What Can You Cut With This "15W" LASER Machine? 

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I know I'm late, but I've got a tip for cutting through wood an the plastic: Lowering the speed is not always good. It leads to charing and melting, which makes the material harder to cut. If you move faster with more passes instead, you don't get these effects as much, and can achieve harder cuts.

Focus at the mid point if 4mm thick then focus 2mm into the wood

The most powerful single diode out there which can fit in a diode holder that big is nubm 47 with 7watts output power.

Great video and great test!!! THX a lot

Use a thin layer of yellow mustard on metal to engrave it. Yes, I'm serious lol it works

la pelle si incide alla grande, per incidere qualcosa sul metallo devi coprirlo con un pennarello nero. per ridurre il "bruciato sul legno" è necessario un flusso d'aria. ;)

Love your new intro

Do you think that with metal there would be a problem with the beam reflecting back into the laser and damaging it?

Maybe with less laser-material distance it would work on metal

Good afternoon ... I hope you can help me ... I am looking to buy a laser for cutting cardboard, maximum 5mm ... This video you show is of a 15w laser ... I have seen one of 20w. .. The question is, if you can help me, what are the technical details that I should consider to buy one ... besides being 15w, 20w or more ... On eBay there are a number of offers but, I can't technically establish what is the best option. Thank you very much if you can help me ... Best Regards

Good video. Thank you.

Where are the glasses link?

Do you think this could cut 2mm dark grey plastic ?

10:34 for cutting thick materials with a laser you need z-axis control. Lower the laser for each pass to stay in focus.

A bit of compressed air might help with wood cutting. There's a lot of smoke coming right off the hot spot, which is absorbing/blocking/defocusing the light.

Until now I’ve been searching for weeks looking for informative videos on laser engraving and found mostly junk content. Your video is one of the best and most descriptive ones I’ve seen about anything in years. Your ability to deep dive and answer questions I didn’t know I had is a skill not often found. You just got another subscriber. Thank you for your help.

The issue when cutting through 4mm balsa is from the nature or your "cutting element" the laser is manuly focalised on the top or the material. When it has cut two mm, the laser isn't focalised in trench and the material needs more and more energy to cut because instead of focusing thé energy in a tiny spot to burn a little piece of material, it is burning a greater surface. It would has been useful to have a Z-axis to lift down the laser after each loop and keep the energy/surface ratio constant Edit : I had not seen the explanation before posting m'y comment Maybe, try to focus the laser in the middle of the material instead of the surface

To echo @Jo Flo More passes at a faster speed is usually better than less passes at slower speed. A few more tips: Fixed focal lengths are a bit less stressful, but also less flexible. I use a 7w with a variable focus, mounted to a 3018 with Z axis. I'll set my Z home as far as possible from the material surface while still able to focus the beam properly. The reason is because the longer the beam before the convergence point, the narrower it will be immediately above the focus. With that, you can cut deeper into material--the previously cut material above doesn't interfere with as much of the beam, as it would with a wider beam due to focal point closer to the module. I use the 3018, but there's nothing specific about that spec that is better or worse than another. The important part is the Z axis. I can generate my gcode to lower the Z by a few micrometers with each pass, keeping the focal point at the material. The rate of Z adjustment is different for each type of material. Some materials, like wood, produce ash when burned in the cut. After several passes, the ash will completely block the beam from being able to penetrate deeper. The ash also glows, therefore radiating the thermal energy to the sides and causing unwanted results. I use 2 strategies: a relatively high CFM fan to blow ash and smoke (which cools into soot/ash) away; and I configure break points in my gcode so that I can take a moment to brush the cut path before resuming. Hope these help!

Hello is it possible to make a solder Stencil with the laser cutter? will it possible to engrave to a vinyl or something thin sheet material like, for a footprint of a smd device example atmega16u2 qfn footprints?

Steel needs to be coated with moly lube. Then it'll etch.

I wonder how the Norton method works to engrave white tiles. In that method you spray the tile with white paint first and that seems to work great. But in this video you had no cutting through white acrylic. Weird!

