CO2 Laser Cutter vs. Diode Laser: Don't make a mistake!

a CO2 laser or a tired laser what's the difference which one should you buy what can it do and how do you choose today we'll be answering all these questions you have we'll look at the key parameters where they differ and I'll also tell you the difference in the basic working of these lasers by the end of this video you'll better understand how CO2 and diode lasers work and you'll be better informed on choosing between the two based on your application so hello guys welcome to Mellow Pine lasers [Music] how putting chapters in the video so feel free to skip to the part you like the first thing we are going to look at is what materials each of these lasers can process this is the most important factor you need to consider when choosing between the two diode lasers and CO2 lasers can engrave on wood leather paper cardboard rubber synthetic leather opaque acrylic Stone glass Ceramics stainless steel titanium iron and painted Metals however when it comes to engraving on certain materials like glass and clear acrylic you'll need a transfer medium for the laser to interact with the materials if you're using a diode laser also you cannot cut clear white or blue acrylic using a dive Blazer whereas on a CO2 laser you do not need any medium to process these materials and you can cut any acrylic with ease and with a flame polished Edge finish additionally materials cut on a CO2 laser have a cleaner Edge finish with less charring when compared to diode lasers diode lasers typically use an open frame design which means they can be made to have large work areas without adding much to the cost a dive laser is basically a laser module attached to five pieces of aluminum Extrusion you can also pick a dial Laser up and drop it on top of large work pieces and engrave them easily which you cannot do with a bulky CO2 laser some diode lasers like the Archer atom sack and xtool even have an extension kit to expand the work area you can expand dialed lasers to have a work area around 3 feet wide for under 200 dollars on a typical 50 watt CO2 laser you'll get a work area under two feet by one feet or 1.5 feet if you need a larger work area you would have to go for a laser with a higher power which means you'd have to pay more however some CO2 lasers come with a pass-through feature which lets you pass large work pieces under the machine and engrave on them CO2 lasers are bulkier than dyed lasers as the power of the machine increases you need longer CO2 tubes so you have to make the machine larger to accommodate the large tube most CO2 lasers have a closed construction and use bulky metal TC therefore they are heavier when compared to diet lasers a typical 55 watt laser like the X2 P2 weighs around 100 pounds and a typical 40 watt diode laser like the X2 D1 weighs around 13 pounds if you consider the footprint to work area ratio you'll find that diode lasers give you a larger work area for a smaller footprint you can even hang diode lasers up on your wall when you are not using them to save space in your shop in general diode lasers cannot generate as much power as CO2 lasers due to design limitations up until a couple of years ago the maximum power output of a diode laser was about 10 watt today you have Diet lasers with an output power of 40 Watts like the 40 watt module for the X2 D1 so that's where diode lasers currently top out in terms of power CO2 on the other hand starts at around 40 watts of power and you can get Co2 lasers that fit in your shops with up to 180 watts of output power the reason you need a powerful laser is to cut thicker materials if you are not going to cut anything thicker than 15 millimeter you could make do with a 40 watt laser a 150 watt laser can cut through one inch thick acrylic with ease whereas the maximum thickness of acrylic or 5 watt laser can cut is around 2 millimeters most diode and CO2 lasers use belt drives with linear rails and are paired to stepper motors which means that speed is going to be very similar however the speed is dependent on the power let's say you are trying to cut a quarter inch thick piece of pine on my 10 watt laser it takes 6 passes at 300 millimeter per minute speed whereas on my 20 watt laser I could do it at 600 millimeter per minute and 6 passes therefore CO2 lasers are faster in cutting than tired lasers because they are more powerful both CO2 and diode lasers use the same tech for movement and the only thing that limits the speed is the power if you are running a business where you need to use your laser all day long and cut or engrave a lot of work pieces investing in a good CO2 laser would give you a better return on investment in the long run however if you're going to use your laser occasionally like one hour a day you could consider a die laser if it fits your other requirements talking about speed do you want to learn more about lasers while Saving Time Well we pride ourselves in producing videos that get to the point right away without any Bland Bluff so if you haven't subscribed to our Channel yet hit that subscribe button to learn more about lasers and watch some fun videos about lasers a diet laser usually has a fixed Focus lens that you cannot replace the lens may be fine-tuned toward cutting or engraving based on the module's power low power dial lasers can have a spot size of as little as 0.06 by 0.06 millimeter whereas the high power lasers like the 40 watt one will have a spot size of around 0.1 by 0.1 millimeter in Practical terms a spot size of 0.06 millimeter can give you a resolution of 423 DPI when engraving images and a spot size of 0.1 will give you a resolution of 254 DPI when it comes to CO2 lasers most CO2 lasers allow you to swap the lens according to your purpose if you are doing an engraving job you could use a short focal length lens to get a tighter spot size a typical lens used for Engraving is the 1.5 inch lens which will give you a resolution of more than 500 DPI however for cutting you need the beam to be narrow through a greater depth meaning you need a lens with a longer depth of focus or depth of field short focal length lenses have a low depth of field so you need a longer focal length lens to cut through materials a two inch lens will give you a resolution of 250 DPI and can cut through thin materials a typical 2.5 inch lens will give you around 200 DPI of resolution and can cut through to a depth of around half an inch if you want to cut really thick material you could use a 3 inch or 5 inch lens but it wouldn't be suitable for Engraving another thing about the spot size is that the spot is not uniform in case of dire Blazers dye lasers produce beams that are wider on one of the axis due to their design what it means for you is that if your laser has a rectangular spot that's wider on the x-axis the spot will be wider when you make Cuts in the wide Direction therefore the energy concentration will be lower than in X so your laser will have difficulty cutting in the y direction however you can compensate for it with lower speeds or more passes furthermore you can also use a laser with a fast access call limiting lens that will give you a square spot diet lasers have fewer components and therefore need much less maintenance