DIY 1000W Fiber Laser Cutter Part 1: Project Introduction

I'm getting a lot of comments about the gas prices and I really appreciate everyones feedback. I should have gone into a little more detail in the video...the prices I listed are to fill 300 cu/ft bottles at Airgas. I purchased their Ultra High Purity rated gasses, because it was the only option that they offered that met the requirements recommended by RayTools (the laser head manufacturer) of 99.95% purity, <5 ppm H20, <1 ppm THC for the Oxygen & 99.99% purity, 5 ppm H20, <1 ppm THC for the Nitrogen. Some commenters are telling me that they are using cheaper, lower purity gasses and they work just fine for cutting, so next time I need to refill, I am certainly going to shop around and see how much cheaper I can get standard industrial grade gasses. Thanks everybody for saving me money!

Secondly, a lot of people are asking how thick it can cut...the specs for the 1000W Raycus laser source show that it can cut a maximum thickness of: 10 mm carbon steel, 5 mm stainless steel, 3 mm aluminum, 3 mm brass. I have yet to push it to its limits...the thickest I've cut is 1/4" (6.35 mm) carbon steel. Stay tuned, there will be a lot more cutting videos to come!

Thirdly?, Wow!!! I am overwhelmed with joy by the amount of subscribers and comments I'm receiving about the project...I thought there might be a few people interested, but I had no idea there were so many seeking this info. I already can't keep up with all of the conversations I would love to be having in the comments section, so in the next video I'm going to try to address some of the more popular questions I keep receiving, on top of moving the build process forward. Thank you everybody for your support!

1 word. Alibaba. For my CNC i got all my mechanical and electrical components sourced from there and the prices are much cheaper. For instance NEMA 34 hybrid motors are only 60 dollars direct from factory

For power, since you only need power for short periods of time, a diesel generator that outputs 400v 3 phase isn't that hard to find nor expensive (farms often have these for backup power).
Heck, nowadays, a EV battery with that kinda power isn't that hard to come by fairly "cheap" either.

buenas noches desde México
Tengo un LÁSER DE FIBRA de 1000W, estoy cortando acero al carbono de 3/8" con aire comprimido y quiero cambiar a oxígeno, ¿me pueden ayudar con los parámetros de velocidad de corte, altura, presión de gas, ajuste de enfoque y qué boquilla usar?

If you get a cheap solar inverter and some batteries you could have enough power to run both your laser and an air compressor for at least an hour at a time. Then the batteries would recharge for an hour.

Atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, and some oxygen. Paying for Nitrogen is kinda crazy.

Not a project for me. Although I love the finished product I would need to find jobs for it. Not much fun creating other people’s stuff. Then there is the question of how thick the material can be and still get that clean finished edge. Plasma is nowhere near as clean but far more affordable and you can cut thick materials.

Have you tried cutting stone?

Very very impressive!!

Can the masso g3 controller do laser cutting?

It sounds like my 20 years experience programming a microwave will help me on this controller

There is no way you’re paying $265 to fill a nitrogen bottle. I use the largest nitrogen that’s sold for transport to a personal shop. I think it’s 238 cubic ft abd it costs me $35 to exchange it for a full one. Those prices your quoting look like the price of buying a new tank and not an exchange.

Looking at your price list there are a hand full of things you could have saved money on. I built my own cnc controller that runs off a small mini Linux computer and runs Linux cnc. It has auto touch off omic control and automatic cutting height controll. I probably spent $1000 for everything including the steppers. I did buy some really nice cnc rated planetary gear boxes for each stepper to up the torque. I built a cnc plasma table that has a bed size of about 3ftx6ft.

That's so dope

You don't even need to use a 220v control system, the common boards for 3d printers and mini mills can do it pretty well

very nice

wow the little cut at the end, not much makes me amazed but wow thats accurate fine cutting. now I'm going into the spare room to stare at my ebay k40........

You really trying to BS me and call yourself a novice after I just seen your shop in the intro? If your a novice I really want to see an experts shop. The only thing missing is the pool of sharks with lasers on their freakin heads. :)

Aaand, you've got a new subscriber!

You are massively over paying for 02 at 455 per refill. Shop around you should be able to buy the bottle and pay for refills. Even a leased bottle shouldn't cost that much for exchanges.
I'm considering a similar project thank you for this video.

Hello, excuse my question, how much was the budget invested in this machine? thanks for your help

What a waste ! you already have an XY gantry !! You could have adapted the head on it !

This is spectacular hats off bud.

Great video, and you covered the subject perfectly. Thanks, thumbs up! But um, I think you meant 20 millimeters (about .78 inches), not 20 centimeters (about 7.8 inches). Am I the only one who caught that?

Why servos? steppers would work fine with no risk of losing steps...

Don't forget to tie your oxygen tank to a wall or a secure mount.

If I had a laser, this powerful, I’d use it to take over the world! 😂

Simple question; ??How long will the fiber optics laser unit last (months, years, decades, etc)??
For example professional bobby tube lasers tend to last a few years before needing replacement.

Thks & nice mad-scientist hair;
Oh, I wish I still had hair even the mad-scientist type ;)

20 millimetres. Nice! Q1. Are you in Oz? Q2. Do you take orders to cut stainless steel (1mm)?

In fact for $15,000 you can get a decent ready made laser cutter from China!

Great Scott it's a young Doc Brown!

This is really a great adventure ,, never seen before , im glad to see you satisfied

Absolutely awesome!!!!!!

edit to previous comment..I meant to say "Chain Diode Lasers" teogether.

This may be a stupid question: Is it possible to chain several Diode together and feed the beam into a Fiber optic cable?

great thanks for sharing 👍

The R&D is what usually increases the price, if you go to China and get someone to buld your machine you can probably be the first to market with a entry-level, precision, metal cutting machine. I'd say do it here but China already has all the factories ready to go and they're selling direct now.

medical oxygen generator outputs up to 99.5% pure oxygen depending on the device you go for. You can find them pretty cheap used

Thanks!!! I’m just building a 90w wood cutter. Thanks for using the ball screw

That is insane detail in such a small area

How much to build something like this?

This content is gold

Find a new welding gas supplier. That o2 refill should cost under 100 and nitrogen around 50.

Absolutely great!!!!

Where the hell do you find a standalone laser and laser supply unit? I’ve been looking for years but when I Google I always get brought to full laser machines never the laser and supply unit them selves

wow

did you consider SCUBA tanks for the assist air?? 3000psi at 80cf..... its been yrs since Ive had a scuba tank filled but back then it was 3.50$ per tank...

The air-compressor can use a zeolite alternating pressure system to extract the oxygen from the air and vent it, leaving you with nitrogen, CO2, and trace gasses.

Hi Travis, I took the same route as you did in 2013 with a CO2 laser, when fiber lasers were a new technology. Raycus and Max laser weren't around yet. One thing that could benefit you greatly, and I would love to collaborate with you if needed, is to create your own Nitrogen generator. This will eliminate the cost of purchasing or refilling N2 every time you cut exotic metals such as aluminum, stainless steel, copper, brass, etc. For steel, you can actually use dry compressed air instead of oxygen. However, this must be supplied by a reputable rotary screw compressor (5-10HP or more) which is the bulk of the cost upfront.