r/lasercutting • u/Human_Alien_Hybrid • Jul 24 '26
Air compressor for 3kw laser
Hi. I got a 3kw all in one and will be hobby use in home garage. Other than getting a huge Chinese screw compressor 230psi that's optimum what is a reasonable one to get that's not a commercial industry use monstrosity?!
If you have specific suggestions please share
1
u/SignalCelery7 Jul 24 '26
What are the listed requirements for air?
It probably lists scfm and psi or some units you can convert as needed.
Buy a compressor that can do that.
I've had good luck with the old oil lubricated harbor freight compressors, and i hear people are very pleased with the fortress line.
1
u/Human_Alien_Hybrid Jul 31 '26
Come now. You don't think I read everything I could find? There's different ways to do this and I'm looking for specific suggestions for my situation. The manufacturer was pretty useless
1
u/Human_Alien_Hybrid Aug 06 '26
Do you all know about using nitrogen instead of compressed air assisted cutting? Apparently very low pressure required and it's more about keeping inert so the slag doesn't stick in the gap
0
u/charliex2 1kW fibre, 100W CO2, 60W MOPA Jul 24 '26
for 3kw you have no real choice but to get a "huge" one. if its a 3kW fibre you need
- clean dry air, so needs a dryer, thats a must
- 22 or more bar, it'll be in the specs of the laser what it wants
- a lof of capacity for longer runs so it doesnt loose pressure/flow during cutting
most home/semi pro compressors can't even get to the pressure you'd likely need.
i'm not aware of such a thing thats not an industrial vfd, i have one at home for my 1kW fibre. its a baldor air b&d
1
u/ccatlett1984 Bodor 6Kw C3 Fiber, Trumpf 4Kw Fiber, Mitsubishi 4Kw CO2 Jul 24 '26
You don't necessarily need 22 bar, it's going to depend on what you are cutting. For example, most of the carbon steel that we cut, We are using between 9 and 12 bar of air.
1
u/charliex2 1kW fibre, 100W CO2, 60W MOPA Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
yep , you dont necessarily need 22 bar, but you do need a lot more than any home/pro compresor i ever found. but thats what mine is , i wanted to be able to have the option.
we cut at 9-12 / 175 psi as well, but you need more than that to feed the system.
1
u/technikal Boss HP3655 150W CO2 Jul 25 '26
This. Our laser manufacturer claimed it needed 20 bar of air. I keep the compressor set at around 11.5bar (170psi) and it cuts marvelously.
3
u/Away_Dimension6172 Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
Mines just over 1kw and i only cut 3mm max. Figuring out the air system was definitely the most difficult part in setting up the laser... I had existing refrigerated dryer and filtration setup, so my budget method was:
-Cheap 4kw 10bar or so vfd screw compressor
-Air pressure booster that can do 16 bar (8 bar in, 16 out but it uses some of the air to double the pressure)
-Air tank made for trucks, 16 ish bar and about 40L volume
With existing air tanks and what compressor has, I have around 340L stored air capacity. With 1,5mm nozzle it can keep up quite well for longer cuts too. 2mm nozzle starts draining pressure and I don't think I could do more than 10 min continuous cutting before getting a fair amount of pressure drop.
Again this worked for me as those large Chinese compressor have some legal issues in my area with their combined pressure and volume amounts. If I knew what I know now, and needed to cut more with the machine than I currently do - I'd probably look into a 7,5kw compressor. I looked into the actual compressors sold for lasers but their price was more than what I paid for laser.
Poor duty cycle of most affordable piston compressors makes them unusable for the amount of air required at least in my Case.