My 50 watt Chinese Laser 4-month review 

+Ivan Lujan Hi Ivan I know how you feel. Even though I owned 2 big 3KW machines before I retired, this little animal was a bit daunting because the manual supplied was useless and so it was back to real basics. I was collecting odd bits of information from all over the internet. and trying to make sense of many things. My hobby is videography so I decided to document myself floundering through the learning process AS I DID IT. If I had done the videos after the event it may have come across as a teaching video which was not the intention. Thanks for the comments as it's good to know you are finding the sessions useful. The sessions will slow down now because we have covered most of the basics. Like most bits of software (and equipment) you only use about 25% of the main functions regularly but confidence with those will prepare you for the off track adventures you will have to make if you have a special requirement.

This is a very old vido and after 8 years I have no regrets. This particulat first machine is stilli n regular use. In fact I have 3 similar machines that I have modified to make them easier to use and set the beam. If you skip through the series you will see the evolution. Lots to learn about this technology if you are interested but perhaps, like most, you will only every use the 20% that gets you a result. Best wishes for yourn journey.

+lukkkie Hi Thanks for feedback. I suffered the variable cut problem during manufacture of the light sculpture which was only 4mm acrylic and my solution was to up the power another 10% to 95% and of course in hindsight that just made things worse. I also tried running the programme twice but of course it takes the same time to reach the uncut section so that didn't work either. I ran the program a third time with laser off until I reached the uncut section. There was enough recovery time in the tube to get the power back up and complete the cut. Obviously with clear acrylic I could see what I was doing and also my pin table allowed me to gently press the job and find uncut sections. That was when I became aware I had a power issue with my tube. If you look at the comments on session 17 , an obviously knowledgeable Rob Conway has explained the reason for this problem. BIg compressor? I know that dense smoke (and acrylic fumes) absorb laser radiation and reduces cut efficiency but there may be a balance that has to be struck on this issue. Having used powerful lasers for many years, to cut stainless steel you would use nitrogen gas at over 200psi through a 1mm diameter nozzle for cutting assist. This would change to low pressure air (or pure oxygen) at about 5psi through a 3mm nozzle to cut acrylic. Hence the first mod I made to my machine was adding a pressure gauge. I did run some pressure tests on cuts in acrylic and found that increased pressure DECREASED the cut depth. Also, where you need to site the pressure gauge to measure the nozzle pressure, is no indication of the pressure you will need to supply from your compressor. I will explain. The pipework and orifices in the fittings are smaller than the hole in the end of the nozzle. I was feeding the machine with 40psi from my compressor to hold 2 psi in the nozzle. All for no gain of cut depth. It was noisy, killing my compressor and causing condensation to form in the nozzle as the gas expanded from 40 to 2psi, which in turn was hazing the lens. I considered turning a smaller bore liner for the nozzle (about 1.5mm diameter ) but decided it was too much effort for little potential gain. So here I am back with the aquarium pump!! Sure sounds like a lot of work to get rid of your fumes. As a "hobby" user I'm not exactly going to be a "nuisance neighbour." Hence my out-of the-door-and-forget approach. As you have seen from my video, there is no point having a super extraction system and then strangling it by preventing air flow INTO the machine. I leave my machine cover half open so that I am dragging in copious volumes of clean air to dilute my fumes before I eject them into the yard. Extraction needs flow not vacuum. Good luck in your venture

+CenterFireJewelry Hi Seth I have experimented with downloading programs from my laptop to make sure I know how to connect and communicate but I have no desire to use my ultrabook in my workshop. I have an old XP laptop available so I may experiment with that. The only time I noticed a small backlash was when running scan lines at about 100mm/sec where an offset of about 0.2mm between left and right scans was evident under a magnifier. It disappeared at less than 30mm/sec so it's not something I have had to play with.

+SarbarMultimedia I think the back lash is just luck of the draw. I was unable to cut a hole 10mm in diameter. It looked like two half circles next to each other but miss aligned. After adjusting the y axis it seems to have fixed it. All in all im happy with my $1500 toy. Seth

Hi, what do you guys mean with "Backlash" ?

Another word would be hysteresis When the head moves 10mm to the left and then you instruct it to return and it only moves 9.9mm, there is said to be "backlash" in the system. It usually implies slackness and is the sort of thing that can happen if the drive belt is loose. Best regards Russ

Yep but improved in a few significant ways Have even now started work on a RF version of the same machinetype.. Best wishes Russ

Hi At this early stage of understanding the technology, I knew my tube was low on power but had no idea why. I proved a little later why it was so bad when I had completed my research on how sealed CO2 laser tubes work, live and die. I also carried out test to show that there is very little loss of power as the temperature rises to over 40C. So at this 4 month point is was pure speculation. You are correct in some ways about water flow. When you are trying to extract heat you need the largest temperature differential possible. In that respect you cannot have slow flow because that will heat the water up and reduce the temperature gradient available for heat flow. BUT when you want to dump that heat then you do need slow flow through your radiator so that you can extract what heat is there. Good observation and thanks for your comment Best regards Russ

+Dave Julie Hi Dave Thanks for the feedback. If you get a new machine it's a virtual certainty that it will not be fitted with an ammeter. I would strongly urge you to fit one and try and find out what the maximum running current is for your tube. As a guide it will be 18mA for 40watts, 20mA for 50watts and 22mA for 60watts. This info is never mentioned in your manual and my ignorance cost me a new tube.

SarbarMultimedia thanks.its out of stck on ebay now .will order when back in stock . is the Rotary Device any good.thanks again

+Dave Julie . It works better than I expected and it will allow you to design all sorts of holding jigs for the more challenging jobs like beer mugs or tapered tumblers. If it's free as part of the deal (sometimes they are) it's worth having to play with ( you never know when you or a friend will need a tumbler engraved ) but if its an extra, well, it depends on the potential uses you may have for it.

Hi Team As you may be aware, I have two machines. The Lightblade machine came with two bed options, a honeycomb bed that sat on top of a slatted bed. I quickly made my own unplated mild steel bed because after an enthusiastic one-night fling with the honeycomb bed I realized that against it's few positives were stacked a whole pile of negatives. The rail bed is at least 50% better than the honeycomb but in my opinion noting beats the flat bed. The following videos show some of those advantages. The biggest reason is to control the airflow through the machine. There is only one way fro airflow to get into the machine and that's through the door. Once it's in the machine the first thing that happens is it gets sucked through the honeycomb into the plenum chamber below . You need cross flow above and below your work. The other big negative for the honeycomb table is that when the laser beam passes over the honeycomb, the power reflections cause marks on the underside of your job. . These demo videos I did for Thinklaser illustrate the issues ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xJBt_fbLa-Y.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AT3cSpfOZBY.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UDV5SYfpKAc.html As You will see in these videos I do not often use the pin table, mainly for thin card and paper, instead I use little spacer blocks. I am using M8 plated dome nuts. but you could use 6 to 10mm thick squares or circles of acrylic cut out from one of your jobs. All your questions are inter related but I hope I have covered all the poinbs you raised. My China Blue machine has a fixed steel plate bed blocking off the holes that were in the original ALUMINIUM bed and the honeycomb table for my Lightblade has sat unused for the past year except for a "I don't like this"" demonstration. Best wishes Russ

