited so it makes a lot of sense for me, or for large work area, but for production work on smaller items, higher end dedicated laser machines are physically capable of moving faster.
But, i’m not using the J Tech 64 watt, which won’t work on wall mounted machines due to the tilt sensor only letting it fire downward. I’m using an “unsupported” LaserTree K60. It doesn’t have the advantage of remembering what power mode it’s in after turned off, or manual on/off control of the red alignment beam. I also feel a little bad mentioning competing laser products here. But I love the fast innovation and iteration we’re seeing in that diode laser space. I hope to see a switchable blue + infrared laser in the future 
Are you doing anything special concerning fumes and smoke?
I vent outside. I am currently using the not-advised method using my 4" dust collection hose. That’s risky since if a spark/flame gets sucked into the wood barrel it could start a fire. So i keep it a few inches away from my cut to just pull smoke, and keep my barrel empty. I’m working toward a better solution with a 6" inline grow-room fan venting outside. I also am aware it’s not efficient to be venting all my heated/cooled basement air outside, but i’m just a hobbyist, so it’s a compromise…
here’s a clip of it cutting… video noise warning! that’s cutting 1000 mm/m at 100% power and engraving at 10,000 mm/m at 35% power.
Thanks for sharing, keeping in mind I have yet to see a laser, and appreciate your experience. I think it is safe to say to the general public “do not try this at home.” I’m sure you have a dedicated laser only system…for collecting fumes.
Most ordinary collectors have dust filters and guessing that would be very dangerous for a wayward spark. Just tossing that out to the general reader. Enough for the disclaimer…
My actual idea…live in a cold climate, have a heated shop, however, my tank air compressor is in the unheated attached garage. Thus, potentially supplying outside-the-shop air to the laser. Whatever exhaust fan system I come up with will hopefully extract little heated inside shop air. In theory…
Way over thinking this, but as an old science teacher, I’m going to measure the temperature of the incoming compressed air on a very cold day. Don’t want to crack any lenses.
Who knows, maybe it is best to pay a little extra for heat. Will try to follow up on how it goes!
Definitely a good thing to pay attention to. JTech specifies 5-40C as the operating temperature range and 1-45C as the storage range. I bring my laser into the house when freezing temperatures are expected.
ooh, that’s an brilliant idea, getting the fresh supply air from outside, then collecting and exhausting it back out! I may try to incorporate that into my setup, thanks!
As it is, i’m working in my basement “utility” room, where there is already an open 4" cold air intake for my hvac. so that room definitely gets colder than the house, but hopefully a lot of the air i’m cycling isn’t too heated/cooled.
100% recommend a simple pump. This is what I have.
I also have the same pump. Quiet and very effective.
I plumbed in air to a harbor freight “quiet” compressor (which is actually, indeed, quite quiet) and am running it through a drier and then to the jtech. I cannot say I have seen any convincing difference in operation compared to the smaller pumps (I have both the 55 and supposedly 25 w pumps and the 55 is not that much more powerful than the 25). The volume and pressure of air from the compressor is obviously far superior. The little pumps definitely do not deliver 25psi over long runs, my compressor cannot do that without running continuously (which is a no go). I think mine is actually dialed down to about 15psi continuous which stays around a 35-40% duty cycle for this compressor.
While having a compressor at your table may be nice for other features, I cannot say I saw a compelling reason to justify my efforts, and its a lot of heat going into the underside of my table and near my electronics as well- I ended up sticking a carpet drying blower fan inside the table as well to circulate the air.
I am using a 44W laser for what its worth.
One thing to also be aware of is that such a tremendous (relatively) large volume of air seems to greatly increase the risk of flare ups and fires. You’re truly blowing on the coals here! So be very mindful.
