Cutting Metal with a Desktop Laser
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
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When I saw the video of the Atomstack 20w diode laser slicing a piece of stainless steel I instantly said "FAKE" like literally I yelled at my screen. Everything and everyone always tells me how diode lasers cannot cut anything especially not metal. Well if that is the case maybe it is time to rename what we are calling the 20w xTool Pro because this thing continues to concur all the test I throw at it. With the ability to manipulate steel my mind is exploding with new product ideas that have yet to be attempted.
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Haha sorry I am a strange mixture of Southerner/many other thangs
your discount code is what honey told me to use. which is funny because i came to this video to see if i need to order the 20w since i wanna do metal cutting also with mine. and i scrolled down to the comments and seen your promo code being the same one honey tells me to use lol
from what I am hearing, Xtool will be selling a 40W laser soon.
@@ntuidme yes this is true I can’t wait to get my hands on that and share the results.
I am surprised that you were surprised. It is really old tech. It is the power of the laser that matters, as well as the wavelength. CO2 was the original cutting laser of choice, long before fiber ever came around. However, ruby and YAG lasers are beasts as well. However, a twenty watt diode laser is not something to sneer at. The guy who made the videos was probably refusing to entertain arguments based upon ignorance. Too many people will not do what you did, which is actually test a concept, especially if they doubt it for any reason. Ignorance is such a very comfortable state of existence for most -- people usually won't even check their opinions.
You can use the soot from a candle to mark stainless steel. Just light a candle and run the stainless steel thru the flame. It will leave black soot on the ss. Just laser and wash off the soot. It's cheap and easy and does a good job.
That's a cool trick I had no idea!
Was think candle soot for glass too!
@@Curious_Skeptic I have used it on glass too. It works well.
I was thinking carbon or ash too, something to hold the heat, coat and darken it up
Dykem.
I used to work a lot with laser welding machines. 1) Diode lasers are continuous wave lasers. Look up CW power levels for materials to be cut. 2) Angle you head about 3 degrees from perpendicular. This will help prevent any back spatter to the lens. 3) Use an inert atmosphere instead of air to minimize surface discoloration. 4)most importantly, the light must melt the material. Therefore the thicker and higher conductivity the material has, the harder to cut. Aluminum and copper has much higher conductivities than steel. You won't cut .002 copper. Question: What wavelength of light is your laser?
445nm
John this is great insights thank you for sharing this, I hope you stick around in the future, as it seems I could learn a lot from someone like you. 🙂
@@ChadsCustomCreations Thank you
@@ChadsCustomCreations Chad,that was great to see you cutting metal. Did you had to tilt these angle by 3 degrees as John mentioned? I am wondering how that adjustment is done?
@kamlesh jethwa I haven’t yet but you could either shim up your honeycomb cutting board to angle the materials or you could pul small shims under the feet of the laser itself. Probably other ways of doing it also just the first ones that came to my mine.
Pro-tip. You can mark the material with a red sharpie, and it will help overcome the reflectivity for your first pass. It's pretty universal when we're cutting parts out in the jewelry industry.
Thank you for sharing this knowledge I am adding it to my toolbelt.
Would something like red Dykem layout fluid work also?
I would love to see if you can cut through thin titanium. Being able to make titanium veneers that I could anodize and inlay into knives would be amazing
Thermal conductivity seems to be a determining factor. The more conductive, the worst the material cuts. That would explain why it couldn't cut through aluminium or copper, and why stainless (being the worst thermal conductor here) did the best.
I reckon the explanation could be that the heat gets dissipatef in the best conducting materials rather than staying focused on the laser point, hence preventing the cut
That’s interesting, I wonder what would happen if you tried the cuts after freezing the steel with liquid nitrogen. Or what would happen if you pre heated the steel with a heat gun?
@@Noadvantage246if it lowers conductivity it could help otherwise no
yes that is why
Great points I did an updated video on this with the IKIER 70w and mention these comments. Thanks for the input!
