@Dennis_Fuente I’ve just done some tests on 3mm ply. I can cut through it @ 10mA @ 12mm/s speed in 1 pass. Hope that helps with your cutting attempts.
I’d never do more passes than absolutely necessary to cut through just to preserve the tube. At an estimated lifetime of 1000-1500 hrs, that amounts to say 10 cents/hour, so no matter if you use it for business or fun, the tube costs probably less than the electricity used. The tube will die eventually no matter if you use it or not, and 1000 hours is plenty. If used for business, the above is a no brainer, and even for a hobby, just use it to its max, just my two cents…
@Mishko_Mishko Thanks for sharing the estimated lifespan. I had seen something somewhere & misremembered it as having an extra 0 on the end. So 1000 hours, not too bad in my opinion. As you said, at ~10c/hour, that’s pretty reasonable & definitely cheaper than the price per kW here in Australia (~28c/kW).
Thanks guys i will do some test today and see how it goes
Dennis
That’s what I’ve found on most vendor sites, I might be wrong, but that seems like a reasonable lifespan to me. On the other hand, the tube will deteriorate just sitting on the shelf, so my approach is use it while it lasts, preferably for something useful;)
Hi guys so i tested the machine this morning on 3MM ply this is just cheap door skin ply 3 layer nothing special i found the slower i set the machine the more charing around the cut so my best result was @ 10 MM s and a power setting of 20 MA to cut through the ply on one pass what do you think this is with a completly stock machine no air assist just as it came to me thanks for the help.
Dennis
OH i forgot to mention that i took the focal lens out and swaped it around to see if it made a difference i could not see a difference in the cutting.
One other thing that keeps happening is i loose the tool bars in corel any ideas on this.
Dennis
@Dennis_Fuente The toolbars always disappear in Corel. You will find an icon down near the clock that can access all the functions for engrave/cut etc.
I was using 12mm/s & power setting of 10mA, but I have air assist (basic air pump like from a fishtank) pointed directly at the cut area, so minimal charring.
Can you get through the ply in 1 pass @ 12mm/s & 10mA at all?
no the machine will not cut all the way through the ply unless i double the power to 20 MA and 10 MMs the mirrors are right on the money at the center of gantry travel so i realy don’t know what could be causing the issue i have read and looked for an answer to the problem but no luck or change would air assist make a 10 MA change thanks for the info on corel
@Dennis_Fuente I’m fairly certain air-assist won’t make that dramatic a change on the cutting power. It minimises the scorching of the edges & the dirtying of the lens. It seems odd that there is a 10mA difference between my cutting & yours. Although I just had a thought, you are still using the stock cutting bed right? If so, that could be part of the issue as it is a solid metal area (except the hole/clamp region). I’ve noticed differences in my ability to cut since I replaced the stock cutting bed with what I am currently using, and I am certain if I was to replace it again with something like the honeycomb, I would see slight improvements again (due to less metal touching the underside of the piece).
Oh that’s interesting i have my bed removable at the moment but don’t have anything to replace it as of yet, so what happens is it the that the beam can’t go through because it hit’s the metal
@Dennis_Fuente The beam can go through, but it does hit the metal & you get reflection to some degree on the bottom of the material you are cutting. Which causes extra discolouration/char from the base of the material. I just notice that on my bed which is say 5mm steel, then 5mm hole, then 5mm steel, etc… where the steel is the material sometimes is still attached partially, in comparison to where there was no steel. Not sure exactly what is going on, but from what I understand, the minimum you can have supporting the material you are cutting the better. One guy (HP Persson) posted some pics of a bed he created using a piece of acrylic with nails poking through it to support the material on the tips of the nails. Another guy (can’t remember who) mentioned that he uses magnets & some long screws. He can then move the screws around on the base of the case using the magnet to secure it in place, then position things as he needs. You could give that a test to see if you get any better results.
Wow thanks for the idea of magnets i may have something already that would work i will give it a test