Got some exciting news in Laserland!! We’ve been working on outreach to laser manufacturers on behalf of Asmbly, and one has offered to donate a 60W JPT MOPA fiber laser to the space.
If you haven’t used a fiber MOPA before, the short version is: it marks and engraves on stuff our CO2 lasers can’t. Metals (stainless, aluminum, titanium), plastics, stone, ceramics, and it can even do color-marking on certain metals:
What we need from the y’all: The machine is almost entirely being donated (going for $1400 new to have in our makerspace instead of a tag of about $7,000), but we still need about $2,000 to cover the fees for receiving it and to build a proper safety enclosure.
Fiber lasers put out light that’s invisible and especially dangerous to eyes, so a solid enclosure with safety interlocks has to be in place before anyone touches it.
Stretch goals: If we blow past $2k, we’ll put it to a vote among donors on what to grab next:
Rotary fixture for tumblers, rings, cylinders, round stock
Motorized extended work bed for bigger workpieces and batch runs
TLDR: This machine would open up a whole category of projects that just aren’t possible with what we have right now. If you’ve got questions about what a fiber MOPA can do, Reach out to lasers@asmbly.org!
What are the cutting bed dimensions? Can it do precise cuts on thin 4-6mil stainless sheets? I’m thinking solder paste stencils, I’m probably not alone.
I recently cut some kind of stencil for someone with a tungsten foil. The holes were .5mm. I was easily able to cut it. I assume you should be able to do the same.
Don’t quote me on this, but it should be able to get through 5mm stainless. That’s approaching its maximum however. May be better suited somewhere around 2mm.
Default working area is 150x150mm. With extra lenses that can go up to 300x300mm. With a motorized bed that can go up to 300x1000mm.
The laser has been purchased!! Thank you Nick for the discovery and findings for this, and a huge thank you to all of the folks who have donated funds already. There’s still room to donate for some of the extras Nick mentioned (extra lenses and motorized bed).
The laser will likely be on-site within the net 4-6 weeks. We’ll be moving quick as we can to get it up safely (with an enclosure) so we can open it up for members!
My plan was 80/20 extrusion and composite aluminum panels, but honesty I’m all ears and very open to help/suggestion there as well.
The plan for the motorized bed does make it a more “fun” build than we’d normally need, since we’ll need 800mm of enclosed space on either side.
