Has anyone ever seen, heard of, or talked to someone who has one of these?

I saw a YouTube video and this guy was cutting 1/4" walnut with this laser. The price is ridiculous and you have a huge cutting surface. I don’t understand a lot of things about this rig…what is “compressed spot technology” and how do you keep it cool? Check this thing out…

Mike

Well it’s a 5.5W 445nm diode laser. Air cooled with a mounted fan. The “compressed spot technology” appears to be related to the optical focusing of the laser.

Typically you need to add an air assist to get good cutting with these to clear out the smoke which can scatter these shortwave length lasers. You can also battle charring when cutting thicker wood which can require multiple passes.

Also this has no extraction for smoke.

But it’s a descent size and seems to be a reasonable price with free US shipping.

@donkjr has been playing with a diode laser so maybe he has some more insights.

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@genepaton has a Sculpfun S9 with a similar head.

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I also have a similar machine, with a similar ‘compressed spot’ laser.

It’s basically a ‘normal’ 5.5W blue light (sometimes called near UV) laser LED relying on good internal optics to create a very finely focused cutting point. It can be quite effective as a wood and plastic cutter.

There is quite a big discussion on this type of laser in an old thread here: Optically compressed laser module?

The cooling fan under the pcb on top of the module body/heatsink is quite sufficient to cool it, and helps a little with clearing smoke from the cut.

Obligatory safety warning for this type of machine.
Never leave unattended, and you MUST add some kind of enclosure with external extraction if you are cutting anything more noxious than paper or untreated wood, Be very careful of fumes,
I know people bang on about this, but it’s important, Especially with unenclosed kits.

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