mecompco
Member
No problem! Just sent the program a couple different ways. Let us know if it works.
Regards,
Michael
Chinese Laser Engraver
- Thread starter mecompco
- Start date
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No problem! Just sent the program a couple different ways. Let us know if it works.
Regards,
Michael
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fisherhahn
Member
It worked! Thank you, I'm burning and playing with it already! The people on this site are great! I just hope I'm able to pass along some knowledge to help someone in the future...
mecompco
Member
Fordwakeman
Member
Do you think it would cut veneer?
duncsuss
Member
I'm sure that it will.
Attached photo shows it burned through this maple veneer in a couple of places -- with the burn time set to 25. (This is the back side of the veneer.)
mecompco
Member
Just did a burn on one of the red stained wooden pen boxes for my Niece's graduation. I'm sorry I didn't get a pic--finished it just as we were leaving for her party. I used Harlow Solid Italic in MS Paint at a size 48 font (three lines of text as large as I could make them). It really came out extremely nice. I did a test burn on the white outer cardboard sleeve to check focus as it's at about the same distance as the actual box. I used a burn time of 50 as I thought the red stain might affect it.
How's everyone else doing?
Regards,
Michael
How's everyone else doing?
Regards,
Michael
Akula
Member
I just keep finding more things to engrave and more designs to burn. I already have plans for a much bigger laser.
This is a lot of fun
This is a lot of fun
DigBaddy72
Member
Haven't had a chance to engrave anything else yet. Have an order for two USAF pens that will be engraved. Should be interesting. Glad to see others are enjoying this laser as much as I am.
Nick Rocco
Member
I finally got around to trying out my laser. I was able to burn one of the stock pictures pretty easily.
I then tried to burn my name form a .jpg file created in Corel and it would not work. I just kept getting a message that it was the wrong file type.
Can anyone make any suggestions on how to create a text file to burn?
Thanks.
I then tried to burn my name form a .jpg file created in Corel and it would not work. I just kept getting a message that it was the wrong file type.
Can anyone make any suggestions on how to create a text file to burn?
Thanks.
duncsuss
Member
JPG (out of Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop) worked fine for me. It's over 10 years since I used Corel, so I don't know what options they include for jpg/jpg2000, interleaved/noninterleaved, etc, etc, etc.
If you'd like, send me the file. I'll try it on my burner, and I'll open it up in one of the tools I have and fiddle with the settings till it works for me (then let you know what settings I used.) Shoot me a PM.
Bill in Buena Park
Member
Try saving as a BMP or GIF. I don't use Corel, but using Paint in Windows without issues. I start with a 500x500 pixel image, add text at the top, crop to size, save file as JPG or BMP, then drop into the NEJE software.
Akula
Member
I use Irfanview (free program) to do any quick resize, reformat and minor adjustments and save as a jpeg.
IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide
IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide
jsolie
Member
Well my engraver finally arrived!
The current bummer is that my micro SD to SD adapter has gone AWOL. I am having a devil of a time trying to download the driver from their website. Did someone post a link to the driver software? If so, I'm having some difficulty locating that post with the link.
The current bummer is that my micro SD to SD adapter has gone AWOL. I am having a devil of a time trying to download the driver from their website. Did someone post a link to the driver software? If so, I'm having some difficulty locating that post with the link.
Bill in Buena Park
Member
John, you will have to mess with your antivirus software in order for the downloads to work. There are two files you'll need - a "driver.exe" which loads drivers for the unit, and the laser carve software - I believe these are all in the zip file on their website. If that still doesn't work and you want to send me your email address, I can try to email the driver.exe to you.
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jsolie
Member
Yeah, I finally got it figured out, but it was really sketchy. All the stuff I needed was in the documentation ZIP file. I'm now trying to burn a test image on a piece of cardboard.
Nick Rocco
Member
Thank you to all for helping to figure out my Corel file format issue. Thanks to everyone's input, I went back and checked the file details when I exported to a .jpg file. I found that you have to specify gray scale for things to work properly.
Erik831
Member
I'm trying to set up the engraver, and can't figure it out. I have a Mac any ideas how to set it up?
low_48
Member
Use the Mac to order a PC?
Erik831
Member
Eddie123
Member
Hey.
Did you manage to set it up on a Mac, or did you have to use a Windows PC ?
Vegard
Did you manage to set it up on a Mac, or did you have to use a Windows PC ?
Vegard
Erik831
Member
I used boot camp. There's a tutorial for doing it using Mac OS , I tried it many times and couldn't make it work
walshjp17
Member
If you're interested in a native Mac installation, head over to FB Small Laser Reviews and Help group. Matthew Cooper helped me and others get set up with our Macs. Software is a hack of the Windows s/w that does work quite well natively.
Bill in Buena Park
Member
I've been playing with burn depth on the little NEJE, and since I don't fill my engravings on wood pens, I'm liking the burn setting of 75 to produce a nice depth on the engraving. This is recent Curvado in Olive that I made as a gift for a retiring coworker. Thanks for looking.
And thanks again to Michael (the OP) for bringing this little gem to my attention.
