diode 10

I have been openly critical of the way that the matix test has been widely projected as THE path to successfully identifying the best parameters for your laser machine. LIghtburn makes it easy to create such a matrix and new users are easily persuaded by RUclips "experts" that this is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Sadly this turns out to be "fools gold" The results are virtually meaningless and as an Irish friend once told me. "The real gold is at the other end!!"
In this seesion we explore what is at that "other end" and find some REALLY useful parameters that exploit the feeble 4 watts of power at my disposal.

[@p3d938]

Great lecture on material, lightbeam and machine setting knowledge again Russ, many thanks. I could get nothing usefull out of diode lasers. CO2 works best for me but prove me wrong in your next video that diode is usefull in some way.

[@joedeart50]

Great video again, thanks for that.
I wonder if you've ever run into a laser cnc with flying galvo head like these ones:
ruclips.net/video/6OwYIpijPmE/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/R5dm5yBMWH4/видео.html
They seem very effective on these videos but I can't find much information about them.

[@SarbarMultimedia]

Hi Joe
The plottersystem is good for woork area but be careful about the spec of this machine. It is designed for marking materials and cutting thin paper and card materials. The usual way to use a CO2 galvo and retain power is not to move the galvo head plus the tube which is attached to the head but to fix the head and move the table. This sort of limits the table size to about 500 x500 typically . These machines are not volume production but usually bespoke for a specific application. This is exactly like all CO2 flying optics machines but the galvo head intercepts a full power pbeam and spreads it quicker over a small area by means of the high speed steering mirrors.A fact of life about a CO2 beam is that is grows at the rate of 3mm/m and this changes the cutting performance as the head gets further away from the source. It sounds like a great idea for limited applications and if you reserch the brand a bit further you see its a Chinese company specializing in fabric processing machines BEWARE CHINESE ADVERTISING.. This is just a marking machine and if you have a specific high volume task like removing the dye from denim jeans to make them look stone washed or to add logos etc then maybe this is woth investigating but for hobby use .....well I would not invest in such a machine..
If you already have a CO2 plotter machine then you can do what I am doing and add a 1064nm IR head to do something similar. Atom Stack and Two Trees are now selling such heads but beware they are NOT CO2 lasers and have a limited range of materials they can interact with, much the same as the diode laser.. There is no one size laser that fits all you have to decide on the materials you want to cut/mark/ You need power for cutting and most devices are for marking.

[@joedeart50]

@@SarbarMultimedia
Hi Russ,
Thank you for the answer.
I have a home modified K40 but I would like to upgrade for a slightly bigger machine in the future.
I'm not looking for a textile factory size but a 500x500 workspace would be more than enough.
I usually cut only 5mm thick material so a lower power machine is not a problem.
This idea really caught my eye to make large area engraves fast and then do all the cuttings inside the same machine without taking out the workpiece.
I try to look for this capability on my next future machine.