Hi, I’m Steve, and welcome to my channel. I’ve been involved in all forms of technology for more than three decades and in that time I’ve learned to make a lot of things. In fact, I make almost everything, especially if it can be made using 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines, and even the occasional woodworking tool. This channel is focused on building projects and reviewing any tools that will help me achieve my mission to make everything. Hopefully, you will join me and we can work together to create interesting things.
My primary goal is to create a new generation of Makers, so the revenue generated by this channel will be used to fund additional projects and equipment to produce more content. Any basic designs and techniques in videos on this channel will usually be made available and you will be free to use these for your own use.
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for my small business. Between the Xtool S1 40W and the We Create 40, which one would you recommend for someone just starting out? I'm particularly interested in ease of use, durability, and the quality of the final output. Appreciate any insights you can share!
What is the degree of accuracy? Will it put a .750" circle concentrically located on a 1" round piece? And then if you put it back on would it put a .500 circle in the center of both?
Since the last update this improved greatly. With the first release I had one wooden keychain the was misaligned. But with the most recent update everything was perfectly aligned. However if you want to reprocess the pieces by rerunning them on the conveyor, I don’t think you’d get the accuracy you’d want. It’s probably +/- 1mm of accuracy.
Thanks for the recap! A couple of questions.. When connecting the more rigid hose to the extractor, how did you get a tight fit at the top of the extractor? The clamp doesn’t seem to seal on the adapter with the bubbled profile. I added the silicone sleeve, but that doesn’t seem like right answer either. Have you questioned them about a mail merge function for use with the conveyor? I asked, but they haven’t responded to that question, I understand they are like one armed paper hangers at the moment! Someone on FB said that LB can do it, but my understanding is that you cannot use LB with the conveyor. In case you are tracking it, I used your link for the ultra.
I’m not sure what hose scenario you are describing. If you are talking about the end that fits into the laser, it fits perfectly. The other end is unterminated and I just press mine onto my external exhaust fan inlet to vent it outside. Most people, including I, want the ability to engrave from an input file like a name list. I haven’t asked Xtool about this yet because I have them focused on another issue at the moment. You can post to their Facebook group with this request though and see who else upvotes this. I have a feeling almost everyone wants this.
@@SteveMakesEverything Hi Steve, sorry, I thought you were using the fume extractor. I did post it on the FB group, no responses…didn’t check on likes.
@@75keg75 I'd like to make some sort of auto feeder that I can drop a stack of business cards in and push the start button. Getting cards to drop onto the conveyor consistently without intervention could be an interesting challenge.
@SteveMakesEverything Awesome I will definitely check it out! You have the coolest CNC on youtube BTW 😎 Have a look at @vAzhureThings He upgraded the ttc450. It is a boss now. He build a race car simulator with parts he makes with it.
I also ordered the f1 ultra but rethink of cancelling it . Everyone talks about metal business cards or dog tags… in reality there is close to no demand for these type of products. And in Germany we have more than 100 companies who offer that type of products. So hard market with price dumping involved. I don’t think it it possible to build a business with such standard products… but thank you for the video. I see the software problems as well. I would also like to use is with something like a batch process where each piece changes a value automatically like a serial number or even text from a list…
The things I created here are just what I use as giveaways for my own business, but this certainly wouldn't apply to anyone. You can easily create your own volume items from wood or metal, but by definition, this isn't going to appeal to a huge audience. I use engraved business cards because people will often ask what a laser can do and I typically respond with "Here, take my card." You bring up something that I ask for as well - the ability to make changes for each item engraved. I see the best use case for a conveyor option as something that can engrave serial numbers on metal plates, or different names on wood cards. Without this ability, conveyors are relegated to creating craft fair parts, and I don't think that's a highly profitable market - at least not for me.
@@SteveMakesEverything Thank you! I truly agree with you. And I think so many youtuber try to sell lasers with that claims like "build a easy laser business" with this laser... but in reality, nearly every laser business does not make any money. I hope to see the conveyor features soon...
@@chrisr1241 No matter what, you will never hear me say create a laser business (or any business is easy). Products like the F1 Ultra and Conveyor might help with success, but it's always about hard work regardless of the tool that are available.
Yes, this is the challenge xTool will face with the F1 Ultra, though there a number of interesting projects you could make where you would want both a diode and fiber in the same project (not for the conveyor though). I like the F1 Ultra specifically for some of the projects I outline in this video, and I will always use the F1 Ultra for these. But I personally don't have a volume use case other than these at least until I can engrave things like different names or numbers on each item going down the conveyor.