Now they (Atomstack) have a 14 diode 70W laser supposedly coming out around end of March / beginning of April. It purportedly uses 6W diode modules (which would technically be max of 84W) combined into a single beam. It's claimed to cut 0.3mm (0.118" / 11ga) stainless steel in one single pass, has a 800*850mm working area, and automatic laser focus. BUT it has a much larger focused spot than my Atomstack X7 Pro, even in 1/2 power mode @ Spot Size: 0.12*0.18mm (70W) / 0.08mm*0.12mm (35W) - my X7 Pro spot size is claimed to be 0.06mm x 0.06mm ....
I have a theory as to the reason it can cut the steels but not the other materials. I think it may be due to their thermal conductivity values. Steel and Stainless Steel have very low thermal conductivity, so the energy from the laser isn't dissipating through the sheet and stays confined near the laser point. The other materials you tried to cut (brass, copper, and aluminum) all have much higher thermal conductivity values, so the energy spreads out from the laser point and in turn isn't sufficient to cut or even mar the material. I'd be interested to see if maybe Bronze (75% Cu, 25% Sn) or Titanium could be cut with the laser, as they have a similarly low thermal conductivity value as steel.
Great ideas I've need to get more for future!
Generally speaking, you can try running the program over and over again, think of it like a drill bit, slowly eating away the material. I just saw a guy use a 60 watt laser to cut 1/8” brass/bronze by running the program over it a few times
Oh wow if you still have the video could you share the link with me I’d love to see that.
The downside of sharing a CZcams channel with your spouse, they watch videos where I miss the notifications. It has been 3 months and I did not know about this! AJ is in trouble 😁 great video as always, you have a true talent.
Oh I have seen this 😳 I forgot 😅
No worries thanks for watching again ;)
Grateful for folks like you doing all the testing! Thank you! Great links
My pleasure thanks for learning with me.
Try cutting the aluminium through a film coating, not sure the one on it is right, but most of the panels cut on laser have an opaque film 'laser film' to stop the reflection.
Great tip I will try this.
Won't do much. Initial power settings are usually 20% higher to start the cutting.(when the metal melts the emissivity(reflectivity) of the molten metal gets higher, therefore the absorption into the metal increases). Putting a black surface on copper will burn the surface coating fast, but do little to the copper underneath it.
most metals are almost 100% reflective at 10600nm (co2 laser). once you get up into 1064nm or higher, the reflectivity is "only" like 90-95% so you can actually get power into the materials.
This is great info I hope you stick around.
It’s not about reflectivity for the materials, it’s about the material itself and how well they can transfer heat. Aluminum and copper are great heat conductors, which why they’ve been used as radiators in cars. Steel is one of the worst for thermal conductivity which is why you can cut it.
That makes sense especially with how reflective that stainless steel was yet it even was being cut/etched.
@@ChadsCustomCreations try cutting aluminum foil, it’ll be relatively close to the thicknesses of the steel shim stock. What you showed on screen was considerably thicker, like 3 to 19 times thicker. Depending on mfr of course but std duty is close to 0.0004” - 0.0007”, so roughly half as thick as the thinnest steel shim you used.
Stainless Steel is a really special case for this, it's ridiculously non-conductive for heat (~15W/m/K). Normal steel (~45W/m/K), brass (~111W/m/K), aluminium (~240W/m/K), or copper (~385W/m/K) are far more thermally conductive and will carry the heat away too quickly. Your goal is to put energy in so quickly that the metal vaporises before the heat can be conducted away.
Oh wow I can tell you know your stuff thank you for this information. So theoretically stainless still would be the easiest to cut?
Chad! Thanks for this video! Currently looking into the X20 Pro and this answered all of my questions about the capabilities.
Glad to hear that, thank you for watching!
Just to understand thicknesses, household aluminum foil is between .016 and .024 mm in thickness. I believe the use cases for cutting metal with a diode laser are pretty small. Still, good to know.
Yeah I believe it maxed out at about .178mm in thickness which is was more than I expected
oxidation??......I wonder if you put some flux on the metal before you cut if that would prevent the oxidation? When you solder the flux helps prevent oxidation, I think, well that and nitrogen gas. Just a thought.
Definitely worth a shot!
