My wife gifted me one last year. Have used it for Christmas ornaments, Easter basket tags and to engrave woodworking projects for friends and family. Have also engraved name plaques for my daughter and daughter in law. I do not have a business, strictly hobby, but look forward to your future videos for some new ideas. I just started to develop some skills around cutting out divided boxes with 3mm plywood. One box now has sweeteners packets and the other houses pencils, markers, bamboo skewers, popsicle sticks, 6” rules, etc. on my workbench. Keep up the great videos.
Very cool! I actually am building a fire proof enclosure for it now and a 37w engraver should arrive in 2 weeks to review. Interested to see it’s capability difference
Thanks Justin. You continue to impress with your diverse reviews on different stuff than many others. This time you increased my knowledge on these laser machines and now have a good idea what they can and cannot do. I have seen a lot adverstied on Banggood at various price points but never really considered purchasing one...until now. Thanks mate from kmdci n Oz.
Thanks Keith! Yeah, it’s a pretty fun little machine, of course a friend of mine who saw the video immediately texted me and said hey, can I use it 😂😂😂 but oh man you need an enclosure for it, my shop still smells of smoke even wen putting it right near the garage door with a fan on it.
Hi Justin, thanks for the video and welcome to the world of lasers in the woodshop. I've been using a laser in my shop for about 2 years now and has already paid for itself a few times over. In my opinion the Lightburn software is the best software to use for laser engraving. I also wanted to point out that along with speed and power settings you may need to adjust your focal point. Some lasers do this automatically but most do not. My optimal focal point is 3/4" above my medium.
You should check out the Longmill laser! I am thinking about buying the MK2 and will probably get the laser along with it 👌 love the videos! Keep it up
I did, and I had been wanting that prior to reviewing this. My thoughts on that are they are separate processes for me so I would rather be able to keep the machine separate so I can run them both at the same time. Also, my CNC enclosure is in a really bad space for being able to put ventilation and oh man do you need ventilation with the stuff!
@@BitnerBuilt that makes total sense. I have already thought about how the process will be somewhat disjointed having them share a gantry. I can’t deny being excited about being able to laser 48” wide projects though 👌
Great video. I appreciate your honesty and explaining how it works. I think it would be perfect for cutting 3mm wood products or making templates to hold ties for custom jobs I do for my business of making model train track. I subscribed and look forward to more videos on this machine.
Thanks for good video. Just came with an idea, what if for different materials burn that "test" matrix with diagonal and save, so for every material to know what power and time to use to not totally burn jeans or leather. Also thinking what will be the usage for DIY-ers (I am the one).
Thanks arsen and your totally right! That’s what that function is for and I just didn’t think to do it when I was trying the jeans for some reason! 😂 glad your a sharp one and caught that! I’m not gonna use the machine till I build the enclosure for it, which I’m doing right now . my shop smell like burning all the time, so I need the enclosure! I plan on doing the grid on materials and then making a spreadsheet, so I always know what this laser should be set at for each material! Thanks so much for pointing that out you’re a big help! Did you notice can also engrave rocks! Going to play with that next
Do you think this would be good for templqtes? I am thinking of this workflow. Burn a template on thin material, transfer it to the piece with a small template bit on the router, and then finish the pieces with a big flush bit. Would it be worth it or just better to get a cnc and not waste your moneys?
hmmmm so they really are different machines but with some overlaps. And templating is one of those overlaps. it will make a great thin template max size 24x24" (there is a $50 extension to this unit that makes it around 24x48" ) the cnc on a straight cut on thin material will prob be faster and you then have the availability to do thicker material if you wish as well. You also MUST have an enclosure for the laser, cnc doesn't NEED one but it's recommended. I think the best question is what are your other needs other than templating because both can do that? Easy personalization of products or budget, go with the laser. Bigger size, thick cuts, deep engraving, then go cnc (but more $$ and bigger footprint though you can get a shapeoko and then there isn't a footprint)
@@BitnerBuilt Thank you for your replay Justin. That does make sense. With tools is a matter of priorities, right? I'll let my clients dictate those. Right now it seems like a CNC or a shape origin are actually more suited to my workflow, I do want to have some branding in my pieces and so the laser does sound appealing.
@@juancamiloacevedo5756 honestly, my thought process would be to go for the CNC machine and then pick up a very cheap laser specifically with the mind said it’s only for engraving when you have that need
@@BitnerBuilt Yup, that makes sense. Shapeoko is your recommendation there? I am not mass producing anything, I just do fin furniture by commission. I do want to simplify my workflow to create templates.