While I had the cover open for recording most of this video (wearing laser glasses of course), the smoke extraction worked great even with the cover up. Even wide open I watch the smoke get quickly sucked into the fan at the back.
@@SteveMakesEverything I'd also say the new logo looks more professional and artistically done, but I wasn't sure what I'm looking at. I thought it was showing a colonoscopy.
Heat guns generally don’t have a temperature setting, so I’m not really sure. I use the low setting on mine until the powder coat starts to melt - and event will be pretty obvious. You can be a few inches away with the heat gun until the melt point to avoid blowing the powder out of the engraving.
In lightburn you can just switch the units and it will convert the settings. You will generally be able to go faster with a CO2, but run material tests for the laser(s) so you have a reference.
Since you’ve already been using a diode laser, you should already know most of what you need. The big learning with be to understand what materials a CO2 can work with. The other thing you will need to conquer is the maintenance you will need to do on a co2. The first time you need to clean optics or realign mirror, you will be terrified, but there is lots of help for this - just ask 😁. In the end the co2 experience is different but not impossible and the rewards will be obvious once you get a handle of things.
@@SteveMakesEverything im learning the settings are very different , much faster and lower . With my k30 1 pass on 3mm plastic at 70 percent power and my k40 co2 its 30 percent at 3 mm/s big difference but im getting there and thank you for your replys , your correct about the pm's on a co2 and alignment is a pain ! Game changer is cutting clear for me !
I've just stumbled across your video and being from the UK I've never heard of Borax, so a quick Google I find it's illegal to buy here, amazon sell a borax substitute (non toxic) so I wondered if anyone in the UK has found something to use?
HI Steve! I'm sorry, but I need to ask for help again! I have an Acmer A500 Camera that I installed on a TS2-20W machine! My problem is that every time I stop working, I turn off all the machines, and then when I want to use the camera again, I have to reinstall it again! I watched your video and other videos all the way, but I didn't see that you saved the settings! What do you think I'm not doing well? Thanks!
When you say "reinstall" are you talking about reinstalling something on your computer or just having to recalibrate in Lightburn? If it's the former, that's a computer or operating system issue and I can't be much help there. If it's a recalibration, that shouldn't happen at all and would indicate that Lightburn possibly can't write the configuration to your computer. There isn't a "save" for camera calibration per se.
@@SteveMakesEverything It's the latter! When I start Lightburn, I can see the camera, but I can't see what I want to engrave, only if I put the drawn, numbered squares under it again and mark the points 1,2,3,4 again! After that, I can already see what I want to engrave, I can engrave it, but the camera is no longer accurate!
@@zoltankabodi3377 Got it. This is pretty odd. This should have nothing to do with the camera, so either Lightburn isn't saving this information, or the underlying operating system (I assume Windows) is preventing it. You could try to check your computer logs for any write errors after setting this information in Lightburn, but it's a long shot.
@@SteveMakesEverything Thanks! I also think that Lightburn doesn't save it, that's why I asked where it should be saved! All my programs are legal, so I don't understand! Everything else works fine on both my machines (I also have two laptops) but the camera doesn't work on either of them! That's why I wouldn't worry that Windows is at fault! I don't think the antivirus (McAffe) can interfere? But then I don't know how to set up Lightburn?
@@zoltankabodi3377 If I get a few minutes I'll take a look at the camera alignment in Lightburn and see if I can reproduce your problem, but I've honestly never seen this happen.
Hi, thanks for your video. I have a laser level that has a class 2 laser less than 1mw & wave length of 635nm...I'm wondering which glasses would be compatible for that type of laser? I notice on the amazon link you provide shows the laser compatibility for each glasses, but I don't see exactly 635nm. I'm assuming that if the wavelength compatibility is 700nm, 800nm & 1000nm+...it should be strong enough for 635nm laser levels? Let me know if I am wrong...Thank you!
When shopping for laser glasses, the seller will include a range of protection and an optical density in that range. Look for a set that covers the 635nm wavelength with an OD 3 or better and you will be fine. OD6+ is ideal, so spend the extra money to get the highest optical density you can for 635nm.
I can't remember if the Ray 5 has limit switches. I think the later ones do, but if your laser doesn't, then homing won't have much effect You can set a position where the laser will be after the job is complete. Look on the "Move" tab and click the "Set Finish Position" button to tell Lightburn where to go when the job is complete.