Nice video, but at the copper engraving, you need to paint it black the pcb and engrave the negative of pcb, then you throw in acid for corrosion

If you had a platform (z) and an air nozzle attached setup to clear the debris, you might be able to cut thicker materials compensating for both the focal length and the debris that clogs up deeper cuts.

Nice video. Regarding the speed, maybe you mean: 25mm per SECOND? 25mm per minute would be awfully slow, and definitely, we wouldn't even be able to see any movement at all.

Could you try cutting mylar sheet? The thin stuff used for stencils. It usually comes in white or clear, so I've been reluctant to buy this unit or others like it because that's the main use I want it for.

Hi, I am 14 and I don't have that much Money but I love electronics.

OMG thanks so much for this review. I was about to buy this machine for clear acrylic. Good to know it doesnt work with it. Youre the first one I saw with honest review

Try not to cut plastics with chlorine, while being in the same room as it. Examples of such plastics include some leathers, PVC etc

Your laser safety glasses must be bought from a certified reputable seller. Do not take the risk of uncertified or unlicensed third party sellers or resellers. Remember to get glasses that are designed to protect you from the wavelength of the laser you are using. STAY SAFE LASER PEEPS

Thanks for the acrylic test, was considering a 20W diode laser, but I need to be able to cut white and transparent acrylic. Seems like you need to step up to a CO2 laser for it

Can this engrave bone materials? Or do i need co2 40W laser?

Definitely need to have a Z-axis, even on a laser so as you go down the material, you can step the Z down. Plus, you can focus as 50mm from the object and raise the Z for thicker material.

Thank you for always using quotes when saying "15W". I always doubt power claims of Chinese diode lasers.

"What's up my friends to this new video!" Best intro ever.

Hello.. if I buy this laser Can I engrave and cut acrylic And plexiglass to 2mm??? AND with 20w laser? Thanks a lot is very big important For me know this

Just in case you're new with lasers.. Don't cut MDF without proper ventilation or a fume exhaust! The fumes are toxic.

4:24... I would bet that the output power is much less than 4 Watts. The only way to know the true output power of a Laser beam is with a Laser Power Meter.

I'm almost sure your modul is defect or not correctly adjusted. I got better results with my 2.5w Laser. But you have to adjust the output power first

The eBay glasses are definitely not safe to use. They might not melt completely through but they only block about 99% of the light which isn't nearly good enough, you can still get injured from a reflection or direct exposure. I would recommend glasses with at least OD5 to be safe.

13:40 Thank you for helping - everyone who sells this equipment guarantees that it makes markings on the metal - and you could confirm that they don't ... thank you for saving me some money. Hug from Brazil !

make a right angle tube that focuses a jet of air with the laser it will help a LOT.. i use a big 60w aquarium air pump with a 3/8" silicone air line... and a 3d printed cone with a 2mm opening it press fits over the focus ring and the air help clears the cut like this a 10w can cut 12mm balsa in 15 passes at 5mm/s

Great review.. To bring your cutting speed and passes use air assist to blow away the smoke

Hint... for deep cutting, z-axis is your friend (yet missing from most off the shelf engravers)

+Electronoobs For laser engraving steel, you have to know the type because the methods are VERY different between low, high carbon and stainless. I put permanent marks on my tools with a "10Watt" laser like the one you used in this video. There are also spray and brush on ceramic compounds that the laser "cures" to create great, crisp marks.

Where can you buy this laser? I ordered from GearBest and now it appears to be a scam site. I googled GearBest and seems like everyone was ripped off

This is truly one of the best youtube channels ever . This guy even inspired me to make my own tech channel . Hope you reach 1M subs ❤❤❤

Would you try to cut through a piece of 11mm or 12 mm plywood please with the ortur machine and show the results? Also is there a more powerful ortur machine than the one you have used and if so, would you do the experiments on it please. Thank you for a very interesting video.

Totem S 40W / NEJE Master 2S Max / Atomstack A5 Pro / Ortur Laser Master 2 pro I found the four. would like to know which one of the favorites is and which one is best for small knives, normal kitchen knives, silver key rings, zippo, silver engraved bracelet for children. thank you in advance for the help and information I will get. nice day

for ëngraving"on metal, you need to put a coating over the metal 1st, I have even seen someone use yellow mustard,and they were able to make a text engraving on metal very easily.

