I currently own an Glowforge Spark laser cutter. It is fun but lacks what Bambu Lab is providing, which is better software, cheaper parts and just a better system all together.
My question is about the cleanliness of the laser cutter. My glowforge seems to leave a film all inside the system that is sticky. The laser fan gets all gunked up and I seem to have to really clean it often.
Has anyone really used this yet as a laser cutter and have you had any long term issues of the inside getting all gunky and effecting the 3d printing?
How is the venting when laser cutting? Does the filter system they provide work well?
Theres gotta be a review around here somewhere that covers this slightly.
This heavily depends on the materials you are cutting. Wood would also produce dirt, but more in an ash form, where plastics evaporate and condensate on the surfaces causing a sticky substance.
I ordered the 10w laser version and I am not intending to use it for heavy duty cutting.
In the documentation is a guideline for cleaning. Maybe that helps also.
I have pretty extensive experience with CO2 laser systems in commercial applications, and I bought a 40w H2D. It’s not something I’d want to run in heavy use and try to keep clean, but it will serve me well for occasional projects. There is no magic here that will keep it cleaner than your Glowforge or any other laser cutter, same issues different box.
There’s a guide in the wiki to clean it - not overwhelming, but I really like my printers to be immaculate inside. Gunk and high precision motion systems don’t go well together…
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I got rid of my glowforge spark for the reason it wasn’t powerful enough and lacked good support and had issues. It was gross inside as well. I was thinking of the H2D with laser but I just couldn’t go that way because of the nasty it creates.
So, I purchased a Wecreat and I love it. I got the 20w version and it works great. Plus I keep all the laser stuff in one machine and 3d printing in my others.