I have a galvo 60 watt fibre washer. The easist metals to cut have low thermal conductivity. For same reason, thin metals cut easily because they heat up faster. The Galvo fibre lasers have massive lens to set the focal point and are an engineering marvel to get focus to be in a plane and not spherical. Cutting intensity focus is only very short though. Sweet spot of about 0.2mm with my 150mm lens. My blue 10W LED laser is thinner for much more distance. CO2 60W diverges faster than my 10W Blue on it's standard 72mm lens.
Awesome thank you for the tips
You get a lot better and quicker results by either painting the metal black or even just using black masking tape works well.
Atomstack sent me a sheet of stainless to use as a wasteboard to prevent burning your table. Even with my 10 watt lasers, it ended up with some pretty deep engravings. It warped like crazy and wasn’t usable after a while.
Oh goodness yeah they should probably change that out to an aluminum plate instead.
Most diode lasers will “mark” metal, meaning that it will etch metal by a fraction of a thousandth of an inch. The more power, and the slower the speed, the deeper it will cut. It’s close to the right frequency. Thin metal without conductive support touching it will cut pretty easily. Going over it twice will be even better. 20 watts of power is getting to a useful number. When they get to 40 next year, it will work well. Not thick metal, you need several hundred watts for that, or more.
Stainless and that polished steel. isn’t more reflective than that aluminum. The problem is that stainless has poor thermal conductivity, so the heat stays with the laser cut. Steel is better, but still is just moderately conductive. But aluminum and particularly copper have much better conductivity so the heat quickly spreads from the cut, and you need much more power.
Great explanation thank you for this!
Do you think 1.5mm thickness is possible?
@@hughdelanol.polidario6585 I doubt it with this current set up, but I am eager to see where this goes as the technology continues advance and become available at lower prices.
@@ChadsCustomCreations the 40 watt models we should see sometime next year should do 1 mm. Maybe a bit over that.
Greetings your explications are very good. If i lower the speed and do several passes will it engrave stainless Steel ? I mean deep engraving like maximum 3 mm not cutting. Thank you
Some tips for those cutting metal:
Take as many passes as you need. Most machines can't cut metal in a single pass, and even if they can it'll leave some burs. Lower your power, increase passes to cut down on bur cleanup. It might take 50 passes. In some cases I've done over 500. But your final product will be good.
If your surface is too reflective, remove its reflectivity. Polish it later. Once you break through the first layer, reflectivity won't be an issue due to the laser's blackening effect.
If you get warping, your material is too hot. Lower power. Take some time between passes. Take even more passes.
Remember, your laser is a tool, not a solution.
This is great insight! I am curious what machine are you running and what thickness have you been able to cut?
Would you be able to test 0.2mm nickel. I doubt that it would work but I would be curious and definitely buy one if it does
4:25 gave me flashbacks to the "hanging chads" in the Florida vote counts, lol
Bahahaha this made me lol for real! Thanks mom and dad for such a meaningful name.
Awesome idea for the tape for placement!! Thanks for all the testing! 🥰
My pleasure thanks for watching!
Is that the transfer tape that you have in the Amazon shop?
Yes that’s it should be the low tap 12” width
May I ask what Settings you use on the tape?
@@Falko99 I can’t remember but it was fast with a pretty low power it’s easy to cut through.
I don't have a X1 (yet) I do have 2 c02's and a 50w fiber laser. this has inspired me, and hubby got me a that 12' roll of .004 steel you had the link for. Guess I'll be learning about the 'wobble' feature in lightburn now. I appreciate you!
What kind of Fiber laser do you have??
Very creative. I used to operate a farley cnc /dnc waterbed plasma cutter. 4x12 metre bed.
That sounds like an impressive machine.
Great video. Love the idea of using the masking tape as a temporary jig. Even better that I have some on hand.
Thanks Michele yeah I used to use cardboard and sometimes even wood but for short runs like this the tape is great.
If it can cut tin then custom battery electrodes are possible i currently have to cut them with scissors, its very time consuming.
If it’s thin enough I bet it could, they also have a 40 watt now which is twice the power. Also have an enclosed model the S1 for about $300 more I just put out a video on it if your interested.
Thanks for the video. After you have experimented with doing the pierce and air assist, do you think there is any gauge of brass that could be cut with the d1 20W or 40W? I saw you were able to cut brass with a 70W.
