Laser machine thread

[Demon]

Oh boy, check out this instructable:

https://www.instructables.com/Double...-laser-cutter/

I'm googling laser machines since yesterday and came upon this; double-sided PCBs by combining a laser cutter with chemical etching.

Warning: burning PCB fiberglass laminate is VERY TOXIC!


So far I've learned that the basement variety laser is the diode type. Economical models use 1 diode, some use 2 diodes, xTool D1 Pro uses 4 diodes, and Creality just released the Falcon2 40W laser with 8 diodes.

The Falcon2 40W has 25000mm/min cutting speed, 400mm x 415mm work-area and integrated air-assist for $1900CAD. It's more expensive than I was shopping for, but power is everything when you're dealing in lasers; it's better to have a bit too much than not enough.

https://store.creality.com/ca/produc...ngraver-cutter


My initial goal was to mark black ABS plastic in white text like this guy is doing on black PLA.




He's using a "DIY Galvo 30W DPSS laser". The only decent link I could find was this laser:

https://www.endurance-lasers.com/pro...y-galvo-system


So far I've learned that 2 things are important with laser specs: power (watts) and frequency (wavelength). Wikipedia says his machine "most likely" runs in the 1064nm range:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nd:YAG_laser


Diode lasers on the other hand seem to run just shy of 500nm. The Falcon2 40W runs at 455nm.

Just a heads up on chinesium lasers; they often advertise the power consumed by the laser module. The important value is the power emitted by the laser module (some call it optical power).


(research goes on...)

[richard]

i tried the laser etching for pcb's , got not reliable enough results.
tried heaps of different spray paints and colours , tried blue diode laser and co2 laser
problem is that to etch the paint away cleanly enough to chemical etch nicely its way too easy to over heat the copper
result is the small pads and traces can come loose from board and fall off , not good!
net result was goto pcbway and get nice through hole plated boards ,solder masked with tinned pads & delivered for about 1% of a laser cost

[Ioannis]

I double what Richard posted.

No CNC, Laser and chemicals anymore for me. JLCPCB is good enough for my needs, also has option to pay for the import taxes to them (usually paying locally costs more!).

Problem solved!

Ioannis