So, everybody is building their own laser CNC mills, modding out 3D printers, programming Arduinos and editing source code, even compiling kernels and binaries... On Windows? LOL None of this software ever works on OS X. Lame...

Please put a video about robotics like pid line follower Or Micromouse

It is always lower than that what they describe. So it sounds higher and nicer. The Sc+lpfun S9 for example has an input of 90W and has a laser output from just 5-5,5W ... what a poor result. Anyway for the hobbyist enough to play around with.

Yeah those cheap laser googles are garbage, real laser safety googles have an OG rating (number of digits it reduces the power) and real googles for blue lasers are orange. the cheap one melting green layer means it blocks (eats) some of the energy, but I doubt it´s above OG3. OG3 at 4000mW would let through ~4mW, which is to high for eye safety. 1mW is rated safe for the eye shut relfex beeing fast enough. OG4 rated laser googles should be used as minimum for this power.

I wish I had some kind of funding for my ideas. Where can one get non governmental funding to bring my ideas to the table?

We have a 100W CO2 cutter, and it cuts and engrave acrylic with no problem. Also we need air pulsing to avoid fire... And this help to keep the material cooler when the laser is not on it. Since a make a CNC by myself, i would like to add it a laser module, and i was wondering about this laser daiode...Y save me 150 bucks, thx !

NEVER ever WATCH THE LASER BEAM. ONLY SEE IT IN YOUR VISION. I worked on a 1500kw industrial laser for 9 years. Believe me do not watch the beam.

Hi everyone, I have an Anycubic mega S, I'd like to buy, install and use the laser engraving. Is it that possible? Is it enough and possible to replace the firmware with the mega pro and is it available to download? Thanks.

The first material you cut is not cardboard it is CHIPBOARD ,cardboard consists of two layers of payer with a corrugation layer(the swiggley part in between.

If is not pas trought just.. make it slower if is melting too much you need BLOW in the laser beam (on stop you negrave) by any air nozzle.... shut be beter trust me,... //ya you canot pass by copper is not powerfull enought anf for coper is green spectrum or UV much beter to etch..

thanks for the video! I've seen a lot of these types of machines advertised on my Facebook feed. I've got a 130W CO2 laser and i typically cut 3mm acrylic and 30mm/s and 3mm MDF at 45mm/s. typically engraving speeds of 400mm/s. I'd have to agree with the glasses although because you are dealing with visible light, if you can see any blue light at all then id say that they are no good but better than nothing. one thing that bothers me with these cheap machines is that there is no air assist. if you had a nozzle that added pressured air to the cut location then the cutting speed would be greatly increased. it's just something all these machines don't have as an option. that and fume extraction :P a good little machine for experimentation and prototyping. I've ordered a "40W" laser which i will just mount to my CO2 laser head ( my controller has dual laser head control as an option) so I'll run some experiments soon :)

7:42 you can clearly see the problem is not the laser power rating but the focal "depth of field"; on an engraving laser the depth of field is a fractin of a mm because it only needs to burn just the surface of the material (of course burning 0.1mm of wood would talke a lot less power than carving 0.1mm of metal); for a cutting laser what you need is a depth of field slightly greater than the thickness of the material you wish to cut; for foam you can get away with a 5W laser as long as the focal depth of field is (in your case) 5 mm or more, which clearly the laser you showed hasn't.

This is NOT a 15W machine. Its 6W tops. Source? You can not get 15W solid state UV Laser modules, they simple don't exist....

I think your lack of success on plastics is because you assume the laser cuts it by melting it. This is not the case, it's vaporizing the top layer. By staying too long at the same place, it's melting and becomes messy. I think most of your experiments would have worked better if you made more faster passes (with Z axis change for focalisation as you mention in the video)

It didnt work that well because regardless what they tell you and what you paid you didn't get the laser you thought. The laser driver on top Max's at 7mw even if you paid for the 15mw. Pull it apart and look of you wanna see. I took pictures of mine.

