Bummed. Laser died.

[TLHarrell]

I am really bummed. The tube in my laser cutter hit it's end of life last night while cutting out some items for Easter to sell on Etsy. Gonna be a couple weeks before I'm back up and running. :down:

Oh, well... more modding then! :up:

Also thinking of designing a large-ish tabletop CNC mill. 24"x18"x4" area, and should be capable of cutting copper as well as acrylic. Anybody interested in completely custom water blocks in the future?

[Outlaw]

um... YES! lol I think we have already had this discussion and your current machines weren't capable of what I needed. lol

[Fuganater]

Yes! but wait... did my stuff get done?

[TLHarrell]

Yes. Fuga's stuff was the last thing finished before it went dead. It's in the mail. Got really lucky at the post office. Nobody in line when I came in the door.

[TLHarrell]

Yeah, laser cannot cut metals or 3 dimensional parts. CNC would be a good complement in my small shop. The machine after that will be a 3D fabber of some sort, size capability hopefully in the range to print case components.

Can't wait to get the laser back in operation. I have thought of an interesting use for the dead tube. Steampunk death ray rifle. Sell it on Etsy and I should have enough $ for the next tube.

[Fuganater]

I'm all for custom waterblocks and pump tops!

[AmEv]

Lasers can etch metal, but can't cut it, right?

[Kayin]

Need a much higher wattage laser to cut metal.

CNC sounds REAL fun.

[TLHarrell]

I can (when it's running again) mark anodized aluminum. It blows out the dye, turning it white. For cutting metals, you need much higher power, minimum 400w. Price goes up exponentially with power rating. 40w +/- $3,000 400w +/- $40,000

[Collinstheclown]

I heard lasers and had to stop by....

Sorry to hear about your tube! :( How many watts?

[TLHarrell]

It was a 40 watt. Now it's like 0.001 watt. Can't dent paper.

I'm definitely going to be modding the deceased tube into something cool though. Should be fun, and may pay for the next tube or two. Can't bring myself to just chuck it in the trash can as it's so large, and so cool looking.

[AmEv]

Expensive laser pointer much?

[TLHarrell]

Non-visible beam. Would be interesting to have outside of the case... would be able to pop balloons at 100 yards.

[AmEv]

Now THAT'S a laser beam you DON'T want pointed in the sky!

[TLHarrell]

Finally got the money into my Paypal account this afternoon as I was leaving work. Laser tube is on order. Should arrive in about a week, which I'm impressed by. Can't wait to get the laser back up and running. Kind of annoying not having the tool accessible 100% of the time when I get a killer idea.

[TLHarrell]

In case anybody hasn't seen one of these things....
http://ubuntuone.com/0AAoDv5OqF6VEi7WTbLFkE

[killergamer]

holy hell, thats a big tube. I want one! muahahaha, create a death beam!

[Collinstheclown]

You can get a 40W tube off ebay for like $100 or so. Are you able to install a larger tube? Maybe upgrade to 50 or 60W?

[TLHarrell]

$168.00 shipped. 40w. Higher power isn't a lot of use unless you go to like 80w. And those tube don't fit.

Got email Wednesday morning. It shipped. Estimated arrival in 20 days. Waiting sucks.

[AmEv]

You might get your case before you get your laser!

[Outlaw]

$168.00 shipped. 40w. Higher power isn't a lot of use unless you go to like 80w. And those tube don't fit.

Got email Wednesday morning. It shipped. Estimated arrival in 20 days. Waiting sucks.

Can't you just make it fit? lol

Would you be able to cut thicker material then?

[TLHarrell]

I'll probably get BOTH cases, and get them into CAD before I get the tube.

[TLHarrell]

More wattage would mean deeper cut, to some degree. But the physical limits of the machine would remain. It's small. I will build larger in the future.