Grbl Arduino Chinese small laser

[StuartW Wilson]

Hi there from Australia. I am new to laser engraving so i purchased a small Chinese 2000mw laser MO on M3 Off. To learn the process I have found a couple of programs that work, Laserengraver which makes the .nc files and GCode Sender. The issue that I am having is the Laserengraver is very basic and I cant make a file that will fill the image, it only lasers the outside of the image, I have looked all over the internet for a solution and have come up empty. I have a small cutting board business, I would like to engrave images onto the boards, when I am proficient I will purchase more expensive equipment all help is greatly appreciated. regards Stuart

[Roy Sanders]

Hello Stuart,

I am new too. I plunged in and bought an older version of Corel Draw. then export it to the laser through Laser Draw.

[Mike Null]

Stuart

Welcome to SMC. I haven't worked with any Chinese built machines so, other than CorelDraw, I don't know what will work but it won't cost anything to download a program called Inkscape to see if that might work for you.

[Bill George]

Hi there from Australia. I am new to laser engraving so i purchased a small Chinese 2000mw laser MO on M3 Off. To learn the process I have found a couple of programs that work, Laserengraver which makes the .nc files and GCode Sender. The issue that I am having is the Laserengraver is very basic and I cant make a file that will fill the image, it only lasers the outside of the image, I have looked all over the internet for a solution and have come up empty. I have a small cutting board business, I would like to engrave images onto the boards, when I am proficient I will purchase more expensive equipment all help is greatly appreciated. regards Stuart
Is it a misprint or is it really a 2000 mW laser? If so what do you expect to engrave with 2 watts of power, unless I am reading this wrong?

Found on Amazon with a 1 Star review > http://www.amazon.com/Engraving-Machine-Engraver-Printer-Marking/dp/B00VJWXDSE/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1434300108&sr=8-6&keywords=2000mw+laser&pebp=1434300167336&perid=677CC5F790934CF48074

[Dave Sheldrake]

That's a class 4 laser Stuart, to be honest having seen a few of the diode powered lasers the safest thing you could do with it is bin in.

Using something like that for business purposes is asking for an accident. I can understand that not everybody wants to shell out bucks on a business idea that may or may not work but there is a base line that it is simply unsafe to go below.

cheers

Dave

[Bert Kemp]

I agree with Dave. You 'd be much better off buying a real 40 watt or more laser. You would be able to engrave chop board all day long and getting proficient at it would probably be a lot easier then what your trying to do now.

[Bill George]

Found on a Google search Thanks Dave, I was not aware of the Dangers.

EYE INJURY HAZARD -- DIRECT AND REFLECTED BEAM
Class 4 visible-light lasers are significantly hazardous for eye exposure. They can cause burns to the retina. A person cannot turn away or blink fast enough to prevent retinal eye injury from a Class 4 laser.

Prevent all eye exposure to beams from Class 4 lasers. This includes accidental exposures -- be careful to keep the beam away from eyes and faces.

Also, remember that reflections off mirrors, glass, and shiny surfaces can be just as hazardous as the direct beam. Avoid reflected Class 4 beams the same way you would avoid the direct beam.
Some Laser Safety Facts labels (http://www.lasersafetyfacts.com/labels4.html) will list the laser’s specific eye injury hazard distance. If this is not listed, here are some example Class 4 lasers:



The Nominal Ocular Hazard Distance (NOHD) for a 1000 milliwatt (1 Watt) visible-beam laser with 1 milliradian divergence is 740 ft (225 m).
The NOHD for a 5 Watt laser with a 1 milliradian divergence is 1640 ft (500 m).
Additional types of Class 4 lasers are listed in the Laser hazard distance chart (http://www.lasersafetyfacts.com/resources/Laser-hazard-distance-chart.pdf).


If you are closer than the NOHD distance to the laser, there is a possibility of retinal damage if the direct or reflected beam enters your eye. The closer you are to the laser and the longer the beam is in the eye, the greater the chance of injury

[StuartW Wilson]

I appreciate all the input and need to re-asses what i am doing. regards Stuart

[Bert Kemp]

I don't see how anything with such a low power output could engrave anything, unless their a lot different then a co2. If I dial down my 60 watt to as low as it will still fire around 12% which I'm sure is a lot more then 2 watts you can barely see the marking on wood.