Laser / LowRider experience feedback

[nicorre (NC)]

Hi !

I notice that several of you use a laser in addition to your router. What is your feedback on the subject? I am thinking in particular of the following issues:

• Feed rate. I have a Creality Falcon 2 Pro 40W and the head movement speed is significantly higher than the head on the LowRider. And I get the impression that we can hardly go faster than 30 - 50mm/s on the latter (limitation with motor power?)

• Use for engraving only or also for cutting?

• Cutting possible without a honeycomb grid or also on the spoilboard?

• Use with/without air assist?

• Sharing fume extraction with chip extraction?

• Managing the offset: I imagine it is fairly straightforward

• Switching between router and laser in the Gcode: is this possible? Or do you run 2 separate Gcodes?

• What are your concrete use cases? Part marking?

• What optical laser power do you use? Which model?

• What material can you cut? Personally I have quite a hard time cutting plywood… Perhaps because of the glue which might be fire-retardant?

[jeyeager (Jason Yeager)]

I’m just getting started with this.

I have a LaserTree K20 Pro 20 watt.

I use air assist but I haven’t figured out where to mount the pump.

I have to tweak the offsets a bit but this is how I’m handling it.

Adding a Laser to my LR3

I was out messing with this a bit. I was trying to determine how I could zero things so I could both cut and laser for the same gcode. There are 3 things in play here: router, laser, laser crosshair. I should technically be able to zero for any of them and use either the router or laser for the same positioning. The answer is this zero script: ; Set active WCS to current position and derive all others ; Activate the appropriate WCS, jog to work origin, then run this ; ; WCS assignments: ; …

The mount for my laser let’s me adjust the height so I keep it up when using the router and lower it when using the laser. So, I can handle it from a single gcode. I just need an M0 pause to move it down.

I ran some engraving tests at up to 9000 mm/min (150 mm/s). It seems fine. That’s the max feedrate set in the default V1 Jackpot configs. With a router you’re dealing with cutting forces that don’t exist with a laser.

I thought about maybe trying to use the dust collection to suck up the fumes. Although sucking fire into a bucket of dry wood chips seems highly questionable. I think I’ll just open the garage door and turn on a fan.

I’m not sure what my use case is. I mostly like trying new things. My general thought is to use the router to cut through thicker wood and the laser for cutting thinner material and some engraving. The sharp corners with a laser has value. Basically if I need smaller than an 1/8 inch endmill, I should consider using the laser.