How to cut through double the thickness. Using 50W Chinese Laser Cutter

With careful planning you can significantly increase the thickness you can cut with a cheap laser cutter. At least 1/2" with a 50W laser is possible.
Tip- If you don't have your x=0, y=0 axis indexed like I do in the video, you can just tape down thick cardboard or something to the table and cut your guide straight out.
It wont be reusable, but it will get the job done for as long as you keep it in place.
I have more tips on using a cheap Chinese laser cutter at my website: makestuffnow.co...

[@TMS5100]

50W laser is easily capable of cutting 12mm wood in a single pass. the key is focusing partway into the wood, not on the surface. around 0.300" is what works for me. also good air removal ensures the combusion products won't come back up and interfere with the beam path, as the combustion products are opaque to IR. i have also managed to cut 3/4" solid poplar and pine in a single pass. again, focusing partway into the material is key.

[@MrWonder0]

ms3bani what do you mean?, by focusing part away?

[@andyspoo2]

China has no standards. In the UK BS (British Standards) would mean a 50W laser is 50W + or - say 4%. In China 50W could have usable power as little as 30W. So 2 different 50W machines might have quite different usable power outputs. i.e. yours might be closer to 50W, this guys machine could be closer to 30W

[@OLgravyLEGS]

Great video! Very helpful. Thank you. I applied this concept to a project that has been driving me crazy for a long time. Finally found the answer. Thank you thank you!

[@TheDwilliams1000]

I would love to know how to replace the bed in the 50w

[@rickmccaskill7888]

Great video. How did you determine your depth of cut to know that it was half way through? Thanks

[@thebeststooge]

Is this a stock 50w or was the lens replaced with a HQ version? There are two other types of lenses and one is the el cheapo that comes with it. Another is the HQ you can purchase for around 15-17 pounds and the last is 75-100+ pounds. Just moving up to the HQ version will give you 9-11% more power at the cutting beam and that is one heck of a lot. The really expensive one with triple coating (HQ is double coating) is about 1-2% more power than the HQ so the biggest bang for the buck/quid is the HQ version.

[@makestuffnow]

This is the stock 50mm lens, I try to use the stock parts to demonstrate just how much you can get out of the cheap stuff. While more power will allow you to do really useful things like cut at faster speed or use fewer passes, I wouldn't expect cutting depth to increase much more than maybe a few extra mm. This is because your cutting depth is also somewhat limited by the working length of the beam waist (which is related to the focal length). I hope to do some tests on the higher quality lenses and making quantitative measurements on the extra performance.

[@shawndraparker2501]

I'm relatively new to my 50watt Have a question if u don't mind. How do I set the y & x axis to get to use the most out of my laser bed. Everything gets cut off. Either at the top sides or bottom. I can only cur in the center of the bed???

[@TaureusGrey]

Is there a particular reason for the 10mm strip sitting against the Y zero/top guide?

[@MrWonder0]

May I know the procedures you took to actually set your absolute reference I keep failing that part

[@sendboxsac9480]

nice video, in my cuntry people use MDF and acrylic, in a pass, which thick do you think it cut?

[@sendboxsac9480]

using china laser 50W

[@sickvic3909]

How does the light from tube stay reflected on the head moving on xy axsis? Never mind found your other vid :))

[@himynameis2170]

Hello, excuse me. what is the name of the application that uses the machine. I have a similar one but the application is not quite good

[@vigneshbabu4698]

I'm planning to buy Chinese laser cut machines is it worth in quality?

[@chade74]

Can you tell me how to program inkscape to make a cutout. I want to cut out a image of a state and cant find any info on how to do it. I'm new at this. Thanks

[@Teknos78]

what program did you used for your laser? and what board type is yours? can you share the laser setting to us? thanks

[@jgmailbx]

Hi and thanks for the video! I just picked one up myself and wanted to know what type of protective eyewear to purchase for this cutter. I can't seem to find the wavelength which is what I'm told you need in order to get the proper protective eyewear. Thanks!

