*Quick correction, the Sculpfun S9 has an electrical input of 30W, the 90W in the product listing is from what they compare it too. It shows that in the product right above the laser output, I just missed it like a dummy..... 🤦
While true that the first listing (LGT LONGER RAY5) was listed as 40W that being totally false and it does not look like it has an option for it, you did select the size “5W”. I can see there’s also a “20W” for double the price. The listing of 40W up top won’t change, even when selecting the 5W or 20W. Though, the listing matches the type you selected. The point you make is totally valid and true but your exaggerating your point and I think a correction needs to be made.
Might be worth noting that the safety glasses that come with the diode lasers never state their performance. Oh, and even if they did good luck calculating the NOHD with them, they won't tell you the beam waist or the divergence.
A great vid but just like the companies I feel you are understating the danger of an open enclosure a little bit. Fire is one things but a far more imminent danger from using a laser and wanting to see how it is cutting and engraving is being blinded for the rest of your life. Even a stray beam from a 5 watt laser is enough to turn your vision from stereoscopic to monoscopic and that'll happen a whole lot faster than starting a fire.
Great list. Coming from the co2 world and getting into diodes second, a lot of the marketing and "defaults" were a shock to me. Couldnt believe they were sold without enclosures and was I convinced it was illegal. 😂
Keep in mind that an enclosure will NOT prevent a fire. There is still plenty of air introduced when making cuts (primarily to prevent burn cuts) and the air/smoke is evacuated to the outside of the enclosure (hopefully though some kind of vent system to the outside of the building). The only safe way to avoid your home from burning down is to never leave the tool alone when operating it.
Not only the companies. RU-vidrs make it look deceptively easy and I very rarely ever see them talk about the pitfalls...most don't even mention the need to vent fumes from burning. I regularly see posts from people who have no idea how to get started, they bought them thinking was like having a printer. It is very much not like that, it is a steep learning curve in image manipulation and also software that is needed to get the best from your laser.
They don't mention the need to vent fumes because YOU ARE BURNING SOMETHING. It is basic goddamn common sense that if you burn something, VENTILATION IS REQUIRED.
@@KainYusanagi You make an awful lot of noise for someone who isn't really saying anything at all. Not everyone knows everything. A lot of people coming to arts and crafts maybe never burned a thing in their lives. I can tell right away that there is a great deal that you do not know about in the world, and I doubt that you have very much BASIC GODDAMN SENSE.
Word of advice: if you want reliable information about anything stay away from youtube, instagram, tik tok. These people are trying to make money, not help others, never forget that.
I’m glad you’re telling this. I was looking through the lasers last week, but it was making me mad because it looked like some listings were being deceptive
These cutters should not be sold to the public. They should be enclosed and vented out of the room, not because of fire hazard as much as toxic vapors from the laser ablation. God knows what idiots will try to cut, releasing toxic gases. Shame on Amazon.
The Roly Lasermatic 10 watt diode laser comes complete with an enclosure, fan, honey comb bed, rotary attachment and air assist. The enclosure is laser safe acrylic.
A lot of the companies that are stating incorrect power of the lasers are not intentionally lying but rather have language translation issues. Specially when listing products on Amazon, the fields can be vague and further complicate the translation. In Chinese, if a field requests “power” they will translate that field and input the actual power draw, believing that is what is being requested. It’s a fine line but speaking several languages I see it happen frequently and rarely due to deception.
I bought a diode laser, but returned it unopened after being properly warned about the safety aspects. These things should require training courses. There is so much that could go wrong so easily, including fires, toxic inhalation, and permanent blindness.
what you mean "unregulated"? The advertising plastered on a new car window says your car gets an average of a hundred miles a gallon. Which car ever meets or even exceeds the numbers listed? And, these numbers are by regulations.
I find it crazy that people buy into the unshielded lasers expecting anything good to come of it. The only laser cutter/engraver I have experience with was a massive unit with full shielding and multiple warning stickers about the dangers of laser radiation. These unshielded units are either not powerful enough to do what they advertise, or they are dangerously leaking radiation into your surroundings and you should probably discontinue using it. Generally, a laser above 5mw is enough to cause eye damage if directly shone into your eyes, and lasers above around the 250mw range can cause temporary eye damage indirectly in large exposure. Above 500mw, the damage is permanant. These units are often claiming their lasers are "40W", which is 80 times the limit for permanent eye damage. This makes the lasers about 9 times more dangerous to handle for the end user. At this level, indirectly viewing the beam or the landing point of the beam will damage your eyes, likely permanantly. The wave length of the laser doesn't change much about the danger to your eye sight, as even undetectable in the UV and IR wave lengths will blind you. Non-visable-light-based lasers (say that 5 times fast) are often more dangerous as you don't even have any reflexes to mitigate the damage. Visable light lasers will cause your eye to reflexively close, which limits the exposure time and chance of blindness. IR and UV wavelengths don't trigger this response, so you won't know anything is wrong until your eye starts hurting which means the exposure time is already exceeding three times the normal amount for visable light, if not more so. Don't cheap out on laser tech, it's dangerous.
