Wood Magazine 37 by Larry Clayton

Author:Larry Clayton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Wood, Home and hobby woodworker
Publisher: Meredith Corporation
Published: 1990-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

Beaming in on woodworking

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Back in the 1950s, Buck Rogers blasted comicbook foes with his trusty ray gun. Then, it was science fiction. Today, engineers harness the laser ray and put it to work. In fact, the wheels on the woody wagon featured in our October 1989 issue were laser-manufactured.

A visit to Laser Machining, Inc. (LMI), a Somerset, Wisconsin, firm that produces laser machines and laser-cuts all sorts of products and materials, opened our eyes to laser technology. We found out that our woody wheels were just the tip of an enormous iceberg.

A scanner on this laser engraver reads black-and-white artwork and automatically fires the laser beam. Operator Arlene Smetzkl needs only to center the artwork and the wood, then flip a switch.

Poof! It's laser woodworking

At LMI, we saw craftsmen operating these once-futuristic machines as comfortably as a router, scroll-saw, or sander. That's because lasers—though cosdy—aren't highly complicated. Says Bill Lawson, LMI's space-age entrepreneur, "There's nothing that difficult about laser technology, it's only different." (See box, opposite.)

in the laser industry, profiling and cutting parts from wood implies one class of machine—the computer-controlled carbon dioxide (CCte) laser. Rated at from 50 to 1,250 watts, these industrial-strength machines can, depending on their wattage, slice through 1" oak, cut delicate wheels and gears (shown opposite page), and do any number of other production chores. Most people, though, will never see an industrial-class CO2

laser. That's because these machines—that start at 8100,000— end up behind factory walls.

The laser you're more likely to come in contact with falls into a class that LMI refers to as the laser graver, shown above. As its name implies, this smaller CO2 laser (about 40 watts) does engraving work, such as on plaques, with an optical scanner control rather than computer. As the scanner reads black-and-white artwork, it triggers the laser beam to engrave the artwork or type on wood, ceramics, ivory, leather, and other materials. Engraving lasers can also cut parts from thin wood, but due to their lower power, the job takes longer.

Since engraving lasers cost as little as 540,000 and run on 110-volt household circuitry, small businesses can afford them.

There's probably an advertising specialty firm or award-and-tro-phy manufacturer near you that does laser engraving.

Laser sense

What can a laser do for you? Design editor Jim Downing discovered that the laser could cut the intricately patterned wheels for our woody wagon from Ms" Baltic birch at a significant savings over ready-made, spoked wheels. Carl Voss, WOOD® magazine's managing editor, inlaid his family's detailed heraldic crest into oak serving trays with the help of a laser. The laser at a local engraving business cut the design through a stack of three layers of veneer and simultaneously scored the oak for the tray surface so he could rout it. Carl paid 810 per tray for the laser work.

74

WOOD MAGAZINE SEPfEMBER 1990

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