This is a milestone video where we finally have a fully functioning machine available for testing. As usual there are many hurdles and mistakes to overcome.
Hi Noorraldeen Sorry for the delay in answering. I do not manufacture machines I an just a hobbyist with a passion for all the technacalities associated with laser technology.. I could not afford the prices that Trotec and Epilog charge for their RF machines so I took a cheap Chinese machine and created my own machine. However Cloudray do manufacture a version of the orange machine with a Glass tube. I have sent them an inquiry about your needs and await to see if they will create a special machine for you. I will let you know within a few more days if they can help you.
Hi Nooraldeen I have now had an answer from Cloudray about building a special machine. for you. They have looked at the problems of converting a machine like I did in theTangerine Tiger series and decided it would not be possible. Nothing is impossible , but I guess it was a bit too difficult for them. Do you specifically need an RF CO2 machine? I have it but it is rarely used only for experimental work. I have two 70 watt CO2 glass tube machines that are much more useful and flexible for most applications. Here is one of my machines that Cloudray have copied and sell This is truly excellent value for money and a geat reliable Glass tube alternative to the RF technology. www.cloudraylaser.com/collections/russ-series Bestwishes Russ
Generally the answer will be no.The exit window from the laser is a flat partial mirror that reflects light back inside the tube to continue the propagation of photons and allows a small percentage through for us to use.. The output beam will be parallel (ish)with a divergence factor defined in millirads. When I start looking closer at this divergence specification I find that a typical divergence for a glass tube is about 3 milliradians. That means a 5mm beam from a glass tube will change its diameter by about 3mm between the shortest and longest beam paths for my 300mmx500mm table. The RF laser (even the top quality Synrad and Coherent)seems to have a natural divergence of about 7.5 mrads Although the beam from the laser is VERY small at about 1.8mm, this will vary between 4mm and 11.3mm at opposite corners of my table. I am yet to decide what (if anything) I can do to correct this. Best wishes Russ
Russ, you've done it again !!! If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video has to be worth a million. The diagram of the alignment process back and forth was pure genius!
I think you will find if you say it quickly with your teeth clenched together, it is Chinese FONETICK spelling Will sputted Best wishes Russ ps it does demonstrate your level of concentration 10/10
Nice to see it working! Instead of drilling a small hole for the first mirror you may open a large one and cover it with something with a small hole. This way you can adjust it as you need.
Once set there is no need to adjust it. With my adjustable head, the tube will never need to move again. Putting a larger hole with a masking orifice was an option I considered and quickly dismissed. Working yes, doing anything decent is yet to be seen. I already foresee some fairly big issues I have to understand and deal with but that is part of the fun for me. Best wishes Russ
Russ, I am excited that you are taking this Tiger by the tail. I am following closely. I was wondering, can the output lense on the RF unit be adjusted? I am guessing as fast as it "Plumes" that there is some sort of output lense? I notice that the beam was expanding when you hit mirror two. You may have found a serious limitation to this setup for larger machines? Obviously the beam will be able to be focused down however I think that without a good focus lense the beam will be moving around as you travel from left to right on the X axis?
Hi James It Is an interesting learning exercise because in the laser spec sheets. what you call pluming is always called beam divergence and that angular expansion of the beam is defined in milliradians. Glass tubes ( at 3mrad) are much better than RF lasers (7 to 8 mrad). This is an issue that I have yet to explore. There is significant variation of the rf beam diameter between the back left and front right corner of my table as you have seen on the video. I am currently investigation options for fixing it so wait for the next video. Best wishes Russ
I honestly don’t know if I feel admiration or pity for the passion you seem to have for this stuff, I know I’d have lost interest a longtime back. I haven’t seen much from your channel for a while, but got the impression you were the de facto R+D for future products. I’m in the market for a final product, but am not really interested in the ramshackle China route. Are the end products likely to be comparable to Epilog machines, but something here in the UK?