+RATCAST HD At 90 watts you are just on the edge of the scam zone. Be careful what you buy. You may finish up with an 80 watt tube. I copy below an answer I gave to another guy who is hovering on the edge of buying It seems that ebay is a good place to scam people with these machines and after-sales tubes and even if you by from a factory in China you may be subject to the same treatment. Are you going to go back to China and knock on their door with a machine that's not to spec or DOA? Once they have your money you are on your own? Lets start at stage 1 decide on your work area and the sort of things you are wanting to cut with it. Is it for a small business or just for the fun of playing with it (like myself). The bigger the work area you select the more powerful the laser tube will be and the faster the drives will run and the higher the cost because of the bigger frame, stronger construction, the chiller that will be supplied to manage the tube cooling etc .etc. Mine was purely a recreational toy and I decided that the so'called 40 watt desktop A4 bed was just not big enough The 300x500mm bed I chose was being sold as a 50 watt machine which seemed reasonable to me as a naive buyer The price jump to 60 or 80 watts was quite significant. I decided on 300x500 bed size and then I started looking round to see if I could work out which machines had decent conventional HIWIN type bearing rails. There are several "Micky Mouse" bearing arrangements that I have seen. The bearings are the most important part of the machine because they take a lot of punishment if you plan to do engraving. I also looked at nicely engineered mirror mounts. The machine may be cheap but I wanted to get the most for the least without buying real rubbish. Did it come already fitted with a red dot pointer? Did it have air assist included.?If the engineering was basically good then I could gradually work to improve the other bits...part of the pleasure for me. Rather naively I thought I was buying a 50 watt machine and did not have anyone available to warn me of the potential traps. Many machines and tubes are being over-sold. By that I mean they advertise 50 watt and it's really 40 watt or you get 50 watt instead of 60 watt. How do you know what you are buying? Can you easily test it? If you ever do realise something's not right ( and many people never know) what can you do about it? That's the big warning I want to give you. How can I tell if I'm being scammed? The answer is its difficult sometimes and easy in other situations.. Lets look at my machine in retrospect The Sunshinesmile deal seemed good and everything was nice until I had problems with my tube. The silence was deafening!! Lets go and look first at a fairly reputable cheap tube supplier www.cncoletech.com/Laser%20tube.html You will see they make 3 types of tube. Lets just look at the standard type, Note the 50 watt tube length is 1000mm long Lets add 25mm airgap to the HV end and about 100mm to the output end for the mirror system That means the case has got to be at least 1125 wide to house this tube. Now go to the machine spec www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350B-50W-CO2-Laser-Engraving-Cutting-Machine-Auxiliary-Rotary-Device-0-60000mm-/111694615353?hash=item1a01849339 Lets look at the machine dimensions ...... 1020mmx 650mmx630mm Can you imagine how an 1125 system will fit into a 1020 case.? My supplied tube was 805 mm long (a 40 watt tube) Even when I went to replace it because it was playing up and very inconsistent ,I followed a link for a replacement tube supplied by COLE TECHNOLOGY -yes, the same people as above, and you will find this for sale as a 50 watt replacement tube 850mm long. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50w-CO2-Sealed-Laser-Engraver-Tube-Water-Cool-85CM-for-Shenhui-DC-G350-engraver-/321716369860?hash=item4ae7ca39c4 It must be a custom tube because its not in their product range. It turns out to be a 40 watt tube as well. Yes I was suckered twice!!!! So I hope this story will make you do your research with your rose tinted glasses in you pocket. Be totally suspicious if you are going to buy cheap. There are some honest deals out there but they are hidden under a pile of frauds.If in doubt email them and ask technical questions Buying advice. Don't buy with your PayPal account if you have one, Their much heralded buying protection is virtually worthless. If you ordered and paid for a plane and received a car that's what PayPal class as fraud. If you ordered a large plane and received a small plane that not fraud that's a specification/warranty issue between you and the vendor. What sort of guarantee is that? Even buying via ebay (part of PayPal) the same applies. The Chinese vendors know this weakness and insist you pay through PayPal. You can still use PayPal still but make sure you pay with your CREDIT CARD. That way you are protected by a whole different set of financial trading laws and you stand a good chance of getting your money back for a much wider range of mis-selling practices. Hope this helps you stay safe an happy with your new machine. Be cynical and suspicious before you become happy Best regards Russ

SarbarMultimedia Thanks for that information, ill be sure to look into this more now before I buy one :)

Ha ha, I just followed you link to the machine on Ebay and they have a Fantastic Special at the moment, it says Buy more than one and save 10 Pound :)

Hi There is also an 8 month summary as well at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4qy5cPZWGj4.html Thanks for your feddback Best regards Russ

+SarbarMultimedia - it is kind of a realy positive but somehow weird feeling to see you reply 1:30 am to a german lad sitting here in a small town - and i am already just about to have seen every video of yours ;) trouble being i have to get at least some hours of sleep 'till monday... i will try to watch as much of them as i can and your experience helps me very, very much with making the decision of buying one of that powerful machines for myself + sharing everything i learn about it :) do i have to mention that i've already subscribed to your channel!? ;) please go on with making videos as long as you love to do so (as it seems to me you're doing now) best regards

Hi My videos were not intended as tutorials. My second hobby is video, so when I bought my machine I recognised that my learning journey would be a great subject for me to document. There is obviously a general progression over the series but I have documented my problems, my mistakes as well as the gradual success. I have learned a huge amount. I amazed that so many others have looked at my experience and are deciding to follow my path (hopefully not making the same mistakes). I shall continue to learn in my own random way, going off at a tangent when bored or something else interesting catches my attention. You are free to do anything you desire when you get your machine, by all means make your own video series and there is no need to reference me. The more knowledge available to help others make sensible purchasing decisions as well as helping to build skills quickly can only be good news. Thanks for you kind words and sincere best wishes for success in your new venture. Feel free to message me privately on the youtube messages if you need help. Best regards Russ ps for the last 50 years I have been a night owl I usually go to bed at about 2am and naturally wake up after 5 hour sleep. I'm getting the most out of life!!!

Hi Sincere thanks for your feedback. It's good to here from a trail blazer that gives us the benefit of your longer term experience. Tube life is a very unknown and variable issue. I have known of others with 2 year old tubes and my own 16 month old (but lightly used) 60 watt tube, still running as new. So to hear of a good three year old tube is very promising Best regards Russ

Just purchased one of these units and look forward to using it... For additional cooling, such as if you are operating it in a warm/hot garage, or for intensive, long term cutting, fill a couple of small spring water bottles half to 2/3rds full of water and pop them in the freezer. Once frozen, drop one or more in your cooling water bucket or bin, to moderate how warm the cooling water gets. You don't want the water "cold" as that promotes condensation in more humid climates, but it will maintain a cooler laser cooling water temps. I say this from 25yrs of industrial laser cutting experience... Hope to make some videos once I get my unit.

+NFO Sec You are right about the pin table. It does mark up with use. It helps me to find the ideal cutting power/speed for each material/thickness when doing through cuts. As you say, the beam is defocused to about 3 mm wide by the time it hits the baseplate but provided I get a hint of a burn mark then I know I'm cutting through. If the mark is in anyway deep then I know I can increase the cutting speed. I have a rather fancy digital temperature panel meter left over from one of my commissions, which I plan to fit when my ammeter and power meter arrive. I plan to check how cutting power is affected by the cooling water temperature because there are many suggested max temperatures on www but no facts that you can refer to. Thanks for your appreciation.

Hi Andrew Thanks for the appreciation. I suspect we are not that far apart geographically. I'm in Colchester. Regards Russ

Indeed...I'm in Yateley (Hampshire), and my mother-in-law is Chadwell St Mary (Essex) - my son does work on a large project in Chelmsford...and my old stomping ground was Witham :-)

+NoTimeForThatNow Hi It was great that they supplied a nice pump but didn't bother to make real provision for connecting it to the machine in an efficient way. I did use this fitting initially but found it was limiting the flow rate. I've had no issues since. Thanks Russ

Hi Jeordan I am a very lucky guy because from my pre-retirment days I had good contacts at a large plastics distributor that offered sheet cutting facilities to its customers. My pile of 8mm thick acrylic sheets were offcuts from a job that was running through their saw at the time I arrived looking for acrylic offcuts. For a nominal charge I was allowed access to their recycling bin. Other colleagues have supplied me with surplus materials also. I would guess I have spent less than £20 for all my materials so far. and there's a lot still in stock. Yes, very lucky. Best regards Russ

+paul w Oh dear. At 4 months I had no idea how much more there was to learn!!! I begin a whole new series at this point the first being at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fLSI-z-TdNQ.html Thanks for appreciation Best regards Russ

+Michael Chisholm If you are using distilled or ionised water in your tank that will be the reason it is current limited, Pure water is almost an insulator, it's only the impunities in the water that conduct, Sea water is about 1 million times more conductive than distilled water. You have a submersible circulation pump...........if you turn off your laser tube and leave the pump running , my guess is that you will still see the problem. if so, you will need to get a new pump. The laser works off high voltage DC and even if there is some sort of tracking from a faulty tube you would not see that as 200vac, I guess it's ac because you feel tingling. Let me know what you find. The pump should be double insulated because it does not have an earth wire. If as a precaution you dangled an earth wire into your tank and connected it to the common earth point on your machine, you will probably not be able to run your machine because your mains trip will keep popping off.

