Hi, I am addressing the forum for advice on buying a laser cutter for MDF and acrylic.
In the last months I have been working on some projects with my A350. It has been of a lot of help by cutting prototypes on plywood to see that what I’m designing fits, looks good and is functional. But it is falling short and I am looking at different models with a larger work area and a more cutting power in order to produce in a bigger scale and in different materials.
Basically I need a machine that cuts MDF and acrylic of at least 3mm and a work area of 400x300 as minimum.
I understand that I have to look at C02 cutters with an approximate power of 40W, but there is an infinite range of them at very different prices. I would not like to make a significant outlay and fall short again or to spend a lot in a machine that I will not take advantage of.
Does anyone in the forum have experience with these machines? By the moment, I have selected this whole range of slicers:
The magic search term is “K40”. There’s lots of material out there on that class of devices. You can talk to people you have direct experience, which most here do not have.
Cost differences reflect choices on how much of the stuff you’ll eventually need to make is included in the initial packages. The cheapest of these devices don’t even come with interlock switch, and that’s a serious vision safety compromise; buy one at least with an interlock. Compromises on exhaust, air assist, motion control, height adjustment, etc. are what make the cheap products cheap.
if your a DIYer there are other options as well, such as the MPCNC. you can build it yourself for under 500 and put whatever laser you want on it (some people even put plasma torches on them to cut steel). best part is it is scalable, so you can build one that has the work area you need (from smaller then a A350, to full 4’x8’ sheets) and lastly they have a great online community like the one here, so if you run into issue or need help there are a bunch of people to lend a helping hand!
The Glowforge unit is absurdly expensive. It’s just a better-made K40-style CO2 laser. The K40’s really come in only a few variations, but sold by multiple vendors. They’re all a bit rough around the edges, but will do a generally good job out of the box. However, a bit of upgrading will improve it dramatically, most significant being a better controller (mini Gerbil or Cohesion3D), better mirrors and lens, depending on what your variant comes with, better ventilation, and air assist. All in all, you can add all of those for another $200 or so. Main variants are analog or digital power control, analog or digital power meter. The digital power meter versions don’t give a good indication of power, add a tube current meter. My K40 was one of the newer ‘improved’ ones with 2 digital temp meters. I replaced one with a digital current meter. Anyway, there is a ton of stuff online about upgrading these. It’s really a nice tool for the price, and it will etch/cut a lot of materials, but it won’t effectively cut metal. It will etch anodized aluminum, glass, do a search. Does great on slate, I etch that frequently. BTW, I haven’t seen one yet with interlocks. Don’t open it when the laser is on if you like being able to see. At the power level they generate, a beam hit on your eye from a reflective surface is most likely massive corneal damage in a fraction of a second. Get some good 10um rated safety glasses also.