[@makestuffnow]

You can find suitable "10.6micron laser goggles" on ebay. The $30-$60 googles should all be fine for home use. 10.6micrometer, or 10600nm, is the wavelength you are looking for.

[@jimgiordano6256]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!!!

[@VinylBlair]

Is it possible to make numerous passes with a lower watt laser like say a 20/30W..? ,the price of a 40W is around £330/50 on Fleabay from China or would I be better getting a 50W..?.

[@makestuffnow]

There is a limit to how deep you can cut no matter how many passes you make. As the laser gets deeper below the surface the beam expands, so the power density starts to drop. Also having good air flow through the nozzle removes waste material better and can help cut a little deeper. After about 3 passes of the laser you are just burning wood and not penetrating any deeper. For my setup, which is a 2" lens with default air blower attached I find with 2-3 passes I can get about 12-14mm deep in soft woods (pine), about 6-8mm in less dense hardwoods (beechlike in the video) and barely about 3mm on really tough wood (jarrah, red gum, walnut). Despite what other people might tell you, with wood don't ever focus partway into the material. You need your focal point right on the surface of the timber to get the maximum power density possible the begin the cut, and then rely on your air flow to remove the material to push through as deep as possible until the laser cant get any further. After 2-3 passes that is likely as deep as you are going to cut.

[@VinylBlair]

Thank you for the reply mate it's very helpful...keep up the good work fella!.

[@stefanodedalo8772]

hi , great job and thankyou for sharing. couple of questions please , i'm thinking about buying this machine for wood engraving , how much the floor could go down ? how much thick could be the piece of wood to engrave ? could you even remove the floor a put something to adjust z axis highness in order to engrave also thicker pieces ? thank you

[@makestuffnow]

The floor goes down a bit more than 30cm. You can engrave decent sized boxes. There is nothing important under the table, and it is easily removable. So it would be possible to cut a hole through the bottom of the machine and get more depth.

[@stefanodedalo8772]

makestuffnow! thanx a lot ! that's really seems the perfect machine for me ... ive seen a lot of smaller machines that are too much cheaper to work properly .. this di one looks really ok !

[@lukecunningham8793]

Can you provide the link to this laser?

[@tekasel]

brilliant idea mate where can someone get a work table like that?

[@makestuffnow]

I made it myself out of 3mm aluminium plate. If you get the aluminium store to cut it to size for you, the only tool you need is a drill to make the mounting holes and whatever air vents you want to add.

[@1designm923]

Dang.... Nice Video showing how to increase your depth in the cut!!! You do make the best video!!!! What you do you typically use your engravers for? Business, hobby? Matthew

[@makestuffnow]

The vast majority I use it for is engraving. I do some custom engraving for some local women with small online/market baby toy stores. I usually cut stuff to make myself tracing and routing templates for woodwork. If you can be bothered dealing with people, you can make back the cost of your machine in a few months by offering custom acrylic or plywood cutting somewhere like etsy.

[@1designm923]

At Etsy you will be a diamond in the rough with little view. I have hustle for business since last year and doling well right now with my Laser. I use it for engraving as well as 1/4 cutouts. I had a customer who built a website and even paid for ads at Etsy. He was alarmed at not making any sales at all.

[@dehatoy2572]

Hello can you be so kind and tell me how high is the wood you put under laser head? I got 50,8 mm (2 inch) focal length, but i would like to know how much is it from bottom fo laser head to top of material, just like you set it by the wood.

[@makestuffnow]

I can't give you a number because it depends how long your nozzle is. You need to measure 50.8mm from the actual position of the lens, which somewhere inside the nozzle assembly which can be different on different machines. Check this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5iZhXuoesmfm9E

[@houstonfirefox]

Damned Handy Technique! Very Nicely done!

