DIY 1000W Fiber Laser Cutter Part 1: Project Introduction 

Yeah, that high purity stuff is hella expensive. But if compressed air is an option, then "low purity" compressed gasses are surely an option. Compared to just air, those cheap gases are already as pure as you can get them. Also looking forward to seeing the buildseries and breakdown. Subbed.

If you are cutting a bunch also consider a liquidpack nitrogen bottle. prob going to cost over a grand to get one there, but then the cost of the actual gas it produces will be way way cheaper in the long run. And as others have said the 30 or less per bottle nitrogen is what most people use from what I have seen. Very impressive build!

Can you use Argon instead? It is a cheap welding gas. Think we get about the same size bottle here with a refill price about 150-250 usd.

What speed did you cut the 1/4" steel at?

@@TheJuicyBurger 17mm/s

I can't be the only one a little excited that Shane is now thinking about fiber lasers..

Thank you Sir! I never thought about a gas generator, but I have been keeping an eye on Marketplace for a used gas powered compressor…I just picked up a used air dryer tonight. BTW, I’m a little star-struck…I have to publicly admit that you are my RU-vid hero!!! 😃

@@diyfiberlaser I work with big air compressors for scientific work as part of my job. Keep in mind that the CFM of a compressor decreases as pressure increases. Be cautious of large piston compressors, that's a lot of mass moving, and they tend to have vibration problems, especially the oilless ones (I have a $20K compressor offline atm because it's trying to rip itself apart). Scroll compressors are quiet and good to 120 psi or so. Compressors with threaded inlets can be used in series, so one kicks you to 100 PSI, the next bumps you up to 200, etc. The size of the tank only affects the time between compressor runs. Old tanks that have sat with water in the bottom can rupture and kill people, so be cautious of used tanks (also drain your tank daily!). Even a modestly sized tank rupturing at 200 PSI will take the walls out of that building. Some years ago, I was running a small tabletop sand blaster in my garage. To get the pressure and volume of air I needed, I ran three small 120-volt compressors in parallel. The setup was vastly cheaper than a single large compressor; you can save space by plumbing multiple pumps into a single tank. Also, there are places that sell used scientific equipment; you could look for a used nitrogen generator. IMHO gas fueled air compressors are a massive PITA. you have far more maintenance, they tend to be loud, and you have the concern of the exhaust being drawn into the intake and brought into your shop with a whole lot of moisture. You can easily overload a dryer.

@@diyfiberlaser Look at something like a Motor Guard filter to go along with the air drier. The air drier will remove moisture but won't help much with removing contaminants and used gas compressors aren't treated very nice during their life. Also, look for a stationary gas air compressor instead of a wheel barrow style since they will provide more CFM due to having larger pumps.

Not sure if you can get a big enough gas generator (Nitrogen) that would be able to keep up with the power available in a home shop. I have a nitrogen generator system and it costs about the same as the laser. It has not 1 but 2 compressors! A standard 11kw 3 phase 10bar atlas copco air compressor and a high pressure 200bar booster compressor to fill 4x 50l 200bar cylinders. I can out run this system when cutting 2mm stainless steel. The 1kw fibre laser and nitrogen system probably pull 30kw 400v 3 phase at full power. I would try to find a cheaper source of bottled nitrogen or try a high pressure dive compressor and fill several cylinders when the laser is off and cut on air. Adjust your laser parameters to fine tune the results 👍

It has been a little unnerving, but through an unexpected chain of events, I ended up with 15K and about 85% confidence that I could figure it out, so I decided to take one for the team...that was the easy part...convincing my wife was the real challenge! : )

Impressive!! I have been searching for a “desk top” fiber laser, but it seams very hard to find for acceptable money. Thanks for sharing. 15’ $ is still out of my budget.

Well, if something didn’t work, you fix it ?

Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge! The glasses I have are FreeMascot (maybe it's rebrand? amzn.to/3GVoWEE) they say they're OD8 800nm-1100nm, but I will check out some of the other brands you listed. And thanks, I will get cheaper gas next time

@@diyfiberlaser FreeMascot is just garbage, worse than Eagle Pair. Whatever they say is irrelevant. Anything from Amazon, eBay, Wish, and any other site besides official distributors of the brands I mentioned is completely unsafe and you should not buy from them.

@@Spirit532 OK, thanks for preserving my eyes!

Good idea about the oxygen concentrators. An Oilless air compressor is a must.

@@diyfiberlaser I also have three pairs of the freemascot... Curious about them as well

@@dav1dsm1ththe laser ships attached to a shark. That’s the hard part, removing said shark!

Going to add one to your robot arm? 😉

@@diyfiberlaser actually yes LOL

Focus on showing the assembly or a detailed trace/expo of the laser components. This is what makes your build unique and important to those of us who’ve wanted to attempt this build for awhile. The gantry and table build aren’t a big deal there’s easily a million tutorials that can be found by on RU-vid alone posted almost weekly and plenty more on properly building a controller. Why did you chose to go with a “laser” controller? Couldn’t you just use Mach 3/4 or LinuxCNC with a traditional motion control card setup? Was there customs fees and did you need a broker for any of the laser components?

Well Said!

I was thinking fiber laser engraver next...but maybe next, next!?

I’m editing the next couple videos and I think going forward I’m going to also post extended versions of the videos on Patreon for people interested in more of the technical details, as I am editing out lots of footage to keep them entertaining for the casual viewer too

From my research, it appears most commercial machines are using Friendess controllers and CypCut software. I went with the Ruida RD6563F controller because it is cheaper and I'm familiar using a Ruida controller on my C02 lase. It has it's own software called RDCutist V2.0. It seems less robust than the CypCut software, but so far, has all of the basic features I've needed.

Interesting note about the 3-phase solar inverters, I’m gonna file that away for future reference!

@@diyfiberlaser Does the laser source use a PWM to control the power output?

@@danielelenarduzzi9888 Raycus RFL-C 1000 has a direct modulation input, your circuit can control the laser up to 5000Hz. this can be used for PWM control. Is also has an analog 0-10V input that can be enabled. A serial and and ethernet port is also present, however it is not clear if we can obtain a description of it's protocol, I have not found it yet. A user manual is available, google it.