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CO 2 Laser Basics

CO 2 Laser Basics. Neil Hansen Sierra Laser Design Cameron Park, CA (530) 350 - 0941. CO 2 Laser Tube, The Heart of the Machine. The Laser is becoming the workhorse of the maker movement. Can process a wide variety of materials Produces a good surface finish on cuts

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CO 2 Laser Basics

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  1. CO2 Laser Basics Neil Hansen Sierra Laser Design Cameron Park, CA (530) 350 - 0941

  2. CO2 Laser Tube, The Heart of the Machine

  3. The Laser is becoming the workhorse of the maker movement. • Can process a wide variety of materials • Produces a good surface finish on cuts • Can engrave designs on surfaces • Very accurate CNC process • Uses simple 2d drawings, shallow learning curve

  4. The CO2 Laser outputs in the Infrared spectrum (10.6 µm) • The light is monochromatic • The energy density is very high! (1kW of Input = 1.4 mW / CM2 with a typical focus of 0.3mm)

  5. SAFETY! (This is a class 4 laser) Laser Light from a CO2 Laser is invisible • Eye protection designed for the proper wave length should always be worn when working with the Laser • When adjusting optical path two people should work as a team, one adjusting and one to make sure that an unfocused beam is not; burning another part of the machine, starting a fire in the shop, cutting through the shop wall, cutting through the building next door, pets, people, etc… • This is general advise … be safe, have fun.

  6. Let’s Get To Work! What can we do with this Thing?

  7. Lasers < 300 W are generally used for cutting Non Metallic Materials • Wood, Acrylic, ABS, Plywood, Synthetic foams, …etc! are readily cut with a Laser • Lasers cut by one of 3 methods, or a combination of them. • Vaporization (acrylic) • Chemical Degradation (Wood, ABS, Many Plastics) • Melt Shearing (Metals, Some Plastics) Air Flow is VERY important to the process!!!

  8. The thickness of material to cut and the cutting speed are governed by the amount of energy needed to vaporize/decompose/melt a volume of material. This relationship boils down to the cutting speed equation: V=PQt-B V=maximum cutting speed P=Laser Power T=Material Thickness Q & B = Experimentally derived constants

  9. Software Any 2d drawing application that can output; .PLT, .AI, .DXF, .DST, .BMP, …ETC can be used to generate designs for the laser. • Gimp – open source • Corel Draw – industry standard • Auto Cad Light – industry standard 2d CAD • Turbo Cad – very versitile 2d and 3d CAD

  10. LaserCut Software

  11. SOME FUN STUFF FROM MAKERS FAIR 2014. LASER CUTTING WAS USED TO PRODUCE A WIDE RANGE OF PRODUCTS AND PROTOTYPES.

  12. References • CO2 Laser Cutting, 2nd Ed, John Powell • Laser Material Processing, 4th Ed, Steen, Mazumder • Hurricane Lasers User Manuel • LaserCut Software Manuel • MAKERS, The New Industrial Revolution, Anderson

  13. Questions ?

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