Quote:
Originally Posted by R.C.
Clearly I have no clue about how expensive lasers are. Art, we have a router that can currently cut plastic very easily. I really just wanna cut aluminum. What is the price to thickness ratio for laser's that can cut aluminum?
Any recommended models or manufacturers to look at?
Thanks,
-RC
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Other than working with our small campus laser cutter/engraver, I haven't really done any work on/with higher wattage laser cutting machines. However, most of the laser cutting machines designed to cut metal (1000+ Watts) are designed for sheet metal shops in mind. Thus they are physically huge, as they are designed around accommodating 4'x8' sheets of metal. I don't know of any "intermediate" laser cutters between the primarily-plastic prototyping laser cutters and the huge industrial laser cutters.
A quick eBay search
found a used one (69,039 hours, or in other words almost eight full years if it ran 24/7/365) for less than $20k, but at 16,660 pounds this isn't something that can be easily moved into a school environment.