A CO2 laser will not be suitable for cutting steel. You would likely need a very powerful fiber laser to cut steel, and even then you have to take into consideration the reflective properties of steel which can pose danger to the machine.

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Trying to cut 24, and 26 G steel sheets in various shapes. Will CO2 laser be enough? And will it cause alot of heat in the product?

CO2 lasers can (40w included) can mark glass, but it is not actually etching the glass. When a CO2 laser's focal lasing energy is at the surface, or just past the surface of glass, the air inside that portion of the glass will expand and cause a tiny crack. This gives the appearance of etched glass, but not with the same fineness of etching from, say, sand blasting or acid etching (with hexafluorosilicic acid). If the laser "etching" of the glass is not to the fineness that you desire, you can laser cut the adhesive material used in the acid etching process as an alternative.

You also need to consider the glass you are using. I have learned that not all glass is created equal. Some glass will work well for this (dollar store glass we have tested and works well), and some will not. I believe that lasing tempered glass will probably give some interesting results.


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Will the 40W CO2 laser etch glass?

There is a spray called Cermark (also in tape form) that allows CO2 laser marking on various metals. We have tried this on many metals, but not galvanized, so I don't know how well this would work.

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I am using clear Avery labels through a laser printer then coated with car Clear Coat to label 18 gauge galvanized 1.75" x 4" steel plates. Will a 40 Watt CO2 laser mark Galvanized steel?

Most of our products have a warranty that extends for 1 year; however, there are parts like end mills and laser tubes which are considered consumables. These parts, when used, become worn, or the usable life is decreased. Laser tubes are parts that, when used, shorten its life, and especially when proper methods are not used (i.e. running the tube with water), can drastically reduce the life of the tube. Therefore, the warranty for laser tubes are 30 days if the laser tube was not used.

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What warranty is there on the 40W laser and power supply?

CO2 laser will not cut wood material fast at all. This is just the nature of the laser energy. The wood is a very low absorbent of the laser energy and you will need to run probably around 10 ipm to cut through the wood. CNC is much more efficient for cutting and laser as more efficient at marking or slowly cutting if you need the small kerf. You will also need a relatively high output air source to cut efficiently. The air will blow away the char (carbon) on the wood. The black char will absorb most of the laser energy not allowing the wood to be cut well. We use a compressor for the air source, but you can use a commercial hydroponic air pump instead.

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How fast can I cut 1/4" wood with the 40 watt CO2 laser?

You can find all of the information including the price on the blackTooth Laser cutter and engraver page found here: https://www.buildyourcnc.com/blackToothLaserCutterAndEngraver.aspx

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How much is your ; blackTooth Laser Cutter and Engraver CO2 40W

The Honeywell brand goggles meet ANSI certification Z136.1, relating to the safe use of lasers, and are calibrated to optimally block the specific wavelengths of light produced by CO2 lasers (the details are available in the website description here: https://buildyourcnc.com/item/laser-components-goggles-safety-honeywell.) The generic tinted goggles also block the specific CO2 laser wavelengths, but a good deal of other wavelengths as well. That and frame style variation is the basic difference.

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What is the difference between the tinted laser goggles and the Honeywell laser CO2 goggles

The blackTooth machine, as it is designed cannot be modified easily as the box within which it is contained also serve as its structure. We are currently designing a special mount for the greenBull (for the 40 watt tube) which will provide 5'x10' or 6'x12' work area and the machine is far less expensive than comparable 4'x8' laser systems. We are also developing a 4'x8' 80 watt system where the tube is in the horizontal orientation. More information can be found in the R&D section.

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I am interested in getting your 40W laser system. How difficult will it be to increase the size to 48" x 48"?

no, it will only work on anodized aluminum

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WILL THE LASER ENGRAVER WORK ON NON-ANODIZED ALUMINUM

The Greenbull machine can cut a very wide variety of materials ranging from foam to aluminum. We recommend the use of our 2.2kW spindle to allow the greatest flexibility. Aside from that, the most important thing is to use an appropriate end mill for the material you are cutting and to use appropriate speeds and feed rates.



BYCNC Response:
Our 40W laser can cut up to about 1/4" materials ranging from wood and acrylic down through lighter materials such as leather, fabric, foam, etc. Speed and final cut are greatly enhanced by an air assist upgrade. We also offer an 80W laser which has approximately twice the capabilities of the 40W.

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WHAT MATERIALS CAN THE GREENBULL MACHINE CUT? LASER ETCH?

A standard 40W CO2 laser will cut up to 1/4" thick of material, be it wood, acrylic, card stock, leather, fabric, foam, cork, etc. (Decent speed and final cut are heavily dependent on a strong air assist upgrade)

Metals cannot be cut due to the power level and wavelength of the CO2 laser. But it can be marked with special solutions like Cermark or Thermark.