You know since this could cut .1mm at 30mm/s I would bet that they probably could do the same .1mm brass but probably stop there as the 70w could only accomplish the .2mm at 3mm/s
What about reflections? If there's any light bounce back into the laser you destroy the laser in milli seconds?
Has not happened yet
Just ordered the Atomstack M100 20w laser, so I'm glad I came across this video and your channel.
Hey have you tried to cut metals with it? Could I ask you to do a few experiments for me? Of course I'll compensate you for your time! I have a few specific things I wanna know before splashing cash on the lasercutter. Like for example, can the laser also make a spotweld between 2 sheets of 0.05 mm thick? Let me know if you'd be keen to help out :)
Thank you for watching!
Well dang, here I was thinking that Atomstack video was fake too. Great job doing all the tests to show us what it can do!
It definitely needed some mythbusting but I am pretty stoked to see these machines do legitimately have some metal cutting capabilities.
Thanks for risking your health to show us that. But honestly if someone thinks to replicate that - make sure to not even breath once the toxic gases that arise when vaporising various metal alloys - thats no joke. I cant understand that there are still lasercutters without ventilation systems out there…. Take care guys
How much would this compare to welding or plasma cutting metals?
Hi
A simple solution for painting bug / dust problems.
Make a shallow box with peg board on top. Have a hole on the side for the shop-vac hose.
The air around you small object is pulled away from the fresh paint. So no dust or in your case a mosquito landed.
Surprised you didn't spray on those other metals
Great idea thanks for the tip!
That bug was a spy😂😂😂
I believe it
It has more to do with the wavelength of the laser that a particular material will absorb rather than the reflectivity......
You’re right!
We have 6 & 8k fiber lasers where I work. They are diode solid state and there primary function is to cut steel. We can cut up to 1” mild steel and stainless. Thin steel like 18ga. (.048”) cuts at speed over 3000 inches per minute.
That must be an incredible sight to see! I am only very jealous of this 😊
Check out Trumpf and Eagle lasers. They have lasers larger than 8000kw that are even faster.@@ChadsCustomCreations
Where I work we have 3k, 4k and 6k bystronic fiber lasers and an old school bystronic co2, a 6k whitney prototype fiber laser and two plasmas running hypotherms 85 powermax's.
you can use dry moly lube as a cheaper version of cermark, they are the same thing when it come down to it. molybdenum disulfide get it fine enough you could mix with solvent and airbrush the stuff on.
That's a great tip thank you!
Great video! I am surprised with the results! I've only got a 10watt diode laser, but i'm still exited about future possibilities!! Regarding the aluminum and copper, I don't think its the reflectivity that's preventing the marking/cutting, but the heat conductivity of those metals. Those sheets will conduct the heat from the focal point faster than the metal will heat. Also, please don't mess with zinc coated metal. The zinc vaporization temperature is pretty low (as compared to iron/steel) and the zinc fumes are very dangerous (google metal fume fever). Again, thanks for doing the tests and sharing the results!!
You know based on these results I feel like the 10w maybe able to cut some of this thinner stuff Ill see about setting it up and testing it out. Crap does tin have Zinc in it I wasn't aware. Yeah ever since I tested out the cold galvanizing spray with the laser I will never use that again fumes are super toxic.
@@ChadsCustomCreations Hey man I am also interested in this as I got one of the Creality Falcon 10w they had on 50% off special. My first laser engraver/cutter :) Been 3d printing for a while but this should be a new and fun adventure. Subscribed and will take a look at your other videos!!
@@kennyrobman7390 maybe? You also need to consider vapor deposition on the laser lense which would ruin it. If you really want to do it then air assist should be used, in my opinion. Safety wise I would recommend against using galvanized (zinc coated) metal.
They seem to skip it on the specs but is it a ACTUAL 20w output or is that the input ? If not actual 20w out put waht is it ?
Yes thankfully Xtool has been honest and have always only shared the output wattage even give it under the actual rated value.
Hello put a damp cold cloth under the sheet metal when cutting so the sheet does not warp so because the cloth cools it a bit
Great idea!
Wondering if you can cut through stainless steel mesh, like 325 mesh or other smaller sizes? That might be handy for gaskets using some other filler material when used as a gasket. Thanks for sharing! Interesting.
Liked, commented and subscribed with the bell.
