Wondering if anyone has any experience with this laser addon for 3d printers.

3D Printing
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Wondering if anyone has any experience with this laser addon for 3d printers. It is a bit pricey but not too bad. If it performs as well as the videos make it look, it could be an awesome upgrade.

I am thinking this could be used to clean-up some areas of prints, add sharp lettering or images to a completed print, etc. Not to mention, just using it as a laser cutter/etcher.

Anyone have any input / suggestions / warnings?
http://jtechphotonics.com/

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Any laser above 0.005W is a danger to eyes. So unless you enclose everything proper you are putting your eyes at a huge risk. Also, fumes.

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@Daid_Braam Thanks for pointing that out. I didn’t think about the fumes. I would expect to have a fully enclosed printer with exhaust if I end up buying one of these.

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@Jason_Barnett I have gotten a bit of experience with different lasercutters, from 30W up to 60W. The 2.6W will be enough to engrave wood, and cut paper. But that’s it, don’t expect to cut anything else. Also note that you should be able to source a small (A4) laser cutter for around 1500 if you look around.

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@Daid_Braam That’s why I am asking. The videos show it cutting plywood and 1/8" acrylic. It’s not super powerful, but if it works like in the videos, it could be very useful. I am hoping someone has some actual experience with this one in particular. Not seeing any reviews on it, so I am not sure how much I trust it.

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Well, acrylic has the advantage that you can “multi layer” cut it (as they do in that video), it does however, has the disadvantage of catching fire (it almost does in the video near the end). Also, fumes! Acrylic smells very bad, even with good ventilation.

I’m not seeing plywood cutting. But, the cutting that they show is painfully slow.
Compare to:


(which is one of the cheapest “off the shelve” laser cutters you can get)

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@Daid_Braam Wow! I didn’t realize how cheap you can get a basic laser cutter. Looking on Ebay, you can get a 40W CO2 laser cutter for under $400. I am no longer seeing $330 for a 2.8W laser being a good investment.

Not sure about the quality of the cheap laser cutters, but at that price, it’s hard to go wrong.

Thanks for pointing that out!

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Quality compared to a 30k laser cutter? Not that great.

Note that that price is most likely without a ventilation/filter system.

Also, the LAOS

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Ooops, the LAOS project: http://www.laoslaser.org/ might be of interested to you.

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@Daid_Braam Actually, it does come with a ventallation system, or at least an exhaust hose… http://www.ebay.com/itm/321761731017?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

That LAOS laser project sounds cool. Thanks for all of your suggestions and input!