Cheers for the advice I have tested the insulation resistance of the pump while it was submerged in was and it was all good. When the water pump was on I got 25 volts and 100 volts ac when the laser was on. I will try changing the water pump later and see how that goes. I will Change from tap water which I am using to the distilled but that does not really tell me where this voltage is coming from. I the testing I could not find any dc voltage in the water I will investigate it further this work things gets in the way. I will try checking the house wiring but I am still getting g the same voltages when going to neutral instead of earth. Keep up the good videos

+Stuart Middleton Don't feel too bad about it. I'm a bit of a squirrel and this had been sitting in my workshop for about 5 years since my grand children last bounced with it. So the solution to my extraction upgrade didn't require huge mental leaps. However, I did check out availability on Ebay. Lots and cheap. Check out my comments to others about fume extraction. Thanks for comment

3mm plywood no problem, 16mm is another story

Hi Waseem My engineering education has been over a lifetime ( and still continues today) and has covered many different disciplines and industries. Production engineering, design of machine tools jigs and fixtures, inspection, metrology and quality control, along with management of teams and running my own precision sheet metalwork business. I have worked for large international companies as well as small family run businesses. I have worked in many different industries including large industrial fan manufacture (window fans to 3m diameter power station cooling fans), diesel fuel injection nozzle manufacture, oilfield/offshore well safety shut down systems, semi conductor manufacture, surface mount robotic pick and place machines . There is more but this is enough to get the idea. Retirement is just another opportunity to lean something new. Best wishes Rus

Hi Rus Sure this is reveals the secret behind all of these magical things that you do I'm sure that I'll have another stop stations with you in the future Wish you the best

Hi I'm now 6 years wiser about laser technology. For 10 years I ran a metal cutting business with two 3kw CO2 lasers. I thought I knew a lot about laser technology. This non-metal cutting. sealed laser tube technology is from a different planet and maybe 5% of what I knew was applicable. This series is effectively a video diary of me discovering the basics as well as trying to understand the science behind the technology. ALL metals are mirrors to this CO2 wavelength of light. Aluminium, silver, gold, platinum and copper are more than 99% efficient whereas mild steel is about 70%. Understanding materials is just one of many important parts to understanding how the laser technology works. You are partially correct about acrylic. Acrylic is analogous to H2O i. Acrylic is solid up to 160C (with H2O it is about 1C). At that temperature it turns to liquid (just as ice turns to water. ) At 200C acrylic boils and evaporates (water turns to steam at 100C). Just like steam,acrylic vapour cools and re-condenses back to solid (that white fog on the surface of your work). There are two types of acrylic, cast and extruded. What you say about air assist is correct for cast acrylic because the way it is made it has better heat conducting properties than extruded. This means that the cut does not retain its heat and the liquid that coats the cut wall a few mm behind the cut solidifies very quickly.. Add to much air assist and this accelerates the process and produces a sort of frosted finish. It is difficult to get a burnished edge on thin acrylic because you cut it faster and there is less heat to allow that liquid phase to level out and create that polished edge. Get above 5mm thick and cutting much slower allows heat build up in the cut and that process to happen ,provided you don't force the cooling with too much air assist. With extruded acrylic whatever the thickness and with or without air assist , you are certain to get a burnished edge. Run your fingernail over the edge (top and bottom) and there is always a noticeable burr. It seems that the extrusion process changes the conduction properties of the material and it retains heat in the cut very easily thus allowing that liquid phase to exist for longer. Exploring this technology has been a fascinating journey and even now I am a student because there is still much to understand. I have been lucky enough to experience fibre and RF lasers Wow , 1500 watts is a powerful machine which I assume is used purely for cutting. I assume that the machine bed is big also. Thanks for the comment Best wishes Russ

+2020tesla Some years we may have a cold week or two but most years my workshop will stay above freezing. I'll be keeping an eye on the forecast this winter, it takes but a few seconds to drain the tube.

Hi Aaron Logically it requires a FLOW of current through the fan to make it work . That means you need a flow wire to and return wire from the fan. If you follow these two wires back to their source you will be able to disconnect the fan. If they are connected via a terminal block then it will be just a matter of unscrewing and removing the wires. If they are soldered directly into the PCB I would cut the wires near to the fan and put the wires into a connector block. Run your new fan directly from a switched mains supply. Best wishes Russ

Thank you, Russ!

Guillaume Pigeard uze

Hi Seth If you want to start a business and have to hit the ground running then stay clear of ebay machines. Go directly to china and buy from a reputable factory with a proper tube and matched power supply. If its a boat shipment then 4 to 6 weeka and a reasonable transport cost plus import taxes. If you buy from ebay just assume that the tube is a relabled factory QA reject but functional and a similar dodgy power supply. Basically the mechanics are very reasonable for the money but the tube and power supply will need replacing almost immediately. So factor a new tube and power supply into your purchase cost. When you get your ebay machine and kick up enough fuss with the seller you may be able to threaten 100% refund from your credit card company for "not fit for purpose" or " mis -selling" and be able to negotiate a refund of $200 or more that will help towards a new tube and power supply (possible upgrade as you are about it?). With not too much effort , once you have good heart and lungs the rest of the body is pretty good. and will still be 1/10th the price of an Epilogue. I have just started a venture with a new Chinese machine with a difference. A UK company that is buying their own spec and better quality machines from Chine as a design and manufacturing venture with a Chinese company that they collaborate with very closely. It is certainly a great improvement on any ebay machine but about 20% of the cost of an Epilogue or Trotec machine. As well as it featuring in later episodes of my Learning Lab , I am doing a series of similar style videos for Thinklaser as training/ user/review/discovery sessions. It deals with all the basics of RDWporks and shows how simple it is to use. If you are competent in some other program such as CAD, corelDraw, Illustrator etc then RDWorks is just an interface program the quickly turns your designs into machine code (without you ever seeing it) and magically it appears in your machine. If you want to see those new videos start with ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kx4vmDguCyE.html Best regards Russ

Hi Jose Yes it is 220V. I bought it 4 years ago and when I look at ebay now these 300x500 50 watt machines are difficult to find. If they are available then be careful because they are usually fitted with a very poor type of controller. Take a look here at the display panel for a Ruida controller .and make sure what you buy has this keypad design. www.cloudraylaser.com/products/cloudray-ruida-rdc6442g-dsp-controller-psu-wifi-handle-for-co2-laser-engraving-cutting-machine?variant=12906003857459 Also, make sure you buy with a credit card. This is slightly bigger but looks good value www.ebay.com/itm/4060-50w-ruida-laser-engraver-machine-carver-cutting-Acrylic-glass-plywood-cnc/143051312601?hash=item214e85cdd9:g:YpoAAOSw~2VcE1vt or this www.ebay.com/itm/New-RUIDA-50W-Laser-Engraving-Cutting-machine-With-Motorized-Table-16x24/173945971193?hash=item287ffce1f9:g:yU8AAOSwj-BdFCJ0 Don't be tempted by a 400x300 machine because they are just pimped up K40 machines and will be very inflexible. Best wishes Russ

@@SarbarMultimedia thank you so much Russ.

Hi Eoghan The only two places in the world using 110v are N and S America and Taiwan. Everywhere else is 220v. Check the rating plate on your machine, ,it should specify the voltage required. There may be a switch on the HV power supply that powers the tube, see what voltage that is set at, should be 220V . I have my two machines running in my garage from a 13amp ring main and a 20 amp trip to deal with motor startup spikes The plugs that connect the machines to the mains are fused at 5 amps so there is not that much current being drawn. If you turn all the switches off, water pump, laser and air pump, is it still tripping? If yes, remove all the plugs as well and try again. If it still trips it is probably your RCD tripping and that is detecting leakage to earth of just a few milliamps. There is something wrong with the wiring that requires the services of a competent electrician with some .measuring gear.. I am not qualified to advise you. Regarding the water pump, yes the water should be above the level of the inlet grill.. I have removed the inlet grill and foam filter within because this is not being used in a pond. you need the maximum free flow. Your other question about the black valve, I don't recognize the part you speak of. Best wishes Russ

Thank you for your very detailed response. I really appreciate it. I have another question about the water pump. Could I use my own water pump that has a three pin plug, and run it through a separate power source rather than through the machine? Thanks Eoghan

​@@eoghanoneill7346 You certainly can. I have a 6-way switched extension lead strapped to the front of my machine and the extract fan, temperature gauges, the machine itself I have left the water pump running from the machine and the bank of video lights above the machine are all independently switched with a spare for my laptop. HOWEVER, I have left the water pump running from the machine so that when I turn the machine on the water pump auto starts and there is never any fear of running the tube without water. I know there is a water protect switch which should fail safe but for such an important function I have used belt and braces. Best wishes Russ ps don't ask why some of the text is red...I haven't a clue

Thanks Russ. You're a ledgend. I'm sure I'll have a few more questions for you in the near future.

SarbarMultimedia Hi Russ. More questions for you. I checked the rating plate on the machine and it says that it is 110v which isn't suited to Irish power supplies of 220v. What should I do to adapt the machine for it to operate on Irish power? Would a voltage convertor/ transformer be best suited? Thanks again. Eoghan

Hi Marshall The machine itself will run fine through the existing Estop at 110v. It is rated at 10 amps ( I have yet to find one with a higher rating). So if you unload everything else ( fan, ,punp and compressor ) onto a seperate supply you will have no issues, However, if you already have the kit then one or two contactors is the ultra safe way. More important is to check the earth to the main cabinet, it is usually useless because they try to connect though powder coating!! Best wishes Russ