And thanks again to Michael (the OP) for bringing this little gem to my attention.
Attachments
PenPal
Member
A mate of mine has a small unit he was using for his pens (excellent).
Giving up pens now bought a larger machine both direct from China his sales returns are four fold plus than from his pens. A few samples I got from him today.
Plus a couple of signs he cut from plastic.
Peter.
Giving up pens now bought a larger machine both direct from China his sales returns are four fold plus than from his pens. A few samples I got from him today.
Plus a couple of signs he cut from plastic.
Peter.
Attachments
PapaTim
Member
I've been playing with burn depth on the little NEJE, and since I don't fill my engravings on wood pens, I'm liking the burn setting of 75 to produce a nice depth on the engraving. This is recent Curvado in Olive that I made as a gift for a retiring coworker. Thanks for looking.
And thanks again to Michael (the OP) for bringing this little gem to my attention.
Nice crisp lettering. Looks like someone's got their machine settings dialed in. Is there much of an adjustment between softer and harder woods with these units?
mecompco
Member
I've been playing with burn depth on the little NEJE, and since I don't fill my engravings on wood pens, I'm liking the burn setting of 75 to produce a nice depth on the engraving. This is recent Curvado in Olive that I made as a gift for a retiring coworker. Thanks for looking.
And thanks again to Michael (the OP) for bringing this little gem to my attention.
Bill, you're welcome! BTW, what font did you use? That looks very nice.
Regards,
Michael
mecompco
Member
I've been playing with burn depth on the little NEJE, and since I don't fill my engravings on wood pens, I'm liking the burn setting of 75 to produce a nice depth on the engraving. This is recent Curvado in Olive that I made as a gift for a retiring coworker. Thanks for looking.
And thanks again to Michael (the OP) for bringing this little gem to my attention.
Nice crisp lettering. Looks like someone's got their machine settings dialed in. Is there much of an adjustment between softer and harder woods with these units?
Pretty much the only adjustment is the time setting. The higher up the you go, the longer the laser spends burning each pixel. If unsure, one can always do test burns on the square blank before turning (though you'll have to re-focus when it comes time to burn on the finished blank).
Regards,
Michael
sbwertz
Member
I got my laser and brought it with me to CT. My grandsons are having a great time with it.
Do I remember that someone said they made a file of instructions for this thing that is not written in Chinglish? The boys (11 and 15) find the instructions hilarious. They had no problem getting it set up and have alread burned several images. They are going to try burning leather next. It would help a lot, however it they had some tips, in English, on the care and feedint of this little beast.
Do I remember that someone said they made a file of instructions for this thing that is not written in Chinglish? The boys (11 and 15) find the instructions hilarious. They had no problem getting it set up and have alread burned several images. They are going to try burning leather next. It would help a lot, however it they had some tips, in English, on the care and feedint of this little beast.
Bill in Buena Park
Member
Thanks Michael. The font is "Constantia", size 40, in MS Paint.
kentonjm
Member
Thanks to Bill (in Buena Park) for turning me on to this forum and thread.
I was only talking with my daughter a few days ago and showing her some newly turned pens when she asked if I could engrave them. Then today Bill posted on another forum where we are both members about this 1W NEJE laser engraver. Sometimes things are just meant to be and for the current price of $80 what the heck!
I have scanned through most of the posts in this thread but am specifically interested in answering the following questions. BTW I am a new pen turner but am a quick study.
1. I can see how this works well on lighter woods but does anybody have examples of how it works with the darker ones. I saw mention of folks 'filling' the etching, how is this done and with what?
2. What is the clearance between the table and the laser and what would be the maximum height of an object one can engrave? I was thinking of bottle stoppers, anybody tried this?
3. has anybody tried to create some form of registration jig that would allow for creating larger etchings by moving the work piece say into one of 4 quadrants therefore extending the max to 1024x1024.
4. what is the deepest that somebody has etched into wood?
Thanks in advance and I look forward to meeting you all here at penturners.org.
Jon
I was only talking with my daughter a few days ago and showing her some newly turned pens when she asked if I could engrave them. Then today Bill posted on another forum where we are both members about this 1W NEJE laser engraver. Sometimes things are just meant to be and for the current price of $80 what the heck!
I have scanned through most of the posts in this thread but am specifically interested in answering the following questions. BTW I am a new pen turner but am a quick study.
1. I can see how this works well on lighter woods but does anybody have examples of how it works with the darker ones. I saw mention of folks 'filling' the etching, how is this done and with what?
2. What is the clearance between the table and the laser and what would be the maximum height of an object one can engrave? I was thinking of bottle stoppers, anybody tried this?
3. has anybody tried to create some form of registration jig that would allow for creating larger etchings by moving the work piece say into one of 4 quadrants therefore extending the max to 1024x1024.
4. what is the deepest that somebody has etched into wood?
Thanks in advance and I look forward to meeting you all here at penturners.org.
Jon
mecompco
Member
Hi Jon.
1. The laser "prints" black, so any wood that's not black is good. For really dark woods, I think you'd need to fill. If you've gone through the thread, there is an example, and I believe a source for filling.
