A laser engraver is the most recent tool that is on my radar. Anybody out there have experience/opinions on what I should watch out for? I’ll be using it to engrave metal and my wife will use it for different craft projects.
Laser engraver
- Thread starter Yooper
- Start date
I bought a 25 watt FOBA for the metallographic lab back in '19. We use it all day M-F and haven't had any issues. I think i paid $70K.
Working distance is very important. Get an enclosure that will accommodate the height of your parts and still maintain the lasers focal length.
Working distance is very important. Get an enclosure that will accommodate the height of your parts and still maintain the lasers focal length.
The big question is what's the budget and how deep do you want to engrave metals. I have a dozen of the lower cost consumer type lasers. Both blue diode from 5 to 40 watt and 2 Co2 machines. The diode lasers are great for wood, leather, stone and colored acrylic craft projects but anything glass or clear is a a pain to do with lower quality results requiring a black coating to make it work. My Co2 machines are great at everything the diodes can do plus have good results with glass and clear acrylic. They all create toxic particles and fumes that require a good exhaust system. I use lightburn software (purchased with yearly licensing fee for upgrades) to control many of them and there's a learning curve to get started and build a library matched to your machines. A couple of mine are Xtools that come with the easiest to get started software package. None of mine are really good for metals. You probably would need to look at a fiber type laser for that. A UV fiber will give the best results on fine metals, ceramics, glass, wood, and plastics with a tiny precise spot size. The MOPA will give deep engravings in metals and color abilities on some metals. The fiber machines are usually limited in work piece size as the lense is fixed. Laser power and lens choices make a difference in capabilities and quality. It really depends on how it will be used and the size of your projects. For beginners I think Xtool sells the easiest to use low end machines that have decent support and easy to learn software. They have a selection of many different machines. I used to make videos for several companies that would send me the newest machines to test and they all worked fine if not DOA. Most people started with simple low cost blue diodes and moved up from there so there are many used starter machines sold cheap these days.
Runs With Scissors
Well-known member
Equipment
L2501 TLB , Grappel, Brush Hog, Box Blade, Ballast box, Forks, Tiller, PH digger
What caught my eye is the fiber laser along with the rotary head. This would be the gantry type. Looks versatile. My budget would be in the <10k range.
If I could burn hedgehog logos in the stuff I build I'd be in heaven. Mainly aluminum parts, sometimes steel, varrying sized parts. Any suggestions/links?
I started to look into them for some engraving on, receivers and knife blades and stuff like that. And found out for what I was thinking about it was way above my pay scale and intellectual capacity, and then I had that boating accident and lost everything I wanted to engrave anyway
I can't help you with the fiber lasers but a friend of mine recently bought a ComMarker omni series UV laser and it produces amazing quality on most materials and precious metals really fast. He also has a MOPA by Cloud Ray for metals he is happy with. I never accepted any offers to them for videos because companies started requiring a contract stating they had the right to have you edit out anything they don't like that basically meant you no longer could do 100% honest reviews. Guess they didn't like creators finding issues with new models. Be sure if you rely on videos to watch ones about machines that were purchased by the creator and not listed as paid promotions at this point.
I'm wondering If you may just want to get a different laser for your wife's crafts as usually the fibers are limited to under 12 inches square and cutouts are all tapered because of the fixed lense. Also fiber machines are more complicated to use.
I'm wondering If you may just want to get a different laser for your wife's crafts as usually the fibers are limited to under 12 inches square and cutouts are all tapered because of the fixed lense. Also fiber machines are more complicated to use.
Runs With Scissors
Well-known member
Equipment
L2501 TLB , Grappel, Brush Hog, Box Blade, Ballast box, Forks, Tiller, PH digger
Great advice! The MOPA ones have caught my attention but I need to do more research. I also need to research the software side of it for ease of programming.
https://lightburnsoftware.com This is the software most use. Plenty of videos about using it and a free trial. Just need to buy the right version.