+genny anny Hi Sorry for delay in answering, I thought I had. Apologies. I looked carefully at the pictures of machines before I purchased and assessed things like the stiffness of the axes, the recirculating bearings on the slide-ways, the ability to take in many drawing formats (in my case I was particularly keen to work with DXF files from my CAD system), the more comprehensive control panel, the rotary device (simple and sturdy) the red dot pointer (not really essential), the air assist to the nozzle (absolutely essential to protect your lens) and finally the motorized work table. These were the features that narrowed my choice of machines. However, things are changing all the time so choose carefully. When you pay about 300K for a machine you expect excellent engineering. So dropping to a £1200 "hobby" machine for pleasure rather than profit was not a comparable purchase. However, if you have watched my first video ( ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YvrMeUUzaBo.html ) you will see my immediate reactions when I first examined my machine. At that stage I knew virtually nothing about the machine. Although the essential mechanics of the machine are well designed and appear to be built with good components, I would not recommend it for 8 hours a day continuous use. The duty cycle you describe is "serious hobby use" and its the mechanics that are going to take the punishment. Run at highish speed for etching (maybe 200mm/sec) the machine gets a bit of a jolt as the X axis changes direction. If your machine is on a STURDY workbench you will not have an issue but if you put it on a thin legged table or on a trolley (as mine is) it could start shaking itself around. My trolley is clamped to a very heavy adjacent bench and is now rock solid. I would certainly recommend a cheap machine for your venture. If you are not cutting then even a 40 watt machine would probably be fine. However, the fact that you need a 500mmx1000mm table means you into quite a large frame size and you will probably find only 80 and 100watt machines in this bracket (www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Laser-Engraver-Cutter-CO2-Laser-cutting-machine-80-Watts-next-day-deleivery-/252118125837?hash=item3ab3694d0d:g:npAAAMXQUmFShhYN) Even though this appears to be sold via a distributor with some support, everything about the appearance and design says "Chinese Origin".It's good to see that the most vulnerable part of the machine is a reputable RECTI tube with a long life. As you can see, upsizing the table causes a huge jump in price although buying something directly from China (as I did) with no local support can save you lots of money. This looks very good www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2015-New-80W-Co2-Laser-Engraving-Cutting-Machine-Cutter-Engraver-machine-220V-/311442647703?hash=item48836daa97:g:Z5cAAOSwQPlV8c25. My only comment about the materials you are engraving/marking is to be very cautious."Hard white plastic", "wood" and "technical fabrics" all throw up warning flags, either for YOUR health or your MACHINE's health. Do proper research to find out what chemicals are released during "burning". For example, although polycarbonate can be cut and etched (but not very well), a small percentage of the fumes produced are of hydrogen cyanide (death chamber gas). What surprised me though was on the toxicity scale, Douglas Fir was comparable to polycarbonate, presumably because of the high resin content. Bear in mind that I'm no expert, just another person learning to use a Chinese Laser, but enjoying my other hobby (videography) at the same time to document my struggle up the knowledge ladder. I hope my ramblings will be of some value Russ

+SarbarMultimedia You could not have been more helpful and thorough. You have told me far more than any one selling them that I've spoken with - so for my money you are an 'expert'!! THANK YOU!!!! I too have a CAD background and use digitizing software for multi-needle embroidery so I know what I need a machine to do but just didn't know - until discovering you - what they can, can't, should and shouldn't do. I am seriously going to reconsider my 'all in one option' and look at the 80 watt for size of work space but adding a separate CNC machine for wood. I think I need to find something else to use on the hard plastic that won't end up killing the family - any suggestion there would be helpful but you've done more than enough!! I sincerely 'owe you one'.

+genny anny Hi Didn't mean to scare you about laser etching wood, it's safe provided you have a powerful extraction system that blows your fumes UP and away to quickly dilute them. However, the more practical problem with wood is that the resins and plastic binders in particle boards will leave a sticky residue in your machine. See ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qtFR_w3sS3g.html about experimenting with a compact extractor system for evidence of this. I have spent a lot of time experimenting and learning about the mechanics of my machine and software and I have a few more additions and experiments to conduct before I start to really use my machine for it's recreational purpose. The projects I have done so far have all be vehicles for learning. I recently came across a useful set of instructional videos (not watched them yet) about all the artistic side of using the machine....the sort of stuff you do. see ru-vid.com/show-UCV5ciDwLItOwes5OtC9Dayw If you can afford a two machine strategy then small CNC routers (of Chinese origin) abound on Ebay You will be able to cut wood and plastics on this safely (may need a mask depending on your extract system again). I started to investigate one of these for a colleague of mine who wanted to engrave a company logo onto his products . Although you can get machines for as little as £250, I wouldn't. You need to be in the £350 to £400 price region (or more)to get something half decent. Two things to be aware of. Firstly I found no machines that could be controlled via USB, they all connect to a PC via an "old style" parallel printer port. It's not an expensive issue to get a parallel port card added to your modern desktop pc. I happen to have several old style laptops running XP that would have done the job for my colleague. The second thing to note is the software. The machine comes with some routing software that I think is a full version for private use/evaluation. If you are doing otherwise I think you have to pay for a fully licensed version (quite expensive?) so read the adverts carefully and make your own enquiries. Good luck Russ

+SarbarMultimedia Thank you so much Russ - and no you didn't scare me at all - your information is invaluable to someone like me and it is very kind of you to share it. We would only use a Laser on Red Cedar but maybe a CNC would be better - we simply don't know. We have a government permit to gather old growth Red Cedar wood - brought down by avalanche - not logging - just wanted to qualify here for fear of being 'yelled' at by some.It comes from the Rocky Mountains of Canada. We wholesale the raw pieces to wood workers but also fabricate lights for commercial or residential purposes, driftwood christmas trees, wooden dog bowls, Ipad stands etc but we'd like to enhance some of them with some unique designs but also for name dropping for corporate clients. I'm appreciative that you reminded me of the software issues. I have been dumbing down to XP for a few years now in order to keep using my expensive software. My embroidery machine was built in 2004 and needs XP. I can export in just about any graphic related file as I have AutoCAD, Photoshop and Illustrator but all are older programs. I have a couple of adapters for the serial port to USB for use on drawing tablets - just as you suggest but it was a great reminder as I had forgotten altogether about this and it is a HUGE issue. Do you think it is possible to use one software for both a laser or CNC activities or is it better to be brand specific? Also for feedback- I wanted to tell you that what got me so interested in your videos - and then your information - was the fact that you were making adjustments for serious ventilation concerns and that you were doing so with a bouncy castle pump!!! Both my husband and I appreciated this. I love the way your mind works - especially - as you say - there is no support when purchasing this way - hence the lower price point. If I can trouble your for a quick CNC brand suggestion I'll not bother you anymore!! I believe - Your videos are great - the quality is terrific and I have watched dozens and dozens on RU-vid. You are easy to understand and the information is very well presented - which I realize is not easy to do. I now sincerly owe you much more than 'one'!!

+genny anny In case You Tube hasn't warned you, take a look in your messages section of video manager

+mateusz1945 Fume extraction is a key weakness with many of these machines. It's great that your machine had already addressed this problem. Although fitting a speed controller will reduce the noise it also reduces the airflow which is critical to efficient fume extraction. If you strangle the flow to the fan, it goes into stall mode and makes a lot of noise. If you are running your machine with the cover closed (a natural and obvious thing to do) where is the air coming from to feed your fan? Are there large grill areas around your machine to allow air in? I guess not. Good extraction needs high airflow not lots of suck. Experiment a bit and perhaps you can get back to 100% with less noise. Thanks for feedback.

Hi Bob Thanks for the thought. I am now quite long way on from this point and have learnt a huge amount about the technology, the software and the mechanics of this machine. I have come to realize that the fabulous value for money that this machine offers is full of small design compromises to keep the cost low. Every weakness pops up under certain circumstances and rarely have I seen them combine. Backlash is one such result of design compromise. On a decent CNC mill or router you will not find timing belts used to drive the axes. But because the head is relatively light on a laser machine and there is no cutting resistance to fight, it is considered an OK system that almost all machines adopt, even the expensive ones. Timing belts were never designed for precision movement of oscillating loads. They were designed to transmit power in ONE direction (the clue is in the name). They have been hijacked for this application because they do a pretty good job at low cost. when compared to ballscrews and rack and pinion systems. If you watch the belt carefully as it enters the drive pulley it will actually rise up and try to climb out of the first one or two pulley teeth. When the pulley reverses, the belt drops down to a low position. The standard belts supplied with most machines are the cheaper rubber toothed type which have compliance and tooth clearance. These two factors result in the head taking up different positions for the same XY keyboard coordinates depending on the direction that this coordinate is approached from. Because this is a constant problem (not speed dependent) It is treated as backlash and RDWorks has the capability to compensate for it. It is rarely set by the factory and very few people actually understand how to check it and compensate for it. There are many other factors with this machine that can generate backlash-like errors. One of the more common ones is a poorly tightened grub screw on one of the drive pulleys. Depending on the degree of residual tightness the screw may drive satisfactorily at low accelerations and only exhibit mechanical backlash characteristics at higher accelerations. This has to be recognized and dealt with mechanically because software compensation cannot account for random backlash. Best wishes Russ

Hi Dermot This 4 month review shows you that I have removed the little blue exhaust fan that was fitted to the machine and have now fitted a large flow extractor fan. This works extremely well. As you get further into the series you will see how well the fumes are extracted. Best regards Russ

Hi Russ. I was just going to get a laser machine and have a go at it just like you but now i am getting the one you have so that way when i have problems i can just look at your vids so thank you for taking the time to share you vids with us all, just one question can you tell me what size the machine is i just want to make sure that it will fit through my door, china keep giving me the box size. Dermot