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WHAT THICKNESS OF MATERIAL CAN THE BLACKTOOTH LASER CUT?

Shipping crate size 121" X 36" X 92"

Weight 511 LBS

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WHAT IS SHIPPING DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT FOR THE VERTICAL LASER.

Depth of Field. This is how far the focal point goes before re-expanding again. With a 2" lens, you have approximately 2-3mm of DOF. This means that you'll have 2-3mm of perfectly focused laser before it starts to re-expand again. If you have a 4" lens, you will have up to 7mm of DOF.

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WHAT IS D.O.F OR DEPTH OF FIELD FOR THE BLACKTOOTH LASER AND LENS?

Hello, I was wondering if the Blactooth laser cutter can engrave in 3d, different depths in the same piece of wood?

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I was wondering what the max depth is for something to go into the 40W C02 Laser cutter and engraver with blacktooth

Yes Mach3 is a great program. Our 3 axis is 6'X12'X3'using all BYCNC components (incl. redsprout)

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I JUST BOUGHT THE 3 AXIS W/HEAVY GANTRY, WILL MACH 4 RUN WELL WITH THIS, AND HOW LARGE CAN GO CUT AREA

Cooling is not as tricky as you might think. There is 3 ways to approach this, only 2 really matter for a low scale 40w setup. First one is the cheapest and easiest. The higher the temp of water the worse your performance will be, from what I understand anything in the 30C range is about the most tolerable it gets. Lower is better. But not frozen...from what I've been told a very experienced cutter, he found 8C was the highest power he achieved.

1. Use a 5 Gallon resovoir system which gives you a fairly large space of water to heat up before you need to tend to it. Add about a cup of anti-freeze to the mix of DISTILLED water. You don't want ANY minerals in the water that might build up in your system. The anti-freeze works to keep algae and other ickies from growing in your water.

2. Use a smaller resovoir system (or even closed loop) and install 1 or more radiators found in CPU cooling systems with 120mm fans attached. This will continously cool your water system to ambient room temperatures, but with a tiny resovoir it will be difficult to add things like ice-packs to drop the temps if the ambient is quite hot.

3. Using an industrial coolant system. Overkill and unless your cutting A LOT, this is a very expensive option to take. You can also explore the idea of Peltier cooling but it is extremely expensive electricity/BTU wise compared to an industrial cooler.

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BUT DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING ABOUT COOLING THE LASER OFF - IS YOUR SETUP LIKE MOST OTHERS NEED BUCKET OF DISTILLED WATER TO PUMP THROUGH MACHINE?

The instructions to connect the USB CNC Interface for the blackTooth Laser Cutter and engraver can be found on instruction #18 on thispage: https://www.buildyourcnc.com/blackToothLaserCutterAndEngraver.aspx

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Are there any instructions for use the USP breakout board for a CO2 laser?

Cooling is not as tricky as you might think. There is 3 ways to approach this, only 2 really matter for a low scale 40w setup. First one is the cheapest and easiest. The higher the temp of water the worse your performance will be, from what I understand anything in the 30C range is about the most tolerable it gets. Lower is better. But not frozen...from what I've been told a very experienced cutter, he found 8C was the highest power he achieved.

1. Use a 5 Gallon resovoir system which gives you a fairly large space of water to heat up before you need to tend to it. Add about a cup of anti-freeze to the mix of DISTILLED water. You don't want ANY minerals in the water that might build up in your system. The anti-freeze works to keep algae and other ickies from growing in your water.

2. Use a smaller resovoir system (or even closed loop) and install 1 or more radiators found in CPU cooling systems with 120mm fans attached. This will continously cool your water system to ambient room temperatures, but with a tiny resovoir it will be difficult to add things like ice-packs to drop the temps if the ambient is quite hot.

3. Using an industrial coolant system. Overkill and unless your cutting A LOT, this is a very expensive option to take. You can also explore the idea of Peltier cooling but it is extremely expensive electricity/BTU wise compared to an industrial cooler.

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HOW TO COOL THE BLACKTOOTH 40W LASER TUBE

Does your breakout board (interface) have a relay? If so, you can connect one of the router/spindle's ac lines through the relay. The M3, M4 and M5 codes are used to control the router/spindle. Typically, the M codes are automatically added to the g-code regardless if you configure this in your CAM software. If you have the breakout board from buildyourcnc, you can go to the product page for the breakout board and the relay connection diagram and narrative is in the instructions on that page.

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WHAT IS THE MOST EASY WAY TO HOOK UP MILL IN THAT AUTOMATICALLY STARTS WHEN CYCLE STARTS, AND STOPS GCODE THROUGH?