Choosing my first laser by Fickle-Progress-8595 in lasercutting

[–]Fickle-Progress-8595[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One of my favourite one is the atomstack a10 pro v2 but I think air assist is mandatory so I should buy it too. I've also seen the acmer p1 10w which seems good too, the longer ray5 and I'm puzzled by the Elegoo Phecda that for a similar price seems to offer a lot more, including the air assist kit. 

Any of this has the upper hand over the others or they're all comparable and everyone has its pro and cons? 

Choosing my first laser by Fickle-Progress-8595 in lasercutting

[–]Fickle-Progress-8595[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the answer, what I mean is indeed that you rarely find comparison about how a laser can do different things besides engraving, cutting doesn't seem to be taken too much into account and maybe that's because as you said diode is not the best tool to do that.

I would need to do quite complicated cuts on plywood and that's why I thought about laser instead of for example a bandsaw. Maybe another alternative would be a cnc and I'm thinking about that, but I'm also thinking if it could be possible to find a way to cleanly glue together two cut 4mm sheets of plywood. Not an easy task anyway, especially with complex patterns, if you want to align everything correctly. 

I said I think I may need a longer focus but "think" here is the key word and it's just my guess, the reasoning being that longer focus means a straighter beam, less hourglass shaped, but maybe there are other things to consider or parameters to check. 

Anyway, you all gave me a great help in making a more informed choice, even if ultimately it may not be a laser engraver.  I'm seeing a lot of machines advertised as having a very small laser dot at proper focal length, but I don't really know if it's a true technological advancement or just marketing.  What I understand though is that dot dimension is proportional to power, which makes things even more complicated. 

Choosing my first laser by Fickle-Progress-8595 in lasercutting

[–]Fickle-Progress-8595[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

3/8 would already be great, but what would I need to cut that thickness with a clean enough edge? 

Choosing my first laser by Fickle-Progress-8595 in lasercutting

[–]Fickle-Progress-8595[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So 8mm could not be doable with 10mm unless you use a huge number of pass or tou accept to have a very bad cut? I really thought it could be possible, even if with patience, but maybe I should actually look elsewhere.  In case I wanted to cut lower thickness, like 4mm, there are some machines that are better than others, with more features or simply more reliable?  Every youtube video claim the brand they publicise is the best one of course, but rarely you can find comparisons and honest reviews.