Hi Dermot Machine Dimension:1020×650×630 mm Net Weight:65KG. even the 650 dimension will fit through a standard 27" door and you may even have 30" doors. Thanks for your appreciation and good luck with your new machine. Best regards Russ

Thank you for that, have a great day. Dermot

Hi www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PRO-50W-CO2-Desktop-USB-Laser-Engraving-Cutting-Machine-Cutter-Engraver-/191158602039?hash=item2c81f0c937:g:UdsAAOSwxg5Xw8oh This is an amazing deal for your application. but It depends where you live and what's available on your own Ebay. This is 25% less than I paid about 18 months ago. It's exactly the same as mine with a motorzed table. It's mechanically pretty good but the tube and power supply may be second grade so think about another £400 to £500 to replace them if/when they fail. Once you have suffered this cost you will have a good reliable machine. You may be one of the few lucky ones that gets a reasonably good tube and power supply. It is very much a lottery.. Even with an upgrade, it's great value for money. Be warbned that there will be no back up service from your seller regardless of promises. Secondly, make sure you buy with your CREDIT card for maximum protection and do not accept ant further discounts for paying direct and bypassing ebay. the ebay protection is pretty useless but at least you will be able to contact the seller via ebay. Good luck in your new venture Russ

+Julian Ashcroft You are technically correct about leaving the lid open. In a factory it would be considered a health and safety issue and be prevented with interlock switches Glad to say this is no factory and I can take liberties. I started off using the little extract fan supplied. It was pathetic on heavy fume producers such as MDF, felt and leather. The secret of good fume extraction is high volumetric air flow. The centrifugal fan I have used has just such abilities. However, the lid must be at least half open to get sufficient airflow into the machine to scavenge the work surface (especially in the corners) Close the lid and air stall in the impeller occurs and extraction efficiency plummets. I purposely used such a powerful fan because I wanted to run the machine with the lid open for my video work. The pin bed allows me to set the support points so that the laser does not hit them whilst cutting a job and has worked very successfully for me. For someone in volume business a honeycomb bed may have to be the speedier choice. I used acrylic for several reasons. I have a cheap source of acrylic offcuts. Acrylic vaporizes rather than burn, but the dense vapour produced can be ignited by the laser beam. However, the air assist will immediately dilute this vapour and prevent a flammable ratio forming. A good extraction system quickly assists this dilution. The pins on this bed design suspend the work about 25mm above the bed surface. If I have set my power/speed correctly then 95% of the laser power will be used to cut the job and the remaining 5% will be very defocused by the time it impacts the bed. If my speed is too low, then there will be marking on the bed and this indication immediately lets me know I can increase the cutting speed. Corian is a great material (although still a cast acrylic) that has been loaded with 66% aluminium trihydrate filler (a fire retardant)during the casting process. Sadly it is expensive and I do not have a ready source of offcuts otherwise Corian would have been a good material choice Sincere thanks for your comments because with only 15 minutes available for my videos, I often have to skimp on detail. So it's only in response to specific comments that I get a chance to explain my design decisions. Not all my decisions are correct or perfect and or often heavily influenced by "free" materials that I have to hand.

+Carbon - G10 - FR4 - CNC Routing - 3D Design & Printing - Online Shop Hi He will be correct under certain circumstances. Firstly it depends on the lens focal length. If he is using 2" or 2.5" then his nozzle will be far away from the work surface and the little pulsing pump has insufficient enough flow rate to jump across the 20mm or 32 mm gap between the nozzle and work surface and still have significant remaining force to push away the IR ABSORBING FUMES down in the cut area. Because my lens is 1.5" FL the nozzle sits just 6mm above the surface and the little OIL FREE pulse pump does a good job. In fact there are occasions when I have to regulate the flow DOWN. Secondly it depends on the material he is cutting. Most BURNING materials such as wood, leather etc will benefit from having the cutting face scavanged of fumes because the smoke and tars are great absorbers of the IR energy that should be going into the burning process. However, the REVERSE is true for acrylic. As know, IR energy is just concentrated heat. That heat does not BURN acrylic, it EVAPORATES it. Yes, the fumes need to be moved on by a gentle flow of air but force too much air into the cut area and it has a COOLING effect and will decrease your cut depth. I observed this in one of my early videos but demonstrated it clearly in the Lens video recently. I also illustrated (albeit very crudely)with an a separate air tube, how you can get air to the cut zone and still use the little pulse pump. It's incredibly inefficient (also noisy and expensive) to try and bridge that gap with increased air pressure/flow from a shop supply. You also need to installgood water and oil filtration otherwise those airborne particles will settle and BURN onto the face of your lens A Tee joint in your air assist line will give you a shared supply. It is important to keep a little positive pressure in your nozzle to protect the lens from cutting fumes. Hope this answers your question Russ

Hi Polis My experience with large metal cutting laser machines indicated it would be a good idea to have lots of air available and to make it controllable. That is why I initially fitted a pressure gauge , air filters and a pressure regulator. In practice it is totally unnecessary. The little pump that is supplied is oil-free and only supplies about 2psi That is insufficient pressure to produce water vapour so you will not need filters if you use the little pump supplied. For cutting acrylic you will need very little air, just a whisper to make sure there is flow coming out of your nozzle to prevent fumes fogging up your lens. For anything else you will need maximum air flow to keep the IR absorbing smoke away from the cutting face. I have now done away with my filters and regulator and have fitted one of these in the air assist pipeline. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6MM-PNEUMATIC-PUSH-IN-FITTING-BALL-VALVE-CO2-DOSING-PUMPS-AQUARIUMS-/302048371372?hash=item46537c62ac:g:rHIAAOSwd2xXQGaI Hope this helps Best regards Russ

Thank you Russ for your reply. Actually i am interested of buying a Universal laser if i will be qualified to a funding program for new small businesses. So i asked the supplier of ULS about an alternative air assist solution, as the original costs ridiculous money, and told me about a 1.2psi good quality pump as i mentioned on my previous comment. And my question to you was because i saw you have used the filters. Just to make sure in order to avoid any damage to an expensive laser like ULS.

Hi Polis I am sure that you do not need to spend money on an expensive air pump. The only possible damage you can do will be to the lower side of the lens that faces the work. If you get water vapour in the nozzle it will instantly dry out with the IR radiation and start to produce a film on the face of your lens. You will be able to clean this off but do it too often and you will remove the anti-reflection coating that is on the lens. I can tll you this from personal experience. I was using my normal shop compressor while waiting for my filters to arrive and I saw the power performance drop as the film built up on the lens. I have never had an issue since I returned to the low pressure (oiless) pump After a year of use I feel that my little pump is getting a bit tired. It still works well enough, but I have bought a spare pump in readiness. This pump is the next size up and will deliver slightly more airflow at about 2psi www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140-LITRE-PISTON-AIR-PUMP-HAILEA-ACO-009E-FOR-KOI-FISH-POND-AQUARIUM-/400999453293?hash=item5d5d6e126d:g:kTcAAOSwsB9WCDsA The pulsing nature of the airflow is not an issue Best regards Russ

Hi Aaron It's an interesting observation that MAY be true for some types of laser, but for our little CO2 laser it is a myth and not a fact. 10.6micron light (radiation) has very interesting properties. I try to demystify them and demonstrate those properties in my video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kJe16YQlIM0.html Although its wave properties qualify it as light, the light is totally invisible to the human eye. Instead, it manifests itself as heat, exactly the same radiation you feel when you put your hand in front of an electric heater. Its wavelength imbues this form of heat with some strange properties. The most amazing is that when you fire this beam of HEAT at a very thermally conductive copper plate , the plate does NOT heat up instead the energy (heat) is 99% reflected regardless of the surface finish of the copper. Shininess and reflectivity are synonymous terms with visible light but not so with 10.6 micron light. This is because the reflection has nothing to do with the geometry of the surface (flatness and shininess) but is determined by the crystallographic structure of the material.This reflective property applies to all those materials that are good heat conductors. Gold, silver, copper and aluminium are the most efficient reflectors. ALL non-metallic materials (including water) are 100% absorbers of the radiation. The laser beam itself is a coherent beam of invisible light that can travel many kilometers through dry air without losing is form or its power, so there is no scattered light from the beam itself. Only if you try to engrave on those reflective metals mentioned previously will you get reflections and possible scattering of the light (heat) energy. I mentioned that ALL non metals are excellent absorbers of this radiation so it matters not whether it is clear or coloured. polycarbaonte, petg, glass or acrylic, so ANY radiation will be captured (absorbed) by these materials (and more). Other visible lasers will burn the retina at the back of the eye should you be unlucky enough to catch a flash.. Not so with the CO2 laser light. Being a beam of heat energy that is 100% absorbed by water, any flash to the eyes will burn the cornea at the front of the eyball ( a very wattery substance)causing immediate scar tissue. You will see me using the machine all the time with the guards open but you will also note that I wear glasses. Whether those lenses are polycarbonate or glass, they will afford your eyes 100% protection. This beam need to be understood and respected, not caged away and feared. Hope this clarifies things for you. Best regards Russ