The engineering of this product will never be the same quality as that of the "big boys" but it mechanically has the potential to get close to their speed performance. It is beginning to become apparent to me , even at this early stage that glass tubes have much better beam quality that RFbeams and have the potential for better quality engraving and cutting, It is too early to confirm this because I have done zero testing with the rf as yet. Will the response speed be able to overcome the quality issue? Only thorough testing using my unbiased critical approach and vast glass tube experience will allow me to tease out the marketing hype from the facts. I really want this RF project to succeed but it has to clearly demonstrate it's merits. II know that Laserite (Lotus Laser) here in the UK have a machine that they are just about to test. Their engineering is significantly better than any Chinese machine and it is designed here in the UK . I have seen it and it is using a similar type of RF tube Best wishes Russ
SarbarMultimedia thanks. I’ll have a look at them. I must admit that monster gantry 250 machine has caught my eye, it’s perhaps a bit much for a starter.....but I’m actually trying to work out if I could fit it anywhere 🙈
Hi Russ, I had exactly the same problem with the bed binding and the motor skipping when I moved it upwards. It went away when I loosened the screws with which the "bearing holders" are attached to the machine. I guess that, when screwed down tightly, they're pulling the spindles out of skew. Seems that it's a manufacturing error.
I note you relocated the Y axis limit sensor. You put it on a bracket that has front to back adjustment. I have a Chinese blue [which I have discovered is a Shenhui SH-G350 Laser] and noticed that there was a metallic clunk noise at the homing function. I discovered some paint chipped off the gantry at the left hand side where it was hitting a cap screw. I tried adjusting the sensor front-back, no luck: only up and down. I will see about making a new bracket for it. Thanks!
Can anyone recommended a decent brand of co2 safety goggles/glasses that will go over prescription glasses and are en207 certified so I can start using my cheap Chinese 40watt K40 (although its probably more like 20 something watt?) I've seen a good looking pair on Amazon and can be used with 10600nm it stated "but" on a video on RUclips by a guy (man cave effects) he had an identical looking pair he'd tested and they turned out to be useless so for the safety of my eyes I'd rather ask someone who knows their stuff about any laser machine like (Russ) or anybody else,Oh! I know you can't put a price on our eye's but sadly for me I'm on a bit of a budget let's say £100-120 < that's the amount I've roughly got to play with
Hi Joe Let me start off by saying I wont play Russian roulette with my own or anyone else's eyes. But buying expensive eye protection is not necessary if you understand how this laser stuff works. It is a special form of invisible light where all the light waves are marching in synch just like a troop of soldiers. That's the bit that makes this light powerful. Raindrops are harmless until they act together and become a raging torrent. Light waves are little "pushes" of energy. You are acting like a light wave when you bounce a ball . Get those "pushes" just right and the ball continues to bounce. The light waves from a CO2 laser are 10.6microns long . That is a very high frequency . In this 10.6 micron world the light only "sees" 3 things. 1) Metals (all metals) cause this light to bounce off. Hence we use metal for mirrors. 2) A very small group of salt-like crystal structures that allow the light to pass through (we use these for lenses) and 3) EVERYTHING ELSE. The molecules and atoms in EVERTHING ELSE will be excited by the 10.6 micron wavelength to a greater or lesser extent. As you excite molecules and atoms they get hotter and hotter until something happens. In the case of wood or organic materials they scorch first and then burn. The light beam (laser) is NOT HOT. It is that synchronized energy we spoke of earlier that is causing the molecules in the material to vibrate faster and faster . The amount of vibration in a molecule is a definition of its temperature. The higher the vibration the higher the temperature. So, the light loses its energy when it stimulates SURFACE molecules to vibrate faster . It's just like the energy transfer that happens when two pool ball collide .... but this energy transfer is unimaginably small and at an atomic level. There are TWO things you need to protect your eyes against. FIRST the laser light itself. The laser beam is exactly like one of these laser pointers. It is a VERY direction beam of light that does not scatter and you can stand right beside it and it will pass harmlessly by but you would not put your eye directly in the beam. In the case of one of these coloured lasers, the wavelength is completely different (20 times shorter) and the fact that you can see it means it is passing THROUGH your eyeball and exciting the tissue at the back of your eye. Hmmm not good!!!. 10.6micron light will not do that. Instead it will excite the molecules on the SURFACE of your eyeball and heat them up (smell the bacon frying"!!!!) It will do likewise to your skin your clothes and your glasses.....YES your glasses. Remember glass and clear plastic are all part of EVERYTHING ELSE and the SURFACE of the material will be excited by the laser light.. If your eyeball is behind glass, polycarbonate, ABS, PVC a sheet of steel etc etc it is fully protected. I understand