[rbwater]

Hi,

I recently acquired an old flat bed plotter that I hoped to convert into a cutter. I have tried reviewing various articles/posts about making a laser cutter but find them very unclear. Has anyone any information or experience building such a machine? Is it feasible to cut balsa or thin ply with a low cost laser, e.g. one which might come out of a DVD burner?

Any help would be appreciated.

RB

[marcham]

Out of a DVD burner? No. The output is a fraction of a Watt. 1 Watt would be enough to do some basic woodburning.

I'm guessing that to cut balsa, you would need at least 50-60 Watts, specialty lenses, CO2 laser, etc...

Have you looked here? http://www.motiontek.ca/
http://www.emissiontechnologies.com/

The laser itself would cost at least $1000.

You may want to try and source a local engraving shop that has a laser etching/cutting machine. They charge between $0.50 and $1 per minute (the laser is a consumable). Cutting speed varies based on the material and a setup fee may apply.

I hear that Martin does good work for laser cutting kits of your own design: https://mraerodesign.securicom.ca/en/

[truman]

this site has everything you would need to know www.cnczone.com

[Max]

A DVD burner wont even have the power to cut paper, if at all.

I have seen some home-made "laser" cutters using small lasers and an old plotting machine- but all they are powerfull enough is to cut pretty patterns on letter size paper.

If you want to cut balsa, you will need a more powerfull laser cutter, and those arent cheap.

Richard Staron of Starontech (Creator of 15 size Combat planes "engima" and "caution" ) http://starontech.com/test2/ is currently wroking on a home-made CNC laser cutter. He is about 80% finished. This will be a true 2 axis CNC laser cutter capable of cutting 1/4 balsa (or more? not sure exactly- Richard mentions its an as$-kicking laser).

The power supply alone for the laser is something to be reconed with. Very dangerous if you are not familair with working with high voltage devices.

The project is not for the faint-of-heart, but Richard tells me it can be done.