Ah I see. Ok then

+markf3x Hi Mark OOPS!!! Been there. Done that. Have a replacement tube to prove it!!!! Have you watched my follow up series of videos entitled RDWorks Learning Lab (32 of them so far). They document my learning process with this machine (and I continue to learn). I urge you to watch them. I have made some BIG mistakes along the way. The biggest was to assume that 100% meant full power. There were no warnings in the manual about drive current limitations for the laser tube. It was only when I started to notice power drop off (sometimes to ZERO) that I started to investigate, test and learn the error of my ways by picking up odd facts from here and there around www. STOP using 95% NOW. Limit yourself IMMEDIATELY to 65% . Get yourself a cheap ammeter from Ebay (I have done a video about fitting mine) and check what percentage is required to drive your machine to its 20mA limit (assuming you have a 50watt tube). Without getting too technical they fill sealed laser tubes with at least 3 basic gasses. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Helium (H) and Nitrogen (N), This next bit is grossly simplified to help you imagine what's going on. The lasing effect occurs when you apply tens of kilovolts to the gas mixture,. The N gets very excited, it bumps into the lazy CO2 causing it to breakdown into carbon monoxide(CO) and an unstable form of Oxygen.The collisions cause the N to slow down and release heat. The H then carries the heat to the glass jacket which is water cooled. This reduced N activity then allows the unstable oxygen to recombine with the CO to return it to CO2 and the whole process starts again. If you excite the N with too much current it goes bonkers and never gets a chance to slow down enough to allow the oxygen to recombine. The mixture soon becomes "poisoned" by all the free energetic oxygen and the CO2 lasing constituent gradually disappears, resulting in LOSS OF POWER. Turn your laser off for 5 minutes and the gas will recombine to almost 100%. If you "overdrive" it often and for long periods it will gradually weaken the mixture and hasten the demise of the tube. Typically these tube last 1000 to 2000 hours max. The manufacturer makes a recommendation for the max drive current to sustain a constant lasing power, but as I have recently found out, my 50 watt tube is only outputting 37watts at 20mA. It probably is capable of outputting 50 watts under special short period conditions but there is no way any 50 watt tube will deliver its rated power under normal conditions. However you can still do some amazing things with 37 watts. Keep in touch Russ

Thanks Russ, you're my new best friend!!! I kept increasing the power because I couldn't get through the job (I initially thought material thickness inconsistency, etc). I continued to crank it up with very poor results. I set the machine to 65% and was able to get through a 45 sheet of vector cutting. The last 5 minutes faded a little, but the water temp had creeped up to 82 degrees at that point(I was out of ice). I will happily watch your videos and might be able to teach you a few tricks I've learned (picked my machine up in Feb 2015). I generally use CAD/CAM software such as Delcam ArtCam (which I also use on my CNC router) and them export .DXF to RDWorks. ArtCam does a great job modeling and also nesting multiple parts tightly on a sheet. I'm sure I'll chat at you more as I digest your videos.. Thanks, - Mark , Texas US

+markf3x Did you get the message I sent you? some strange lock-up occurred an I've got a feeling it's on it's way to Neptune!!

Got your message, just changing the power down to 65% helped a lot. Watching your other videos currently. Thanks again.

Eoin Kirwan hi i'm Just syarted so i'm not an expert but i can say that at the beginning i wasn't able to do anything a that was due to you had to generate files just with computer with Windows xp and use usb key fat32 or 16 . i was very frustrated and noone helped , i hope this could help. bye

Hi Sadly you cannot compare the performance of a CO2 laser beam with that from your blue laser. The wavelength of a CO2 laser beam is 10.6 microns wavelength. That from your blue laser is 0.445microns . I have no idea how efficiently that wavelength stimulates the surface molecules of various materials. The laws of physics are pretty simple in that the shorter the wavelength the more easily they can be attenuated. You will already be familiar with this principle if you recall that car driving past you with windows closed and loud music playing inside the car. All you can hear from the outside is the low frequency bass beats. The higher frequency part of the music has been attenuated by various materials in the car body. Your high frequency laser suffers from the same laws of physics. Yes it may be a laser but it is close to ultra violet rather than infrared. Your problem with acrylic is obvious if you look at light transmission properties of acrylic. At your 445 nn wavelength it is over 90% transparent. So the 2.5watts you are firing at the surface will be very ineffective at heating/marking it. Thus the problem with acrylic is opposite to your interpretation and is not a reflectivty issue. The various molecules in your dry marker can obviously be stimulated by this short wavelength light and converted to heat. That thin heated film then transmits its heat into the surface of the acrylic to damage it. For metals, your notion of reflectivity is the real issue. Alumium in particular is about 95% reflective at your 445nm wavelength. Hence you will not be able to get enough heat into the surface to damage it. There may be some inks or dyes that you can bond onto the surface at this wavelength but that will be your only hope. Best wishes Russ

Thanks so much, keep up the good work! Maybe you could make a video testing various materials with the CO2 laser cutter. Your vids are very thorough!

@@lukepricey1 Wood, mdf, Acrylic, glass, slate, granite, card, corrugated cardboard, Corian, plastic foams, leather, ceramics and anodized aluminium have all been covered by existing videos, even bread, pastry and my finger have been dealt with. Best wishes Russ

Hi Adam I come from a background of high wattage metal cutting machines where the pressure of the assist gasses is very high. I was convinced that the stupid little pulsing pump supplied with the machine was a joke. I ran my shop compressor, (through the regulator and filter system you see here) for two weeks and destroyed two lenses before I worked out what my problem was. Taking normal ambient air with 30 to 50% humidity and compressing it to 100psi was obviously heating the air. That hot air sitting in the reservoir was busy absorbing moisture from the condensate within the reservoir. Sending hot air and through the regulators an filters was doing little to change the moisture content of the air. At this point I was not aware that there was a 2.5mm diameter hole through the fitting into the nozzle just below the lens. I was creating water vapour as the air expanded and cooled and the laser beam was heating the water particles (probably with oil on it as well ) and baking a film onto the front face of the lens. After a while the film heated up causing differential heating on the lens faces. The lens is not glass but a rather fragile and brittle crystalline material which cracked. Oops. I caught lens number two before it cracked and realized what was happening when I saw the film. It was so heavily baked on I could not remove it without destroying the anti reflective coating. I removed the shop compressor and at this stage was still using the regulator to damp out the pulses. I soon dumped the regulator as well because the "stupid" pump was not that stupid after all as it can can supply up to 4psi. The system pipework does a pretty good job of attenuating the pulses and because the air is not sitting in a reservoir and the compression is so low, the heating and condensation issues just do not exist. Best wishes Ruus

@@SarbarMultimedia what was the temperature of the air from your cp? A silica or even clay desiccant should take care of the moisture issues and an HX with the process tapped off from the tube coolant will help. But it seems a moot point if the supplied cp is doing the job. It is quite fascinating watching your series. I am ordering the Weike LC1390 tomorrow and am more excited to modify the machine than I am to manufacture with it. Thanks Russ

@@adamparris3605 Hi Adam Dont get too excited because your purchase is much more a plug and play machine.. The biggest issue with ALL the machines is air flow management. The Chinese (and even the big boys) have not realized the importance of CROSS FLOW air above and below the workpiece.. That is something you will have to engineer yourself. Most of the things I had to modify will be OK an a GKW machine. For example you will almost certainly find it's fitted with an A grade tube from either Reci or EFR. I'm sure you will be sxploring the technology rather than fixing the machine. Best wishes Russ

@@SarbarMultimedia I recall one evening as a child watching my brother tinkering with his clock radio; while it was still plugged in. Can't say for sure what he was trying to accomplish but the effect the electrical arc and small fire he created inspired me. Ever since, I have modified everything that has not lived up to my expectations. I don't see this laser being any different. I already have plans to swap out the stepper motors for servo motors. I essentially want to make a laser that works better than the jack ass North American companies who charge nearly 10x the price. I do have a question for you that may be able to save my marriage... Can I reduce the power down enough on 150W to mark paper and denim without destroying it? More interested in the denim. Thanks Russ Adam