I know this engraver has small working area. I need this machine for only logo burning. Can this machine burn 1cm x 6cm logo on a hardwood size of 25cm x 45cm.

This is not 15W. I have 15W and I can engrave portraits in black granite and logos without any problems. This looks like 2 to 3 W max.

I can't get my 15000mw universal engraver to work... I cannot get it to design anything. It does not move smoothly through the tracks and does not really make the pictures that I select. Not sure what else to do. Their service is horrible and they cannot really get on the phone to help customers and try to help via whatsapp but cannot really understand the issue. Much less help anyone with them.

I cannot believe you can just buy a class 4 laser with this design. For the research lab, the safety regs alone cost a fortune to implement. He's just sticking his fingers near the live line. While he focused on safety glasses, the vapors from most of those cuts are carcinogenic.

from what I read on laser forums Laser+PETG = RIP Lungs, please don't cut any plastic with a laser make sure you research it first

no cred m8.. those glasses are good enough.. who the hells gonna sit there aiming the laser in their eyeball from 8cm away blasting full power? and for the noddy who does, the green pc plastic stops the beam.. why you say not good enough? try to trick and make ppl paranoid

What you are calling BALSA is wrong it is lauan which is a plywood it is way harder than balsa you can cut real balsa with the unit you are using purchase some online and test it or if you have a friend who flies RC models than ask for a scrap.

Looks very unsafe. Not surprising given it is made in China. You need some kind of protective gear maybe put a plastic shield around it or something...

How about cutting felt and satin?

RC planes sound good. My son makes foam planes. Can U make area for cutting better and 2nd can U cut 45% angles? Cheers

15 watt laser 🤣🤣🤣 2.5 watt laser 👍 i know because i have one check my channel for proof

you just can't engrave a piece of metal or copper like that and it's dangerous because the laser is deflected on shiney surface, to cut (or engrave) them you have to cover it with black tape or marker pen.

dont buy cheap stuff(ebay protection glasses),they are not good. . . . . hey everybody 2$ PCBs

I see people cutting vinyl records. Do you know if this is possible with a 15 watt laser? Did you try?

It is a pity but this laser is not very useful! Friendly Healthy Greetings from the Netherlands! Rob

There's nothing strange. Charred balsa will become pure carbon. Carbon is highly effective in absorbing the laser wavelength. Use a strong airr assist and a hepa filter for better results.

What is the laser cutting machine in market I should buy to cut 4 mm thick balsa and 2 mm thick ply and also cut 2 mm fiber class.Kindly advise

I have cnc 3018 Pro I want to engrave stainless Steel aluminium and plastic which laser head you advise me

Fantastic, dude! 😃 I would love a laser machine like that to cut foam board... To make rc airplanes from FliteTest. 😬

Thanks for this video, could you also burn epoxy with this laser ? I want to open ICs with a laser.

Its kind of click bait that you wait until over 4 minutes in to say it is 15w input. If it is 15w input its probably 3.5 watts output. 20w input is normally 4 watts output.

Sir....Is this machine can cut 4mm thickness hylam sheet (non metal)...????....Then howmuch will be the cost to india....

So is this really a 15 W laser ? Because I know a 5 W laser will cut through Balsawood easy

I think the 2W unit is better for engraving only, it also has a very small "pixel"

Would it be possible to cut 0.1 mm copper foil? Or what type of laser cutter would I need?

DO NOT buy from gearbest.com before you check the BBB.org website how legit is this company.

how to cut only experimental star or engraving with laserGRBL thankyou.

So when you say "12 loops" you mean it made "12 passes" over the material correct?

you have to focuse to the center of the material, take a material half as thick focus on it! than place your wanted thicker material

Do you have any laser cutting machines for sale …? I am looking to buy it…

Would painting the thicker MDF and thicker materials with black paint increase the cutting depth at all, d'you think?

isn't it better if the plastic burns? meaning it's absorbing the laser instead of letting it trough unless it's reflecting it

How is your delta working i love mine supper fast like it more than my ender 3 pro v2

Pretty sure that is 405nm. 445nm appears blue and is more expensive per watt.

it‘s really repetitive to listen to him talk, kind of annoying..