Wow, I didn't even realize they sell 80W diode laser for under $200 on AliExpress. Wild... wondering what the power and other set optimal specs are like with materials based on the wattage. Like graphing wattage verses each material thickness cut ability.
I recall vaguely, with PCB's using something like a black marker or I'd guess flat black paint like the camo Rust-O-Leum to either etch or cut. Seems like cutting from what I recall. That might get you leads for the highly reflective and thermal conducting materials.
Watch out so many companies advertise the input wattage from the power supply and not the actual output wattage of the laser.
my 40watt glowforge cannot cut anything close to normal 3/4" ply of any variety I've found.
Are you able to modify the air assist to reach higher psi?
@@ChadsCustomCreations A good question. I'm gonna have to look around.
Just you logo alone, love it.
I use to drawing in Autocad. Boy do I wish I had cad and one of these. Uuurrrrggg
If you can export DXF or SVG files from your card program you can use it on these machines.
Wow I have an 80w so I’m quite excited to give this a try bro ty also I wonder if having a fan blowing on to the metal as it’s cutting aswell as the air assist would help that’s something else I may try 👍
Is your 80w a diode or Co2? As I understand it strangely enough a CO2 wavelengths will not effect steel but it's always worth trying.
@@ChadsCustomCreations mine is diode laser buddy
@@ashfox2012 what model is it? You sure it is 80w output?
@@ChadsCustomCreations I have the 20watt and the 80watt and I’m shure what ever the laser is advertised as when bought is the input so the out put would be 5.5w out put or something like that so my 80w is 80w input but it can cut 10mm plywood easy bud
@@ChadsCustomCreations and it’s the atomstack 20w and one called laser tree 80w from Ali express and I can’t even describe how much faster my workflow is hahaha
The copper and aluminum are not penitrating because they dissipated the heat it is not the reflection. The steel and stainless will take the heat and allow the cut.
Hello, do you thing these metal sheets can be cut with the Falcon 2 pro 22w? Thanks!
@@Aerfmosfera if it is indeed a 22w of output power you should get very similar results. A higher flow air assist seems pretty critical though. Go check out my video with the IKIER 70w I have some updated information on metal cutting in that video.
The most likely reason, beyond material thickness, that you failed to cut through aluminum, copper and brass is due to their High Thermal Conductivity.
Because the cutting laser is relying on controlled vaporization of the base material...
Anything with a high enough Thermal Conductivity is going to carry the heat away from the point of contact too quickly to vaporize the material.
To test this, it would also be cool if you tried cutting silver and gold foils at the same thicknesses as the steel you were cutting...
BUT that might be cost prohibitive.
You’re right!
What about a coating (ink/paint/etc.) on the aluminum? Might let it get hot enough locally.
Hm, can you turn these into a high precision cutting torch, by supplying cutting gas though the air assist?
You know I have the oxygen tank I’ve just gotta try it now.
Great Video Chad, but I didnt get the power asnd speed and interval settings you used on the etching of the saw blade.
Hey Larry sadly I can’t remember my exact speeds and power but that cermark spray has a pretty wide tolerance. If you have the scrap material I would suggest running a speed and power test on it to find the most efficient power for you.
Impressive performance on steel. The other metals might be better cut out with photo-etching.
Great idea!
I mean the other end of a fiber coupled laser is just a diode/diodes the full name is usually "Fiber Coupled Diode Laser" all that matters is that output is in a wavelength readily absorbed by metal usually infra red.
Thank you for the info I didn't realize that's what the fiber lasers were using also. Do they run at a different wavelength or anything?
Awesome video!
Can you repeat your test on 3/4 inch plywood on a phenolic glued type of plywood (Exterior WBP quality Plywood)?
Don't forget the ventilate your area in this case ;-)
Normal ply is easy to cut but exterior is really hard even with my 80w diode laser but
How about 0.04 aluminum? Will this work or still struggle cutting aluminum sign blanks?
You know I really need to find some thin aluminum and copper as this really wasn’t a fair test being as what I attempted was so thick.
I wonder if you could eliminate the oxide on the cut by giving air assist with argon gas.
That's a great idea I'll have to test that. Pretty sure it's not an issue with stainless steel I've gotta source some thinner stainless for testing next.