Hi Adam Sorry for the delay in answering. Somehow your last question appeared in my "possible spam" folder. I visit about once a week because You Tube often gets it wrong. I agree with your sentiments about the "big boys". but you must remember that they are using a more expensive RF tube technology. It has always been a driving factor for me to see just how close to their performance I can get with a machine that cost less than 1/20th of what they will charge. On the quality of photo engraving, I know I am substantially better than them because their lens mounting system limits how small they can get their dots and the and photo conversion software does little more than produce cartoon like images. The only advantage they have is speed. They can produce their cartoons in 1/5th of the time I do a proper photo replication. When It comes to cutting their machines are no different to ours. You need power and light concentration to cut, so their machines are limited by the same physics as our humble "toys". I say this so that you don't spend vast amounts of money trying and match their performance. They may have faster servo systems on their machines that go at 1000mm/s rather than our 500mm/s. However, even at 500mm/s you cannot do quality photo engraving with our tube technology because the response time of the HV power supply is just not fast enough, You will be limiter to about 200mm/s. So what advantage will high speed servos do for you? You certainly don't need such performance for cutting when maybe you will only be running at 40mm/s with thin materials and as little as 3 to 5mm/s for thick materials. It is the micro second response time of the RF driven tubes that allow rapid engraving but I honestly believe that the advantages of this technology are not properly understood by those "experts". The end of your question has been truncated when it moved into the public arena. However I remeber the marriage saving question. Do you have an ammeter fitted to your machine? Do you know what maximum working current should be for your tube (maybe 27mA?) If not then make sure with what I am just about to tell you, you never set your power above 65% If you go to the RDWorks USER tab there is a section called Sweep Parameters.. Make sure your pc is linked to the machine and press the READ button. Now find SCAN MODE and you will find it set to COMMON MODE, Change this to SPECIAL MODE. . Just below you will find a feature called Facula Size. . When this is set at 99%you will notice no difference from normal. However set it at the lowest allowable 50% and what happens is the power is switched on and off at the 20khz pwm frequency so 50% of the time the power is on a and 50% of the time power is off. It's a bit like an RF tube . As you increase the % you are modifying the ON time. So, if you set your power very low, say 15% and then apply 50% Facula in SPECIAL MODE, you will be dramatically reducing your power. Press WRITE to send these settings to your machine Combine this with a 2.5 or a 4" FL lens and you can "soften the power even more. Finally, you have the option to lower the work by several mm to reduce the energy density on your denim even more. The advantage of real denim is it's thickness. I have never played with denim but I know it is dyed. That dye may well have an evaporation temperature that is lower than the scorching threshold of the fabric. In which case if you get the balance of power and speed just right you may be able to evaporate the dye and leave a white material exposed. If that is not possible then you will be able to scorch it without burning through. WARNING. Never leave your machine is SPECIAL MODE, change it back to COMMON MODE before you walk away from the machine. Best wishes Russ

Hi Sadly There is no trouble shooting guide that I am aware of. For your situation where the machine just stopped there is only likely to be one problem...a dead HV power supply. The tube does not just die it generally shows symptoms of erratic cutting and general lack of power before it finally takes its last gasp. If you run a program and check what the tube is doing, then if there is a pink glow in the tube then the power supply is working and you have a tube issue where the CO2 in the gas mix has all been consumed. If there is no pink glow then the power supply is broken. There is not a fuse in the power supply as far as I am aware and and what's in there is very dangerous. If you have to change your power supply then turn your machine off and leave it for an hour before you touch anything to do with that thick red wire.. Make sure you buy a MATCHING power supply for your wattage tube. Dont go by what the tube claims to be but measure the tube. 800mm is 40 watts, 1000mm is 50 watts and 1200 is 60 watts. If its a fat 80mm diameter tube and about 1200mm to 1400mm long it may be a 100watts Hope this helps Best regards Russ

Thank you very much for your reply. I will do some testing this afternoon. Best Regards, KM PS, do you know the price of the 60 watt lightblade you have been testing?

Hi I am pretty sure Thinklaser are shipping to USA but you will have to send an email to gareth@thinklaser.com for a proper quote because mine was by a very special deal Thanks for your interest Best regards Russ

Hi Stefano I managed to trash the centrifugal fan you see on the machine. take a look at ru-vid.com?o=U&video_id=GNV0JUJXdvk you will see the replacement. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/480W-Air-Duster-Blower-Pump-Fan-0-7HP-Inflatable-Bouncy-Castle-Jumper-4M-Cord-CE-/302051307614?epid=12003591401&hash=item4653a9305e:g:V4kAAOSwgZ1XtpbU You will have to make your own adaptors but the great thing is that although the machine outlet flange will be 150mm the outlet for the fan can be 100mm pipe. Hope this helps All best wishes Russ

+Paul m Hi Paul, I have noticed that a few sellers are now supplying centrifugal fans on ebay.com and ebay.ca but I still haven't noticed them available on ebay.co.uk. It's like everything else with these Chinese machines, you have to look around for the most complete deal when you buy. I didn't see any when I bought mine back in the summer. I don't know where you machine is sited but with such a high volume fan you will need to leave the lid partially open for maximum efficiency (I leave mine fully open all the time with absolutely no fumes escaping) and the other important thing to remember is that air will only go out if you allow it to come in ie don't strangle the free airflow through your machine by closing your workshop door.

Hi Russ. So you have no safety switch on the lid. Most lasers will stop firing if you open the lid.

Hi Klaus. Most cheap lasers do not have a safety switch but even if they do you can easily bypass it or disconnect it from the controller. they make it a selling point but it would be a real nuisance to me The impression is given that "laser rays are very dangerous" but take a look at my ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kJe16YQlIM0.html and make up your own mind. Best reagards Russ

Hi David I have used an 80 watt laser with a 2" focal length lens to cut 19mm American oak. Yes it was slowly at about 4 or 5mm.sec but it was doable. So yes cutting hard wood to 10mm is definitely possible at reasonable speeds of 8 to 10mm/sec However you may be limited to the type of engraving you can do.Engraving requires (demands) very little power maybe as little as 5 to 10 watts. The problem with an 80 watt tube (or higher) is the non-linear power characteristic that will be difficult to control at these low wattages. For cutting you need all the power you can get. Normally 60 watts would be a good compromise power. I'm not saying 80 watts is no good, just that for some materials and types of engraving you may find it difficult to get good results. If you buy a cheap machine from Ebay or an Amazon market trader it's a certainty that you will be getting a reasonable mechanical/CNC system that will be fitted with an over rated B grade tube and power supply. By that I mean they will quote peak tube watts (which you cannot use) instead of the safe max normal watts. For example if you buy a 100 tube it will be 80 watts and if you buy 80 watts it will be 60 watts If you buy from a Chinese factory direct (via Aliexpress) then you will get what it says on the tin. However there will be a long 6 week delivery wait, transport costs, customs duty and tax to pay. If you buy from ebay you are getting a very good deal BUT you must factor in a PROPER new tube and power supply as part of the purchase cost calculation if you are doing cost comparisons The Ebay tube supplied may work well for a few months or it may fail within days. It's a lottery. DO NOT look on ebay for replacement tubes. Also, make sure you buy your machine with a CREDIT card. Even if you have a PayPal account do not use funds therein. Paypal give you zero protection because they dropped manufacturing equipment from their guarantee scheme. E bay are also useless other than recording communication between you and the seller. Your ONLY protection is your card provider who has a legal requirement to protect you against fraud or faulty goods. Best wishes Russ

Hi It works well but requires a little understanding. I have done videos to cover it's use. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wyevrQXaGRo.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sIlXSZhgbe4.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bu7xtKdXU90.html Bet regards Russ

Hi Ali Send me your eamil as a comment. I get auto copied to my gmail so I will delete your comment to remove your email from public view and write back to you. Best wishes Russ.

salut Dom Il y a très peu de fabricants de tubes de qualité de la qualité de confiance en Chine. www.recilaser.com/en/index.htm efrlaser.com/profile/100w-laser-tube-application/200435/0 www.co2-lasers.com/co2-laser-tube/45-long-lifetime-co2-laser-tubes.html#.WAnksPkrJaQ Cette dernière entreprise Mactron, non seulement faire leurs propres tubes et alimentations, ils sont aussi des agents pour EFR et Reci. Si vous contactez GELLY DUNG à des ventes techniques Mactron, (mentionner mon nom Russ Sadler) son courriel est sales02@mactron-tech.com et demander des détails techniques et un devis pour les tubes qui vous intéressent. NE PAS ACHETER DE EBAY ils sont souvent usine rejette ou faux. Bonne chance Russ

Merci Russ....je vous tien au courant de l evolution...merciiiiii

....mais votre machine bleue. Bleue...cest du Chinois???

salut Dom Oui Il est une machine Ebay et il est de la Chine. Deux couleurs principales. Cette machine de 300x500mm est toujours bleu et crème, mais les prochaines tailles semble à la hausse toujours être rouge et noir. Meilleures salutations Russ

Hi Jennifer I bought a machine from a UK warehouse. It is exactly like this and the same price I paid three and a half years ago. This is currently stored in Poland but the shipping is free Although the brand clams to be unbranded generic, I can tell you that this will be a KH3050 model assembled in the Kehui factory It is fitted withe 2" focal length 18mm diameter lens . It is in general a good value machine BUT it (like all Ebay machines) is fitted with a B grade tube and B grade HV power supply.. You must accept that the tube and power supply may not work very well and that you will need to spend another £400 for A grade replacements within weeks or months. I don't think you will be able to better this total price if you buy direct from China. Shipping, import, VAT and carriage charges could well exceed this £1600 total cost. Although these calim to be 50watt machines in reality they are fitted with 40 watt 800mm long tubes. If you decide to buy make sure you buy through ebay. and although you will get no protection, it will be a means of communicating with the supplier (probably a private individual in China selling this for commission.) Make sure you use your credit card to buy, at least you will have the threat of chargeback by your card company that you can throw at the vendor. You may be able to negotiate a £250 refund towards a new proper 50watt tube. Hope this helps Best wishes Russ

@@SarbarMultimedia I am sorely tempted by www.aliexpress.com/item/4040-laser-engraver-laser-machine-4040-printer-220V-100V-50W-laser-engrave-machine-red-light-positioning/32315846861.html but the customs charges (and possible extra hidden shipping charges) scare me a little. I would love to talk to someone who has actually imported one of these. Perhaps I should buy one of the 3020's off ebay for now.

