Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun



Moderator: Ghost Hip

Forum rules
The DIY forum is for personal projects (things that are not for sale, not in production), info sharing, peer to peer assistance. No backdoor spamming (DIY posts that are actually advertisements for your business). No clones of in-production pedals. If you have concerns or questions, feel free to PM admin. Thanks so much!

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby Jwar » Tue Sep 05, 2017 8:31 pm

crochambeau wrote:
multi_s wrote:here is some low wattage fun maybe you will be into cro-my-beau (scroll down to rusty whale) man (anti?)rusting the the control labelling. that would look hawt. just saying.

https://jenslabs.com/2013/12/16/what-ca ... er-cutter/

here is what you really need though:



I think the reaction I'm looking for is...

MY BONER

jwar wrote:The laser beam does get hot enough and it works fan-fucking-tastic with steel. No doubt about it. However, when annealing steel, which would be close to the same settings as cutting, it causes the opposite side of the steel to oxidize. I'm assuming it's some sort of chemical reaction to the beam, but I've never figured out exactly why. Instant rust and bad, bad, bad.


Oh, hey jwar, I promise I'm not stealing your lines. I just, borrowed it for one second.. see, no scratches or nothing..

While on the surface instant rust sounds like my bag, I agree that it has no place in cutting. Were you introducing any gas?

Realistically, labeling controls through rust would get more of a workout than actual cutting.. at least until I fall in love with square holes. Sort of brings my interest in line with the original Eleksmaker A5 post.


No gases introduced. Just oxygen after the lasering process.

So what I'm assuming is occurring is that while the laser is creating exothermic conditions (which would be annealing or cutting), the steel gets super heated to the point of causing a reaction when introduced to oxygen. So perhaps, and this is just a theory, the rust like conditions only occur when the steel cools too fast or is introduced to oxygen. With the machine I had, it was air tight, so that would explain the rapid interaction.

Again, I'm just guessing here based on my knowledge base.
"I do not have the ability to think rationally 90% of the time and I also change my mind at the drop of a hat".

-JWAR :)
Jwar

User avatar
Cosmic of BILF
Cosmic of BILF
 
Posts: 18237
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:18 pm
Location: The edge of existence

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby culturejam » Sun Sep 17, 2017 10:44 am

Madbean said to me the other day: "Hey, I wonder if plastic knobs can be etched?" So I had to try it. It works, but you really need a larger, flatter knob for it to be useable for anything beyond just a single letter.

The main problem is that while it looks cool when finished, the "black" in the letters is basically plastic soot, so it smudges when you touch it and will eventually wear out/off. So on suggestion of some other DIY guys, I cleaned out the soot and inked the letters with black acrylic paint. Worked very well and was easy to apply and clean up. I'm going to do another wipe down to get last bits of acrylic off the top, but it looks good as is until you really look at it close (ie - while using a pedal, you'd never bend down and put your eyeball right on top of the knobs).

Image
Disclaimer #1: Co-Founder, Product Developer at Function f(x).
Disclaimer #3: I do sporadic, infrequent contract work for Black Arts Toneworks
Check out my photo gear on the cheap site: Tight Camera
culturejam

User avatar
Supporter
Supporter
 
Posts: 2378
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:25 pm
Location: Nueva Yersey

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby multi_s » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:34 pm

this finally showed up... have not done anything cool yet though... came with a very interesting set of sample images lol.

Image

Image

Image
multi_s

User avatar
IAMILF
IAMILF
 
Posts: 2087
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:00 pm

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby culturejam » Thu Oct 12, 2017 9:01 pm

Wow, dude. You are not fucking around with that thing. Is that 60W CO2?
Disclaimer #1: Co-Founder, Product Developer at Function f(x).
Disclaimer #3: I do sporadic, infrequent contract work for Black Arts Toneworks
Check out my photo gear on the cheap site: Tight Camera
culturejam

User avatar
Supporter
Supporter
 
Posts: 2378
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:25 pm
Location: Nueva Yersey

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby crochambeau » Thu Oct 12, 2017 9:07 pm

multi_s wrote:Image


Is that a trophy of a dog wearing a gas mask?

Nice bit of kit!
I've got to get off my ass and bring to reality that what has been quoted through existence.

Rochambeau Musical Apparatus
Reverb storefront
Shark Tank
crochambeau

User avatar
IAMILF
IAMILF
 
Posts: 2162
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:49 pm
Location: Cascadia

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby multi_s » Thu Oct 12, 2017 9:22 pm

culturejam wrote: Is that 60W CO2?


it claims to be 80w Co2. next week i will see how thick ply can really be cut but ya... it seems to work at least. cant really say much else about it yet good or bad.

here is the item on aliexpress if you wanted to see the details

shipping did not end up being totally free since they deliver for free to a port, then you have to arrange freight delivery from there to your actual address, but even still it was not that much.
crochambeau wrote:Is that a trophy of a dog wearing a gas mask?


hmm pretty good guess id say!
multi_s

User avatar
IAMILF
IAMILF
 
Posts: 2087
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:00 pm

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby culturejam » Sat Oct 14, 2017 12:56 am

That's a serious piece of kit, my man. Congrats!
Disclaimer #1: Co-Founder, Product Developer at Function f(x).
Disclaimer #3: I do sporadic, infrequent contract work for Black Arts Toneworks
Check out my photo gear on the cheap site: Tight Camera
culturejam

User avatar
Supporter
Supporter
 
Posts: 2378
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:25 pm
Location: Nueva Yersey

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby Jwar » Mon Oct 16, 2017 7:48 pm

You can measure the tubes output with a tool, but I don't have one. It will tell you if you're getting as much wattages as it claims. I can't imagine they'd lie about that, but who knows. Looks cool either way!
"I do not have the ability to think rationally 90% of the time and I also change my mind at the drop of a hat".

