40W Chinese Laser - Engrave and Cut Leather - Discuss

[Billy Hell]

Here is an experiment with safety glasses. I'm adding it the thread so you have info on potential damage and why laser safety glasses are worth the investment. 
 

 

[electrathon]

Interesting video.  That was a 80 watt laser, very powerful.  Also I think it is rare to get your eyes in the line of the laser.  I believe most of the machines are going to make you shut the door in order for it to run, just to be safe from being stupid with it.

[veedub3]

I have been looking at this machine for about 4 years now and still have not pulled the plug on it. At the time when I first started researching it the price was over $800, now on Ebay they are half that.  Over on the CNCZONE forum they have a section that is dedicated to these units with all the different mods and upgrades to turn this unit into a great little laser cutter, plus you can get answers to any newbie questions you may have or problems you may run into.  

@electrathon it will be interesting to see how you get yours going and the issues (if any) you run into. If the build goes well I may go ahead and grab one. I have an X-Carve CNC machine and a company called J Tech has a laser cutter attachment for my CNC machine, I was leaning that way, but if things goes well with your set up, I might just rethink adding a laser to my CNC and get a separate unit, that way I can CNC and Laser cut/engrave at the same time instead of tying up my machine and have to wait until one is finished.

Karina

[electrathon]

My laser arrived today!  Whoop Whoop! 

In a few days I hope to post a few pics of work from it.

[Billy Hell]

Here is what I did with my leather tools...

[OLDNSLOW]

Billy you did this with tools meaning none laser or with a laser.  And electrathon I look forward to your report.

[Billy Hell]

No laser, just stamps and a ceramic blade. WHOOPS, wrong thread. I'll put this in my original thread. Carry on with your laser discussion. Anxious to see how it goes. 

Edited July 11, 2017 by Billy Hell

[strathmoredesigns]

I know someone mentioned checking out a maker space, that's a great idea. I've also found a laser to practice on at a local library (Epilogue Zing 60 watt, retails for about $14K, so pricey but top of the line). It's free and they offer some training and I've been able to pick their brains a little about the laser itself as the library is on its second machine (first was an early Full Spectrum), and these guys made the purchasing decision.

As for my experiences to date.... as others have said, a fan is a must, as the leather does smell and the fumes generated by the laser in general can be intense. Laser cut leather can also sometimes get a little brittle and the laser will leave permanent dark burn marks both on the edges it cuts and on anything it engraves (though it's easily the most precise cutting and engraving I can get on leather so far). It doesn't take much experience to quickly learn to ID anything (leather or otherwise) that a laser cutter has touched because of these marks (example 1, example 2). I tried using masking tape and painters tape on some veg tan to limit the burn marks, but that didn't come off very cleanly and in some cases took the top layer of the leather with it - so don't bother.

Corel Draw is similar to Adobe Illustrator (though significantly cheaper), if your familiar, but if you're not, expect a little bit of a learning curve. You'll need to learn about raster and vector images, and line thickness, which is is really important in terms of the laser reading a marking as a direction to cut or engrave. I believe the cutting lines in Corel also need to be set to "hairline" or they'll just engrave. If like me, you're trying to design in Illustrator and import to Draw, it can be kind of a pain, as the two softwares sometimes interpret things differently. I've found it's easier to bring an Illustrator-generated PDF file into Draw than an .EPS or .SVG file (I forget which Draw uses). Though if you're designing directly in Draw and you're not working with a machine that will lock you out after an hour (thanks, library), then you shouldn't have that problem.

In terms of buying one... sometimes you'll see the real professional brands like Epilogue available used, but they're aren't usually a ton, and they're still pretty expensive. The Chinese imports are definitely the cheapest and my sense is that they're getting better, but you still need to be pretty capable as there's not really any support, the software can be wonky, and they don't always arrive (or stay) in working order. I've noticed though that there's another class emerging which are intended for home use, run about $3K to $5K and are coming from places where you might expect a little more quality control. These include Glowforge (US), Full Spectrum (US), Fabool (Japan), Emblaser (Australia), and Mr. Beam (Germany). Most of these are in at least their second generation and while they're not "professional", they are coming with at least 30 to 40 watt lasers, and in some cases more. I've been researching them for a few months now, and it seems like the major limitations (aside from Glowforge being massively delayed) is that you can't run the lasers non-stop like you could with something like an Epilogue and the beds tend to be smaller. Though I haven't bit the bullet yet, I'm sort of hovering between the Emblaser 2 and the Fabool 2. The Emblaser has a different type of laser (diode, I think?) which can run longer than the about 30 minutes most of the home lasers can safely run, but the bed is sized to non-US paper sizes (A3, I think) and thus a little small. The Fabool has the biggest bed and a stronger laser, but it has the type of laser that needs rest time. I also like the idea of buying a machine that comes with software written by native English speakers, as non of these companies are really "global" yet. As you seem to have noticed, it's also never as simple as "just buy this laser and you're good to go". You'll also need to buy a handful of accessories (fans, guides, etc.) in order to operate it safely and effectively. I'd estimate you could easily spend an extra $500 on relatively important accessories.

Anyway, those are my two cents. There are a number of Facebook groups out there where users are talking about these machines. It might be worth joining and seeing what they're saying.

[electrathon]

I had the time to get the unit out of the box.  I did find that two of the four caster wheels on the bottom were knocked off during shipping.  Also the final mirror was knocked off of its mount, with the mount bent.  I had time to reinstall the wheels, hope to straighten the bent mount tonight.

[OLDNSLOW]

keep it coming