@@SteveMakesEverything Thank you. I will try that. When I am not using lightbrun and using the controls on the machine it does home. so I'm a little mixed up.I called longer ray. Should get a call back today. Thanks again.
Have you had any problems with the speed, seems like mine doesn't go over 8000mm checked the machine settings and everything ok there, i can tell the module isnt moving any faster at 24000mm than 8000mm and the burn i do proves it, both the same, hopefully you can help
This would depend on what you are engraving. If it is small then the laser will spend a lot of time speeding up and slowing down for direction changes. I’m not sure how laser companies measure with speeds but this is a dubious marketing number at best
It was a big engraving around 12 inches done at 24000mm it didn't move any faster or engrave any deeper or darker at 8000mm, also I didn't update the firmware, it cuts really well at 1500mm on 3mm plywood
@@djs7515 I've tried a similar experiment with several different lasers and saw similar results - hence my skepticism of posted speeds. However when I've looked at the Falcon 2 in the past, my engraving benchmark test was pretty clearly capped at 24000mm/m, so I'm confused. I'm really starting to wonder if laser companies aren't somehow cooking the results for material tests, but in the real-world their lasers are much slower. (Maybe this is like Volkswagon's DieselGate a few years ago 😏
Sent creality a email about this, they got back to me today with this answer, 24000mm is slower than 8000mm, I don't know what kind of math they use over there, anyway the machine cuts like a champ and that's what I use it for I got other lasers that I use for engraving
I’ve used Inkscape for many years and it’s how I created my original logo. What it lacks is any AI ability, so any imagination put into a logo has to come from me…and that’s a problem
Hi Steve thank you it’s exactly what I needed. I have the s30 ! Do you have ( can you send me) the stl for the offset block to go against the limit switch as I can’t use fusion I just don’t understand the program
I have. I find Canva very powerful, though, from my perspective, it seems much more difficult to learn/use. I does much more than Kittl, but provides lots of functionality I don't need.
I don't know actually came to the commons to say that I liked it. It definitely seems out of character for the person talking but it also gave a strange mystery for sure. People like all kinds of music so it's cool to see it at least
Hi, I need to create a specific measuring tool but I'm not familiar with the software that you use or have the time to learn right now, do you provide design services? thanks
Hi Steve! Just found your channel and finding it really informative! Thank you! I’m debating between the F1 ultra and the S1 was wondering if you (or anyone else!) is able to help me in deciding please?! I want to use it to engrave business cards both metal and plastic and potentially acrylic items too, and thoughts? F1 and the conveyor belt? Or the S1? Thank you
Either laser will engrave cards. You could use the slide on the F1 or the S1. Either way you will need a jig if you want to do multiple cards as a batch. The S1 is more versatile but less portable than the F1, but the F1 can engrave more types of metal
@@SteveMakesEverything ahhh okay great thank you so much for replying! I feel like I’ve opened up a can of worms trying to find a printer!! 🤯🤪 now considering a uv flatbed printer! Any thoughts?!!
@@user-rr4ks3wh9o I would love one of these myself, but I haven't done too much research into them. The only ones I've looked at with any intensity are the ones from Epson.
I'm considering buying this as a rather significant upgrade from my heavily used xTool D1 (not pro) 10w laser. But, since I'm mainly a woodworker, I make things like 18" diameter lazy susans...and some charcuterie boards that might be wider than will fit inside the enclosure. So.... My question is: Does this enclosed engraver allow for "pass-thru" projects so that, for example, I could engrave a quote on one end of a charcuterie board, then a family name on the opposite end? Let's assume that my charcuterie board is 8" wide but 28" long. Would I be able to use this engraver for such a project? I'm imagining that riser blocks or similar might be necessary to raise the creality frame off the surface of the wood. ~Dr. Larry S. Anderson • Tupelo, MS (birthplace of Elvis!)
No pass-thru on the Falcon 2 Pro. If that’s what you need then you need to look at the Xtool S1 or now the Wecreat Vision. Both have conveyor options for longer items.
I have literally been talking about starting a laser rust removal business im currently saveing money for the 9 thousand dollar portable laser there quite expensive and i am paying a mortgage among other things but i am tired of working 60 hours a week n liveing paycheck to paycheck just to survive. Thanks for the video.
NEVER spend money before you do market research. thats a very important business lesson. my brother invested 15-20 thousand & the equipment didn't even run + he did not do any surveys or market research. DO THIS: call at least 100 potential firms/ clients in your are and ask them would they be interested in such a service and how much they would pay. you may save yourself the 9 thousand + a lot of stress and time within just a few phone calls.