[@brian2k1]

I really did not understand why you were doing the offset after the mirror operation on the original design. You could just do a mirror and use the same origin as the first cuts. I know you mentioned the reason in the video but it doesn't make sense to me... I must be missing something obvious :-)

[@makestuffnow]

If you were to do it that way, you need to make sure the wood is cut exactly the same height as in your drawing. you also need to make sure the top, left and bottom sides of the wood are perfectly square. The way I have done it the wood doesn't need to be prepared with any accuracy. Both sides of the cut are relative to the top left corner of the wood, and none of the other dimensions matter.

[@anasalami9112]

now i understand, well done.

[@owpeterj]

Nice one mate. I'll check out yr site. Edge looked great.

[@andyspoo2]

Excellent and a great demo. Thanks.

[@not_riley]

i was looking into this cutter on ebay. Do you think it's strong enough to cut through 5-6mm acrylic? What about 2-4mm fiberglass? And maybe i'm asking a stupid question, but could it cut through 2-3mm carbon fiber?

[@makestuffnow]

6mm acrylic cuts easy. I cut 10mm acrylic with 2 passes (3 of the tube is a little old). Carbon fiber no good. It just scratches up the surface. No idea about fiberglass as I never use it. It can engrave glass and cut most plastics, but with a lot of non-acrylic plastics it will leave dirty burn marks. So I would guess it may cut fibreglass but there is a chance it leave a bad edge. I'll have to test it one day.

[@nicparker3809]

you have laser burns on your hands. Looks great.

[@bestandinformative758]

great work and really amazing job u have done.

[@leilaleila2462]

Hi. Bought the same machine for wood engraving. Question, the wood seems burnt and have no depth. Do u have any suggestion to get lighter color and more depth?

[@makestuffnow]

No cutting depth strongly suggests you don't have the focal height set right. For light colour cut lines on wood you want to cut quickly with a lot of power so the laser doesn't dwell too long and make soot. It's very hard with these cheap machines to do that. You need to cut with speeds over say 10mm/s, and have a soft timber that is possibly still a little green. You can only do this easiest with soft pine that is not too thick (about 6-8mm). Balsa and basswood is also easy to cut like this.

[@leilaleila2462]

makestuffnow! Can you share with me what is the total speed and power i should use. I just want to engrave a phone case with depth, the wood thickness is only 1mm but I couldn't get the engrave depth. It only leaves black marks though i chose sunken and no depth .

[@makestuffnow]

full power 20mm/s should cut through 1mm wood easily. To mark I would run 200mm/s and start at 40% power. This should mark to a depth about 0.5mm for most woods. Then I would adjust the power up or down to get desired marking depth.

[@lasercuttemplate6595]

Hi, friends! tell me where you usually take models for reduction?

[@alphasxsignal]

Many of these chinese cutters I read are not 50watt when they say 50watt so you better get a larger one then what you need. The seem to be less then what they advertise.

[@toddspeck9415]

That was a really good lesson.

[@elgage]

Is this the make test battle guy?

[@cedriclwx9184]

To cut through a 6mm thick plywood, what power is recommended?

[@makestuffnow]

plywood is a whole video by itself, it varies greatly depending on wood type and glue. With this stock machine, light plywood like basswood or birch I give 3mm thick 60% power and 8mm/s. For 6 mm thick I would just give it 2 passes at the same. Any faster or more powerful will burn too much. Stronger plywood like marine ply made out of hardwood, I can try cutting 4mm stuff all day and unless im getting good airflow I will just be burning up a whole lot of soot.

[@mahreeortiz]

Do you think I can do this with my glowforge?

[@stevefg420]

Could you share how to make the guide or share the file thanks

[@lasermania6805]

Awesome work, great video 👌

[@MarioIArguello]

how long did it take to cut all those patterns in the wood?

[@makestuffnow]

That many patterns is about 15-20 minutes cutting time, each side. The whole job should take around 45 minutes start to finish.

