Cutting gears on the laser cutter

woodgears.ca/gear/laser.html
Using a CNC laser cutter to cut some gears. Quick and accurate.
Using my gear generator program:
woodgears.ca/gear
More about the plane at rubber-power.com

[@thenerdyouknowabout]

That is a beautiful program Matthias! I'm staggered!

[@BrianGidneySummersWoodworking]

I have heard of this kind of cutting. However, I never have actually seen it. To watch this perform the cuts out of wood is mind blowing. Awesome, Matthias!

[@SteveFrenchWoodNStuff]

I don't understand all the whiny, negative comments. The program is brilliant (yet another way Matthias is going to receive more of my money... I'm not complaining though: He truly deserves it for all of his incredible work and talent). And no one is suggesting one should go out and buy an expensive laser cutter. The video is merely opening people's eyes to the possibilities the gear designer program enables.

[@Woodentoolcompany2]

Very cool to be able to do that. Your gear generator is awesome. Well worth the money.

[@thiswoodwork]

I had one of these at my old school, its great for thin things like this. ... We tryed some much thicker material (it didn't go well) it had an extractor but man it was SMOKEY! I would find more use out of a CNC router myself.

[@tetlik]

Amazing. Technological progress never ceases to surprise me. Now I want to have such "printer" :)

[@mrmanusia]

Laser cutter cnc less then 1000usd,

[@KirkQuesnelle]

The model airplane is so awesome. Great job.

[@TOMA21207]

Your'e the greatest. We have so much in common, I make my living as programmer and my spare time like everything else, DIY wood and metal work. Like to have all the tools and to make some machines. I watched almost all of your videos and they are great. Also good work on gear program. Keep up good work.

[@matthiaswandel]

PDF files usually contain vector format.

[@foxwwww]

informative tutorial...I did a similar set of gears on a Boss Laser. Now working on a worm gear using a rotary attachment. Wish I had a fume extractor....Well done!

[@Danny77uk]

this is one of the coolest things ive ever seen

[@Bigelowbrook]

@senorquax I use a 30 watt at work...it can't cut a lot of materials. The 40 watt are worth the extra cost

[@BrianFyhnPetersen]

I think we are on the edge. It's only a matter of time before Mathias will build his own CNC router, to be able cut perfect gears. His perfect gear program kind of deserves it :-)

[@sdfghjghdhjksdfghjd]

I love the black finish it gets from the laser

[@markcalabretta5457]

As each gear was made in three layers, you could have formed a (quasi) helical gear by staggering each layer by a few degrees when they were glued together. Apart from looking pretty swish, it would be interesting to see how well that might work in terms of smoothness, noise, wear, etc.

[@TempoDrift1480]

Mark Calabretta Yeah that would be pretty interesting.

[@jelbuilderfilms]

Wow! Absolutely amazing.

[@LowCostCncRetrofits]

Great video guys just purchased the gear cutting software to use on my redsail c150 chinese laser machine

[@BigDH28]

Amazing Footage! Awesome Machine!

[@MegaJana74]

Merry Christmas!

[@FrederickDunn]

Wow Matthias! This was in 2011? How have wood-cutting lasers advance since you did this video? Would love seeing the updates. Thank you as always for your extremely interesting channel! Thumbs UP of course!

[@GamingBrits]

Not much has really changed - the main improvement from a model like this has been auto-focusing, higher wattage output from the CO2 laser tube, cooling to control and mitigate radiant burns from the laser on slow passes and faster, more precise motors. You can now get laser cutters that are 'desktop' size too (just make sure you have adequate extraction!)

[@FrederickDunn]

BoomLiam Thanks, all very interesting.

[@asciisynth]

I can even cut plywood on my cheap Chinese laser cutter, which was £300 on eBay. (lite plywood, but up to 6mm is possible). Shameless promotion of my channel: I've uploaded a few videos about it! Now it's my main method of building all of my projects - you can make really complex joints easily and it's cheaper and cleaner to operate than a CNC router.

[@asciisynth]

PS Matthias' gear generator just blows my mind.. I never thought of using that with my laser. I've been drawing gears in SketchUp.

[@mattpkp]

Lasers are great if you have 20k laying around to blow, pretty much a business only tool if you need to cut thick material in one go.

[@LukeSantore]

Matthias, next step is a video with a CNC waterjet cutting metal gears!! Thumbs up guys!

[@Emerald13]

Absolutely amazing.

[@drstampfli]

Matthias, I have a 120 watt Epilog, but the extra power is not always good. I can cut thru thick wood in a single pass, but it's not pretty! I found the best way to cut precise parts is to lower the power (to 10 watts) and let the machine cut multiple passes. Tighter "kerf", less burning, and much more precision. People with lower power lasers can do the same - and it actually works better than cutting in one pass anyway. Takes longer, but the results are worth it.

[@pheenix42]

A patternmaker's dream...would save a ton of time fabricating pieces to use in a foundry mold! Afterwards you'd end up with a part that would need minimal machine tool time to finish off. This and a CNC router are a couple of machines I want to put in my shop someday!

