The Tangerine Tiger Series with Russ Sadler
In this Series, Russ has purchased a new 500 x 300mm, 50W laser machine from eBay with a view to modifying and upgrading it. In fact, he rips out the glass laser tube and high voltage power supply and replaces them with an RF laser source and PSU from Cloudray. Find out how Russ gets on when he tries engraving with a RF Laser.

If you are considering purchasing a CO2 laser machine with an RF laser source from one of the big boy suppliers, I would suggest you check out this series before making a decision!
Contents
Ordinary engraving is one of the areas where the almost instant switching capability of this technology should excel. In this session we explore the superficial properties of this high-speed engraving capability. However, with only 20 watts of burning power, just how fast will that allow us to go. We know this machine is currently capable of at least 1400mm/s but does that mean faster cycle times?
Caution…… there may be two limiting factors that will prevent this speed being usable. First is POWER, just how thinly can I spread 20 watts and get acceptable results? Second is ACCELERATION, the faster the linear speed, the longer it takes to accelerate and decelerate. We have already seen how this second factor can have a HUGE effect on cycle time. Hence, the headline speed capability of a machine maybe impressive but without sufficient watts and motor power that number may be meaningless.
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Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment?
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0:00[Music]
0:03it’s almost like a little sewing machine
0:05isn’t it
0:08welcome to another session with my
0:10tangerine tiger now what you’ve seen
0:12there
0:12is a quick test that i’m carrying out to
0:15see if i could find out what was going
0:17on
0:18because i noticed one or two strange
0:20patterns
0:21when i was doing my photo engraving last
0:24time
0:25now whether i was doing pictures this
0:27way if we take a look here you’ll see
0:29that there’s some
0:30sort of patination that runs across the
0:33picture
0:35this picture was done this way and we’ve
0:38got
0:39patinations that run across that way
0:42this picture was done this way and we’ve
0:45got those same
0:46narrow lines there and the lines get
0:48they almost disappear at the top there
0:51and here they’re pretty obvious down the
0:53bottom here
0:54they’re not exactly all the same pitch
0:57and then they tend
0:58to disappear to nothing as we get
0:59towards the top and look we’ve got the
1:01same things again happening here
1:03so this is not any sort of aliasing
1:07pattern
1:08within the actual software itself
1:11this is a machine problem of some sort
1:14the only machine problem that it can be
1:16is to do with the drive belts on the
1:18y-axis
1:20but hey these are not curtains in the
1:23same way
1:24that we saw curtains on the x-axis
1:26they’re more than three millimeter pitch
1:28and secondly they’re not uniform as we
1:31get further
1:32into the stroke the gap gets wider and
1:36wider
1:36we’ve got a little bit of a problem
1:38there which i think i understand what
1:40the
1:40problem might be and the very simple
1:42test
1:43that i carried out was to see if i could
1:47identify the same pattern as i worked up
1:49that strip
1:52to be honest the answer is no there
1:55seems to be very little problem there
1:57but
1:58i’m pretty sure i do understand what the
2:00problem is to do with those belts
Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment? (Cont…)
2:02and we will have a go at trying to fix
2:04the problem or identify the problem in a
2:06later session
2:08it’s not important at this moment in
2:09time for some of the stuff that we’re
2:11going to do
2:12but it is an interesting problem which i
2:14will come back and investigate
2:15because today i want to step onto some
2:18rather
2:19hallowed ground the whole point about
2:22these rf machines
2:24is that they’re supposedly good at doing
2:28just ordinary engraving whether it be
2:30bitmap text and logos
2:32or whether it be filled vector graphics
2:34it doesn’t matter
2:36this machine is supposed to be super
2:38fast at doing that when i look at the
2:40demonstration videos
2:42yes you can see that the machine is
2:44going very fast
2:45just like you saw my little sewing
2:47machine going very fast here at the
2:49beginning
2:50so today we’re going to as i said step
2:52onto that hallowed ground
2:54and take a look at what might be going
2:56on
2:57with just ordinary engraving the
3:00simplest thing that we could possibly do
3:01the great thing about this machine is we
3:03know
3:04that it will do superb quality engraving
3:07because it switches on
3:09and off so quickly so speak technically
3:12speed is not an issue here we’re not
3:14limited by the power supply
3:16the response time of the power supply
3:18what we are limited by
3:20is physical power as i’ve explained to