this and I always wear just cheap reading glasses because with all the filming I do I never close the machine lid. Keep the machine lid closed while the laser is running and you are automatically 100% protected for FREE. Bear in mind that even with the lid open , how are you going to get your eye directly into the path of the laser beam. You may burn a finger hear and there....but that's all part of the learning experience. If you are going to engrave things like Yeti cups with curved surfaces then you must be aware that metals are mirrors and with the lid open there is always potential for a direct beam reflection...at YOU. The lid of your machine will probably have acrylic windows. These will give you 100% protection from a reflecting laser beam. SECOND is the only possible reason you MAY need eye protection. When the laser excites the surface of some materials you will see bright white light. This is the dangerous stuff that people do not realize. This white light is a doubly dangerous carbon arc. Firstly it contains nasty levels of UV light which WILL damage your eyes if you look long and hard at it. If your machine window is acrylic, the UV light will pass through to your eyes as you stare fascinated into your machine. However, if your windows are glazed with glass or polycarbonate then the UV light will be filtered out and you are again 100% safe from such UV exposure. Finally the last threat to your eyes is light intensity. Would you stare at arc welding? would you stare at the sun? This white light I am describing may be small but it is very intense. It will cumulatively build up if you stare at it. If you see white spots when you close your eyes then you have overloaded the cells at the back of your eye. You can take quick looks with impunity but dont stand and stare (I know it can be fascinating). Watch this video from about 9:15 Buy you wife a new handbag instead. Think of all the points that will score!!! Best wishes Russ
@SarbarMultimedia Russ I've practically got tears in my eye's (1) because of you going out of you way to educate me on how it all works (and everyone else who are hobbyists like myself, I've always had it in my head that this orange polycarbonate on my k40 "wasn't" enough to protect my eye's ( I thought you had to keep your eyes protect even with the lid closed (yes I know your probably p*ssing yourself laughing and everyone else) the reason I've always had that impression in my head is because "some guy on a RUclips video stated due to the (radiation) given off by a co2 laser's you must have safety goggles/glasses on at all times so that had me thinking if you need them in case you need to line your mirrors up if their not spot on like he was doing and he indicated to keep them on even after closing the lid and test firing it to see if they were aligned (as his wasn’t )then you must need them on every time you use it due to the way this guy was describing things,I was even thinking you and all other RUclips guys must have them on as your out of sight of us lot as you do your videos even when the lid was closed and when I seen the guy on (man cave effects) putting tape over gaps around the lid of his K40 again that started getting me thinking ( wow this radiation must be like bloody Chernobyl stuff ! ( only joking ) anyway now that had me really frowning sort of scratching my head thinking I've got to be seriously careful with this thing "K40" so that's why I've been watching yourself and others out there who by the sound of things some (or should I say oñe) has unintentionally put the impression across that cheap co2 laser cutters are not just death traps for electrical and other reasons but the (again > "radiation they create" wow so the person on RUclips who mentioned that from day one was wrong! (I know you've got tears in your eyes with laughter up to this point) co2 radiation can escape from these cheap Chinese machines what was he talking about I'll try and find the video and then you can listen to his own words, he was from the US and was giving out safety warnings anyway with all the talking about safety I've became more and more convinced that this "Co2 " radiation " I've heard about is capable of getting out of the machine until it's switched off ! " - yes now you and everyone over the globe are probably in stitches on the floor laughing but that's how paranoid I've been ( due to one You tuber) but my paranoia is not just because of someone else's word's but also due to many years of medical problems and one of them is epilepsy " my epilepsy and medication makes my brain go into overdrive ànd I can't help being a excessively paranoid in situations like something others would take like a pinch of salt but I've just got to put up with it because I'll have it for the rest of my life so now I hope you can understand why I've been so worried (life can be hard with any disability as we all know and one of them with mine is severe anxiety " hence the bloody paranoid Chernobyl thinking I've been having!, And one my last note - sorry I've caused you to practically write a autobiography but that autobiography has 100% put mind at rest at last regarding the eye protection department . and (2) the wife with get a treat and so will I afterwards but I'll have to wait for a bit because she's still in a bad mood one minute and smiling the next although (fingers crossed > not thrown any plates just yet! I think you know what I mean as they all get something to moan about every month. Stay safe and thanks for everything you've said and done not just for myself but thousands of others around the world.
