Thanks! - I do love playing with the laser so there's probably going to be some more coming! :)

Glad you liked it!

It helps to keep the flames to a minimum so there's less charring on the edges and also clears away the charred material from the inside of the cut so the laser is not trying to re-burn it - might be even more to it but that's my understanding :)

Thanks for the comparison! I would have never guessed it could do as good as a 50W - I can't do photos yet, my machine is run off Mach3 and PWM changes are too slow for photoengraving - so I'm looking into building my own x-y axis with a controller that can :)

LOL sharp eye! I live in Florida so bugs are a part of life here! LOL

Yeah it's certainly not as fast as a CO2 laser - but I have no room for one of those! :) this is the Endurance 10W laser here (No affiliation) endurancelasers.com/diode-lasers/10watt-endurance-laser-plus/

@@HoarderOfHobbies I dunno - my setup is pretty similar to yours in size and I was going to add the tube in the far back of the machine, and then mirrors to get the fire where it needs to go. It can be done, but I don’t like the fire risk that much. I’ll probably upgrade to a 4th axis before I bother with the full power laser. I also use Masso, not Mach3, so I have some research yet to do before I know it will be compatible. Thanks!

@@michaelkeymont501 My fear with adding a CO2 laser to my setup was always the amount of sawdust I create in the shop - I have dust collection but I'm afraid I'd be cleaning mirrors and lenses all day! LOL the BuildYourCNC guy added a CO2 laser vertical like a spindle! seemed too fragile to me

@@HoarderOfHobbies good point - my machine is also in an enclosure, so that issue would probably be even worse. Did you build that or buy it? It looks like a nice rig.

@@michaelkeymont501 This was bought, then upgraded - I made taller gantry supports, thicker beams on the rails that hold the linear bearings, bigger motors, and bigger spindle - so it's kinda a frankenstein LOL

Could be a lot of things - what laser system do you have and what software? my first guess is maybe you're getting backlash in your driving system (belts maybe?) so check tightness and if there's any play in the laser movement (meaning you can move the laser back and forth and the motor wheel does not turn)

This is the 10W laser from Endurance, he's got videos that show him measuring the output power (depending on the lens) at I think 8-9 watts - I've got another video comparing this cutting with my "7W" (probably more like 3W) laser that I upgraded from