3:24you several times before
3:26candle flame put your hand over the
3:27candle flame
3:29move it fast enough and you won’t feel
3:30any heat at all but move it slow enough
3:33and you damage your hand now that’s
3:35exactly what happens to this paper
3:37the faster you move it the less energy
3:40you’re putting down
3:41per distance and the lighter the cut
3:44will become
3:45and the thinner the line will become if
3:47we’re running fast
3:48if you have limited power available to
3:50you there are really
3:52only two parameters that you’ve got to
3:56affect damage to the material that
3:58you’re cutting now
3:59every material will have a different
Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment? (Cont…)
4:01damage threshold
4:03but that damage threshold can only be
4:06exceeded
4:07if you have got enough power to damage
4:09the material
4:10and the only way that you can control
4:12that damage is either by moving
4:14slowly or by doing a small amount of
4:17damage
4:18multiple times you’ve only got those two
4:20choices
4:21the fact that this system is controlled
4:23by the pwm seat i’ve either got 20 watts
4:26when it’s switched on or know what’s
4:29when it’s switched off
4:31i’m doing engraving i don’t want any
4:34dead periods
4:36i need 20 watts all of the time
4:39so i’ve got to set this onto basically
4:42100
4:43power which basically means i’m not
4:46going to have
4:47any of these i’m going to have a
4:49straight line of 20 watts continuously
4:53so there is no point in having a pwm
4:56controlled machine when you’re doing
4:58engraving the machine will switch off at
5:00any black white interface
Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment? (Cont…)
5:02instantly and quickly regardless of the
5:04pwm signal that immediately asks the
5:06question
5:07what’s so fantastic about rf technology
5:10as i mentioned to you when we’re
5:11comparing the the rf
5:13and the glass tube system rf
5:16radio frequency is only a different
5:18means by which we’re producing
5:20the laser beam itself this control
5:23system here
5:24the pwm control system seems to be
5:27unique
5:27but it doesn’t seem to be a positive
5:29advantage yes
5:31you’ve got power control but it’s not
5:33really power control
5:34because every time you turn the machine
5:37on you’re putting
5:38out the same level of power it’s just
5:41that
5:41on average which we’re not worried about
5:43because we don’t do
5:45average damage we might use average heat
5:48if we were doing welding or something
5:50like that but when we come to damaging
5:52material
5:53every time the pulse is on at 20 watts
5:55it’s doing 20 watts worth of damage
5:57just because it’s on for 50 percent of
5:59the time doesn’t mean to say it’s doing
Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment? (Cont…)
6:0110 watts worth of damage
6:03that’s the puzzling thing that i can’t
6:05understand about this technology
6:07it’s basically constant current
6:09technology
6:10diluted by pwm am i being naive about
6:14this
6:15for our first test we’re going to carry
6:18out one of the
6:19party pieces that you’ll see the rf
6:22laser
6:23performing at any exhibition that you go
6:25to
6:26the aztec calendar huge amount of detail
6:29on there so i’m going to run this at a
6:31thousand
6:32millimeters a second 100
6:35power it really doesn’t matter what the
6:38frequency is because it’s not going to
6:39come into play
6:41and we’re going to use my standard pitch
6:44of 0.1
6:45which is roughly going to be the
6:47thickness of the lines that i can
6:49produce
6:49remember the candle i’m not expecting a
6:52great deal of
6:53damage to take place
6:56at that sort of speed and that amount of
6:58power but let’s give it a go and see
7:01what we get now
7:01what i’ve got here is a piece of beech
7:04faced
7:04plywood
7:08well i’m pretty impressed to start with
7:11that’s
7:12more color than i thought i was ever
7:13going to get
7:20and that’s a thousand millimeters a
7:22second
7:25okay so i am impressed by that
7:30we’ve found a party trick that it can
7:32perform well at
7:37but it is playing to the strengths of
7:38this machine which is an extremely fast
7:41switching capability
7:44the color is something i wasn’t
7:47expecting
7:49and that took two minutes 34
7:52so that’s pretty good going um i have to
7:55say
7:57for the first time i am impressed with
7:59something this machine can do
Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment? (Cont…)
8:01this is a picture i borrowed off of
8:03wikipedia
8:05consider that against the size of my
8:07hand you can see that it’s
8:09some of this detail in here is very very
8:11fine we look at the incredible detail on
8:13there
8:14considering the size the relative size
8:16of my finger
8:19i’ll have to give this 10 out of 10 for
8:21the moment
8:22i’m very impressed with that bearing in
8:25mind it was a roundabout if i remember
8:27two minutes thirty something or other um
8:30we’re now going to run the same thing
