Laser cutter machine for home

[f237khan]

Hello crew,

I've been scratch building a lot of airplanes and am now seriously considering getting a laser cutter for myself for home. I have laser cut a couple planes before by another source and its expensive. I don't intend to use the machine for business or anything extreme; only for foamboard and plywood like in FliteTest.

I am a complete newbie in this. Don't have ANY idea about how they work or how to prep the files for it (yet). So I'm hoping to learn which type/model of laser cutter would be the best for me in terms of application and cost. Any guidance would be sincerely appreciated

Happy building and flying
Fuad.

 

[LitterBug]

I have played with some cheap Creality 5-10 Watt laser cutters (300x300 and 400x410). They easily mark foamboard for manual cutting, but it takes a lot of tuning to get a good clean cut all the way through white foamboard. The 10W head with air assist does the best. They do not have a large enough stock cutting area to do most plans but have been great for smaller plans and parts. Have been wanting to get longer rails at least for the Y axis for cutting the full larger dimension of foamboard. You MUST have adequate ventilation / fume extraction, eye protection, a Fire extinguisher handy, and NEVER leave it unattended while cutting. I use Lightburn software, which is not free, but is well supported and has a good feature set.

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[Merv]

... am now seriously considering getting a laser cutter for myself for home....

I don't have a laser, but from what I read, a diode laser's will not cut the white foam in foamboard. It cuts the paper fine, just not the foam. Something about the color reflecting the light. I have read some have cut black foam but for me, black foamboard is much harder to find. To cut white foam you need a CO2 laser & those cost a lot.

You might consider a building a needle cuter.

ERC TimSav - Cheap DIY CNC Foamboard Cutter

Hi there, some of you guys may have already know about this new foldable, cheap & easy to build cnc foamboard cutter. Other than the active FB group, upon request, I also started a thread here for those of you who are more familiar with the forum format. You can find every everything in the...

forum.flitetest.com

I got mine going a few months ago. Now I draw my planes in the free version of Fusion 360, then send them to the the needle cutter. Others use Onshape or Solidworks to draw the planes. I'm planning to give them a look sometime. At the moment It takes 10-12 minutes to cut 1 sheet of foam. I'm still working out a few bugs in my system but it beats cutting by hand by a long shot. I wish I had build mine yeas ago.

 

[Flying Monkey fab]

Hello crew,

I've been scratch building a lot of airplanes and am now seriously considering getting a laser cutter for myself for home. I have laser cut a couple planes before by another source and its expensive. I don't intend to use the machine for business or anything extreme; only for foamboard and plywood like in FliteTest.

I am a complete newbie in this. Don't have ANY idea about how they work or how to prep the files for it (yet). So I'm hoping to learn which type/model of laser cutter would be the best for me in terms of application and cost. Any guidance would be sincerely appreciated

Happy building and flying
Fuad.

You need a C02 unit and they are not cheap. The good news (depending on how you view it) is once you own one there are thousands of uses for it. I own one, two 3d printers, and several other smart maker machines and the laser cuter is the most used by far.

 

[LitterBug]

Yes, you can cut white foam with a diode laser I have done it with a 10watt head. It takes dialing in the proper focus, speed, intensity, and air assist. Just cranking the power to max is not always the answer nor is cranking down speed super slow... Yes, There are better options, like CO2 that are more expensive. And I would also like to build a needle cutter head for my laser cutter since it is super easy to swap out the tool head.

 

[Merv]

Yes, you can cut white foam with a diode laser I have done it with a 10watt head....

What settings are you using to cut white fb with a diode laser?

 

[LitterBug]

What settings are you using to cut white fb with a diode laser?

The focus and air speed are going to be very tough to quantify on my setup as there are no graduated markings to reference. Focus should be just below the upper paper layer. Not enough air will make a melty mess, too much air it cools too much and won't help with the cut. Just right the charring from burning the paper gets pushed into the foam below to help heat and melt/cut the foam. With the speed too fast, there is not enough heat, too slow, it's a melty mess. I use a test that cuts lines at varying speeds and intensities to get it close, then adjust the focus and air assist.

It is a time consuming process to dial it in perfect. For me, I would rather not go through the process every time. Variances in thickness, wavy foamboard, and even humidity affect the cut. I mainly just score the paper and finish the cuts with a knife. It is easy to get a good etch that cuts the paper and a bit of foam that helps guide the razor/knife. It has been a while since I have cut anything and need to get better ventilation set up. I will cut quite a few things before Flite Fest and get them in the air.