@@u2222be thanks Brett I will do, I really appreciate your help as you'll see when I describe why I asked for it in the first place as Russ has given one hell of a education lesson in his reply so again thanks mate and Stay safe with this bloody covid 19.👍👍
@@joeblogs4146 Hi Joe I do actually know several people that think electricity will leak out of their wall sockets and increase their bills if they leave them switched on with no plug in.. I have no idea where they gained this belief and in their case , I'm afraid logic and science has zero effect. In the case of your epilepsy, bright flashing lights could easily be a trigger so do not stare at the beam even though glasses The only safe material to watch is acrylic. That is because there is no chemical cutting,burning taking place, Acrylic cuts by an evaporation process so there is no light created. Best wishes Russ
Brilliant Russ, I’ve learned so much from your channel, you’ve forgotten more than I know! Thanks to the learning from your channel (and countless hours of cutting and experimenting!) I’m earning a living off my machine now. Brilliant work.
@@TabletopUpgrades Hi Yep. I love Lightburn. but I persist with RDworks because that was the basis of my channel two years before Lighburn became a viable product. As one man rewrite of RDworks in his spare time, the Lightburn product demands 110% respect. The guy was a pro software writer and gave up his job to develop this product. It is so much more than RDWorks will ever be. I was involved with some of the graphics stuff early on but now am a regular user behind the scenes. RDWorks is free and still a very usable interface program. I would encourage all new users to start with RDWorks so that they will experience the real difference when they evaluate Lightburn with the 30 day free trial. Best wishes Russ
Hi sir, i was wondering if you could check some heads that cloudray sells for C02 laser with oxygen assist to cut metals if its any good. thanks sir! awesome vids
Hi Allen I used to run a metal cutting laser business and know that these heads are multifunctional and very heavy. They are not the sort of thing you bolt onto a normal machine to "upgrade it". Metal cutting is quite an expensive activity requiring lots support infrastructure and significant machine "up time" to make it pay, I apologize, but I cannot advise you because I have no notion of your application. However if you are new to metal cutting with a CO2 laser I suggest you arrange a visit to a local metal cutting facility to see the process for yourself. RUclips videos do not tell you the whole story. Best wishes Russ
May I suggest that while you have it all open and easily modified, work to minimize the distances that the beam must travel. Looks to be well over 100mm between the laser's outlet and the first mirror, for example, and that can easily be shortened to under 10mm or so. Depending on how the laser and mirror #1 are set in the machine, you can likely shorten the distance between mirror#1 and mirror #2 also. Any distance you can shorten can only be advantageous to you, I believe...
I have a beam expander which I was hoping to not use but I left that gap there just in case I wish to try it. What is the logical/physics basis for your suggestion? Is it power increase If so how and why? My mirror 1 and 2 are already as close as they can possibly be, not for path length reasons but mechanical reasons. Best wishes Russ
@@SarbarMultimedia , for the reasons you saw near the end of this video. The further away the beam is from the laser, the weaker and "fuzzier" it will get. I'm guessing that you can shorten the max beam distance by over 10%, easily. My "china blue" machine was having trouble doing a clean cut of the final one or two pieces that were the furthest away from the laser tube, and I did just that. There was enough wiggle room in the tube's clamps to allow me to slide it to within 15mm of the mirror, and that cured the issue with the final pieces in my cutting layouts(guitar parts production that we discussed via email a year or so past).
In the laser spec sheets it is always called beam divergence and the angular expansion of the beam is defined in milliradians. Glass tubes ( at 3mrad) are much better than RF lasers (7 to 8 mrad). This is an issue that I have yet to explore. There is significant variation of the rf beam diameter between the back left and front right corner of my table. Best wishes Russ
Dear sir, can you create for me one machine with RF Co2 60 W, and tell me how much cost with your profit? also need to be shipped to Kuwait
Hi Noorraldeen
Sorry for the delay in answering. I do not manufacture machines I an just a hobbyist with a passion for all the technacalities associated with laser technology.. I could not afford the prices that Trotec and Epilog charge for their RF machines so I took a cheap Chinese machine and created my own machine. However Cloudray do manufacture a version of the orange machine with a Glass tube. I have sent them an inquiry about your needs and await to see if they will create a special machine for you. I will let you know within a few more days if they can help you.
