Today I set up the gas for the M3's fiber laser: a nitrogen tank and an oxygen tank.

The regulator, attached to the M3's nitrogen tank.
The regulator, attached to the M3's nitrogen tank.
The oxygen and nitrogen tanks going into position.
The oxygen and nitrogen tanks going into position.
The tanks, chained to the wall.
The tanks, chained to the wall.

It's very important to chain them up. The contents are under high pressure, and if one fell and the stem broke off, it could be propelled around the shop at high speed. Not to mention that a high concentration of oxygen in the room is a real fire risk. Important to be careful.

Cutting nickel

A friend came over today to work on cutting some nickel strips for some battery work he's doing. We decided to try the M3. It worked pretty well, but as usual I forgot to take enough pictures.

Mounting the nickel strips on the M3, with tape so the gas doesn't blow them away.
Mounting the nickel strips on the M3, with tape so the gas doesn't blow them away.

We also tried the G2, but it wound up heat-distorting the metal a lot, and it was very slow besides. I guess that's not surprising: 30 W vs. 1,200 W.

I didn't have all the fittings I need for the nitrogen tank yet, so we weren't able to try it. There was a bit of oxidation at the edges of the cut, and the nitrogen should help with that. We'll have to try again some other time.

Later

I got the nitrogen hooked up. I cut something fairly small (can't talk about the project yet). And used like $50 worth of nitrogen. Yikes! Looks like I'll be sticking with compressed air most of the time.