Don't forget the safety glasses that come with diode lasers are unable to filter the laser frequency and your eyes will pay the price. Always buy separate glasses that will do the job
Thanks for this video. I am brand new to engraving and I am watching lots of videos to educate myself before I go spending a lot of money on things that I may not really need. I appreciate this video teaching where to find the important information I will need to know once I set up the machine that a friend of mine had advanced beyond. The machine did not come with an inclosure, but the more videos I watch the clearer it becomes that I really need one to keep fumes and fire from happening.
I have had a glowforge for a few years and the power supply just went out. They want $1500 to fix it can’t afford that. I have a project for the school coming up and I need a cheap laser engraver for about 300 bucks. Do you have any suggestions? Make On
Most of them came without enclosure because were advertised to be used over things (mat, skates…) and upgradeable. The very best lie brands don’t tell you is “this is cheap because it comes without basic things like endstoppers, air assist… and after you buy everything you ended investing near (or most) than a cheaper co2 (with the chiller which is the same lie for k40 models)” Conclusion: diode for cardboard/plywood and large areas meanwhile CO2 for acrylic, faster jobs and professional usage (at similar prices on the lower tier. If you want to get serious get ready for going over 2K euros easy…)
I'm so glad I came here because this is something you want to enjoy straight off the bat with your projects and it would be sour to be duped. First thing I looked at was the Laser Power and its sneaky
Imagine trying to build high power heldheld lasers about 8-10 years ago.... Before we even had a green diode! They've always lied. It's part of why I stopped.
that is a good clarification, of course the sellers are going to BS the potential buyer, and if they dont then they have my attention. A question; I wear eye correction, do you have a video on best options for eye protection, (especially for glasses ) ? an now searching for the "right" diode setup for me, and intend to be fully prepared in the safety department. Thanks for the data.
uhhmm.. It looked like you were using geenish (likely welding-based) protective glasses for a laser that's around 450nm.. If that's right, then ur a bit wrong.. and you want orangey ones.. It's not LPF / HPF .. all the glasses are band-pass (or band-stop) filters. I recall finding tables online, it might be worth some reflection.
I have a diode laser with auto-focus but sadly in the unit they sent me it doesn't work at all. I've tried countless times and worked with their support, just nothing. I have to do it manually with the spacer.
Is laser that can cut 3m vhb double side tape with out burning it melting it meaning will c02 do it . I tried with a diode with bunch different ways fast high fast multi pass. Low and slow you named I tried it no clean cut and melted
I find that engraving at high speeds works great if you just need to mark a light pattern that you're going to cut out by hand. When it doesn't need to be detailed or dark. I did it for a table I was making. Did the pattern with my laser at max speed and low dpi, then carved out the pattern by hand so I could fill with different colors of epoxy resin. Made a round 18" table with a gold and copper color tree of life.
@@makeorbreakshop Its a massive difference. I ran a couple different diode. But on one of them i almost ended up in hospital due to the fumes that accumulated over the day. I said no more and went co2. For the enclosure. Just wasnt worth building an enclosure for the diode. Speed is massively different. 1.5 year later and we are looking at a 130w to increase speed more. If you are doing photos.. Diode is better choice. But here you also get into the quality/ cleanliness of the wood.
I haven't, I have tested a few other diodes around that range. Main issue is just all that power and exposed fumes/exhaust if you don't have an enclosure.
Why do I have to enter my email address if I want to view your laser comparison chart? If you want to show it to people, put it on your "website" so everione could easelly access it, if you want to only share it for $$$ thats fine also but then say it clearly, what you are doing now is scammers tactic, click here if you want ti but that takes you to 1 button "website" that asks you for the email address!!!
Nooooo! Do you mean that stuff made in China is INCORRECTLY specified and that the specification where it is INCORRECT is ALWAYS a HIGHER specification, indicating that it is not random error, but DELIBERATE error.
Hello thank you for your videos , which one you would recommend for a beginner - SCULPFUN S30 Ultra-20W Vs ORTUR Laser Master 3 20W, My requirement is bed size and upgradable. with good cutting capability.
The cutting and engraving metal is the one that gets me, a diode (generally unless IR) will not engrave or cut aliminum it will remove the anodised coating
It depends on the frequency. Xtool, for example, sells an IR laser head and includes one in the F1 galvanometer machine. These are diode lasers and will engrave in metals, including aluminum.
It's ok ,but... At higher sections the method is similar. For example a 50w fiber llaser engraver from keyence ( 20-30k$) pushing out more then 1,5kw in small pulses. The average output just 50w. Finally the result is much more effective for engraving, but not usable to cutting. Everitime important to understand the method and physical backgrounds.
i once saw these guys at a craft fair with like 5 of these open diode laser engravers doing like custom coasters or something. there was no shield or light block or anything there were kids staring at these lasers with no eye protection from like a foot away. thats super dangerous right? i dont know how they were approved by the craft fair
That is insane on both the craftsman and the organizer's part, most of the time they wouldnt permit anything below completely blacked out encasing with digital observation
I know what you mean, my mom's local craft fair allows a glass engraver to just do their thing in the middle of the mall, completely dry. Even when you can clearly see the particles cloud around him. Always give his booth a wide berth.