[@DarcyWhyte]

@Matthiaswandel Actually, I think there's enough juice to cut the 6mm but it doesn't look as nice. I will try it with 1/4 hardboard and see how that goes.

[@matthiaswandel]

You can cut a wooden gear of exactly the size you need in minutes, or you can spend hours scouring catalogues and then spend hundreds of dollars ordering gears that may or may not be close to what you need, then spend days waiting for them.

[@yusufmahomed8366]

Can it cut metal gears?

[@matthiaswandel]

When's the last time you saw somebody use one of those to build something that wasnn't miniature, and was actually practically useful?

[@davidduffy9806]

Matthias, you need a stern talking too..... Your a very clever young man yet all you do is play! Yes, I am jealous!

[@ImmoSci]

@chaddythewoodpecker we have a similar machine in my school's technology shop - the laser is barely powerful enough to cut through 10mm plywood, and can only lightly engrave (very sloow...) aluminium plates. The steel grid underneath is perfectly fine, if a little unevenly worn at one corner! Hope this helps!

[@Ramog1000]

I really like the look of laser cuted stuff the black color on the sides is just so nice :D

[@matthiaswandel]

Actually, a 3D printer wold be a particularly poor choice for making templates. The templates need to be fairly large and accurate, and something like a reprap can't make stuff that is large or very accurate.

[@82camino96]

“It’s loud unfortunately” ... always naysaying Matthias! Save the naysaying exclusively for John.

[@82camino96]

Hahaha just playing

[@BigManko]

It's an Epilog Zing CO² Laser! Hope that helps!

[@manutube8080]

Dammmit now I want the printer, the planes and the gear program!!

[@matthiaswandel]

The kerf is very narrow - maybe 0.3 mm.

[@timlandscheidt]

One of those machines that I wouldn't know what to use it for, but I still want it :-).

[@robbie77300]

I use the gear program myself. Made a couple of clocks with it.

[@LowCostCncRetrofits]

Very clever cant wait to do this on my machine

[@matthiaswandel]

30 watts. Enough for 1/8" (3 mm) wood, but not enough for 6 mm plywood.

[@kurtzinater813]

@Matthiaswandel uhhhh..... good point however you could use it to create very accurate templates for the pantarouter... or for parts in one of your marble machines

[@DarcyWhyte]

@Svetty00 yeah, it has stepper motors that move the beam around.

[@Culturedropout]

That's pretty slick. It must have some kind of vector-extraction built into the software? Or does your program generate vectors in the PDF file? At my previous job, I got to operate a laser cutter that would do this about as fast to a 4x8 foot sheet of 1/4" thick steel plate. That was a fun toy...

[@matthiaswandel]

I'm sure metal gears last at least ten times longer. but it doesn't matter. I haven't worn out any wood gears yet.

[@LowCostCncRetrofits]

great gear program I have it running on my chinese resail co2 machine

[@isamu2040]

You will use metal gears depending on what application they will have. In the case of a lever. like matthias do you can use wood because the gears are not expossed to fritction or big forces. If you wanna build an engine or a mor complex machine you will use metal

[@tofu4tortoise]

@Matthiaswandel yes thank you i found his website from the video he has of his planes. thanks for replying, matthias!

[@AbideinChristFully]

Sold! Thank you!

[@ecsyntric]

seems like getting a bevel (for right angled gears) will be tough. either have to post process or stack up super thin ones with decreasing radius

[@epilotdk]

Wood gears are perfectly adequate for a number of uses. I have a 60W laser that cost around $2500 and make kits that include gears. I could not make them that small and fast on a CNC router. If more strenght and less friction is required then acetal (delrin) cuts well on a laser. Downside is you can't glue acetal.

[@sifterbox]

if you cut the little hubs to the side in the open left over spaces you could essentially cut a gear inside a gear inside a gear etc with no waste.

[@Askjerry]

I'll help answer some of the questions as I've had an Epilog 35W laser for about 10 years now. Cost new was $16,400 USD. I cannot cut metal, for that you need a YAG laser, this is a CO2 laser which works great on plastic, wood, leather, cardboard, and similar materials. You can purchase Thermark which will turn black on metal to mark metal... but other than that... It won't do anything with metal. You can make a CNC machine out of wood for under $1000... there are many kits out there. Use EMC2.

[@ihrbekommtmeinenrichtigennamen]

Very interesting. I wondered why your camera wasn't able to capture any light while it was below the glass plane. What wavelenght does the laser emit? It should be 1064nm, which should be visible to cameras, if I remember correct.

[@TempoDrift1480]

Man I would be on that machine ALL day!

[@NoorquackerInd]

The laser BLOWS THEM AWAY!

[@BrunoBsso]

Absolutely impressive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@matthiaswandel]

You can buy one - Darcy sells them.