[@MarioIArguello]

thanks.

[@MsRomero90]

how do you transfer your design to the cutting machine? through a cable or bluetooth?

[@makestuffnow]

Connected via USB cable is how I have it set up. The controller also has an Ethernet port which I have never used. You can also save file to USB drive and plug it into the laser cutter, loading file from the machine control panel.

[@kbc3467]

Great idea !!!!!! Thanks !!

[@malisachumpraseat]

Hi. I just bought my laser machine maybe 3 months ago. I can't seem to get the right measurements to cut the pieces. I have it at 40mm/sec , at 80% min power to 90%max power, but it still doesn't cut through 3/4 in plywood. What am I doing wrong?

[@makestuffnow]

Too fast. As a rough guide with this machine at full power 40mm/s --cut cardboard 10-20mm/s --cut acrylic up to about 6mm thick 4-10mm/s --cut wood and thicker acrylic If you cant cut at least about 5-6mm in a single pass then the alignment or focal distance is wrong.

[@parsonpaul]

makestuffnow! A

[@malisachumpraseat]

makestuffnow! How do I fix the focus/alignment. I'm having a difficult time with that also.

[@makestuffnow]

check this video for the focus kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5iZhXuoesmfm9E check this video for the alignment kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2LGZJ6bhLB_bLs

[@malisachumpraseat]

makestuffnow! Thank you!!!

[@AnitaSews]

So this machine can cut acrylic pieces at 1/25" with no problems?

[@makestuffnow]

I cut through 10mm acrylic no problem.

[@bestandinformative758]

can u plz share the setting of ur laser software for 1 side, ? and what is the other software u used other than inkscape, ?

[@TrejeKovic]

RD WORKS

[@bestandinformative758]

can u share the website from which u have purchase that laser, and how much custom u have paid?

[@makestuffnow]

You can find them on ebay. around $2000-$2500 total price.

[@beefybeef1326]

Nice video mate

[@AndTheCorrectAnswerIs]

That is NOT the same lens that shipped standard with my machine. The focus tool with mine is 8mm. Yours looks to be at least double that. I know that certain lenses will give you a tighter focus with a larger usable focal distance. I can barely cut thru 1/8" plywood, and sometimes require multiple passes just to do that.

[@makestuffnow]

Without even some basic information like your laser power or the focal length of your lens, there isn't much I can do to help you out. But your poor performance sounds like it isn't focused correctly.

[@makestuffnow]

I've spoken with some other people, and it seems that some sellers provide the machine with a 1 1/2" lens, some provide it with 2". I'm using the 2" which will have a little lower power density, but the beam profile will allow a few mm deeper cutting over the shorter lens.

[@AndTheCorrectAnswerIs]

makestuffnow! Yes, people should be aware that most Chinese products sold on Ebay are produced in multiple different factories. The general appearance of the machines may be the same, but there is no guarantee that ANY of the internal components will be the same. There is also no set standard of quality. Some machines are produced in very well run factories, some are not. My machine came with metal shavings within the lens assembly, but thankfully everything else seems well built. Who knows, the factory may have bought the whole lens assembly from a 3rd party supplier. I actually worked for a Chinese owned computer manufacturer in the USA back in the late 90's. They have a very different approach to manufacturing. Their focus was definitely volume production at low cost regardless of quality control issues. I think that production mentality still holds true today. Just sell enough to be able to absorb the cost of a certain percentage of bad units. I am very satisfied with my laser (with the 1.5" lens) and count myself lucky that I got a good one.

[@wingmanmedia6536]

As far as I know the smallest focal length for lasers is 1", probably even 1.5" so I highly doubt your lens has 8mm focal point. What I am sure though that you are talking about is not a focal length of your lens but a distance between a bottom of your nozzle to a material placed on a table. Since laser machines are not the same each can have different head designs and that distance will vary for each machine.