Tempted to add this 20W module to my 4' x 8' home brew CNC.
Get the 40w
Chad, that roll of tape you use on the honeycomb bed for holding items where can I buy that, or what's it called? I need it as small items move around and also metal scratches on the honeycomb bed. thank you
www.amazon.com/dp/B085635HFN?tag=onamzchadddow-20&linkCode=ssc&creativeASIN=B085635HFN&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.9RX0388VQUF4
I would be interested to see what would happen if you added co2 instead of air or a co2 argon and helium mix they use it for aluminium it helps it get even hotter and wets in the aluminium really well it would also stop the oxidising aswell would be clean shiny metal with that shield around it
Great ideas, I got my hands on some pure oxygen I will be testing and sharing those results soon.
Are you serious!@@ChadsCustomCreations
@@prestonian1066 yes I put out a video on it already the results definitely make for a hotter burn but I need to increase the psi on the oxygen
I imagine it would. Tends to help everything catch fire astonishingly well. You may get away with it on metal but I wouldn't try it with wood! Argon will protect from oxidisation and is inert. You could mix the two but then you are diluting the oxygen.
I'll have a look for your video when I get a chance.@@ChadsCustomCreations
If you want to try going thicker with steel, try replacing the air feed with pure oxygen from a tank. A lot of the big lasers use O2 gas to help burn through thick steel.
Got a tank can't wait to try it.
The above is correct my husband works for a metal company that cuts and paints bends assembly of metal for big co as well as small co ever ma huge tractor mower co so u most definitely can cut even a thick sheet they have both co2 and oxygen and also fiber fiber is mostly for tube cutting though he’s has brought home fridge magnets key chain they made from scrap and also at Christmas they made us a sign with our last name that is the thickness of normal ones u see and also the fire pits so someone told u wrong my friend they have there gases brought often
Any metal can be cut stainless is my favorite and it’s thick stuff
add an Argon gas injector to stop the sugaring of the stainless
I suspect the lack of cutting on the aluminum and copper has to do with their excellent heat conductivity. It just sucks the heat away from the cutting area. On the other hand Stainless steel is a mediocre heat conductor, so it cuts fine.
I definitely agree
Just curious. At 14:51: Are you just using a regular 'transfer tape' as your masking tape?
Thanks,
Jim Dasher
Spectrum Graphics
(Seattle metro)
It is low tac 12" paper masking tape.
It seems as though "cuttability" is roughly inversely proportional to thermal conductivity. Much harder to cut copper, aluminum, gold or silver...
I think that’s the key
i want to run air via my compressor as well. Your links however don't have the nozzle or shield. Do you have a video of installation? Did you purchase the xtool nozzel? Please advise
The pro version came with the nozzle. Otherwise yes I would say you would need to purchase the nozzle.
I did get a sort of reply from Atomstack with regard to metal cutting, they claimed up to 0.005 inch thickness in steel/stainless steel but said it would not cut brass I don't know why that would be the case but I wonder if it's to do with the heat transfer properties of different metals, the laser is melting its way through the metal (rather than burning) steel is fairly poor at conducting heat so its easier to raise the temp locally high enogh to cut through (bronze should cut as well I think) Brass is about 4 times better at heat conduction, so maybe you could cut 0.001 or 0.002 inch brass, Aluminium is 7 times better and copper 13 times so I don't think you are going to cut those even at the thinest thickness (you could try aluminium cooking foil maybe) this would also explain why thicker materials are not going to cut they never get hot enough
This is great info and now I feel bad saying they weren't replying. Thank you for sharing this.
Wish they had a 4' x 8' model! Oh the potential!
I wonder if you could cut brass and make HO railcar parts.
I am thinking if I find thin enough brass it could do it.
Thanks for the experiment! What is that long roll of tape you are using to make the template and where can i buy it?
www.amazon.com/dp/B085635HFN?tag=onamzchadddow-20&linkCode=ssc&creativeASIN=B085635HFN&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.9RX0388VQUF4
Thats SICK, engraving turned out amazing!
Thank you so much. I ended up turning it into a base for my microphone
I'm looking for a laser cutter to increase productivity in a sheet metal project and the middle I would like to cut is 22 gauge steel sheet metal do you have a recommendation on the laser that can do that that has a 2-foot by 2-foot table?