8:31but we’re going to try and do it at 1400
8:34millimeters a second and see how the
8:35color
8:36changes just ordinary text and graphics
8:38is going to be easy
8:40after looking at this amount of detail
8:50it’s 33 which is about the same so
8:53really speed
8:54didn’t make a great deal of difference
8:55because in running faster
8:57we’ve got a longer over track impressive
9:001400
9:01yes but a thousand gives me a deeper
9:06color as you would expect
9:09so with no difference in time
9:12that’s got to be the choice running
9:14slower actually produces a better result
9:17for no extra cycle okay let’s try on a
9:20piece of poplar plywood now
9:22we’re going to run this at 1200
9:23millimeters a second
9:27now the burn characteristics of this
9:29material are completely different than
9:30that of
9:31plywood that’s actually that’s actually
9:34the grain that’s running through the
9:36material which is affecting the color
9:37here it was 1200 millimeter second so
9:40even though we’ve run that slower we’ve
9:43still got
9:44roughly the same time 232 okay let’s try
9:47a piece of mdf
9:48and run this at a thousand
10:02so yes it’s doing a remarkable job on
Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment? (Cont…)
10:04mdf
10:06i have to say i’m impressed at how far
10:0820 watts is going
10:10see that was two minutes 34 we’re
10:12running slower
10:13but it’s not taking any longer but we’re
10:16getting a nice
10:17dark cut that’s remarkable detail isn’t
10:20it
10:22so again i’ll ask this very
10:25silly naive question why have we got
10:27fancy pwm
10:29control on this machine what’s it for at
10:31the moment
10:32i don’t know because
10:36we’re running this without any pwm at
10:39all we’re running it at 100
10:41like a cw like a like a constant power
10:44machine the only
10:47thing that we’ve got is this remarkably
10:50fast
10:50switching speed which is producing
10:53amazing results i mean i’ve got this
10:55machine up to 1400 millimeters a second
10:58scanning and look it’s doing a fantastic
11:02job i’ve got a slight coaster here
11:05i’m not changing any of the settings at
11:07all
11:08thousand millimeters a second directly
11:26even on sleep it’s done a pretty
11:28remarkable job hasn’t it
11:33all right let’s see what it can do with
11:34a piece of cast acrylic should we
11:36seem to be doing a very good job
11:38straight out the box
11:40with it’s not covered in dust or
11:44anything like that look
11:49you just put it against a black
11:51background and you can see how good
11:53it really is
11:58not only is it a nice white colour that
Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment? (Cont…)
12:01hasn’t produced all sorts of fumes
12:03everywhere
12:05it’s absolutely stunning detail
12:09all down to the response time of the
12:10switching of the beam
12:12so we found the major strength of this
12:16machine at last
12:18but just bear in mind
12:22we’ve tried all these materials we’ve
12:24not changed it into the settings
12:26we’ve not used the pwm
12:29we’ve just thrown stuff at the machine
12:34i’m pretty impressed with this aspect of
12:37its capabilities
12:38trying a different sort of engraving
12:41what you saw me doing before was what i
12:42call
12:43drawing or normal engraved there are two
12:44other sorts of engraving one of them is
12:46an architectural technique
12:48called relive which basically is almost
12:51like 3d
12:52engraving where you all the white
12:55for instance in that picture or all the
12:57background in that picture
12:59will be etched away and it will leave
13:03the black lines on the surface so the
13:05black lines will be white
13:07and the background will be relieved away
13:10and that’s one technique this technique
13:13that i’m experimenting with here is a
13:15slightly different technique it’s a
13:16printing technique
13:18and it’s called intaglio now
13:21basically intaglio is where you make a
13:23wooden pattern
13:24like this or a pattern like this and you
13:27size the lines into the pattern
13:30deep enough so that they will hold ink
13:34and the idea is you put your paper over
13:36the top then and put a roller on top and
13:38lift the ink out of the grooves
13:40so you’re basically incising deep
13:42grooves
13:43into your material i’m achieving that in
13:46this instance
13:47by slowing the job down
13:50that’s the only way i can get more power
13:52into this job either
13:54slow it down or add more lines
13:58so that i over burn now i’d much rather
14:00slow it down and go over the job once
Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment? (Cont…)
14:03than do multiple burns but we will
14:06compare the two
14:08so i’ve reduced this to 500 millimeters
14:10in second
14:11instead of a thousand millimeters a
14:13second and it’s looking
14:14pretty good and clean yeah there is some
14:17depth to that but not very much
14:19let me try the same thing again but this
14:21time i’ll run it at
14:23250. so it’s going to take four times as
