engraving

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R

reyckert@aol.com

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Joined
Dec 12, 2010
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Location
texas usa
Hi,
Anyone out there with knowledge about the usb co2 laser M6 engraving/cutting machine and its capabilites? Any info very appreciated.
Ebay has one for .99 cents ($776 postage)...lol......another one listed for $774 free shipping....lmao...
 
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Check out the Engravers Forum at Sawmill Creek. Be REAL careful about buying lasers from EBAY. A lot of horror stories out there. The Sawmill Creek bunch have a lot of info on Chinese lasers, good and bad. You probably don't want to get into one of the real cheap ones as you will get very little, if any, support form the company. There are some Chinese laser companies that now have offices in the US that do have tech support.

Do your homework before you buy the real cheap lasers. If you are real talented in electronics and machines and have LOTS of time to tinker, you may be able to make it work. It really depends on whether you want this just for you own use and playing around or if you expect to use it as a business.

Just my opinion, worth exactly what you paid for it.

Jeff in northern Wisconsin
 
wolftat said:
Wouldn't touch it if they gave it to me. I own an Epilog and paid a lot more but have a lot more.
Click to expand...


That about sums it up :wink:

This is something i keep looking at... and putting the idea on the shelf again. though buying an enfgraver is very very tempting... though i need to learn alot more about them first as i work predominantly with metal. any tips you can give wolftat? I have read that you wouldnt engrave directly into aluminium but you would use a non reflective paint like substance to etch onto the piece?
 
I have one of the really cheap chinese ones at work. It isn't an epilog or universal, but normal people can afford to buy them.

If you are not mechanically inclined, run away.

I found the motion control hardware to be pretty decent. It is smooth and accuracte. The mirror mounts are garbage as delivered. It is fairly simple to retrofit them to a workable design (using pen parts), but they are still not great. I found the focusing optics to be questionable, but functional. You will not get as high of detail out of one of these (compared to a high end system), but it works great for text and simple images.

The included software is an abomination. No, really. I have seen a lot of terrible software, and this takes the cake. I am to the point that I do ALL of the design work in either CAD software or Inkscape and just give the laser cutter a vector file to cut/engrave. I can do raster images, but they are pretty hit or miss. Expect to spend a while fiddling with settings and test engraving a raster image before doing your actual piece.

It requires maintenance about every 3 months, but that isn't too bad in my experience.

-----------------------

All that said, I have been able to make some very nice and very intricate things on it. Given the circumstances, I cannot provide pictures, but the last time I used it, I made a pile of 2% scale parachutes for wind tunnel testing. They were cut from parachute cloth and aluminized mylar. They were 16 drouge designs with 2mm x 4mm vents.

The machines do work, if you are willing/capable of getting them set up correctly. As said above, do not expect any support from the manufacturer. You are on your own from the start. I have almost bought one for personal use several times, but the space it takes up is problematic to me.
 
You can't engrave metal with a CO2 laser. There are chemicals you can use that will mark the metal (Cermark Thermark). Success varies. I would suggest finding a laser engraver in your area and see if you can get them to try one for you and you can see how you like it.

Jeff in northern Wisconsin
 
BradG said:
wolftat said:
Wouldn't touch it if they gave it to me. I own an Epilog and paid a lot more but have a lot more.
Click to expand...


That about sums it up :wink:

This is something i keep looking at... and putting the idea on the shelf again. though buying an enfgraver is very very tempting... though i need to learn alot more about them first as i work predominantly with metal. any tips you can give wolftat? I have read that you wouldnt engrave directly into aluminium but you would use a non reflective paint like substance to etch onto the piece?
Click to expand...
I would refer all questions about metal engraving to Bruce Boone, he has done some incredible work with metal engraving. The only thing I can really do with metal is use a coating (Cermark) that bonds with the metal when the laser hits it, but it is there for the duration unless you hit it with a grinder.
 
Fibonacci said:
I have one of the really cheap chinese ones at work. It isn't an epilog or universal, but normal people can afford to buy them.

If you are not mechanically inclined, run away.

I found the motion control hardware to be pretty decent. It is smooth and accuracte. The mirror mounts are garbage as delivered. It is fairly simple to retrofit them to a workable design (using pen parts), but they are still not great. I found the focusing optics to be questionable, but functional. You will not get as high of detail out of one of these (compared to a high end system), but it works great for text and simple images.

The included software is an abomination. No, really. I have seen a lot of terrible software, and this takes the cake. I am to the point that I do ALL of the design work in either CAD software or Inkscape and just give the laser cutter a vector file to cut/engrave. I can do raster images, but they are pretty hit or miss. Expect to spend a while fiddling with settings and test engraving a raster image before doing your actual piece.

It requires maintenance about every 3 months, but that isn't too bad in my experience.

-----------------------

All that said, I have been able to make some very nice and very intricate things on it. Given the circumstances, I cannot provide pictures, but the last time I used it, I made a pile of 2% scale parachutes for wind tunnel testing. They were cut from parachute cloth and aluminized mylar. They were 16 drouge designs with 2mm x 4mm vents.

