The Laser Thread

Anyone seen the new bambu lab H2D? It's a 3d printer that you can swap the head out for a 10 or 40w diode laser, pretty cool as you get a 2 for one haha

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I use my Anolex CNC router for both my IR and diode laser as well. But I may get a dedicated laser machine so I don't need to keep swapping back and forth with the router and lasers.
 
I went back to my Diode laser last night and tried to cut some 1/8" thick wood with it. 50mm/min, 100% power, 10 passes, no cut? When I engrave a letter at 50% power, it goes around 1mm deep into the wood, but a cut line doesn't do much! I gotta check lightburn for the S setting; I may be way low and only getting some of the power? Engraving wood works great with the diode, but cutting doesn't do anything. This may also be why the IR takes so long compared to the others running a 2W IR!
 
That was it! Spindle on machine was 10000...for the laser, it was at 1000. Bumped it up to 10000 to match, 200mm/min, 50% power cuts through 1/8" blood wood boards.

Now I got to go back and play with the IR again!
 
About 5:30 to do this one:
PXL_20250808_212412738~2.jpg

Went up to 1000 and 1500mm/min and .04mm interval and it's just under 5 min:
PXL_20250808_214959915.jpg

Even at 1500mm, the machine is the same speed, so I gotta check the max speed settings now.
 
Nice! I did some aluminum bottle openers last night with the IR. I was doing 500mm/min, 100% power (which was actually 10%), so I tripled each number. I found 30% power and 1500mm/min gave a nice bright white engraving to the anodized aluminum; going 100% power and a bit slower gave a much darker engraving, looked more smoky. It's like half the time to do the bottle openers now!

Now that I got the power issue resolved and the speed limit thing figured out, I need to do some engrave and cut test programs on different material. And get a better smoke extractor, too. I think I am going to try lasering out my strop paddle handles (1/2"-3/4" thick wood, this batch will be 1/2" Poplar), or at least burn the template onto them and then cut out on the bandsaw. So many possibilities now!
 
Those knives look good - and the display stands are neat. Cut those out with the diode laser? How thick is the wood? Doesn't really need to be very thick at all to support the knife.
 
Yup! 225mm/min at 100%. Wood is 1/8" thick. Bloodwood and walnut were the ones I did tonight.

The first ones has the horizontal slots lower, but they tipped over with a knife. Some of my smaller and lighter knives would work on them. I made the prongs longer and the slots in the middle of the back piece and they balanced much better.
 
I did some test such as on a 1095 blade and it worked without any issues
 
Laser Tree just lowered the sale price from $359 (reg $459) to $299 for a 2w IR module.
 
The Laser Tree got not so good reviews on their own forum on FB. I was looking at it and was able to talk to actual users and they weren't impressed with it.

I went with the Sculpfun IR 2, and got it on sale for 350. Very happy with it so far, but it is for a Sculpfun machine mounting wise.
 
What’s the issue with diode on carbon steel?
I’ve done 1084, 8670, 15n20, and 1095 with it. Takes longer, but not a bad makers mark.
Edited to add image
IMG_8026.jpeg
A piece is scrap 15n20. Image on left is 100 lines per cm, image on right is 200.
Both are 98% power speed is 80mm/min.

Ordering an IR for comparison.
 
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