Laser Engraver Experiences

[cstroke]

Hey all...
I see a few of you have laser engravers in your profiles.
I have a Co2 laser 150 watt 55"x36" it's supposed to cut thin metal but I haven't tried it yet for that.
It would be interesting to get some of your takes on them if you own one or have researched them.
Or even a small format laser cutter..
What have you used them for?
We don't have a room that makes sense for this discussion..
I see Joe has one.. I'm going to read his now..
Can we either get a room or just a specific thread for this???
Maybe this could be it..
I use mine fairly often with my CNC plasma stuff and also many other things. Sort of cool a lot of the programming art wise can be transferred over.
Thanks
Chris

[cstroke]

IMG_2829.JPG

First pic is a business card Stainless steel blank powdercoated then rip coating off. 2nd is a piece of stainless for a pet memorial.. same process.

IMG_2802.JPG

[plasmanewbie]

Nice, those look great!

[cstroke]

Soooo. I've been looking at the fiber lasers.
OMG as suggested..
Also looking at cloudray.
found some interesting stuff..
Lightburn which I use for my Co2 laser hasn't been available for galvo lasers until recently.. Lightburn is incredible.
Anyhow...
https://www.cloudraylaser.com/products/ ... 8472774817
Looked at this but not sure if its the right direction.
These are pretty slick too.
https://www.cloudraylaser.com/products/ ... 4017864865

[Joe Jones]

Soooo. I've been looking at the fiber lasers.
OMG as suggested..
Also looking at cloudray.
found some interesting stuff..

I already have this laser, it is a 30 Watt fiber laser. I will probably sell this one and apply the funds to something much bigger.

Joe

LASER.jpg

[rdj357]

...
Lightburn which I use for my Co2 laser hasn't been available for galvo lasers until recently.. Lightburn is incredible.

I can confirm that Lightburn is AWESOME and it is absolutely MORE AWESOME now that it works with the galvo!!

[Joe Jones]

I can confirm that Lightburn is AWESOME and it is absolutely MORE AWESOME now that it works with the galvo!!

I am just starting into the learning curve of LightBurn. It is a good program, but I haven't tried everything it offers yet. One thing is certain. It will do certain things to files BETTER and FASTER than DesignEdge The really nice thing is that LightBurn has some of the functions of the Advanced Design Upgrade of DesignEdge. So it might be worth the $60.00 price JUST for the ability to do some of the same things that the PlasmCam "Advanced Design Upgrade" does for $998.00

Joe

[acourtjester]

I would love it they would also setup for generic G-code for DIY types like me. I am having to build a controller to use GRBL for using Lightburn directly like on my Ortur Master 2. I can use LaserGRBL on my DIY table but it not a nice as Lightburn. I have mounted a Neje A40640 laser module (Dual Blue Diode) on the 4X4 table for bigger projects. Next step is a Quad Blue Diode laser for more power. Lightburn with output of generic G-code would shorten the path.

[Pspider Support]

Hey all...
I see a few of you have laser engravers in your profiles.
I have a Co2 laser 150 watt 55"x36" it's supposed to cut thin metal but I haven't tried it yet for that.
It would be interesting to get some of your takes on them if you own one or have researched them.
Or even a small format laser cutter..
What have you used them for?
We don't have a room that makes sense for this discussion..
I see Joe has one.. I'm going to read his now..
Can we either get a room or just a specific thread for this???
Maybe this could be it..
I use mine fairly often with my CNC plasma stuff and also many other things. Sort of cool a lot of the programming art wise can be transferred over.
Thanks
Chris

Low wattage lasers seem to be popping up more and more in our members shops so we have created a forum specific to this topic as you suggested cstroke. Thanks for the suggestion

[cstroke]

Thanks for the room..
What do you guys think of the Cloudray I posted??
Thoughts??
Lightburn doesn't seem like a hard program to learn, all the bells and whistles might be another story..
Can you give me the run down on a Galvo Co2 laser.. What does it do compared to Galvo lasers.

[weldguy]

I have never seen one like that, pretty slick with the tall adjustable Z axis and rotary chuck. Looks super versatile and not a bad price

[Joe Jones]

Low wattage lasers seem to be popping up more and more in our members shops so we have created a forum specific to this topic as you suggested cstroke. Thanks for the suggestion

The Society of Laser Owners Worldwide (S.L.O.W.) has a plan to discretely arm everyone with these seemingly harmless lasers. Then on a specific date and at a specific time, we will all simultaneously point our laser at the moon and cause it to explode! BILLIONS of watts of lasers, all focused on one thing at the same time! It will be EPIC!

