Hi Snapmakers,
am happy to see that the 2W IR laser is about to arrive! Quick question: Do I see correctly, that it comes without air assist?
Using IR for metals typically does not need any air assist. There’s no sticky smoke or such to deal with and blow away. The rush of air could also cause the metal you’re lasering to flex/warp from the temp differences associated with lasering and rapid cooling. The XTool D1 IR doesn’t come with an air assist setup either.
Hmm - does this hold true for cutting also? I mean: Yes, it may be primarily intended for engraving, but it can certainly also cut, and even some things the blue laser will not be able. Admittedly I was somewhat hoping to get Air Assit parts with it to retrofit it to the 10W laser - which certainly would benefit from Air assist. Well - whatever, need to buy an Airpump seperately then 
If it’s anything like the XTool one, it’ll be pretty much engraving only. The depth of focus is only about 1mm, and it’s not powerful enough to actually blast through metal. So at best, you might cut 0.5mm acrylic or other plastic, which at that point, might as well use the blue diode.
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Any idea if this could be powerful enough or focused well enough for rust removal on metal objects?
As Snapmaker does not deliver the 10W Module with Air Assist, pretty unlikely they add it to the less powered module.
Cutting with a honeycomb board should have a similar effect with these low power lasers.
No, strong IR laser modules are very, very expensive… To the point where buying fiber laser makes more sense.
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What about PCB creation - is it expected that with 2W IR it can cut through the copper layer?
I’m asking this myself. I’ve watched plenty of videos, but I am still unclear. With a more powerful laser it definitely works, and very fast even. So that makes me hope that it will work with the 2W. Still, knowing that 2W is out in the wild from other manufacturers, I’d expected someone already posted success, so I may be very wrong. What makes me hope again is a video I fail to find again, where someone showed PCB raw material with a 2W for demonstrating copper engraving, but in the video it was not well visible if the person only blackened it or cut through.
Long story short: There’s a considerable risk that it can’t do PCB, but I’ll buy it anyhow since A) it can do glass without painting it and B) I’ve a 200€ voucher that asks to be spent If I did not have that voucher I’d wait for others to try it out first - the early bird discount of just 50€ is not that substantial, regarding the high price…
EDIT: Btw. the 2W is average power - as far as I understand IR laser LEDs are used in pulse mode, each pulse at least a 2-digit-wattage - which, when going slow, I hope is good enough. As soon as I have the thing I’ll try this first and let everyone know.
EDIT EDIT: Here’s what a 20W fibre laser can do: Making fine pitch PCB prototypes with fiber laser | KUROKESU