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4KW power supply for $128k? I understand a lot of engineering went into making that & needs to be recouped, but it still sounds on the high side. I wonder how

4KW power supply for $128k? I understand a lot of engineering went into making that & needs to be recouped, but it still sounds on the high side. I wonder how hard it'd be to build one, if required.

deleted 9y ago
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adrianratnapala 9y ago
Might depend on what he means by "power supply". For a purely electrical thing it does sound expensive unless there is a stringent low-noise requirement (which would surprise me in an industrial laser). The lasers I've heard of work by amplifying light along a fibre that has been energised by some other light source -- and that light source is sometimes also a laser. So in this case the "power supply" might actually be thing that produces 10-20kW of light (of which only some is converted into laser light along the fibre).
- jakeogh 9y ago
  It's the current regulation and all the snazzy PWM.
  - krapht 9y ago
    Even so, 128k is a bit excessive. They're definitely charging the enterprise/business markup for that power.
    - argyleaf 9y ago
      Not really given the highly integrated nature of laser manufacturers where they bundle the table, drives, CNC, material handling, power supply, and (often) SLA together. Additionally there is a lower run-rate of consumables in comparison to other industrial cutting technologies so the life-time cost is more comparable to competing technologies. So why not always use laser? They have far higher upfront costs as their business model is not consumable-driven. Further they are limited in material thickness and finish they can handle. They are great at cutting sheet and thin (<= 1/4") metals, when the surface is clean and uniform as mentioned above, but if your shop needs the ability to cut thicker materials or the up-front cost is too high then plasma, oxy-fuel, or (possibly) waterjet are better options.
- gregpilling 9y ago
  OP here. by power supply, I was talking about the metal box that the bright light comes out of. The thing making the 4kw of laser juice. Not just a transformer.
deleted 9y ago
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4KW power supply for $128k? I understand a lot of engineering went into making that & needs to be recouped, but it still sounds on the high side. I wonder how hard it'd be to build one, if required.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

adrianratnapala 9y ago

Might depend on what he means by "power supply". For a purely electrical thing it does sound expensive unless there is a stringent low-noise requirement (which would surprise me in an industrial laser). The lasers I've heard of work by amplifying light along a fibre that has been energised by some other light source -- and that light source is sometimes also a laser. So in this case the "power supply" might actually be thing that produces 10-20kW of light (of which only some is converted into laser light along the fibre).

jakeogh 9y ago
It's the current regulation and all the snazzy PWM.
- krapht 9y ago
  Even so, 128k is a bit excessive. They're definitely charging the enterprise/business markup for that power.
  - argyleaf 9y ago
    Not really given the highly integrated nature of laser manufacturers where they bundle the table, drives, CNC, material handling, power supply, and (often) SLA together. Additionally there is a lower run-rate of consumables in comparison to other industrial cutting technologies so the life-time cost is more comparable to competing technologies. So why not always use laser? They have far higher upfront costs as their business model is not consumable-driven. Further they are limited in material thickness and finish they can handle. They are great at cutting sheet and thin (<= 1/4") metals, when the surface is clean and uniform as mentioned above, but if your shop needs the ability to cut thicker materials or the up-front cost is too high then plasma, oxy-fuel, or (possibly) waterjet are better options.
gregpilling 9y ago
OP here. by power supply, I was talking about the metal box that the bright light comes out of. The thing making the 4kw of laser juice. Not just a transformer.

deleted 9y ago

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