Hi Nooraldeen
I have now had an answer from Cloudray about building a special machine. for you. They have looked at the problems of converting a machine like I did in theTangerine Tiger series and decided it would not be possible. Nothing is impossible , but I guess it was a bit too difficult for them. Do you specifically need an RF CO2 machine? I have it but it is rarely used only for experimental work. I have two 70 watt CO2 glass tube machines that are much more useful and flexible for most applications. Here is one of my machines that Cloudray have copied and sell
This is truly excellent value for money and a geat reliable Glass tube alternative to the RF technology.
www.cloudraylaser.com/collections/russ-series
Bestwishes
Russ
With RF laser cans, is there not I focusing lens right where the beam leaves?
Generally the answer will be no.The exit window from the laser is a flat partial mirror that reflects light back inside the tube to continue the propagation of photons and allows a small percentage through for us to use.. The output beam will be parallel (ish)with a divergence factor defined in millirads. When I start looking closer at this divergence specification I find that a typical divergence for a glass tube is about 3 milliradians. That means a 5mm beam from a glass tube will change its diameter by about 3mm between the shortest and longest beam paths for my 300mmx500mm table. The RF laser (even the top quality Synrad and Coherent)seems to have a natural divergence of about 7.5 mrads Although the beam from the laser is VERY small at about 1.8mm, this will vary between 4mm and 11.3mm at opposite corners of my table. I am yet to decide what (if anything) I can do to correct this.
Best wishes
Russ
So awesome to hang out with you, Russ, thanks to the channel! Love it!
Russ, you've done it again !!! If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video has to be worth a million. The diagram of the alignment process back and forth was pure genius!
Very informative video. Do you happen to have info or a link to the signal cable that you used to connect the RF laser source to the Ruida?
Hmmm... at 8:45 there is typo: "Preginition ..." instead "Preignition...". Someone who wrote program, did not check spell. :D
I think you will find if you say it quickly with your teeth clenched together, it is Chinese FONETICK spelling
Will sputted
Best wishes
Russ
ps it does demonstrate your level of concentration 10/10
Nice to see it working! Instead of drilling a small hole for the first mirror you may open a large one and cover it with something with a small hole. This way you can adjust it as you need.
Once set there is no need to adjust it. With my adjustable head, the tube will never need to move again. Putting a larger hole with a masking orifice was an option I considered and quickly dismissed. Working yes, doing anything decent is yet to be seen. I already foresee some fairly big issues I have to understand and deal with but that is part of the fun for me.
Best wishes
Russ
4:54 are those wires going to be okay next to that sharp metal edge over time? does it get a lot of vibration/movement there?
Russ, I am excited that you are taking this Tiger by the tail. I am following closely. I was wondering, can the output lense on the RF unit be adjusted? I am guessing as fast as it "Plumes" that there is some sort of output lense? I notice that the beam was expanding when you hit mirror two. You may have found a serious limitation to this setup for larger machines? Obviously the beam will be able to be focused down however I think that without a good focus lense the beam will be moving around as you travel from left to right on the X axis?
Hi James
It Is an interesting learning exercise because in the laser spec sheets. what you call pluming is always called beam divergence and that angular expansion of the beam is defined in milliradians. Glass tubes ( at 3mrad) are much better than RF lasers (7 to 8 mrad). This is an issue that I have yet to explore. There is significant variation of the rf beam diameter between the back left and front right corner of my table as you have seen on the video. I am currently investigation options for fixing it so wait for the next video.
Best wishes
Russ
I honestly don’t know if I feel admiration or pity for the passion you seem to have for this stuff, I know I’d have lost interest a longtime back. I haven’t seen much from your channel for a while, but got the impression you were the de facto R+D for future products. I’m in the market for a final product, but am not really interested in the ramshackle China route. Are the end products likely to be comparable to Epilog machines, but something here in the UK?
The engineering of this product will never be the same quality as that of the "big boys" but it mechanically has the potential to get close to their speed performance. It is beginning to become apparent to me , even at this early stage that glass tubes have much better beam quality that RFbeams and have the potential for better quality engraving and cutting, It is too early to confirm this because I have done zero testing with the rf as yet. Will the response speed be able to overcome the quality issue? Only thorough testing using my unbiased critical approach and vast glass tube experience will allow me to tease out the marketing hype from the facts. I really want this RF project to succeed but it has to clearly demonstrate it's merits. II know that Laserite (Lotus Laser) here in the UK have a machine that they are just about to test. Their engineering is significantly better than any Chinese machine and it is designed here in the UK . I have seen it and it is using a similar type of RF tube
Best wishes
Russ
SarbarMultimedia thanks. I’ll have a look at them. I must admit that monster gantry 250 machine has caught my eye, it’s perhaps a bit much for a starter.....but I’m actually trying to work out if I could fit it anywhere 🙈
Hi Russ,
I had exactly the same problem with the bed binding and the motor skipping when I moved it upwards. It went away when I loosened the screws with which the "bearing holders" are attached to the machine. I guess that, when screwed down tightly, they're pulling the spindles out of skew. Seems that it's a manufacturing error.
