On Jan 23, 2010, at 3:51 PM, Windell H. Oskay wrote: > We have an Epilog. Low-power lasers of this type cannot cut (or even etch) > copper foil, nor can they cut FR4. > > You can potentially use it to blast away an etch-resist layer, however; I've > seen several examples of this. > Here is one: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41222 cool link. hadn't seen that one.
He talks about getting the speed/power settings right so that the paint totally ablates without burning, and also so that flakes don't re-deposit back onto the board. Of course, you don't want it to re-deposit onto your optics, either. I can imagine it all being very tweaky. The modern Epilogs have what they call "air assist" which is essentially a small jet of air directed on the focal point that disperses the flammable gasses created in the kerf. It helps tremendously with "flamage" when cutting certain materials. My machine doesn't have that, I'd like to jury-rig a blower of some kind. Of course, if stuff comes off in large flakes, like it sounds like the paint does, you probably want just a big exhaust flow going across the board to pull it out before it can land anywhere. -dave _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list [email protected] http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