I don’t think a machine that small exists quite yet.
What is that stickie paper you used prior to you spraying the CERMAC on it? I didn't see it in your shop. It looks like a waxy paper on one side and stickie on the other, but didn't appear to be Masking Tape. Great video. Quality comments!
It is a a medium tac masking tape you can find it in my Amazon shop under laser materials
What about if you attach a mig welding gas bottle to the air line instead of the normal air some you don’t oxidise the metal even just a small $50 bottle from the big box stores
Good idea!
What happens if you paint the metal black before trying? I ask because it will decrease both the reflectivity and the heat conductivity off the metal.
I definitely think that would help!
Aluminium is a lot harder to laser cut due to its oxide layer and good thermal conductivity. Kopper also because of its great thermal conductivity.
Perhaps not the reflection of the material but the capability of the material to disperse heat.
Yes you’re right
Think that for metal cutting best is to use a shield gas, like ArCo2 mix for MIG
Interesting I didn't think about shielding gas, I found a source for oxygen so soon we will see the xtool pro mini torch cutter 🤣🔥👨🚒
@@ChadsCustomCreations CO2 laser of hi-power use oxy for plexiglass cutting
I need help. I'm new to all this. Do I need a lot of workspace to be able to have this machine? Which one is the best in your opinion? I saw so many different ones on Amazon. Did you order it directly from Xtool or Amazon?
This machine probably just needs about a 2ft by 2 ft working space. I believe most people are finding the fastest shipments are coming from ordering directly from their website.
0,102mm steel was the tipping point, I guess... Could you please make another trial with 0,102mm, where you try to get even better edges, by trimming the parameters??? Like PSI-variation, Speed, Speed at corners, using edding-marker across the lines you´re about to cut, in order to reduce reflection (is that even a thing?), or CerMark, you get what I mean... Thank you... Cutting doesn´t seem to be a problem at all, instead, that oxidation at the edge is crucial, since it´d be impossible to remove the oxidation off of hundreds of tiny bits, with 4 or 10 edges each, so, you´d be forced to find the parameters where this oxidation zone is as narrow as possible. Remember that materials often have functional µm-thin deposited layers (tin, stain, etc.), that must remain unharmed, and that "removing" anything afterwards, even less oxidation-layers, isn´t an option.
Go check out the 40w I just did a video on.
@@ChadsCustomCreations Nice!!!
Please answer me ,which laser is good for cutting 15 mm iron or 15 mm stone ?
Phew that’s some thick material only thing I can think of that can cut both of those would be a water jet cutter. I think there was a company called Wazer that put out a hobby level water jet cutter but I’ve heard downsides to this technology as it can be expensive to run as it is not only using water but also media for cutting aswell.
Thanks ,can it cutting stones and irons? Is there a laser for it because water jets needs to water and others but lasers are easiest so can you introduce a laser for cutting ston and iron with 15 mm ?
Nice demonstration . What is the optical power output of this 20watt laser module ? 👍👍👍
This is an actual 20w optical output finally some companies as re being honest
Awesome videos. My 20W laser arrived yesterday!!!
Welcome to the laser world my friend!
Hi, thanks for the video.
What power and speed you used with the Cemark?
I can’t remember for certain but I recommend runnning a speed test to find the best settings for your machine.
You might need to add some dwell time on the start of the cut or add some continuous cut lead out to you cuts. I wish you would have tried the copper with the protective film still in place.CNC Plasma Table operator here.
Yes you are absolutely right! Learned this from my sculpture instructor when using the oxy torch. Lightburn has this feature but for some reason at the time of recording I couldn’t get the function to work. This does however work with my co2 lasers.
@@ChadsCustomCreations it does not matter the laser it matters the interaction with the oxygen and the molten metal. Different metals require different gas combinations. I am not familiar with other metals than carbon steel and stainless steel but I do know with stainless requires either Argon or nitrogen with a helium blend to get really nice cuts. Mind you this is for plasma cutting the introduction of helium will increase the temperature of the cut but the use of argon or nitrogen being noble gases will displace the oxygen therefore reducing the oxidation on the metal.