[@AndTheCorrectAnswerIs]

Michael S Yes...I was not clear. The focal length from the bottom of the lens is more, but the spacer block from the bottom of the air tube to the work is 8mm. I have also recently purchased a laser output meter, and have found that my machine is only putting out about 24 watts. I will try getting a new tube, but have heard that the quality control on the tubes is not great. Many of the so called 50w machines actually have a 50w power supply and a 40w tube, and even then, the tube ratings themselves are sometimes overblown. I've also found that these machines can overdrive the tube which shortens the life. Most tubes are only supposed to be driven at 18-20ma, which happens at about the 65% setting in my software. My software needs to be set at 20% even to fire the tube. So in reality my useful software range without overdriving the tube is 20-65%. If I had a tube truly putting out 40-50w, I do think this cutting method would work for me too.

[@pmstarpromotions4245]

How did you remove the factory bed?

[@makestuffnow]

I removed the whole bed and 4 main screws and took it out. I unscrewed the thin plate it came with and threw that away. I bought a 3mm aluminum plate cut to size and drilled some ventilation holes in it, then drilled some holes to screw it onto the main bed assembly. I never took any photos while doing it unfortunately. It is fairly straight forward to do but is a lot of work.

[@ioonerbe]

Cost of a machine like this one ?

[@makestuffnow]

In Australia about $2000-$2500 from eBay, with a working area of 500x300mm. I modified a few things like the table surface and some loose fittings, but I'm using exactly the same laser tube and optical components that it came with. This technique should also work with one of the smaller 40W machines too. Just make 2 passes of the laser on each side of the board.

[@juanolivera3160]

What is the maximum thickness you have cut in a pass?

[@makestuffnow]

using 2" lens, and 40W real power output: With a soft timber like pine about 8mm single pass works for me. Hard dense timbers like jarrah or red gum barely more than 3mm. Everything else somewhere in between.

[@mohamedatia1312]

what's of name this program

[@fv3503]

How much does a machine like this cost ?

[@makestuffnow]

This size is around $1600-$2000 australian dollars at the moment to buy. I've made a few upgrades to my machine like the new table surface and laser current/water temp monitors, but that cost very little extra to do.

[@piknalogreparacijamodifika5761]

Hello. What is the maximum thikness you can cut acrylic you can cut, with one or more pass to have reasonable good edge? Is it good to do more then one pass? (10-15mm) thx

[@GeorgeIndustry]

´por que tiene lastimado las dos manos ..!

[@chillienaveen4]

Sir can this machine cut dry dates and tamarind plz let me know

[@makestuffnow]

Probably. I've used it to cut open coconuts before so smaller nuts should work.

[@neatpleats11]

You really should not use aluminum table on a laser. It reflects over 95% of the laser beam back to you. Use steel

[@makestuffnow]

Yeah true. At this low power, and considering how scratched and dirty the surface gets it's not too big an issue though. The main reason I will change to steel next time is so I can use magnets to hold down things like leather and fabric.

[@luissalazar2612]

I'm thinking in use magnets as well. Do you know if it can affect some of the components in the machine?

[@owpeterj]

thanks

[@hesperhurt]

Luis Salazar Stay clear of the data lines and the motors and you'll be fine. You don't need to use neodymium either. Standard ferrite magnets work fine... and there's plenty of space. I've used 12x12x60 ferrite bar magnets a fair bit. Unlike Neos you can cut them to shape or size too. 👍

[@LaserShopKiev]

Better Use the Blades Table for cutting

[@marcusdenice1557]

great video, thanks

[@ehkuthu8721]

Can it software run on windows 10?

[@makestuffnow]

Yes. I use windows 10

[@skjha5362]

Hi where can i buy it in india

[@makestuffnow]

Don't know much about the India retail industry, but these machines come assembled and ready straight out of china. So where ever Indians normally shop for chinese imports (like ebay, aliexpress) is your best place to look.