@@SarbarMultimedia Hi, I have just bought a second hand one of these. It would be great to be able to have a chat for advise etc, I think I am really quite close to you as I am in Braintree, Essex.

@@ridley68 Hi Jennifer I am indeed 20 miles close by. Add your email address to another comment. I get auto copied to my gmail so I will write to you off line and will delete your comment/email. Best wishes Russ

Here is one way from 20min 45sec ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ATu-7EGZGMA.html Best wishes Russ

@@SarbarMultimedia You kinda missed my point. I was asking about THIS bed...I currently use expanded steel as a bed, on my K40, with neo magnets as hold down. I struggle to think of anything better & more convenient... this bed of yours, although really cute, cannot match mine for ease of use (for what I do, mostly 3mm ply), even with the reflections & resin build-up I get. Lite ply works best, but isn't as tough as ordinary birch ply. I also have a permanent datum set, for X0Y0. Pretty sure there's nothing perfect out there... I'm still looking. Perhaps thin, steel (0.2mm) flat bar on edge... Hell of a rabbit hole, eh?

If you buy an Ebay machine its a virtual certainty it will be fitted with a B grade tube . That means it may be nearly OK or nearly junk and totally unpredictable. If you replace that tube with an A grade tube the cost will increase with powermand with brand see here for some typical Chinese prices . This source will only supply A grade tubes, whereas many (not all) other sources will be selling B grade tubes www.cloudraylaser.com/collections/co2-laser-tube There is no such thing as a predictable tube life. Many expensive tubes claim 10 000 hours but will only give you a 6 or 9 month warranty. In general you can expect to run a tube for 3 to 5 years. I have two tubes. One is already 4 years old and still working like new and another that is about two and a half years old but is starting to lose some of its low power performance. It still cuts well and will probably last 4 years. Best wishes Russ

@@russsadler3471 Thank for the nice answer. I am new in lasers - just waiting for my first laser to come, it is not profecional, but maybe good for learning, real output is 5.5W I want to use it for paper cutting and leather engraving and maybe leather cutting - if power is enough for 3 mm leather. www.aliexpress.com/item/4000329541544.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.3bb94c4dSUpTu0

@@JOYBG Hi The laser you are buying is a diode laser that runs with a wavelength of about 0.4microns. The CO2 laser that I have works with light of 10.6microns wavelength. Your light is on the edge of UV so you need to take precautions that are completely different to my infrared wavelength. It will be significantly dangerous for your eyes ,especially as this is an open machine and offers you zero protection. The different wavelength will have completely different effects on materials to those that you will see in my videos. You MUST do your own research on materials that are safe to use because many plastics will produce toxic fumes. Get some special eyewear because ordinary glasses work for me but will be useless for you. Please be careful Best wishes Russ

@@russsadler3471 10x for advices, I will make a protecting box around the laser with a ventilation system and will find glasses that stop that kind of laser. Experimenting with material will be fun :)

Hi Lewis, Your problem description is a bit sketchy but I think it is your origin point that is causing this issue. When you are cutting you can use the whole table area. Not so for engraving. If you set an engraving program to start at 0,0 then it will not. When running an engraving program you have to leave room at the edges to allow the head to slow down and reverse after each scan line. Try setting your start point at say 50 ,50. The amount of room required for turning round will vary with scan speed , so maybe you can get away with as little as 20,20 for your start position. Best wishes Russ

SarbarMultimedia dude thank you for the information what was crazy I use to get "communication error " but in the right lower corner I had to click device USB so after doing that that when I was getting "in progress or pause " so dude please keep in touch thank you so much have a good day

Hi Eric The machine was supplies with www.hailea.com/e-hailea/product3/ACO-328.htm Although it delivers adequate flow , at zero resistance it can pump 70 litres per minute. BUT is pressure capability is only 4.4psi. Thus it does not require much system resistance to reduce the flow significantly. I have now upgraded to www.hailea.com/e-hailea/product3/ACO-009E.htmm This has doub;le the flow rate which is meaningless because the pressure capabilty is still only 5.5psi. With more about 15% more pressure capability I do get a slighly beter flow. See ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OCVsMXw6yh4.html for much more information. Best regards Russ

SarbarMultimedia that's great and thanks very much for the links

Hi Although the machine I bought was basically mechanically well designed, Quality Assurance was not included in the price.....that's all down to you. Although I did a mechanical assessment of the machine (as far as you can from photographs), I was very naive about the sealed tube laser technology. Ebay machines represent excellent value for money if you buy the right one. It will always be over specified and the chances are 99% certain that it will be fitted with a B grade Tube and HV power supply. Yhey will work but not very well and for an unknown period. So factor in another $400 or so to replace these two items with A grade components. Make sure you buy with a credit card and you will have some leverage on the seller for some sort of refund towards that replacement tube. If you look at the end of my 8 month review (about 20 minutes in) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4qy5cPZWGj4.html you wil see I can cut 15mm acrylic (very slowly) even with a useless 30 watt B grade tube. Buying a higher wattage tube machine will just involve you with more expense because the tube and power suooly will just be the same junk but more expensive. If you are happy with the 300x500 bed size then spend as little as possible to start with and use that money to upgrade to 60 watts as I did. Only choose machines wirh Hi Win type bearings on X and Y axes and make sur it is fitted with a Ruida controller. This for example is a prettyy good buy www.ebay.com/itm/Laser-Engraving-Cutting-Machine-50W-Engraver-Cutter-Wood-working-Crafts-os/123583396820?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D9879976f4458496891daa406d624d1a1%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D123583396820%26itm%3D123583396820&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A8537fc40-2928-11e9-b3f0-74dbd18040c3%7Cparentrq%3Abcfd95c21680ac88e34b2fddffd21f51%7Ciid%3A1 Best wishes Russ

@@SarbarMultimedia Thanks alot for the reply. Did you notice much difference going to the higher quality 50 watt tube?

@@ApriliaRSV4F I took the opportunity to upgrade to a 60 watt tube and power supply that cost me another £550. It hurt at the time but is was an excellent investment. I have since had a trouble free cutting experience and now the tube is about 3.5 years old and still running perfectly. My little 60 watt 500x300 machine still cost less than the 60 watt rubbish 700x500 machine which would have still requirted that £550 investment. see ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zCTrRT1C_eY.html Best wishes Russ

300mmx500mm but it will take a piece of material 350mmx550mm

Hi Deionised water is free from solids as you have rightly point out but it is not free from bacteria / micro organisms. Distilled water has been boiled and recondensed and is thus free from both. Micro organisms are not an issue for window cleaners but when you are creating a continuously warm environment then you have great opportunities for algae type green or grey slime to develop over time. This machine is now over 5 years old and the water is 50% original, I have just topped it up two or three times. It is a closed system with a lid to keep external ingress of microscopic air borne spores and it is still crystal clear. .Yes it is more expensive but I have never had to purge and desludge my tube. Best wishes Russ

@@SarbarMultimedia the water i produce is because it's also passed through a carbon block filter and 2 micron sediment filter then passes through a VU sterilisation tube and stored with a 1000L ibc.

@@AW-Services Thanks for that additional data. Yes, UV disinfection kills all but the most robust microbiological organisms Thus I agree that such water would be a viable choice . Thanks for the UV clarification because I discourage people from buying cheap deionized water from a hardware store That stuff is fine for topping up car batteries because few organisms can survive the harsh acidic environment. Best wishes Russ

Hi Able Here in the UK we have a grounding integrated into our supply system so there is no need to use a separate grounding spike. My ground is via the third wire through the normal household distribution board. Best regards Russ

Just a tip from a water engineer. Make sure to get salt and other minerals into your diet since distilled water contains none of it. =)

Distilled water/pure water will demineralize your teeth VERY quickly. I have been told by several dentists and a friend of mine who just does root canals all day. Everyone of them tells me distilled water is the absolute worst type of water for your teeth. Seltzer water is second, because the carbon dioxide in water produces carbonic acid. Soda although it contains sugar, has a large amount of dissolved substances and tends to leach minerals less, but the phosphoric acid will etch your teeth. When he sees younger, seemingly thin people getting root canals (people with a low sugar diet) they almost always drink one of the two above beverages. Their should be a warning on the distilled water.

+lukkkie Damn...perhaps engineering, design and management was a wrong career choice!!