14:25long this is now
14:26going to produce a lot deeper burn i’m
14:29going to produce more smoke
14:30and i hope i’m not going to brown the
14:34surface too much
14:35i am using my compound lens here so it’s
14:37producing a very very fine
14:39burn line
14:48really a dark very crisp image
14:52i’m again quite staggered and amazed
14:56at what we’re actually capable of doing
14:58here
15:00now when i was doing this at a thousand
15:02millimeters a second you will remember
15:03that
15:04i think it took uh two minutes
15:0730 roughly
15:11but if you take a look now you’ll see
15:12that the amount of over travel is
15:15almost nil
15:19so whereas you would expect because i’m
15:22running at a quarter the speed
15:23it might take four times as long
15:27i suspect it won’t take
15:30what 2 30 will be 10 minutes
15:355 minutes 47 we’ve dropped the speed
15:39to a quarter and we’ve only
15:42about two and a quarter times increase
15:44the cycle time and yes we’ve definitely
15:46got some
15:47depth to that now so we’ll see whether
15:50we can
15:51run even slower now and get a deeper cut
15:55we’ll drop it down to 125 millimeters a
15:58second
15:59i haven’t got my extraction set up on
Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment? (Cont…)
16:01here at the moment because i didn’t
16:02think i’d need it but
16:07yeah it does need some extraction now
16:10this is
16:11one eighth of the speed that we started
16:13off with at a thousand
16:14millimeters a second and a thousand
16:17millimeters a second
16:19we were doing two minutes thirty two
16:21minutes 34 i think
16:24so therefore at an eighth of the speed
16:26you would say well it’s going to take
16:28eight times longer
16:29instead of two minutes 30 it’s going to
16:31be
16:32nearly 20 minutes but the more i watch
16:34this thing work like this the more i’m
16:36becoming impressed by it
16:37okay it didn’t do what i originally
16:38planned to do which was my
16:40photo engraving which was the dream that
16:42i had fast photo engraving but
16:44hey this is doing an absolutely
16:46marvelous job
16:47of some other things there’s a lot of
16:49depth in those grooves now
16:51double that time would be what 10 11
16:55nearly 12 minutes and this one took
16:5910 minutes 50
17:03i’m extremely impressed by that do the
17:05same thing again but this time
17:07i’m going to run it instead of single
17:11lines i’m going to run at a thousand
17:14millimeters a second
17:16and quarter the line spacing in other
17:18words i’m going to put down a .025
17:21line spacing
17:24now i think you can immediately see that
17:27by
17:28burning over the same spot four times
17:34we’re not producing such a clean image
17:36we’re getting that browning effect
17:42let’s see what happens if we change it
17:43to three times
17:55let’s try again with point zero five
17:58see now we’ve got we’ve got a crisp
18:00clean image now
Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment? (Cont…)
18:05whereas the other two look over burnt
18:15so i’ll let this one go to halfway and
18:16work out roughly what the time is
18:21and that took two minutes 42
18:23approximately the same
18:24cycle time this one was done at a
18:27thousand
18:28this one was done at a thousand
18:30millimeters a second
18:31with a 0.05 line spacing
18:35this one was done at 250
18:38millimeters a second with a 0.1
18:42line spacing
18:45the quality of the color is much better
18:49and the cycle time is virtually no
18:51different even though
18:52this one is running four times faster
18:56than that one you can very clearly see
18:58the um
19:00the brown hue that we have around here
19:03because we’re just basically engraving
19:06too deep
19:06this was four point zero two five lines
19:10and this was 3.033 lines
19:14and this was a 0.05 line both of these
19:17lovely clean images were done with a
19:190.1 line
19:22just one pass try something a bit more
19:25manageable
19:26a little less ambitious
19:27[Music]
19:34now we’re going to do exactly the
19:36opposite
19:41but i mean that is pretty good isn’t it
19:46there is no relief
19:55and there we go we’ve got some relief
19:57engraving now
19:59well it’s getting a windy night out
Transcript for Is Ordinary Laser Engraving With a RF Laser Another Disappointment? (Cont…)
20:01there now
20:03this time i went in and had a cup of
20:04coffee
20:07i’m going away with a bit of a smile on
20:08my face at the moment because
20:10at least it’s doing what we all expect
20:12it to do
20:14it’s an engraving machine and it’s a
20:16fast
20:17engraving machine the fact that it’s
20:19rather disappointing at photo engraving
20:22well we found ways around that to make
20:25it half decent at photo engraving
20:29the next test will be its achilles heel
20:32cutting let’s see what it can do for
20:34cutting shall we next time
20:37thank you very much for your time and
20:38patience and I’ll catch up with you then
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