[@NOLAMarathon2010]

How wide is the "kerf" of the laser? Let's assume it's 1/16" wide. If it cuts down the center of the cut line, then it removes 1/32" more material on the "keeper" side of the cut line than you want. Is this a problem? Would you consider adjusting your cut line to a position 1/32" outboard of your gear teeth so that it doesn't remove more material than your design calls for?

[@ppdan]

Thanks for the info, that's pretty cheap for a laser cutter.

[@JohnB-2021]

Fantastic !!

[@TheChipmunk2008]

Are the missing ceiling tiles from the now discontinued larger model aeroplane? hehehehe

[@-Sean_]

It also had a laser mounted on it.

[@matthiaswandel]

Probably didn't download right. Sorry, I don't know what's going on on your system.

[@Dirtyharry70585]

nice program. should try in on a boss laser, some cut stainless steel

[@heckyes]

Surely metal gears would last longer, but I'm guessing when the wood gears wear out you could just simply make another one. I'm curious how much less use you could get out of a single wooden gear versus that same gear in metal. Would you say wood gears probably have 1/5th the wear and tear capability of metal?

[@DarcyWhyte]

@guitarherothre The glass stops the reflected beam.

[@bulletproofpepper2]

nice, great stuff

[@rogerpaull6178]

That's cool! Can that machine cut gears out of UHMWPE?

[@eddraper]

It is an Epilog laser. Pretty cheap at around $5,000 US.

[@Phrase]

Very cool!

[@tybrady64]

Big boys toys, I want one!

[@isamu2040]

Hi Matthias, I'd like to know what brand and model is that laser cutter. Regards

[@magna59]

Nice work, shame you did not put datum holes through the gear rims & boss parts to line up with a dowels / steel pins.

[@matthiaswandel]

I wrote it, and I sell it for $26. There's also a free eval version. Click link in description.

[@kurtzinater813]

@matthiaswandel ever think about building or buying a 3d printer similar to a reprap or a makerbot i feel like you would be able to do a ton of cool stuff with it

[@JtagSheep]

Depending on your laser cutter you can get one big enough and powerfull enough to cut out metal.

[@cw300mag]

I will be cutting some vinyl stickers for my Johnson outboard motor also I want to make stencils for airbrushing

[@SwPiotrek]

Very cool thing!

[@xXxBladeStormxXx]

@Matthiaswandel So are you gonna start using this from now on?

[@handps1]

Great Vid!

[@Everfalling]

How much compensation do you do for the kerf thickness? I was surprised to see you wrestle with putting the rods in the holes considering the laser should have cut a slightly bigger hole than whatever you asked it to do. Also I did a bit of laser cutting on 1/4" birch plywood and i found it results in a fair amount of charred remains on the edges but it didn't seem to do that with your wood. did you use hardboard or something?

[@Askjerry]

We have the Epilog mini-helix 35W... same manufacturer... the kerf is 0.004 inch (0.1016 mm) I want to know what the wattage on this one is... I can't really cut MDF with 35W... too much charring... this has to be a 75W or 100W unit.

[@ciaranfarley]

why does your camera get the purple lines where high power light sources are ?

[@thebeststooge]

About eight thousand dollars means it isn't for a home enthusiast but maybe a well established shop.

[@Luidheid]

this is just cool stuff!

[@PhuongNguyen-ui5mq]

thanks for sharing

[@nayansoni6437]

Please share which generator software was used to generate this design

[@RennovaMOCs]

Ah, technology at its finest.

[@osmanaj2002]

Awesome, How much thick it can cut?

[@eried]

@levi799 hahahah in fact will be very interesting to see a cnc of wood automating the band saw of matthias

[@croakerchoker504]

Have you tried a 3d printer or metal cnc?

[@Mekratrig]

So, Matthias, does this laser cut through any sort of wood? Is it going to supersede many of the othar woodworking tools you've purchased or created?

[@alexchulzhanov]

That was wood, or at least it was particle board.

[@DukeLaCrosse20]

what is that material? can you cut acrylic with that?

[@chaddythewoodpecker]

ok but how does the laser not cut throught the metal grid that the material sits on. is it because the laser is not powerful enough or what thx

[@JulioHernandez-zs5pb]

Esos equipos de corte laser de hace 12 años ya son obsoletos en estos momentos.

[@matthiaswandel]

it says "zing" on the machine (watch the video). That's all I know.

[@rgbplaza5945]

Still thinking wow in 2016!

[@JamesOliverLindsey]

For the new views, Matthias makes everything he uses and usually explains what he is doing!

[@pedtrog6443]

funny, i could smell the smoke while watching it cut

[@josedourado3747]

me to.

[@pigeonliquid4910]

Then you need a new computer if you smell smoke.

[@MegaMetinMetin]

pedtrog the lovely smeel of mdf

[@mr.headcrab31]

It appears to be an Epilog, i belive this is the site, it's pricy, but not obscenely so

[@supercooldud]

Those planes would be great in a classroom

[@magnumowner]

Yes, yes you can look for blacktooth cnc machine

[@mohdzakwan9048]

what software that you use?