Going Insane Trying to Choose a Laser Air Assist Pump for my Epilog Laser

Hi, hoping you can help me. I have spent the better part of the afternoon trying to find and purchase an air pump for my Epilog Laser Cutter.

I'm the new owner of an Epilog Zing 30 Watt CO-2 machine, and also new to laser cutter. I have not yet fired up the machine, and the last thing standing in the way is acquiring an air pump for the air assist (Epilog calls it an "air curtain"). I already have an excellent vacuum fan vented and ready to go.

I spoke directly to Epilog this morning, and they said any oil-less pump will work, as long as it doesn't go over 30 PSI. They, along with others, have been recommending a basic aquarium pump. But here's my question.

The pump below is all over the internet, but in the aquarium world they apparently rate air pressure by something called "MPA." All these motors have an MPA rating of around .03, which converts to about 4.0 lbs PSI (unless the internet is doing the conversion wrong).

Is there any reason I need more than four PSI? I will be cutting mainly plastics, maybe some Acrylic, which is highly flammable, so I want the very best possible airflow for exhausting and removing the char and ash after the cut.

The one below from Boss Laser is about $170 and rated at 14 PSI output. I'd prefer to be below $100.
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=445446&stc=1
https://www.google.com/search?q=lase...56598992451485

Appreciate your help. If you know of a pump that fits my needs, could you please post a direct link? I'd truly appreciate it.

Thank You,
CL

I think you’ll be fine with the cheaper one.
When air escapes from a nozzle the psi is essentially zero. So psi creates air flow.
Some machines have a nose cone where the air is forced directly down into to cut. Others use a tube that kind of does the same. Getting air into the burn zone is key
I’ve tried moderate and higher air flows and didn’t see much of a difference in the cut. There is a huge difference between no air and moderate air. Soft woods will burn around the cut with no air. Btw my experience is on a 50 watt CO2 unit.


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i got this off amazon, works great and sound isnt to annoying. https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Deluxe.../dp/B07ZG998F3

Did you get the 602 GPH pump that the link opened up or did you get one of the larger ones?

Thank you

Do you have compressed shop air? That is what I run, via a regulator, and it works great. Not sure about the epilog lasers, but I run between 30-60 PSI depending on the job, on a Trotec SP500 120w. When cutting 25mm thick pine for example, 60PSI is what works for me, but thin card and acrylic gets blown around at that pressure and does fine with 20PSI. This is with a nose cone which jets the air into the cut BTW. Depending on the setup your results may vary. With our other laser that has built in air assist (no external inlet to supply shop air) it does fine with something similar to whats posted above. Although it's only used for engraving and cutting up to 3mm and I would prefer more air if it was possible. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by DWalls

Did you get the 602 GPH pump that the link opened up or did you get one of the larger ones?

Thank you

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I got the one pictured in the link, yes