"What? Is it already time for my pill again? Okay. Untie my sleeves. I promise I will behave this time ..."

Joe

[rdj357]

….
Can you give me the run down on a Galvo Co2 laser.. What does it do compared to Galvo lasers.

The most popular use thus far for ‘Galvo’ has been with fiber lasers. 2 Different things here - one is laser source, the other is control.

A fiber laser typically has a wavelength of 1,060 nm. This wavelength will directly impact (cut/engrave) metals. Glass is transparent to this wavelength.

A CO2 laser typically has a wavelength of 10,600 nm. This wavelength will not mark or cut metal without some special accommodations. Glass is damaged by this wavelength.

Gantry control is implied in most CO2 machines. The use of a laser head that transverses a gantry to move about the table provides X/Y movement. The beam is either emitted by a diode on the head or is routed along the path by a few mirrors and passes through a focusing lens (looks like a pretty small magnifying glass) in the head. Most are stable around 500 mm/second up to a maximum around 1,000 mm/sec.

Galvo (short for Galvanometer) control is usually found on fiber laser engravers. This setup has the beam being sent into a ‘head’ where 2 small mirrors are on servo motors. They direct the beam down through a large F-Theta style lens (looks like a camera lens) to the work surface. Because the mirrors only make tiny movements compared to the movement of the focused beam down at table height, they easily operate at speeds of 5,000-7,000 mm/sec.

The benefits of a CO2 Galvo are the increased speed for engraving. Gantry will always excel at cutting and Galvo in engraving.

[cstroke]

So basically if I have a Co2 laser I wouldnt need a galvo Co2 unless speed on glass was important.
A galvo would basically do what I needed??

[rdj357]

So basically if I have a Co2 laser I wouldnt need a galvo Co2 unless speed on glass was important.
A galvo would basically do what I needed??

Speed on organics overall really. I want one for powdercoat removal and wood engraving. Many colors of powder coat work great with the fiber but some are pretty stubborn. We also engrave large cutting boards. The galvo would be exponentially faster at cutting boards and quite a bit faster on powder removal for tumblers and drinkware.

[cstroke]

That was my impression.(The speed)..
I like the idea of being able to engrave stainless steel bottle openers without the powdercoat part too.
Wife is retiring and I bought the first engraver with the idea of her being able to possibly pay for health insurance with the income from the laser..
Thoughts on the Cloudray laser I posted??
Thanks in advance.

[rdj357]

That was my impression.(The speed)..
I like the idea of being able to engrave stainless steel bottle openers without the powdercoat part too.
Wife is retiring and I bought the first engraver with the idea of her being able to possibly pay for health insurance with the income from the laser..
Thoughts on the Cloudray laser I posted??
Thanks in advance.

If you want to mark stainless without powder coat then definitely the fiber you posted a link to would work. I'd only verify with Lightburn that it will work with the Lite board compared to the regular JCZ. I'm not familiar with it but suspect it could be a problem but they'd be the ones to ask about that. I can't find which height column it has but see they recommend the 800mm for the 300x300 lens which I definitely agree with, just cannot find where it is specified.

[cstroke]

Can you guys recommend groups to subscribe to so I can go down this rabbit hole further??
So far CloudRay and the OMG laser are ones I've looked at..
Boss as well but the price is incredibly high.
So much to learn. OMG doesn't have a great website to be able to educate yourself, Cloudray is better but I realize they are in the business of selling.
Thanks in advance.

[rdj357]

OMG's website stinks but Richard Zhang has a great reputation and responds pretty quickly when messaged on FB. I did a lot of research before buying from him and was not at all disappointed.

Look up Laser Everything on YouTube - he has a TON of videos on a lot of subjects including choosing the right laser.

[cstroke]

Ok you guys have me down the rabbit hole for sure now.
From suggestions here and videos etc....
Findings so far...
Diode is incredibly accurate for photos.. small beam size..
Co2 what I have right now but in a bed style has a small beam size but faster than diode(not as small beam as diode) but slower than Galvo.. and is for organics not metal etching..