I note you relocated the Y axis limit sensor. You put it on a bracket that has front to back adjustment. I have a Chinese blue [which I have discovered is a Shenhui SH-G350 Laser] and noticed that there was a metallic clunk noise at the homing function. I discovered some paint chipped off the gantry at the left hand side where it was hitting a cap screw. I tried adjusting the sensor front-back, no luck: only up and down. I will see about making a new bracket for it. Thanks!
Russ, I can detect the excitement in your voice... Like a kid a Christmas... LOL
Can anyone recommended a decent brand of co2 safety goggles/glasses that will go over prescription glasses and are en207 certified so I can start using my cheap Chinese 40watt K40 (although its probably more like 20 something watt?)
I've seen a good looking pair on Amazon and can be used with 10600nm it stated "but" on a video on RUclips by a guy (man cave effects) he had an identical looking pair he'd tested and they turned out to be useless so for the safety of my eyes I'd rather ask someone who knows their stuff about any laser machine like (Russ) or anybody else,Oh! I know you can't put a price on our eye's but sadly for me I'm on a bit of a budget let's say £100-120 < that's the amount I've roughly got to play with
Maybe look at the thorlabs LG6. They are a smidge outside your price range (not sure about shipping).
Hi Joe
Let me start off by saying I wont play Russian roulette with my own or anyone else's eyes. But buying expensive eye protection is not necessary if you understand how this laser stuff works. It is a special form of invisible light where all the light waves are marching in synch just like a troop of soldiers. That's the bit that makes this light powerful. Raindrops are harmless until they act together and become a raging torrent. Light waves are little "pushes" of energy. You are acting like a light wave when you bounce a ball . Get those "pushes" just right and the ball continues to bounce. The light waves from a CO2 laser are 10.6microns long . That is a very high frequency . In this 10.6 micron world the light only "sees" 3 things. 1) Metals (all metals) cause this light to bounce off. Hence we use metal for mirrors. 2) A very small group of salt-like crystal structures that allow the light to pass through (we use these for lenses) and 3) EVERYTHING ELSE. The molecules and atoms in EVERTHING ELSE will be excited by the 10.6 micron wavelength to a greater or lesser extent. As you excite molecules and atoms they get hotter and hotter until something happens. In the case of wood or organic materials they scorch first and then burn. The light beam (laser) is NOT HOT. It is that synchronized energy we spoke of earlier that is causing the molecules in the material to vibrate faster and faster . The amount of vibration in a molecule is a definition of its temperature. The higher the vibration the higher the temperature. So, the light loses its energy when it stimulates SURFACE molecules to vibrate faster . It's just like the energy transfer that happens when two pool ball collide .... but this energy transfer is unimaginably small and at an atomic level.
There are TWO things you need to protect your eyes against.
FIRST the laser light itself. The laser beam is exactly like one of these laser pointers. It is a VERY direction beam of light that does not scatter and you can stand right beside it and it will pass harmlessly by but you would not put your eye directly in the beam. In the case of one of these coloured lasers, the wavelength is completely different (20 times shorter) and the fact that you can see it means it is passing THROUGH your eyeball and exciting the tissue at the back of your eye. Hmmm not good!!!. 10.6micron light will not do that. Instead it will excite the molecules on the SURFACE of your eyeball and heat them up (smell the bacon frying"!!!!) It will do likewise to your skin your clothes and your glasses.....YES your glasses. Remember glass and clear plastic are all part of EVERYTHING ELSE and the SURFACE of the material will be excited by the laser light.. If your eyeball is behind glass, polycarbonate, ABS, PVC a sheet of steel etc etc it is fully protected. I understand this and I always wear just cheap reading glasses because with all the filming I do I never close the machine lid. Keep the machine lid closed while the laser is running and you are automatically 100% protected for FREE. Bear in mind that even with the lid open , how are you going to get your eye directly into the path of the laser beam. You may burn a finger hear and there....but that's all part of the learning experience. If you are going to engrave things like Yeti cups with curved surfaces then you must be aware that metals are mirrors and with the lid open there is always potential for a direct beam reflection...at YOU. The lid of your machine will probably have acrylic windows. These will give you 100% protection from a reflecting laser beam.
