Of all the functions of snapmaker the the laser has to be the best for me. When is the 7 watt laser coming out? I appears about the right size and I am tempted to make an adaptor that would allow me to add a 7 watt laser to the snapmaker. That would make it truly awesome! (or a 10w)
Hi Travis,
sounds nice, whats your plan?
There is no answer for this. The cnc module should be released since Dec and isnāt yet, i guess there are problemsā¦ @JKC20
I am also interested on this. I am working with 3mm plywood and frankly, it is a lottery. Some times it comes out really well cut and others I have to discard a full board. A more powerful laser would easy things.
I see posts about doing 10 pass and more on boards and it just makes the edges thick with charcoal. A bigger laser with 1 or2 passes would make a lot better cut and save a ton of time. Air-assist would be sweet too!
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Judging by the rate at which things are happening, Iād say 7-10 years.
Sorry, I am in a grumpy mood today.
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I really hope they get started on it soon.
I love my Snapmaker, but Iād really like a stronger laser as thatās the feature I like the most and having to do 6 passes to cut some wood takes a long time.
Itās also the most voted item on the public roadmap, so maybe if more people vote for it, theyāll work faster on it?
try doing added passes but without a stepdown (pass depth). it should cut down on the charcoal. also as far as building a laser, i would go with a 7W. after some research the strongest laser diode out now is a 7W all the ones claiming higher outputs are getting there by using pulsing and advanced optics, most without any testing. the best tested output i have found is 8W (still using a 7W diode) but those tend to run around $700. if you really want to do a lot of lasering i recommend getting 40W CO2 laser, look for āK40ā lasers and mount one on the SM2, should have you flying through that plywood.
K40 laser, would we have to make a cable to connect it to the controller? somehow i doubt that cable they used is some kind of universal system.
maybe order one and hack one end off to plug into new device?
can the k40 style laser do any metal work?
if i was going to put one onto the SM2 right now, i would probably rip apart the laser that comes with it and use it to hold the K40 optics (as the k40 should have a CO2 laser box with a fiber cable that leads to laser head). i would find and use whatever wire is providing the PWM signal to the existing laser and reroute that back to the box along the fiber line. that way it plugs the same way as your current laser does, and still has the MCU so the main controller knows your have the laser attached. the K40 would have its own power supply and everything (required as it would pull way more then the SM can provide)
yes a k40 can engrave most metals, i donāt think it can cut but i could be wrong.
I am totally enthralled with the idea.
If someone starts working this out i am totally jumping on board but its beyond my comfort level to rig up on my own hehe
Which K40 are you speaking of? All K40 machines I know have a >50cm C02 tube and just plain mirrors to deliver the beam. Alignment Instruction Video
Sorry I mixed my laser types, your are correct the k40 uses a co2 and mirrors. Then there is a fiber laser witch is better and has the lead that I mentioned. A fiber laser would be better (safer, works longer) but the co2 would be alot cheaper.
I use Lightburn from a laptop connected directly to the USB port on the tower. A diode laser would be better because of safety and price. A K40 laser is a different animal and not what I would want from Snapmaker. If I upgrade my laser from Snapmaker I would go CO2 (K40), but that is a different wad of cash. They upgraded from .2 watts to 1.6 watts, why not 10 watts?
Because there isnāt a 10W laser diode in existence. Only people claiming that they are getting 10W out of a 7W diode.
And I am talking about the actual laser diode inside the laser head that produces the light. The most powerful one made is 7W
Why are we a group happy with 1.6w when 7-8 w are out there? I donāt care, a 7w is so much more practical than a 1.6.
Because Iāll 7W laser from snapmaker is going to cost like $1000 and Iām not spending that much more in a company that canāt seem to properly support the product they have.
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We are on the same page 
Shame is a powerful tool and if I can get Shapemaker to upgrade or at least help mod their stuff to a more usable state I am all for it. I never thought I would like/use the laser so much or I would have bought a Flux. https://endurancelasers.com/diode-lasers/10w-endurance-laser/ sells a good game, but I was thinking about putting seeing if I could put an air assist on what I have now and see what that would get me.