2. You could probably do a "squatish" stopper. Mine is down in the shop, but I'll measure the distance from the table to the laser head for you tomorrow. There also may be some maximum height that will still allow you to focus the laser.
3. Not entirely sure what you mean--the max image size of this machine is 500x500 pixels. That is as far as the motors for the X and Y axis will physically go. Also, you are limited as to the size of the workpiece by the frame of the device. You can print larger items that are rectangular (like a pen box), as the ends can overhang the table.
4. It doesn't burn really deep. I'm not sure if I can measure the depth at full burn time, but I'll try for you. I do have a nice Starrett depth mic.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Michael
sbwertz
Member
My grandsons have been using this for a couple of days but can't seem to make images larger than about 1 1/4" Any suggestions?
Bill in Buena Park
Member
Sharon, I believe the maximum engraving size of 500x500 pixels works out to 1-3/8 inches square, at least by my measure. That is the capacity of the machine for a single burn. To engrave anything larger would require cutting a larger image into multiple 500x500 pixel segments, and then separately burning each portion, and either shifting the workpiece on the carriage table, or recentering the carriage table for each burn, which may be feasible but somewhat complicated.
For example, if you first resize your image to 1000x1000 pixels, you could crop that into 4 quadrants, and do four burns. At some point, the dimensions of the unit's frame will limit how big a workpiece and how many burns you could do this way.
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kentonjm
Member
Thanks Michael for your answers thus far. I would appreciate it if you could figure out the height restriction. I was close to pulling the trigger on one of these units but I do have a number of applications where I would desire to etch/print on larger/taller items and have more 'printable' area. The $80 is less of the issue than shop space so if I can get something similar that will do both it may be a better direction for me.
I see on the same website this unit 5500mw A5 Mini Laser Engraving Machine-332.75 | GearBest.com that has a static table and what seems to be a printable area of approx 5x7. They have a variety of wattage options from 300mW to 5.5W. The 2.5W version is only $160 but going to 5.5 jumps you over $300. Given that most folks here seem to be having fine results with this 1W unit can anybody explain to me what practical usage 5.5 gets me over 2.5?
I also wonder if this unit would be adaptable and strong enough to mount a Bosch Colt router or if not that maybe a dremmel. If so one could get a simple router CNC as well. Thoughts anybody?
I see on the same website this unit 5500mw A5 Mini Laser Engraving Machine-332.75 | GearBest.com that has a static table and what seems to be a printable area of approx 5x7. They have a variety of wattage options from 300mW to 5.5W. The 2.5W version is only $160 but going to 5.5 jumps you over $300. Given that most folks here seem to be having fine results with this 1W unit can anybody explain to me what practical usage 5.5 gets me over 2.5?
I also wonder if this unit would be adaptable and strong enough to mount a Bosch Colt router or if not that maybe a dremmel. If so one could get a simple router CNC as well. Thoughts anybody?
sbwertz
Member
Thank you. I haven't even touched it yet. I'm sick as a dog and still running a fever, so I just handed it over to the boys. They are having a great time with it. I don't know when I will be able to go home...I have a 5 day drive ahead of me, and can't drive in the state I'm in now.
I have the 1W unit and for what it is, it seems to work well. I now am in the process of investigating how to incorporate it, or another laser module onto my CNC. This will give me more working area as well as the ability to use my radial axis. In the research I have done, going higher in wattage has two advantages and perhaps one disadvantage. The higher the wattage, the faster you will be able to engrave and you will be able to cut through more types of material. At 1W, paper and perhaps cardboard are possible, at 5W, it should be able to cut balsa wood and perhaps some other materials. The disadvantage is that it might run pretty hot and be a challenge to cool - not something I have actually seen, but still a concern.
Not sure if the gearbest laser will support a router, but if you do want a dual machine, you might consider a CNC for the main machine and run a laser as the alternative. Not sure how strong the stepper motors are on the larger gearbest machine, but on the small one, they are merely parts from a CD drive.
I have done some bench scale testing with Mach3 software which controls my CNC and it is very possible to add a laser and control it. There is some free software for vector design (inkscape) and a free plug in from jtechphotonics for inkscape that will write laser G-code code readable by Mach3 and other control software. Their site has some good tutorials on how its done.
Will post something on my full conversion as its complete - need a few more parts.
leehljp
Member Liaison
BTW, Welcome to IAP Jon. 'Bout time you got here - thanks to Bill (in Buena Park), and for getting me back over here too.
kentonjm
Member
I am not really interested in cutting things with the laser so based on your input I would be just as well off with the 2.5 as the 5 if all I really want is the engraving/burning capabilities.
As far as the stepper motors they do look to be beefier than the small unit although I have no domain experience here. Are you able to deduce anything from the many pictures shown at the link? Based on mass alone I would not think that the mass of the laser unit was much different to a dremel so I would guess it could handle that. A small router would be heavier but not sure how to gauge if the motors could cope. The gantry looks to be plenty sturdy enough.
2500mw A5 Mini Laser Engraving Machine-178.92 | GearBest.com
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kentonjm
Member
Thanks Hank.