Laser Cutter and Engraver

[kvom]

My daughter took me to lunch for Father's Day, and we started talking about her craft projects, one of which is cutting art paper to construct multi-layered pieces that can be glued together and painted.  She has sold a few on Etsy, but cutting them by hand doesn't make for any profits.  She said that having a laser cutter would be great, but they are expensive, especially for those capable of making larger pieces.  When we got back to my house I looked at the one she wanted, and found that I could use it in the shop too.  So we decided to split the cost, and it will live in my shop as she doesn't have room at her house.  Another advantage of this is that she'll have to come over more frequently, which her mother will like.

The unit we bought is the XTools P2S.  I'll post some pics once it's here and set up.  It will cut wood, acrylic, leather, and probably other things too, and it will engrave metal.  If and when I get back to building an engine it will be useful for cutting gaskets.

[Floating around]

Will be very interesting to see how this works for “our” hobby needs. Everything you see online is geared around the projects your daughter is working on.

[Admiral_dk]

If nothing else - very useful for making accurate Gaskets 

Per     

[kvom]

Since this laser will cut wood up to .75" thick, my first project will likely be making some pieces to repair a couple of whirligigs my wife has.  It will also cut acrylic leaving the edges smooth and transparent where an endmill leaves the edges rougher.  It will be a playtoy for me once I get it set up while I learn what it will do.  I downloaded the xtool software today;  until the computer is connected to the laser it's just a CAD program, but it seems to be very capable one.  I could import DXF files in addition to drawing.

[Vixen]

You could also laser cut a 'Petite Colibri' mobile sculpture from translucent acrylic sheet. That's got to be easier than milling from solid.

Have you discover what CNC control system they use? Most likely GRBL, quite capable, but limited control options compared to Mach or LinuxCNC

Mike

[Dave Otto]

It is amazing how nicely acrylic cuts on a laser. We never used acrylic for anything at work until we got our Epilog Co2 laser, now it gets used quite a bit.

Dave

[kvom]

I could also cut a full-size colibri from Baltic plywood as the designer intended.

The control software is supplied by XTool.  When not connected to the machine it's a CAD program.  I downloaded it yesterday, and it is quite powerful.  As well as drawing natively I was able to import DXF files that I previously created with SolidWorks.  One can also import images for engraving half-tones.

Once connected to the laser the camera inside allows positioning the drawing onto the material and then specifying what is to be done (cut or engrave) plus selection of power percentage and speed.  One YT video I watched shows it engraving 4 letters on a grain of rice.