[@simonyuan1910]

hello Jha, if you are interesting in this kindly of laser cutting machine, you could send your requirement to my mail:"[e-mail]", we are the laser cutting machine supplier. we will supply you the best price with best quality.

[@LaserShopKiev]

I'm sorry about your finger dude :(

[@TMS5100]

A 50W RF excited laser will do 1/2" easily in one pass. Even 3/4" can be done in one pass with some woods. The DC driven lasers in cheap chinese cutters are horribly inefficient.

[@wingmanmedia6536]

I'd be interested to see edges quality. On your video I cannot see them because your camera is below that point. This is known technique, there are even some machines that cut both from the top and the bottom at the same time but I have never seen what quality of cut you get at the end.

[@umbreenjangda-rabbani466]

Genius

[@joelvanstaden9083]

Great idee

[@HillbillyRednecking]

Here look at this! But I'm gonna hold it out of the shot so you can't see it...

[@makestuffnow]

It's already very hard to just frame an adequately lit shot inside the laser cutter. When editing I didn't realise the seeing the final edge was going to be such crucial part. There's a thumbs down button for a reason. The thumb rating is of great value to me as it lets me know if it's worth spending a day or 2 to make more videos in the future.

[@berighteous]

seeing the final edge is everything. The whole point of the video is showing your method works and lines up and we have to take your word for it (and we do, what we can see looks great) When you're editing and you get to the end and you realize that the important part is out of frame, you stop and shoot an additional clip of what you want to show. Your viewers are literally watching the whole video TO SEE THAT REVEAL.

[@karolispakalnis1315]

I think your cut is not good, becouse the cut line color must be light. Maybe dark lite but god bless no black.

[@makestuffnow]

I think you want the video "How to buy a $100,000 150W machine and press the go button". The topic of this video is pushing the extreme limits of a very cheap laser cutting machine most home hobbyists would own.

[@karolispakalnis1315]

you understood me unlawfully, I have same laser like you, and the cut line is normaly color, not black

[@makestuffnow]

If you are using a 50W cheap ebay laser cutter, and cutting 12mm thick hardwood with a nice clean cut, then upload video. 3-6mm yeah, 12mm I don't believe you.

[@karolispakalnis1315]

sorry , I have 80W

[@fibranijevidra]

I was watching whole 7:32 minutes so you show the result out of the camera frame. You could add a result picture in edditing. Waste of time.

[@autobotavengerfireballxl5339]

Easy just run the program twice. Duh

[@LaserShopKiev]

Yes, but i will be bevelled cut - not perpendicular. The way of cutting shown in this video - really interested thing - I'll try it myself:)

[@autobotavengerfireballxl5339]

@@LaserShopKiev itll be fine as.long as your pieces dont move

[@GregK2754]

I would think that the laser needs to refocused to cut deeper on the same path. The beam itself has a focal point imagine an X that is the same width but stretch that X to be 20 times its height. The cut only happens within a certain distance to the convergence point on the X so he should be able to drop the focus by 4 to 6 mm and cut it again without flipping. At these depths your getting a beveled cut no matter what. Flipping the board as he is doing here should result in a double bevel or a wave like cut, albeit very slight.

[@autobotavengerfireballxl5339]

@@GregK2754 wrong the problem with that is you would fuck you the initial surface cut in your work piece especially with wood you would burn the top surface maybe even cause a fire

[@GregK2754]

@@autobotavengerfireballxl5339 not sure I follow you, you're saying run the same cut twice when the reason its not cutting all the way through is loss of focus coupled with speed. I said "I would think" meaning it is an untested (at least by me) method. But like you I would run the same cut twice as well, but the second time refocus a bit lower, below the line. The heat generated at the surface would actually be less because the beam at the point would be out of focus. Fire can and will happen with wood which is why you never leave the machine alone when performing a cut through. An air assist would help put the tiny flames out. I could be wrong... and one day I will test. For now I have no need to cut wood that thick. I do a lot more acrylic work.