@@ChadsCustomCreations I am looking to add a laser cutter to my 3D printer that can be used to etch copper in the production of prototype pcbs any suggestions
@@idiotwithasolderingiron I used to have a laser attached to my CNC router it was a jtech. But I will say it was such a hassle going switching back and forth from router to laser honestly if you have the room having a dedicated laser machine is my advice.
The use of the 3D printer is just a proof of concept for a larger machine I plan on building a large scale laser engraver / cutter
Why you add a Air Compressor to your machine? Sorry Im new to laser machine.
It improves it's cutting capabilities keeps the lens clean.
I think cutting metals is dependent on the conductivity of the metal. Stainless Steel is less conductive than copper, so can a 20watt diode laser cut .0120" (12 thou) thick stainless steel shim stock?
I believe you are 100% right and makes sense why aluminum and copper were unaffected. I believe my testing showed I was able to cut through .007" but comfortablely at .005"
what program do you suggest me to use if i want to try out laser cutting how to make my designs?
For complex designs I use Inkscape, for simple stuff staying inside the laser software called lightburn works great.
Is this possible with the XTOOL F1? On their Website they claim to be able to cut 0.05mm 🤔
Hmm I am not sure, I think it has a 10w blue diode laser and a 2w IR laser I think it’s possible but I can’t say for sure as I haven’t gotten the F1 yet to try it.
Hey Chad, thanks for showing us about the laser. I just bought this on Amazon and Im excited to see its use in my Woodworking. Did you use the stock laser or did you buy the $600 laser head the company sells for metal?
In this video I am just using the 20w head not the IR laser they sell for metals.
What were your setting for the 'engraving' with the CerMark? I've been messing with it but getting mixed results 😬
I want to say I was doing 100 power at 100mms with the 20w but there seems to be a pretty big range of what works with cermark I would set up a speed test and find the sweet spot for speed and power.
Great stuff bro, thank you!! Where do you get your steel sheets from that you made the blade wheel with at 13:40?
That was the shim stock I believe I put the link in the description
Cool!!! Thanks for sharing! Do you think the 10w will cut this metal?
I believe the 10w maybe able to cut the thinner of the steels but it would probably do about half what the 20w could do.
Id like to see the uses of this with Acrylic, you attempted it in one video but it melted and you said you'd try again with air assist
Check out all the acrylics xtool has listed for sale all of those work. Specific colors work others like blue white and clear do not.
Great video. I am curious what mat you’re using underneath the material?
I believe it’s just an aluminum sheet
Wondering if two extension kits would extend the size both directions...
No I don't believe so as the main arm that the laser rides on would not be extended.
@@ChadsCustomCreations Good point. That's what I like about the NEJE brand with their MAX size and neat cable chain. Unfortunately their other features just don't compare with the xTool yet.
Great video. What was that tape you put down at the end to trace your shape out of?
www.amazon.com/dp/B085635HFN?tag=onamzchadddow-20&linkCode=ssc&creativeASIN=B085635HFN&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.9RX0388VQUF4
Do you advice to use diode laser for acrylic project as a business?
Dose it help or i should use co2 laser?
If you want to base your business on acrylics I think a co2 is the way to go unless you want to do opaque acrylics like black and such that have been proven to be cut with a diode laser. Diodes have no effect on clear acrylics.
I would like to cut thin metal using my xtool 20watt diode to make wall name signs. Can my 20 watt do this? TIA
In this video I am using the xtool 20w so you can cut what you see me cutting.
Super cool. Great video and testing diode laser on metal. Mahalo for sharing! : ) P.S. Brass and aluminum have high thermal conductivity...maybe that's the issue?
Thanks for watching. Yeah I think the thermal conductivity definitely makes sense.
Wasn't a fair test going to everything but steel was way thicker I gotta source some more of that .005" stock that seems to be the sweetspot.
Brass is highly reflective. Pure oxygen is recommended as assist gas. Aluminum cuts better using Nitrogen as assist gas.
@@johnh.8884 These are great tips you wouldn't happen to know where I could find compressed tanks of oxygen and nitrogen for testing this out on this laser would you?
Try welding supply shop.
Ur local gas supply like hubby job uses Holston gases