@@juancamiloacevedo5756 I personally haven’t used it so I can’t speak to it but it does look like it has a lot of flexibility to be able to do stuff in weird places and isn’t limited by size. However, you have to do all the work for it. It’s not like the other CNC machines were you just put in the woods and hit go and it makes it for you
I bought this one at the link here because it was steel so I could use a magnet with it, I also got the big version so it was a little bit bigger than the bed of the engraver so I knew I wouldn’t ever miss 😂 amzn.to/3BfrDx4
PVC and vinyl produce a toxic gas when burned which is bad for humans, pets, and also machine parts. You can mask with paper transfer tape. I find it doesn't work too well for highly detailed designs, but if I want an easy paint mask it works. For preventing soot stains, prefinishing the piece is better.
@@BitnerBuilt I just watched that video. I have two Enjoywod E20 laser engravers, which are the same as the Wizmaker L1, except mine have 20w modules. Both brands are probably owned by Atomstack. I've been binge watching your channel today. Great stuff.
J - I'm not sure how you can churn out so may quality videos - do you sleep? Again, great content with details that are not included with others in this genre. I appreciate the detail and knowledge sharing at a practical level. Your videos are quality and informative which I'm sure all of us "early adopters" appreciate. Best wishes to you for continued growth and success. Keep 'em coming. TV
Great video! I have a similar (different brand) diode laser and a fancier fiber laser for laser marking on metal. I do woodworking full time and 100% say that lasers can add to the craft (if anything, some nice side money hehe) Keep it up as always!
Awesome! Would like to hear if you have some uses for your laser that works into your woodworking that I haven’t touched on (I didn’t go super in depth obviously) I think a lot of people are hesitant for a machine like this but after playing with it, it does seem like I can bring a lot to the table.
Hey Justin….your channel is doing well. Thank you for what must be a lot of work behind the scenes to get us these videos. I may someday try my hand a laser engraving so this was helpful as you covered a majority of what a new buyer of this machine may encounter (I wonder if it can etch on curved surfaces like drinking glasses, coffee mugs etc?). On a separate note, I am interested to see what you decided to do with that corner in your shop that you asked for ideas on 👍🏻. Also where is your EcoZen apron? Wondering if you are like me and now alternate between the old one and the new one. I enjoy your vids…keep it going my friend 😎.
Thanks Dewey! It can definitely at curved surfaces. There is a roller that you purchase to add onto this and it spins the curved item while the laser stays still. I’m actually filming the corner video right now! It’s a really big build so it’s probably gonna be broken up into a few videos over the next week, I really liked that echoes an apron however it squeaks the straps are leather where they meet the grommets in the front and so it was constantly making the squeaky noise right into my wireless microphone so while it’s a great apron for everybody else, I can’t use it for videography
What was the material that you made you're templates out of? Will it engrave or cut out on acrylics like up to 1/4 inch? Love the channel....keep up the good work.
Thanks James! The material that I made the templates out of was the super cheap hard board from the big box store. It’s also known as tempered masonite. You can get an entire 4 x 8 sheet for I think $14 where I live you can also get it where it’s white on one side and brown on the other so if you were to laser edge it, you’d have a white and black contrast, it can cut “some” acrylics up to 1/4 of an inch. I have some acrylic that I was going to do for the video but at a certain point I was up to 13 things I had made and said I need to move on to another video. 😂 specifically, I need to make an enclosure for it before I do anything else because man my shop stinks now. An enclosure of some sort is a must on the acrylic. The diode lasers that this is it has to use a tinted acrylic, it can’t be clear. the clear will just make it bounce around and not actually cut, it also can’t cut mirrors and there’s a warning on it not to cut a mirror because it will reflect the laser back up and destroy the laser but then they show that you can do it so I’m guessing you have to do some sort of masking tape trick method. I’m still a newbie when it comes to this stuff so I will bow to more educated people than what I am but it was a super fun machine that I’m excited to keep playing with going forward. The old age old argument to that when your spouse comes out and talks about 15 things they could make with it, the purchase has been okayed. 🤣
Yet another great video. I like that it's not the same type of video that others have put out when they get shipped a lazer to try out. Your insights were really helpful. - Chris
Great review, just bought a creality falcon 2 22w as my first ever laser and if I look half as happy as you are in this video after my first few days of learning it will have been money well spent thanks for sharing this
Great stuff enjoy it, lots of fun stuff to make. Think I have a video coming out tonight making silhouette glow art for the wall where I laser cut out shapes and then put LED lights behind them
