Wow! Kilowatts huh... Thought it would be easier to cut thin foils. But no question about the reflecting qualities of metals at these wave lengths.

Have fun playing with this little toy it's nice to follow this thread and see what else you come up with.

Daniel

I seem to have got the hang of edge finish with acrylic - by reducing the power setting and reducing the feedrate the heat generated within the material is reduced and the finish much improved.

Something else that may be of interest is 3D decoupage - the multiple images are usually die cut but in this case are laser cut. The sooty edges are a problem which I think can be overcome once I discover how.

Tweakie.

This looks perfect, Tweakie! Glad you found the way... never doubted you would

Daniel

Thanks Dan I wish I had your confidence. 

I am having real problems getting Mach to run fast enough to enable the PRF changes I need to adjust the output power by duty cycle (rather than the usual pulse width modulation) without slowing everything down too much. Bench testing with a Smooth Stepper and the Tempest TP is the next step to see if I can get an improvement.

I am starting to realize that this project will never be completely finished. 

Tweakie.

Nice! 

Dave

Although mentioned before the mass of my X Axis is such that my machine is not really suitable for raster use with the laser. However, having just tried the 'Impact/Laser engraving' plugin http://www.machsupport.com/plugins.php I was surprised to find that it includes feed / power compensation (the slower you go the less the power and visa versa) . My results are not that stunning but with a bit of practice with 'setting up' I am sure that reasonable results can be achieved.
Initial setting up was done using paper and this is my first attempt with an off-cut piece of teak.

Tweakie.

That's pretty cool.

That's looks pretty good.

Why is he so mad.

Never mind, it's a cat.

This is my new (made in China) air pump. Air assist is essential for laser work, mainly to keep fumes and particles off the focus lens but it does also improve the cutting ability. It is rated to deliver 45 litres/minute (in free air) but is probably half that volume with the restriction of my air nozzle and tubing.
(Up to now I have been using one exhaust port from my vacuum table pump which has been a little overkill for the job).
Something else to bolt onto my machine. 

          

Tweakie

Poor machine

Daniel