laser + dust?

[k4mrc]

does anyone here have any ideas on engraving with a laser + the dust that can cause problems with engraving in our shoe repair shops,

the rep from one company tells me all you have to do is clean the lense,

but someone else tells me this is ok except long term no good!

this bit of kit really costs money and if its not going to work in our enviroment could be quite a waste of money!

[ANDY]

i would not worry about dust.

depending on what you are engraving, it creates dust inside the machine anyway.

thats what the extractor fan and filter are for.

i clean the mirrors and lenses probably once or twice a week.

the machine has a lid and wont engrave unless it is shut.

 

you want to have a measure up to see where you can place it.

far enough away from your other machines so as not to become a tempting place to stack shoes.

[grahamparker]

We bought the ls100 laser engraver with the extraction unit from gravograph about 2 years ago now,and we only clean the lens about every three months,we have had no problems with our machine apart from trying to clean out the dust bag as these are expensive to buy.We have found if you fill a bowl of hot water and soak the bag in it then put it through the washing machine it becomes reusable.Other than that no issues whatsoever,but our shoe repair machines are cleaned and emptied regularly.

[petercoulson]

i second both the above, no problems at all, probably less than a computer would have

[datakes]

I am on my third laser engraver now and have had no issues with dust, in spite of the fact that I also have done glass etching in the same area, which is a very dusty process.

 

Cleaning the lenses and mirrors is standard maintenance on these machines. The frequency of cleaning depends on whether you are raster engraving or actually vector cutting materials. The cutting of materials creates more smoke and debris which tends to accumulate more quickly on the lenses.

 

You do need to take special care in cleaning your lenses and mirrors. As you scratch your lenses and mirrors the quality of your engraving drops. These components can be easily replaced by you, but they can be a little expensive for what they are.