compared to CO2 lasers there's just three things you usually do on a diet laser clean the lens regularly adjust the belt tension occasionally clean the rails when they collect dust and blow air into the fans to remove any dust occasionally on the other hand on a CO2 laser you'll have to clean the mirrors and the lens regularly to prevent damage you'll have to make sure the cooling system is working well and you'll need to change the CO2 tube once a year typically which can cost as much as half the cost of a new laser since CO2 lasers have an enclosed design you might have to remove some panels to access the components when you compare a CO2 and dialed laser based on maintenance it's easier to keep a dial Laser running smoothly than a CO2 laser most people buying tired lasers are first time laser users and the manufacturers try to make them beginner friendly there are very few things you need to worry about in the case of a dialysis a CO2 laser on the other hand has a lot more bells and whistles resulting in a bit of a learning curve compared to diet lasers this also means CO2 lasers are slightly more difficult to operate compared to diet lasers however engraving or cutting some materials like glass clear acrylic and mirrors is much easier on a CO2 laser with a diode laser you'll need to coat these materials with a transfer medium first before you can engrave them while on a CO2 you can drop them into the machine and engrave them directly saving you so much time a typical CO2 laser has an enclosed design therefore the fumes from cutting are contained within the machine and you can use an exhaust system to vent it outside efficiently diode lasers mostly have an open frame design which means the fumes can spread around the room especially if you use an air assist but you can always buy enclosures for diode lasers separately when it comes to laser safety CO2 laser beams are not visible to the human eye which can trick you into a false sense of security when working with them however CO2 and diode laser beams are not good for your eyes and you should never look at them directly you should always wear proper laser safety goggles rated for the wavelength of your laser the enclosed design of a CO2 laser blocks the laser beam on a diet laser you only have a small Shield to block the laser which means the beams are more likely to reach your eyes that's it I would say tier 2 lasers are safer to work with than diet lasers diet lasers are not as feature packed as CO2 lasers a typical diode laser would have a fire detection system and a gyroscope to turn the laser off if there is any sudden movement or if the laser is tilted some dyed lasers like the two trees TS2 have an autofocus feature that uses a touch Pro 2 lasers on the other hand are generally feature packed there are some CO2 lasers with cameras that help you accurately position your design on the workpiece this means you do not have to waste time in positioning your workpiece accurately like diode lasers they also have a camera based autofocus feature that helps you easily focus on surfaces the X2 P2 I have here also have a curved surface engraving feature that uses the camera to capture a height map of the object and adjust the height of the module as it passes over it to stay in focus I have a detailed review of the P2 I'll link it in the description below now when you look at the cost of these lasers you will see a significant difference dial lasers are more affordable than CO2 lasers furthermore if you get a CO2 laser you need a cooling system for the CO2 tube which is only sometimes bundles with the machine you would also need to change the CO2 tube occasionally the tube alone could cost half the price of the machine in some cases however you must also consider what each can do a CO2 might be a better bet if your intention is to run a business you can also consider getting a K40 laser they cost under 500 and give you 40 watt of output power K40 lasers are upgrade as you learn kind of laser so if you are operating a business a K40 might not be the best choice for you as you would need to spend more time setting up and tuning the machine to your needs than you would normally need to do those were all the differences between diode and CO2 lasers if you are on a budget and only need to engrave some materials and do some light cutting you could consider getting a tired laser it will give you more work area per buck and takes up less space in your shop a sealed laser offers more power and speed and can work on certain materials better than a diode if you are making a choice look at the materials you would be processing if you are looking at cutting them look at what the maximum thickness will be then you must consider the work area and whether you have space in your shop once that's done look at the speed you need to keep things moving and finally consider whether your choice fits your budget in the long run our tire laser uses a diode which is nothing but a semiconductor sandwich you can say they are special purpose LEDs they emit light at a particular wavelength a typical dial Laser has a wavelength between 400 and 500 nanometer the diode can produce a lot of heat when it's working which is why they are enclosed in Copper and placed in a heatsink with a cooling fan the power supply required for dial lasers is typically within 24 volt and under 3 amps of current since dialed lasers are small and very less they can be mounted on the Gantry eliminating the need for a delivery system the beams from the diode passthrough are focusing lens to converge it into a tight spot some laser modules use multiple diodes to achieve more power and have mirror Arrangements inside the module to combine the beams from different diodes a CO2 laser Works differently they consist of a glass tube filled with a mixture of carbon dioxide nitrogen helium and hydrogen gas passing electricity through the glass tube excites the molecules in the gas mixture and increases their energy these excited molecules release the excess energy in the form of infrared radiation to become stable since the wavelength of the light emitted lies in the infrared Spectrum it's invisible the bright light then resonates between a partially reflective mirror and a fully reflective mirror increasing its intensity and coming out through the partially reflective mirror a laser delivery system consisting of mirrors guide the laser to the laser head where the focusing lens is housed the voltage needed for exciting the molecules inside the tubes can typically be above 20 kilowatt so that's all about the difference between a diode and a CO2 laser if you think I missed something please let me and others know in the comments below if you found the video helpful click that like button if you didn't you could click the other one I will be coming up with more tutorials reviews and guides on lasers so if you haven't subscribed already click that subscribe button to learn more about lasers also visit mellopine.com for some cool content thank you so much for watching and I look forward to seeing you in the next one [Music] foreign

Channel: Mellowpine Lasers

Views: 41,853

Keywords: co2vsdiode, xtoolp2

Id: nhyTuMEyOSk

Length: 14min 34sec (874 seconds)

Published: Fri May 12 2023