I often hand cut “paper” models as prototypes or that I might glue to surfaces I need to drill or process. I read a thread today that was discussing lasers and they discouraged the use of the Crossfire because of the high mass, however I believe the application was engraving more than cutting paper. I have no experience with lasers; would it be thinkable to use one for my application? I have no idea of the required wattages.
If it is feasible, I guess one could rig a cable out of the control unit that instead of commanding the torch ON/OFF interfaces with the laser.
Disclaimer: yeah I will thourogly research eye protection safety, selecting the proper wavelength goggles etc
Heavier weight paper, in the form of card stock or chip board, as it’s sometimes called, would make good prototypes/templates. Something like https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CRFMO4 works well. Get the brown surface, not white (white reflects the diode laser light)
You would probably want at least 30W diode laser although you could probably get by with a 20W at much slower speeds. Note that, with Diode Lasers, the power ‘rating’ is power CONSUMED, NOT the optical power of the laser, which is typically 1/5 to 1/6 of the input power.
If you’re only cutting PAPER, not card stock, then you could probably get by with a lower power laser module but I don’t have any experience with them. Still get brown paper, not white.
The laser module doesn’t weigh much and could be easily handled by the CF gantry. You can get by with just a simple digital on off for your application (if you don’t want to control power dynamically) so torch relay could be made to work. You would need a laser module with a power distribution/control board. Something like: