As someone who’s never actually used a laser is it possible to use a laser to etch a graphic on paper or cardboard? If that makes sense. Haha!
Thanks
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Yes. The guy who led the project to build my laser just recently laser engraved his resume on plain printer paper. The prospective employer was impressed 
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I’m right beside you lacking hands-on experience, but from what I gather, with the right settings it would be.
Seems to me, it would be possible to “toast” levels of shading for a 3D effect.
I expect to deplete a portion of my tube life just experimenting!
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Ohhhhhh… aaaaaa… Fancy. Okay, good to know! Thank you! I’m excited to try it out!!
I guess there’s no way to really mask paper to get crispy lines eh? Haha!!
I kinda just want to buy 10 extra tubes just so I can go at it all day everyday? Haha
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365 * 24 = 8,760
So, tubes typically rate at 20,000 hour lifespans. You have a good 2 years of non-stop use before you need to worry about the tube.
Granted, these are custom tubes and endurance testing hasn’t been completed and yada yada, but the worst I have seen for lifespan on any tube is still 10,000 hours.
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OH WOW! I had read that 2 year lifespan and thought it was like 2 years of average use. This is such a relief! Thank you!
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<sarcasm>
Careful… people might begin to think that the GF isn’t going to be released for another two years, awaiting tube testing… 
</sarcasm>
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from the glowforge front page:
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Lol, how did I miss that? Hahah!
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Etched on 30wt then cut. I etched it at low power and speed to get a clean image. 9% power 7.5% speed
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Haha!! DAY MADE!!! Thank you Haha!
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Excellent. Thank you “Laser Lady”!
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Love it (and the idea of lasering the resume–hot)! If you ever did turn out to need to mask paper, @JeremyNielsen, hit me up, because I’m sure I could come up with a solution. There are some repositionable adhesives that would probably allow you to do the job just fine. Offhand, I’d probably start by kludging. I have a couple of those 2’x2.5’ wall-use Post-It pads, and I’d cut the sticky top off a page, cut up the sticky part, and stick it on the paper I was preserving. Might be too sticky, might work just fine.
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Oh great, now everybody is going to be 'forging documents left and right! 
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Bwahahaha:laughing:
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These are incredibly optimistic values. Are you talking about continuous use of occasional use. (not that it matters)
10,000 hours is 20 hours a week, 50 weeks a year for 10 years. I’ve been laser cutting for 5 years now and I get through a tube a year.
1000 hours is a good lifespan for a glass CO2 tube, that is a much more realistic expectation for any tube.
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If I may ask, what is the power of the tube you use, and its replacement cost?
Since the forge has a custom tube I would expect it to cost a bit more than an industry standard.
Thanks!
I have a 30 wt tube that I use pretty much use 5 days a week for at least 6-8 hours a day. It is now 16 years old and still works perfectly. Its a ULS tube.
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