Laser Cutter

[RosscoPCole]

I'd like to buy a laser cutter. I work in a school Design Tech department and know what is available for the education sector, but I'm not that sure about what is available, costs and specifications for the home/hobby market. Also which are good and which are to be avoided. My aim is to set up a small business selling personalised gift items. If there is a machine that takes 600x400 sheets it would be perfect and I want something that isn't too slow and would easily cut through 9mm ply.

[21TonyK]

9mm ply. Watching this one with interest. Few years ago I spent hours, days, maybe weeks in front of several cutters. Only the big ones (ie. several K) would cut ply or acrylic that thick "easily".

I started looking at CNC milling machines in the end as I'm really not convinced everyone wants the "burnt" look.

[kingBadger]

I have a 100w c02 laser that can just about cut through 10mm ply in a single pass but it does cause a hell of a lot of burning, I would probably get better results with much better quality ply but it's so expensive! It's a great tool though and very useful!

[akirk]

pretty much any diode laser of 20w+ or co2 laser will cut through 9mm, though not always in one pass… mine (xtool D1pro 20w) will cut 12mm oak with ease…

this is a dolls cradle cut out with the laser… you can see the laser to the left in the first photo…
dimensions will vary, mine is c. 400 x 400 but you can get extensions to double that in one direction… others use different methods…

[RosscoPCole]

Thanks for all the replies and insights. If you do have a laser cutter what do you have? Would be interesting to know.

[kingBadger]

RosscoPCole said:

Thanks for all the replies and insights. If you do have a laser cutter what do you have? Would be interesting to know.

https://mantechmachinery.co.uk/laser-cutting-machines/pro-co2-laser-machines/ - a bit more professional but I run it for a business, well, sort of - that's my excuse anyway!

[akirk]

As above - xTool D1 Pro - 20W
The xTool brnad seems to be one of the better offerings - and they have some nice new machines now as well - the market is moving fast and I think we will continue to see big disruptive changes for at least the next 5 years as power goes up / functionality goes up / prices come down