New Fusions M2 Installed

[Tim Bateson]

Took all weekend to rip my cabinets/counters out, cut and rebuild to fit the M2. Just had enough time tonight to upgrade the firmware and play with some engraving. Marks plastic like a champ and I cut deep into some aluminum - although very slowly. I even marked some Stainless Steel - far better than any mark I ever got using Cermark.
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[Keith Winter]

Looks great Tim, congrats on the new laser!

[Matt Geraci]

That is a BEAUTIFUL Beast! Post some pics of your engraving efforts when you can!

[Tim Bateson]

First impressions:
1. The noise level of the M2 is a fraction of the old Mini24.
2. The focus is really smooth as it uses a screw system at the 4 corners.
3. The focal length seems to be much larger than with the Mini24.
4. No more focus plunger either, you just tell the software how thick the material is and it auto focuses using that and which table you have installed - can still be focused manually as well.
5. When running a mixed Co2/Fiber job, it knows to auto change it's focus as each is different.

The next few evenings it'll all be about using up some scrap material to put it through a series of capability tests - wood, plastic, glass, marble, and various metals. Last night I rastered about 1/32 deep into an aluminum dog tag. Took a few very slow passed, but it can be done.

[gary l roberts]

What fun.......

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

Congrats Tim! I am sure you will really like the Fiber and not having to deal with Cermark. Is the camera (or is it cameras) all setup and working? I've heard those can be finicky to setup but very handy. Next time I get a client asking me to mark some metal that I cannot mark with Cermark, I will be sure to send them to you since you are not too far away.

[Tim Bateson]

Thanks Mike. It has 3 cameras - 1 on the laser head and 2 on the lid. As this is a new model (March), Epilog is sending a team (3 guys) on Thursday to walk me through all of the features and to setup the camera system. I guess that's 1 guy per camera? Sorry a bit of humor there.

Yes, metal cleaning, masking, spraying Cermark, and cleanup are time consuming tasks I will mostly do away with. I am very happy with the results - even on aluminum. In some cases it has exceeded my expectations. I may try some pewter tonight.

It is so nice to listen to the radio while the laser runs - without using headphones. Also the focal length I spoke of is probably due to the 3" lens.

[Martin Boekers]

Nice Tim! I look forward to seeing how well this performs. My M2 arrived yesterday, but I have to wait for Civil Engineering to run 220
for it... I wish I had the funding for the fiber package, but I'm anxious to see how the camera works.... I keep folks updated as I get mine
installed..

[Matt Geraci]

What's the break point between 110v and 220v on these units?

[Martin Boekers]

I am getting the 120watt and that was my break point, not sure on the fiber combo.

[Tim Bateson]

What's the break point between 110v and 220v on these units?

Epilog suggests anything over 50 watt is more efficient at 220v.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Congratulations! You've worked hard for this and earned it. I look forward to seeing future posts on your test scraps. No doubt there will be quite a difference.

[Richard Rumancik]

. . . I even marked some Stainless Steel - far better than any mark I ever got using Cermark.

Hi Tim - How black is the mark compared to Cermark? It is hard to tell on the pics I see on the Internet as to how dense it really is compared to Cermark. I have had the impression that the fiber lasers tend to make a mark that is more on the greyish side. What is your observation?

[Tim Bateson]

Hi Tim - How black is the mark compared to Cermark? It is hard to tell on the pics I see on the Internet as to how dense it really is compared to Cermark. I have had the impression that the fiber lasers tend to make a mark that is more on the greyish side. What is your observation?

That is actually a very complicated question.. Simple answer is yes, the fiber mark is better/blacker/crisper... on Stainless Steel. Other metals it's different. For example, it's near impossible to get a black mark on Aluminum or Pewter with a fiber.

Now the complicated answer... With Co2 you have Power, Speed and maybe DPI/PPI. With Fiber you have Power, Speed, DPI/PPI, Frequency and Focus (for some markings you HAVE to be out of focus). Now take ALL of these settings and adjust ANY of them and you will likely get a different type of marking. It's a bit overwhelming.

[Tim Bateson]

Camera system was installed today... boy that was painful! I know a setup document went out earlier this week, but after today look for changes. I also expect a software/firmware change as well. During the install we crashed the head - a new one should be here tomorrow. This system has multi-layer safety auto stops... however everything fell into imperfect place at the wrong time causing the head to crash into the table. As I said, I expect there will be some quick changes to both the instructions and to the software/firmware to prevent this from happening again.

This is new technology and being the guinea pig sometimes has it's costs. On the other hand I am at the cutting edge. It's not every day an Epilog tech is sitting here driving my computer and laser while on his cell phone getting help from one of Epilog's founders. Not another Support rep, but all of the way at the top.

Some of the other stuff I learned today.... well, I'll just keep that to myself for now. :cool: But I can say I am hopeful and excited to see where this technology is soon going.

[Keith Winter]

Really interesting Tim, pretty cool to get to be the first one even if it does have a few glitches! I hope all goes smoother with head #2 tomorrow!

[Tim Bateson]

Epilog provides base settings for nearly every wattage of CO2 they sell. However they have yet to provide anything for their Fiber lasers, short of a few guidelines in their manuals. They have had these machines out long enough now to have accumulated base settings... one would think.

As stated earlier, the fiber settings are much more complicated than just increasing power and slowing down. So what I'm asking for is if anyone with a Fiber can share some of their settings. I know mileage may vary, but some rough settings for say deep engraving aluminum or different types of marks on pewter, brass, etc... would be helpful. I just don't happen to have a lot of different metals, such as titanium laying around to do testing with.

[Gary Hair]

As stated earlier, the fiber settings are much more complicated than just increasing power and slowing down.

That is true but you can still generalize to some degree. It's different with a gantry machine vs a galvo, but it may actually be easier with a gantry machine since you don't have hatch to worry about. In general, slower speeds and higher powers will result in deeper engraving. Same thing with frequency - lower frequency is generally deeper than high frequency. So, combine low speed, high power and low frequency, and you'll have a recipe for fast, deep, engraving. To clean up the bottom of the engraved area you can increase the speed and use a higher frequency. Unless you have lots of time, and materials, to do testing, you'll find that for deep engraving you can use very similar settings for most metals. Dark engraving (mistakenly called annealing) and polishing are a different story and I'm not sure how they would work on a gantry machine, that's where you'll have to spend some time testing, but it's been my experience that I use higher speed, higher frequency, lower power and 3-5mm out of focus to get a good polished or darkened surface. I just finished up 240 titanium parts that were marked with a logo and serial number with a polished finish - they turned out spectacular!

[Dan Hintz]

That is true but you can still generalize to some degree. It's different with a gantry machine vs a galvo, but it may actually be easier with a gantry machine since you don't have hatch to worry about. In general, slower speeds and higher powers will result in deeper engraving. Same thing with frequency - lower frequency is generally deeper than high frequency. So, combine low speed, high power and low frequency, and you'll have a recipe for fast, deep, engraving. To clean up the bottom of the engraved area you can increase the speed and use a higher frequency. Unless you have lots of time, and materials, to do testing, you'll find that for deep engraving you can use very similar settings for most metals. Dark engraving (mistakenly called annealing) and polishing are a different story and I'm not sure how they would work on a gantry machine, that's where you'll have to spend some time testing, but it's been my experience that I use higher speed, higher frequency, lower power and 3-5mm out of focus to get a good polished or darkened surface. I just finished up 240 titanium parts that were marked with a logo and serial number with a polished finish - they turned out spectacular!

Gary has it in a nutshell...