Are you guys at Langmuir ever going to do a hobby version of fiber laser. Like the crossfire pro plasma. 3 foot by 4 foot table at a hobby machine price ? For us guys who dont have $ 20000.00 to spend. Like us retired Fab Shop Guys ??
The Apollo laser would be considered for hobby guys though.
You should see what industrial fiber laser actually costs.
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A 4x4 fiber laser would be well received. Buying the table is just to start, the ancillary equipment to support a fiber laser is also very expensive.
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Cant you just run it on shop clean air ??
No, it requires 200-250 psi or more to operate. Additionally, some require cooling systems to cool the Laser.
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I think they were also recomending different types of gas depending on what you are cutting and how thick from what I have been seeing on all those X-tool influencer videos.
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Looks like I will be keeping my Crossfire Pro. Too many other things to buy for a hobby machine… Hope they come up with a smaller hobby machine someway ??
Outside of Xtool’s offering (been hearing a lot of bad), there’s Gweike. After which you have multiple that are just clones of each other under a different name like DXTech. Get one shipped over from China and you’ll save some money such as getting an entire setup (compressor, chiller, source) and all for about $20k to $25k.
That’s as hobby grade/affordable as you can get. Not much more than CNC plasma.
Keep in mind many of these hobby grade laser tables will all be using the same Chinese laser.
The difference is everything else such as compressor, controller, etc.
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I have a 2500w jpt fiber laser cleaner/welder/combo. When I did the order from China I got the largest available unit that can run 85 percent at 100 duty cycle. There is zero chance 200psi of air is required. Mine as well as 4 others I know of want something like 95-135psi. Its requirements are in bar and I don’t have the exact number in front of me but I run mine at 110-115psi all of the time.
TimWelds (on Youtube) has had a lot of positive things to say about the xTool MetalFab. It’s definitely something I’ve been thinking about, still out of my price range and a small cutting surface, but from his perspective, seems like a good option for small hobby shops..
our laser gun, SUP23T, is only rated to 150psi. We tried running ours higher with nitrogen and didn’t see a dross reduction. Around 225, the cheap valve inside the main unit wouldn’t open.
I tried to look into the air requirements for the Max Photonics 1500W Fiber Laser and couldn’t find it on their website. I looked at a handful of import fiber lasers in that range. For the Gweike LG1390, they recommend a 16 bar (230 psi) screw compressor. Others were less than 150 psi. But all of them recommend using a screw compressor not a piston compressor. The compressor Langmuir packages with the Apollo (OZEN OASC 4 Td) is a 13.2 bar(190 psi) machine. All that to say I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that you would need a 200 psi screw compressor to run the Apollo on compressed air. Certainly not a 0% chance.
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Craig, what is the max thickness you have cut with your laser? Langmuir lists the Apolo max cutting capacity at 1/2" for mild steel. From my research I doubt they are using shop air when cutting that thickness, at least not under 200 psi. Have you tried using oxygen as an assist gas? I have seen allot of folks recommend using oxygen as an assist gas with mild steel as a way to up your cutting power. Not sure how reputable these folks are… but I trust you.
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Speaking of Apollo, someone who recently posted in the forum here actually posted in the Apollo Facebook group.
His table arrived and it’s up and running, doing test cuts on 11 gauge steel.
While I have to say the cut quality in Langmuir’s youtube video looked horrendous, the cut quality from the Apollo owner looked really good (as expected for fiber laser).
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It’d depend on your definition of “hobby”. I think whatever it was that they just introduced is probably the upper limit.
The reason I say this: I have a Laguna CBX 3Kw fiber laser. $120k for the laser, plus $15k to get the shop wired for it. And another $5k for the liquid nitrogen rig so I can cut aluminum. And another few grand for the little stuff.
So not cheap.
the big issue is power. The 3Kw head needs 480 VAC, 3 phase at about 30 amps. Plus a 220/20 3ph line for the chiller and a 220/1 50a for the servos. And another 220/3-20 for the vents. Thus the $15k to wire it in.
lasers aren’t very efficient. So anything larger than about 1500w needs 480. And that’s where the pain starts. So I doubt Langmuir is going to go bigger than you can Power with a standard 220/1 household connection. Which limits you to reasonably thin aluminum.
With the 3Kw, I can do 5/8” steel (with oxygen assist) and 1/4” aluminum (nitrogen assist). I normally cut a lot of 3/16” aluminum, and that’s about as far as I’d push it. I’ve done 1/4” but the cut quality goes to hell.
the problem there is it sucks nitrogen like nothing you’ve seen. On 3/16” aluminum, my consumption figures are about 0.66 cubic feet per second. Or, an entire 6 bottle manifold pack in 40 minutes. Thus the liquid nitrogen system.
Oh, and I forgot: $8000 for a used 5000 pound forklift. LN2 tanks are about 2000# You do have a dock, right?
If you try to use shop air, your cut quality is garbage. So it’s pure gas of one sort or the other. Sorry.
They want 350-500 psi on the gas. So you need special laser dewars on the LN2. The gas house should be able to get them, but check first. And they cost out to about $600 each once you figure delivery and rental I get about 8 hours of run time off of one. And once you heat them up to operational pressure, you can’t stop. They’ll vent the remainder if you do so plan ahead,
sorry. Big lasers=big $$$ and bigger pain.
But damned useful for all that
-Brian
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Whoops. Laser wants 300 psi, I just run the supply higher to keep up with the draw.
-Brian
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Actually, now that my flight has landed….
It wants 300 psi N2. About 50 psi on the O2, as I recall. Mostly I just set the O2 reg and forgot it. It doesn’t burn nearly as much O2. A single K bottle will last about 4 hrs of cut time. (In 1/4” steel)
I have to watch the N2 reg like a hawk, because it’s drawing so fast. Not all dewars can keep up with it. Even the special ones.
-Brian
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Well, I’m not too proud to admit I want aware if either of those set ups. I have a Chinese 4in 1 laser that I special ordered to get higher wattage. I did speak to a buddy today that runs a 6kw laser and his psi is just under 200 as as minimum. Where as the 4 I work with regularly are all under 130. So the difference may be a dedicated fiber laser cutter vs one of the less specific 4in1 styles like I am currently adapting to my crossfire.
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Would love to hear from people who have the Apollo Laser ?? Hope they chime in here ???
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