Frequently Asked Questions

No, but there are fabrics that cut poorly or torch while you are cutting. Fabrics that will result in blackened, torched edges are wool felt, silks, and natural fibers. You can at least partially overcome this problem if you use a finer beam and set the machine properly. You should also test cut a fabric that you are considering using in advance.

Fabrics that are not tightly woven, like a knitted sweater or fishnet, have gaps. With loosely knit fabrics, you need a barrier between the appliqué fabric and the garment to prevent the laser from cutting the garment. The most commonly used barrier is aluminum foil. The CO2 laser cannot cut through metal so no matter how high the power, it cannot penetrate the foil. Another example of when you need to use foil is when the material does not have a consistent thickness. It might be dense in some areas and shallow in others. Leather can have these properties. You need to use high power to cut a clean edge through the leather and in an area that is less dense it might cut through to the bottom layer without the barrier.

110 standard outlet.

You need 220 single phase for the laser and 220 three phase for the vacuum system. For the sake of efficiency, if three phase is not available, it can be adjusted to run on single phase but most laser bridges users have large embroidery machines that require 220 three phase so they already have that coming into their building.

Not necessarily. The laser tube operates on what is called a converting power supply which takes the AC power and converts it to DC power and then feeds the laser the power it needs. While you do need two converting power supplies for a 50-watt tube, you may not consume more electricity.

They have a life expectancy of roughly 10,000 working hours and then you have to recharge it. The recharging cost ranges between $2,500 and $3,000.

The E Laser comes in 25, 30, and 50 watts. In terms of comparison, the 25-watt is the least expensive and the 50 watt is the most expensive. If you expect to be cutting a lot of strong, dense materials you would choose the 50 watt, especially if you want to consider expanding the singlehead to two heads. In this case, you are spreading the same laser power over two heads. If you have a 25-watt, and you are regularly needing to use more than 50% of the power setting, I recommend upgrading to a 50-watt. If you upgrade the singlehead laser to a two-head laser, in most cases, you’ll also want to upgrade to 50-watt. If you purchase a lower wattage, you can upgrade it later. Another option is if you decide to buy a two-head E Laser, but plan on only using one head initially, you may want to consider the 30-watt laser. This gives you a longer laser tube life, and you have the flexibility to use both laser heads later. Depending on the density of the fabrics you will be cutting, a 30-watt laser can work on a two head.

Plotter
A plotter is considered a conventional laser. The head moves on an x and y axis, so there is a need to position the laser head to where the cutting area will be. The beam is generally positioned 1 to 2 inches above the surface. A plotter bed can be as large as 5 feet wide by 5 feet long. This contributes to the slowness of these machines by comparison to the galvanometric units.
Plotters cannot etch or engrave as well as galvanometric nor can they process raster files. They range from $8,000 to $100,000 with an average price for a reliable laser being between $25,000 to $65,000.

Galvanometic
Galvanometric lasers are more advanced and work at higher speeds, but they have size limitations. The work area of a galvanometric machine ranges between 6 x 6 inches and 48 x 48 inches. The beam is usually 12-14 inches above the substrate.
The galvanometric laser has a scanner head that identifies the object(s) to be cut and is significantly faster (up to 10 times) than a plotter. Its beam comes down in a conical shape like a pyramid. A galvanometric laser can do more things than a plotter. It has greater sensitivity control, which enables it to do more intricate, sophisticated work.
The cost of a galvanometic laser starts at the $45,000 mark and goes up to $150,000 with an average price of around $60,000 to $70,000 for a comprehensively equipped machine with high power 50 watts and an above-average 12-square-inch to 16-square-inch work field.
The limitation of galvanometric technology is that the larger the field size becomes, the lesser the sharpness of the cutting beam. So the challenge is finding the right balance between the size of the cutting field and the beam’s power.