Comment on Designed and printed an air assist nozzle for my laser cutter.
wjrii@kbin.social 9 months agoYou could well be right, and I don't doubt for a second that you know your stuff. What I've heard more often on the low powered diodes is that it just prevents the smoke from blocking the laser's wattage, which is already in short supply, and keeps it from fouling the optics.
Frankly, so far the whole thing only works about as well as the big-ass oscillating fan I had blasting at the laser and workpiece, but it's much nicer to live with, especially now that winter is here.
eldoom@lemm.ee 9 months ago
Oh yeah that’s a pretty solid benefit right there. I swear the oddest things will block them from cutting. I didn’t even consider the smoke diffusing the beam.
Like the most powerful laser I’ve used won’t cut through a paper sticker or even the residue but it’ll cut through .75" steel like it’s nothing.
The optics is a big deal too. On the big ones everything is pretty reasonably sized and they’re still a pain to clean. I can’t imagine what it’s like with those tiny ones. Also, those larger lasers lenses are really commonly coated in thorium and a speck gets on there it’s going to superheat and vaporize a lot of the lense. Pretty damn dangerous to be around lol!