SECOND is the only possible reason you MAY need eye protection. When the laser excites the surface of some materials you will see bright white light. This is the dangerous stuff that people do not realize. This white light is a doubly dangerous carbon arc. Firstly it contains nasty levels of UV light which WILL damage your eyes if you look long and hard at it. If your machine window is acrylic, the UV light will pass through to your eyes as you stare fascinated into your machine. However, if your windows are glazed with glass or polycarbonate then the UV light will be filtered out and you are again 100% safe from such UV exposure. Finally the last threat to your eyes is light intensity. Would you stare at arc welding? would you stare at the sun? This white light I am describing may be small but it is very intense. It will cumulatively build up if you stare at it. If you see white spots when you close your eyes then you have overloaded the cells at the back of your eye. You can take quick looks with impunity but dont stand and stare (I know it can be fascinating).
Watch this video from about 9:15
Buy you wife a new handbag instead. Think of all the points that will score!!!
Best wishes
Russ
@SarbarMultimedia Russ I've practically got tears in my eye's (1) because of you going out of you way to educate me on how it all works (and everyone else who are hobbyists like myself, I've always had it in my head that this orange polycarbonate on my k40 "wasn't" enough to protect my eye's ( I thought you had to keep your eyes protect even with the lid closed (yes I know your probably p*ssing yourself laughing and everyone else) the reason I've always had that impression in my head is because "some guy on a RUclips video stated due to the (radiation) given off by a co2 laser's you must have safety goggles/glasses on at all times so that had me thinking if you need them in case you need to line your mirrors up if their not spot on like he was doing and he indicated to keep them on even after closing the lid and test firing it to see if they were aligned (as his wasn’t )then you must need them on every time you use it due to the way this guy was describing things,I was even thinking you and all other RUclips guys must have them on as your out of sight of us lot as you do your videos even when the lid was closed and when I seen the guy on (man cave effects) putting tape over gaps around the lid of his K40 again that started getting me thinking ( wow this radiation must be like bloody Chernobyl stuff ! ( only joking ) anyway now that had me really frowning sort of scratching my head thinking I've got to be seriously careful with this thing "K40" so that's why I've been watching yourself and others out there who by the sound of things some (or should I say oñe) has unintentionally put the impression across that cheap co2 laser cutters are not just death traps for electrical and other reasons but the (again > "radiation they create" wow so the person on RUclips who mentioned that from day one was wrong!
(I know you've got tears in your eyes with laughter up to this point) co2 radiation can escape from these cheap Chinese machines what was he talking about I'll try and find the video and then you can listen to his own words, he was from the US and was giving out safety warnings anyway with all the talking about safety I've became more and more convinced that this "Co2 " radiation " I've heard about is capable of getting out of the machine until it's switched off ! " - yes now you and everyone over the globe are probably in stitches on the floor laughing but that's how paranoid I've been ( due to one You tuber) but my paranoia is not just because of someone else's word's but also due to many years of medical problems and one of them is epilepsy " my epilepsy and medication makes my brain go into overdrive ànd I can't help being a excessively paranoid in situations like something others would take like a pinch of salt but I've just got to put up with it because I'll have it for the rest of my life so now I hope you can understand why I've been so worried (life can be hard with any disability as we all know and one of them with mine is severe anxiety " hence the bloody paranoid Chernobyl thinking I've been having!,
And one my last note - sorry I've caused you to practically write a autobiography but that autobiography has 100% put mind at rest at last regarding the eye protection department . and (2) the wife with get a treat and so will I afterwards but I'll have to wait for a bit because she's still in a bad mood one minute and smiling the next although (fingers crossed > not thrown any plates just yet! I think you know what I mean as they all get something to moan about every month.
Stay safe and thanks for everything you've said and done not just for myself but thousands of others around the world.