You can safely generalize this claim to *everything* sold by the vendor named in your thumbnail, not just lasers. From the manufacturer's name to the number of items per package, nothing on that site is a guarantee.
I like the idea of getting a laser cutter/engraver, but I am wholly against getting one without a full enclosure that's fully opaque to the laser frequency the machine uses. Sure you can wear goggles and protect yourself, but if there's any more than zero chance that someone else could walk in while it's running, no matter how small, then I'm unwilling to accept the risk of inadvertently causing permanent eye damage to them. Class 4 lasers are nothing to play with; even just seeing the spot they make can cause eye damage before the signal reaches the brain.
I can understand how focusing works for the engraving function which is more or less planar, but how does it work when cutting? When the beam had penetrated a millimeter into the material, one would need to lower the focus by that millimeter, but then some "sideways" rays that come at angle wouldn't reach deep into the groove and will hit the material around the groove instead. Heating and possibly graying them. Is there a place where I can find explanations on that matter?
i only buy the diodes, and about the best ive found readily available are 5W... nichia nubm08 or summink? can pulse them a bit harder, but yeah... continuous, without chilling water cooled loops... 5W. wavelengths matter... what transfers the most energy to the workpiece, ie, is absorbed the most readily by most surfaces versus reflected? blue? or IR? dont have a choice with diodes other than wimpy green... which is IR under the lens. meh, diodes are cool but the aberration is annoying. beam correction is a hassle, and most dont do it. need a semi cylindrical or anamorphic prism setup... fiddly. if you want the precisest DOT possible rather than a line... theres another thing about depth and its the focal length. a short beam obviously must have a steep convergence angle, with a wide dispersion cone beyond the focal point. you make conical cuts. a long focal length gives closer to a parallel beam. in the end, you still get the same energy on the dot but the long focal length does have the head far away... more scatter, more wobble, more jitter and error amplification... focusing to a dot then collimating is next to impossible as the AR surface coatings break down... the beam has too pretty well much cover the entire lens or yeah. smoke :) played with combining.splitting prisms with three diodes but omfg, not worth it. take more passes. i know theres an actual assembly but im a cheapskate. one day i might get a CO2...
Hi, i like all your videos,i want to buy my first laser as a hobby to start.Base on your experience wich one do you recommend ATEZR L2 36W-Wizmaker L136W or Montport 40w?for glass and metal
@@makeorbreakshopnot true… you can engrave using a black metal shit under the transparent acrylic and focusing on it instead the acrylic. Physics will do the rest ;) You need to dig a bit more into diode lasers to avoid such mistakes (like the wattage in your first comment)
Great video man! Thank you for the really explaining things they way they should be. Can you recommed a laser cutter that would be cost effective, safe and do good work for me if I'm only going to be doing wooden and metal candle lids? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me with this.
Aliexpress does this a loooooot. I did get one that had a much greater cutting depth than the one the original one I had but it was way out of focus when I got out. I had to do a lot to it so I think they're like defective units and then they get resold without the original brand on them.
As I understand it no. My 10W Creality CR Falcon will apparently mark stainless and remove anodizing from Aluminium (waiting on some business card blanks to do the latter). I tried with plain aluminium and it didn't leave a mark.
The wavelength in those lasers is comparable to the wavelength of light used during intraeye laser surgery. In other words, diode lasers go right past your cornea and start burning the inside of your eyes. CO2 lasers however view clear plastic and your corneas as opaque. Therefore, it's exceptionally easy to shield your eyes from CO2 lasers and basically impossible for diodes.
Good Video, learned a lot from it. I'm looking for a Lazer engraver that I can engrave last names on 3/4" - 1-1/4" pieces of wood. One that takes up to 18" long and up to 10" wide. Not real expensive and on the smaller side. I know the Glowforge Pro would do the trick. Are there any others out there that you recommend that would work as well or better that might be cheaper? Thanks for any advise you might have.
For transparent plexi glass use co2 laser and air-nose. 40w co2 laser can cut 3-5mm plexiglass on 10% power or less (very quickly.) tinted acryl can be cutted by diode. couple of mm with couple of Wattage. (The point is on the focus.Longer focus for cutting, short focal lens for engraving.)
I wholeheartedly agree with your words. Read the darn description, do some research and most importantly match the tool with the work you will be doing. A 10w laser might be cheap, but certainly has great limitations over a 20w or even 40w laser.
I hear you. I bought the 10w upgrade for snap maker 2.0, and I a, soooooo disappointed. It won’t even cut any type of metal. I was hoping I could cut some thin sheet metal. Nope. Only engrave. What’s the worst joke is that even though their website says it will engrave on glass and metal, the software has zero settings for this. So, which one is telling the truth? Why different? Annoying. Now they are hawking a 40w laser upgrade. Again, I call b.s. cause it will not cut metal either
don't think any cheap diode laser is going to cut metal. You would need a fiber laser at around 200 watts or more i'm guessing to be able to cut any metals