The machines do work, if you are willing/capable of getting them set up correctly. As said above, do not expect any support from the manufacturer. You are on your own from the start. I have almost bought one for personal use several times, but the space it takes up is problematic to me.
Click to expand...
Don't forget one thing, if you do have a problem you better either speak or read chinese. In China these machines are considered disposables from what I understand. Some of the Chinese machines are better than others, but the ones that are sold on ebay for a couple of thousand or less, I wouldn't touch.
 
the Cermark and Thermark are pretty pricey, so build that into your costs.
A 12 oz spray can will set you back around $80
A can of Rustoleum cold galvanizing spray gives a similar
effect, but you need to use some black Rub n Buff afterwards
so the mark won't be gray
 
wolftat said:
Fibonacci said:
I have one of the really cheap chinese ones at work. It isn't an epilog or universal, but normal people can afford to buy them.

If you are not mechanically inclined, run away.

I found the motion control hardware to be pretty decent. It is smooth and accuracte. The mirror mounts are garbage as delivered. It is fairly simple to retrofit them to a workable design (using pen parts), but they are still not great. I found the focusing optics to be questionable, but functional. You will not get as high of detail out of one of these (compared to a high end system), but it works great for text and simple images.

The included software is an abomination. No, really. I have seen a lot of terrible software, and this takes the cake. I am to the point that I do ALL of the design work in either CAD software or Inkscape and just give the laser cutter a vector file to cut/engrave. I can do raster images, but they are pretty hit or miss. Expect to spend a while fiddling with settings and test engraving a raster image before doing your actual piece.

It requires maintenance about every 3 months, but that isn't too bad in my experience.

-----------------------

All that said, I have been able to make some very nice and very intricate things on it. Given the circumstances, I cannot provide pictures, but the last time I used it, I made a pile of 2% scale parachutes for wind tunnel testing. They were cut from parachute cloth and aluminized mylar. They were 16 drouge designs with 2mm x 4mm vents.

The machines do work, if you are willing/capable of getting them set up correctly. As said above, do not expect any support from the manufacturer. You are on your own from the start. I have almost bought one for personal use several times, but the space it takes up is problematic to me.
Click to expand...
Don't forget one thing, if you do have a problem you better either speak or read chinese. In China these machines are considered disposables from what I understand. Some of the Chinese machines are better than others, but the ones that are sold on ebay for a couple of thousand or less, I wouldn't touch.
Click to expand...

Reading or speaking Chinese doesn't help much. You still won't get any support.

If you can't build a stepper controller and troubleshoot an HV system, one of these would not be a good investment.

If you can, you still might be better off building one from scratch.
 
Cheapest way to engrave metal, not etch, but actual engrave is a cnc mill. The taig is probably the cheapest starter unit. BUT..check this out, better buy it fast, this would work great for small engravings like pens and is right in your price range!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jewel-Maste..._Metalworking_Supplies_ET&hash=item3a6d0041dd

I just did my very first engraving today myself. It's really simple and pretty cool. I liked the results, although I need a better bit. Only V bit I had small enough was straight flutes and curved flutes would make a cleaner cut. It's really cool that I can now put my company name on my pens. It's a billion times better than a business card. Hopefully on Thursday I can finish and post my pen. I only got it half done today and I have to go in to town tomorrow.
 
Actually, one can engrave stainless steel with a CO2 laser. It takes at least an 80W laser though. The practical alternative is to use a heat-bonded ceramic pigment such as Cermark/Thermark. Success there depends on the heat conductivity of the metal, laser power, and focus. A 20W laser might mark steel, but won't touch brass or aluminum. I have heard that copper is especially problematic.

Epilog, Pinnacle, Universal and Gravograph are big names in the laser business, with correspondingly big pricetags. They are not all made in the US, by the way. At least one is manufactured in China. There are smaller names that are chinese made, and some of those have US based support. I took a risk when I imported a 60W Rabbit Laser engraver, but fortunately they now have a US presence. I had the support guy test and tune-up the machine when he was passing through the area. He assures me that all the parts are attainable. I've since bought two new rotary attachments, and will be ordering a new tube soon.

The included software isn't good for much except driving the engraver. I do all my layout in Corel Draw, and export the results to the laser software.

The M6 machines on eBay might handle low-volume work on small flat pieces, but they won't fit larger pieces, or take a rotary attachment.

I hope that helps,
Eric
 
Wavelength is a big factor too. A CO2 laser can heat discolor stainless, but to actually carve into it takes serious power. I don't get anywhere with my 120 watt laser trying that. The long wavelength just isn't good for metal. Works great on wood though. A YAG or fiber laser has a wavelength of around 1/10th that of a CO2, so is relatively efficient engraving stainless. It literally vaporizes the metal. The spot size is incredibly small due to the wavelength, so this helps power density. A 20 watt laser or even 10 watt laser can do it. It won't be cheap though. They start around 20K and go from there. My 80 watt YAG laser literally won't even burn wood, although it can eventually get through a 2mm thickness of titanium.
 
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