Galvo is faster than Diode and co2( seems to be 2x faster at least than Co2) and can etch bare metal, removes organics but you need to defocus so not to mark metal.

Mopa you can anneal metals to give color but other wise its the same as the other galvos(more frequencies to mess with)

Galvo/Co2 which RDJ said was what he wanted next.. Stupid fast with the benefits of a Co2
Saw guy putting simple logo on mugs at 15 seconds each... WTH..

Educate me on the rest of that?? Is it the best of both worlds as far as galvos and Co2?? Can etch bare metal and removes powders at a stupid rate??
Prices seem like a MOPA or Galvo Co2 are similarly priced..

[rdj357]

Be careful not to cross the two categories of 'things' up.

First is the method of control and second is the wavelength of laser. You can have any combination of these.

Control Method:

Galvo is a head that uses small mirrors to control the laser beam down through an F-Theta lens. Working area is very limited compared to gantry control (max is typically around 16" square at absolute most down to 4" square) as is determined by which lens you use. Most common is around 6" square work area. Because 2 very small mirrors control the movement rather than a gantry and laser head, they are very fast (top speeds of around 7-10,000 mm/sec compared to 500-1000 mm/sec with gantry)

Gantry is what we're used to seeing on a plasma table. A gantry moves the laser head in one direction and the laser head moves back and forth across the gantry for the other axis. This is most common in any laser with cutting capability. Bed size can be much larger (although beam divergence can limit the useful area). CO2 dual use cut/engrave machines will have a gantry setup.

Laser Wavelength:

CO2 is so named because of the gas in the tube used to generate the laser beam. I have discussed this previously - it damages organic materials. Metal is mostly reflective to the light (at a molecular level, not just because it may or may not be shiny) so it will not do much if any damage to metal without special methods.

Fiber lasers use a piece of fiber optic in which to generate the laser. This wavelength will damage metal directly so it is commonly used for direct metal marking/engraving as well as cutting metal.

------

Galvo Fiber - Typically for engraving directly to metal and some plastics.
Galvo CO2 - Typically used for engraving organic materials and removing powder coat without harming the metal underneath.
Gantry CO2 - Typically used for engraving and cutting organic material and with a cutting head can be made to cut some metal.
Gantry Fiber - Typically used for metal cutting.

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Ok, the outliers:
MOPA - this is an alternative to a less expensive Q-switched FIBER laser. These allow setting of the pulse width which allows darker marking on Aluminum and the ability to create a range of colors on some metals.

Galvo-Gantry - This setup has a galvonometer mounted on a gantry. It's easiest to think of this as a self-indexing galvo. The head can move around and engrave sections at a time to create a larger work area than the a galvo head fixed on a column could handle. These aren't very common in what I've seen.

[cstroke]

Thank you for your explanations..
Can you tell me why you are looking at the one you mentioned??
What do you plan on doing with it??

[rdj357]

I am planning a Galvo CO2 because we already have a gantry CO2 and a galvo fiber. This will be an additional tool to do specific work (engraving organics) more quickly than the gantry CO2.

I plan to use it rather than our gantry CO2 for wood engraving and tumbler engraving. I will use it rather than our galvo fiber for leatherette(made to laser faux leather product) engraving. The gantry CO2 takes 20-30 minutes to run a cutting board but the galvo should be able to accomplish the same task at around 10 minutes. The galvo fiber can do tumblers and leatherette but some colors (like red tumblers or royal blue leatherette) are very difficult to do on the fiber because of the wavelength. I'll share a video of a corporate tumbler on the fiber. I've made jigs for each tumbler style that we sell and Lightburn galvo has cylinder correction built in so we can run logos up to ~3 inches wide easily without a rotary. This same tumbler would take 4-5 minutes on the gantry CO2 plus the time to load and unload the rotary. With the galvo we ran 10 cases (240 tumblers), two sided at 17 minutes per case using the galvo fiber. On the gantry that same order ran almost 3 hours per case. Time is money and the galvo CO2 will make galvo engraving tumblers at that speed a reality for us on all the colors.

[adbuch]

Robert - just curious - why is the logo lettering reversed (backwards) in the video? Are you filming using a mirror?
Thanks,
David

video image backwards.jpg

[djreiswig]

Everything is backwards. If you look at the words on the wood under the tumbler it's backwards also. Assuming it's in a mirror.