There is no inherent difference between a laser cutter and a laser engraver, the main difference is one of setting expectations. If a laser can engrave a given material, it can generally cut that material also-- *provided the piece is thin enough*. Generally with laser cutters that are priced in the range that hobbyists can afford (even well-funded hobbyists) that generally means metal is out. I think you can cut very thin (<1mm or so) stainless on a high-powered (~150W) small CO2, but generally any other metal can't be done on small machines.
Copper in particular is hard to laser cut, even on very expensive machines. It is the worst possible combination for laser cutting: It is both highly reflective and it dissipates heat very well (aluminum is also hard to laser cut for the same reasons). Our laser cutter at work can cut 3/8" stainless steel and plain steel, but it can barely make a mark on 1/32" copper (I haven't tried anything thinner than that yet). On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 3:36 AM, Kenny <[email protected]> wrote: > My understanding is that an engraver is like a cutter with less output > power. Enough power to leave a mark, but not much more. The level of > precision probably isn't implied in either case. > > If you are looking at engravers on Ebay, they are probably low power CO2 > which can't engrave copper. There are IR and UV lasers designed for > prototyping PCBs, but they cost somewhere in the $60k range to get > started. > > There are other options for using a CO2 engraver, I suppose. Like > painting on a chemical resist layer that can be engraved off, leaving > exposed copper to be consumed by your favorite acid. > > http://www.instructables.com/id/Double-sided-PCBs-with-a-laser-cutter/ > > > -- > Kenny > > -+---+++-++-++++--+------+-+-++--++--+-+-++--+++-++----+-++-+++---+----+--+----+ > > > > On Wed, 2014-08-27 at 22:15 -0700, benjamin barber wrote: > > Question: is a laser engraver a smaller and more precise version of a > > laser cutter? > > > > Question: can a laser engraver be used to manufacture PCBs? > > _______________________________________________ > dorkbotpdx-blabber mailing list > [email protected] > http://music.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/dorkbotpdx-blabber > -- www.MakersToolWorks.com - Tools for Makers
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