I still need to rig up an exhaust for my laser. I just open a window and the door on the opposite side of the shop and let the cross breeze blow it out.
Burning maple makes a very nice smell 
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I ended up ordering a grow fan blower, 4" flexible duct, a Powertec Gulp Dust Hood and an exterior wall vent. I am not sure about punching a hole through the side of my house for this. May try to vent it out the only window and a temp solution.
One question if any of you guys know⌠I am trying to looking up and find something that I can attach the hose/dust hood too that would be positionable - I thought there were things like like that for welding, etc but I have no idea where those things are called. Basically something that you mount and then attach the item you want to position and you can move it around to the position you want and then lock it in.
Something like this?
https://www.amazon.com/TOPPROS-Plastic-Flexible-Coolant-Adjustable/dp/B08KXX7DP2/
I searched for adjustable coolant hose.
Boom microphone stand? I come from a theater background so like to look broadly for retaskable solutions.
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I found this but after my test today the fan I bought isnât powerful enough.
I am just going to go the route of cutting on days where I can have my garage open and then I have a big 24" drum fan to help pull it out.
Most exhaust fans need an enclosed area to be effective. Youâd need to enclose your machine to have a smaller volume of air to evacuate.
Harbor freight sells a cheap dial indicator kit with a flexible âarmâ that bolts to a (knockoff) vice grip pliers. That might hold the hood but youâll also need to support the hose somehow.
I am not sure if this is possible but I already have a Powertec dust collector and that is routed to my spindle next to where my laser mounts. I am curious to know if there is a way to put in a bypass on the collection side to have it either dump into the dust collection bag or have it vent outside? I donât see why I could not do this but not sure what all of the parts are called to make such a connection. I am thinking a T style with a blast gates ?? However, the dust side of the collector is larger than 4" probably more like 6-7"ish
You want to install a tube between the motor and the DC bag. In one state, it all goes to the bag and in the other, it goes to a tube venting outside? That would work. You would want a very good seal. There are a lot of DC solutions for 6-7". There are fittings on Amazon or at rockler/wood working stores.
Yep. that is my thought⌠will check into it.
Got another laser question⌠wife wants me to cut out door hangers for valentinesâŚ
3mm birch ply⌠cut out shapes, letters, etcâŚ
though I have one design I just need to engrave, not cut through but not engrave so deep it cannot be painted over. This design is like a checker board so I just want to engrave the lines so they can be used as guide for painting the alternating colors, etc.
What feed and power would you guys suggest ?
To make markings that you wouldnât noticed once painted, I would try something like 20% and 1200mm/min. It would probably be smart to maybe just make a small test run on some scrap material to get a feel for what works for your setup.
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thanks.
I agree, a T-gate would probably be the way to go if you can easily duct outside (connecting to a 4" dryer vent on the outside wall would be incognito). A powertec DC would be overkill for just a laser even with air assist, but I think using whatâs already there keeps it simple/reliable⌠and Iâm not familiar but maybe the powertec has a throttle to reduce rpm?
Just wanted to share some short nozzle remixes I made to cut thicker stuff:
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Those air nozzles work, you just have to work out which length you need. I printed all 4 and after the Neje arrived and I had worked out the focus needed, put in the appropriate one. The nozzle runs about 5 - 8mm off the material for my first cut with the trusty Fishtank pump rattling around on the bench. I saw someone suspend theirs with some surgical tubing, so going to try and find some to try that to cut the noise down a bit.
I am only really interested at this stage in using the Neje to cut wood, not too worried about etching just yet.
For what it is worth, I have managed to fumble my way around and come up with the following nuggets by a process of trial and error.
When my Neje 40W arrived, the first thing I did (after putting on the laser glasses) was to take a 2" (50mm) block of wood and a slat of wood then ran a 100mm straight line down the Y axis while holding the test button on the laser. Once finished I looked at where the best line quality was and measured it from the base of the laser to that point on the slat. The best distance for me was in the range of 47.5 - 49mm. so I now have a block cut to exactly 48.5mm which I use to set up the height before a cut. I cut a test box of 3mm masonite/hardboard and it cut through at 120mm/min at 80%, well chuffed with that result. My 5.5watt I never managed to get it to cut anything except old records.
I am using a fish tank pump for air assist and printed the nozzle in PETG and so far it has performed perfectly.
One problem that a lot of new users miss, myself included, it is ESSENTIAL that the material being cut is NOT flat on the bed. You HAVE to suspend it on something for the laser to be able to cut right through. I use a piece of flat mesh grill which I picked up as an off cut at my steel supplier. I see other users (David) using heat sinks, and others even metal spikes and other methods. It must be metal though else it is one use.
I did however find that the Gcode from Lightburn does not seem to run at 100% efficiency when converted to gcode and taken to the MPCNC via SD Card. The test button cuts a lot better than gcode at 100% so i am assuming there is a setting somewhere in Marlin that is not set up to suit the software. I am using Ramps set up with M105/6 from the fan pin with the Primo software. I am thinking I may explore GRBL as part of my journey with a proper GRBL control card that is set up exclusively for laser.
Hope something in that helps others in working out how to get this amazing laser to work properly.
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Another laser question for you all â I bought a honeycomb grid to cut my lite ply on and that all works great but itâs only .5 inch thick and I have it sitting on top of mdf. When I cut I get large amounts of smoke and when all said and done the mdf is burnt up quite a bit. I am curious to know if rather than sitting the grid on MDF what if I sat it on a piece of metal âŚI.e. and aluminum tray or something like that to help reduce the burnt wood to only the wood I am cutting. I am not sure if a reflective material would then cause issues with the underside of the wood being cut. I can certainly put the grid on some stand offs to move the grid an inch or two above the tray. Just curious what others think⌠maybe a stupid dangerous idea.
Chris,
I built a box to raise the honeycomb up, and provide a plenum to suck the air out from underneath.
Mike
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how does it evacuate the air? like what does that set up look like?
This is actually a great idea, great way to extract fumes.