@@u2222be thanks Brett I will do,
I really appreciate your help as you'll see when I describe why I asked for it in the first place as Russ has given one hell of a education lesson in his reply so again thanks mate and
Stay safe with this bloody covid 19.👍👍
@@joeblogs4146
Hi Joe
I do actually know several people that think electricity will leak out of their wall sockets and increase their bills if they leave them switched on with no plug in.. I have no idea where they gained this belief and in their case , I'm afraid logic and science has zero effect.
In the case of your epilepsy, bright flashing lights could easily be a trigger so do not stare at the beam even though glasses The only safe material to watch is acrylic. That is because there is no chemical cutting,burning taking place, Acrylic cuts by an evaporation process so there is no light created.
Best wishes
Russ
Russ, you are a laser luminary...
Hello Roger Do you have an email I can send you a message to is it ok if I get it thank you
If you wish to add your disguised email address (johndotsmithatgmaildotcom) to another comment, I will reply and delete your comment.
Best wishes
Russ
Quite a progress mate. Congrats!!
Brilliant Russ, I’ve learned so much from your channel, you’ve forgotten more than I know!
Thanks to the learning from your channel (and countless hours of cutting and experimenting!) I’m earning a living off my machine now. Brilliant work.
Must admit though, I much prefer Lightburn to RDWrorks, have you ever played with it?
@@TabletopUpgrades
Hi
Yep. I love Lightburn. but I persist with RDworks because that was the basis of my channel two years before Lighburn became a viable product. As one man rewrite of RDworks in his spare time, the Lightburn product demands 110% respect. The guy was a pro software writer and gave up his job to develop this product. It is so much more than RDWorks will ever be. I was involved with some of the graphics stuff early on but now am a regular user behind the scenes. RDWorks is free and still a very usable interface program. I would encourage all new users to start with RDWorks so that they will experience the real difference when they evaluate Lightburn with the 30 day free trial.
Best wishes
Russ
Thanks
Hi sir, i was wondering if you could check some heads that cloudray sells for C02 laser with oxygen assist to cut metals if its any good. thanks sir! awesome vids
Hi Allen
I used to run a metal cutting laser business and know that these heads are multifunctional and very heavy. They are not the sort of thing you bolt onto a normal machine to "upgrade it". Metal cutting is quite an expensive activity requiring lots support infrastructure and significant machine "up time" to make it pay, I apologize, but I cannot advise you because I have no notion of your application. However if you are new to metal cutting with a CO2 laser I suggest you arrange a visit to a local metal cutting facility to see the process for yourself. RUclips videos do not tell you the whole story.
Best wishes
Russ
@@SarbarMultimedia alright, will consider it. thank you sir Russ
May I suggest that while you have it all open and easily modified, work to minimize the distances that the beam must travel. Looks to be well over 100mm between the laser's outlet and the first mirror, for example, and that can easily be shortened to under 10mm or so. Depending on how the laser and mirror #1 are set in the machine, you can likely shorten the distance between mirror#1 and mirror #2 also.
Any distance you can shorten can only be advantageous to you, I believe...
I have a beam expander which I was hoping to not use but I left that gap there just in case I wish to try it. What is the logical/physics basis for your suggestion? Is it power increase If so how and why? My mirror 1 and 2 are already as close as they can possibly be, not for path length reasons but mechanical reasons.
Best wishes
Russ
@@SarbarMultimedia , for the reasons you saw near the end of this video. The further away the beam is from the laser, the weaker and "fuzzier" it will get. I'm guessing that you can shorten the max beam distance by over 10%, easily. My "china blue" machine was having trouble doing a clean cut of the final one or two pieces that were the furthest away from the laser tube, and I did just that. There was enough wiggle room in the tube's clamps to allow me to slide it to within 15mm of the mirror, and that cured the issue with the final pieces in my cutting layouts(guitar parts production that we discussed via email a year or so past).
That is one noisy laser!
Yep, I agree. I think I will soon get annoyed with it, especially when I add the extractor as well!!!!!
Best wishes
Russ
In lasers, the size expands over distance and is called the plume.
The Great Plume of Agosoria, hehe
In the laser spec sheets it is always called beam divergence and the angular expansion of the beam is defined in milliradians. Glass tubes ( at 3mrad) are much better than RF lasers (7 to 8 mrad). This is an issue that I have yet to explore. There is significant variation of the rf beam diameter between the back left and front right corner of my table.
Best wishes
Russ