-JWAR :)
Jwar

User avatar
Cosmic of BILF
Cosmic of BILF
 
Posts: 18237
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:18 pm
Location: The edge of existence

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby culturejam » Mon Oct 16, 2017 8:10 pm

Jesus Was a Robot wrote: I can't imagine they'd lie about that, but who knows. Looks cool either way!

The less expensive Chinese CO2 machines are notorious for exaggerating wattage. A lot of the 40W tubes have been measured between 25W - 30W. But considering that the whole machine is only about $500, I wouldn't be too upset by it.
Disclaimer #1: Co-Founder, Product Developer at Function f(x).
Disclaimer #3: I do sporadic, infrequent contract work for Black Arts Toneworks
Check out my photo gear on the cheap site: Tight Camera
culturejam

User avatar
Supporter
Supporter
 
Posts: 2378
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:25 pm
Location: Nueva Yersey

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby multi_s » Mon Oct 16, 2017 8:27 pm

Yes, that's basically how i feel. I definitely take any spec with a grain of salt and just remind myself i went with the cheapest solution so you do actually get what you pay for often with that approach.
multi_s

User avatar
IAMILF
IAMILF
 
Posts: 2087
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:00 pm

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby imJonWain » Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:13 pm

So that's a pretty solid (physically speaking) clone of the laser I use at work, a Universal Laser Systems unit. You can easily swap parts off too assuming they copied it well.

Our's is modified with a blue diode laser setup though, not whatever was stock.
"To my lay mind, the lobster's behavior in the kettle appears to be the expression of a preference; and it may well be that an ability to form preferences is the decisive criterion for real suffering."
http://www.TFRelectronics.com <project info
https://oshpark.com/profiles/TFRelectronics <oshpark shared boards
https://www.staticdisaster.com/ <my radio show
imJonWain

User avatar
FAMOUS
FAMOUS
 
Posts: 1756
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2014 8:56 pm
Location: AVl, NC

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby culturejam » Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:36 pm

imJonWain wrote: Our's is modified with a blue diode laser setup though, not whatever was stock.

Why did you guys go from CO2 to diode? That's a big drop in watts, unless there are some really sick-ass giant diodes I've not seen. :lol:
Disclaimer #1: Co-Founder, Product Developer at Function f(x).
Disclaimer #3: I do sporadic, infrequent contract work for Black Arts Toneworks
Check out my photo gear on the cheap site: Tight Camera
culturejam

User avatar
Supporter
Supporter
 
Posts: 2378
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:25 pm
Location: Nueva Yersey

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby multi_s » Fri Oct 20, 2017 1:38 pm

im not sure if this is what they would use, but you can get "coherent" laser diode arrays in a bar formation easily 50W plus, then you just need the optics to focus the bar into a beam. if you youtube laser cutting bar or something like that you will find this sort of thing. the price is comparable to Co2 at that power it looks like.? (well for aftermarket no name stuff anywys) Might be interesting. certainly is much smaller.


ebay?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dilas-high-pow ... 3201398798
multi_s

User avatar
IAMILF
IAMILF
 
Posts: 2087
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:00 pm

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby imJonWain » Fri Oct 20, 2017 7:32 pm

I don't know why they swapped it originally, maybe for an experiment? Way before I was there.. but we work mostly with solid state lasers in general in our drilling/machining systems. I'm not an optics guy but from what I understand they are less maintenance/more reliable on an industrial level.

we use mainly stuff from these guys, not at all cheap though.

http://www.nlight.net/products/diode-lasers/
"To my lay mind, the lobster's behavior in the kettle appears to be the expression of a preference; and it may well be that an ability to form preferences is the decisive criterion for real suffering."
http://www.TFRelectronics.com <project info
https://oshpark.com/profiles/TFRelectronics <oshpark shared boards
https://www.staticdisaster.com/ <my radio show
imJonWain

User avatar
FAMOUS
FAMOUS
 
Posts: 1756
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2014 8:56 pm
Location: AVl, NC

Re: Cheap Chinese Laser Engravers are Fun

Postby multi_s » Sun Oct 22, 2017 1:34 pm

imJonWain wrote:I don't know why they swapped it originally, maybe for an experiment? Way before I was there.. but we work mostly with solid state lasers in general in our drilling/machining systems. I'm not an optics guy but from what I understand they are less maintenance/more reliable on an industrial level.

we use mainly stuff from these guys, not at all cheap though.

http://www.nlight.net/products/diode-lasers/

looks like pretty pro grade stuff though. the pedal you posted in the projects thread looks pretty crisp too.

here i finally used mine for something, some plexiglass adaptor boards to put some pcbs onto DIN mount rails in a new control box for one of my cncs. not that exciting but it cuts the acrylic (3mm) at less than 40% power ~15cm/second feed so that is nice. ~ 1min per plate to cut.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
multi_s

User avatar
IAMILF
IAMILF
 
Posts: 2087
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:00 pm

PreviousNext

Return to DIY Effects



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


Sponsored Ad. (Please no inflated/repetitive clicking. Thanks!)



ilovefuzz.com is not responsible for user-submitted content. Users participate at their own discretion and risk.