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View Full Version : CNCShop 40W Laser Engraver????



Joe Shinall
09-09-2015, 12:24 AM
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B012F0LKHE/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1ECKFHC8289KX&coliid=I2Y6EN39XGGKNY&psc=1

I do a lot of cutting boards at Christmas time and always get asked if I can engrave initials or names or anything into them. My smaller boards are 11x7 and this machine does 12x8. Does anyone have any recommendations on this machine or something like it in the price range of up to about $700?

It's not going to be a work horse or a production machine. It might get one or two things run through it a week for about a month before Christmas and might get a few uses throughout the rest of the year. I don't care if it's slow or not. I just want reliable and something I don't have to fool with too much just to get it working.

Any insight would be great. I'm clueless when it comes to this side of the woodworking spectrum.

Thanks!

Kees Soeters
09-09-2015, 5:56 AM
For that pricetag it can be good enough..
But to be honest: it's xxx.. the machine is built as garbage, the software is xxx and even the electronics are unreliable.. but for merely 500$ you may get what you have to expect.. Probably it comes with warranty but shipping it back will cost you about half the machine..
If you don't expect much it can be sufficient for your needs..
And for that price: go for it.. Many other people bought such a thing, some are happy, others have their complaints and even some people try to rebuild it..

Kees

Dan Hintz
09-09-2015, 7:47 AM
For the trouble you are opening yourself up to with these low-end machines, you are honestly better off pairing up with someone who uses a laser "full-time" to do that part of the work for you. You'll lose a bit of profit, but what it saves you in aggravation will be well worth the cost. Find a local engraver and work out a deal.

Mike Troncalli
09-09-2015, 7:54 AM
For the trouble you are opening yourself up to with these low-end machines, you are honestly better off pairing up with someone who uses a laser "full-time" to do that part of the work for you. You'll lose a bit of profit, but what it saves you in aggravation will be well worth the cost. Find a local engraver and work out a deal.

What Dan Said......

Bert Kemp
09-09-2015, 9:24 AM
Yep what Dan said, don't waste your time or money. :D

Clark Pace
09-09-2015, 12:00 PM
Mine was ok. Engraved wood fine but acrylic not so well. If you are willing to part with 500. It might be worth it. As long as you know its a gamble. And could be a waste of money. Some of those machines come in good condition. Others are in bad shape. It is a gamble. If you are just doing a few things you might want to source out.

Kev Williams
09-09-2015, 12:01 PM
I had a customer ask me to do some lasering on Rowmark, small disks with voltage numbers.
Funny thing was, she had a laser engraver, she said it was a FS desktop hobby laser. She just didn't 'have the time' to do the job.

She showed me a few disks she'd engraved with the thing, and she seemed pleased...

Now, I don't know if it was the machine or the operator or a combination of both, but I couldn't in good conscience charge good money for that jaggedy looking engraving... I suppose a few setting tweaks would improve it, but what I saw looked more like mechanical looseness issues rather than settings issues...

I've seen a few of these few-hundred-$ lasers on ebay-- Been half tempted to buy one just to see if I could get it to work :)

Steve Morris
09-09-2015, 1:02 PM
To be honest you can get a lot of engraving done by outsourcing for $500 and you don't have to worry about programming, setup, maintenance, tube failures, coolant flow, screws falling out, electronics failing etc etc.
So based on the expected volume of work it is unlikely to be an economical buy and probably a huge time taker.

Ross Moshinsky
09-09-2015, 1:07 PM
As everyone said, outsourcing is a no brainer. Another option is to not even get involved as the middleman. Just find someone local that you can refer people to and be done with it.

I'm not a big fan of working with middlemen unless they make my life easy. If you walk in with 3 cutting boards and each is a different material, size, and shape. That's already a bit of a pain and we haven't even discussed what you want engraved on it. If I only see you for 20 boards over 2 months, there is no real margin there for me to give you a discount. In order for it to be worth it for you to even get involved, you'd have to streamline the process where the engraver could do the jobs quickly and easily. Then it might be worth the effort of getting involved.

As for buying a machine, I'd say you'd need to engrave about 150 boards to break even on a small but not crap Chinese machine.

Dave Sheldrake
09-09-2015, 3:16 PM
It's a K40 clone...

Just don't ;)

Gary Hair
09-09-2015, 3:53 PM
the price range of up to about $700?..... I don't care if it's slow or not. I just want reliable and something I don't have to fool with too much just to get it working.

Those to criteria are mutually exclusive - for $700 you will fool with it a lot just to get it to work and I guarantee it won't be reliable. Oh, and it will be very slow. To avoid those three things you are going to have to spend a bare minimum of $5,000 for a used machine and $15-$20k for a base model new machine.

The best advice you have received is to either sub it out or refer it out - I would highly advise you stick with either of those options.

Bill George
09-09-2015, 5:47 PM
FYI I sold my nice running Chinese laser used for about $2000, granted I had about 3K into it all and all but there are some used quality machines out there. Just not very many and they are hard to find. I did make some money with it so you can take that into consideration also.

Matt McCoy
09-09-2015, 6:17 PM
Joe: If you have a Rockler near you, they now carry a Full Spectrum laser. You could take a look at it to see if something like that would be helpful for what you might want to do. I don't believe you're going to get what you're looking for at your current budget. You might also consider a hobby CNC, like the X-Carve or Shapeoko 3.

Clark Pace
09-09-2015, 8:57 PM
When I had my basic china laser k40 one a very odd thing happened that I could never figure out.

When engraving cast acrylic I could never get the laser to make the image white. It was very strange. And it was cast acrylic. I could use the same acrylic on my redsail x700 or gweike 4 x 8 , or humana laser engraver and it would engrave white. For some reason that 40watt powered tube would not engrave white. It would look just like in the sample video from this vendor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhhOHUe_b6o

Joe Shinall
09-09-2015, 10:15 PM
Thanks for the advice guys. I'll end up waiting a few years until I can afford something much better. Will also look into outsourcing if I need to, just didn't want to run around back and forth to the engraver to get it done but also don't want to waste time with a machine that won't run right. Big tip of the cap to you folks.

Bill George
09-10-2015, 8:38 AM
When I had my CNC router and VCarve It did a very nice job of engraving in wood using a very small carbide bit running at high speed.

Bert Kemp
09-10-2015, 2:13 PM
Are we recommending people buy FSL now? Yikes :confused:


Joe: If you have a Rockler near you, they now carry a Full Spectrum laser. You could take a look at it to see if something like that would be helpful for what you might want to do. I don't believe you're going to get what you're looking for at your current budget. You might also consider a hobby CNC, like the X-Carve or Shapeoko 3.

Mike Troncalli
09-10-2015, 3:19 PM
Why not, their good machines for the cost, especially the new 5th generation ones.

Dave Sheldrake
09-10-2015, 8:43 PM
Why not, their good machines for the cost, especially the new 5th generation ones.

In a world of blind people a man with one eye is a king :)

Keith Winter
09-10-2015, 9:45 PM
In a world of blind people a man with one eye is a king :)

Hahaha too funny Dave!

Mike Troncalli
09-10-2015, 11:06 PM
In a world of blind people a man with one eye is a king :)

aww, come on Dave. Your better than that. Your a good guy, no reason to insult.

Clark Pace
09-10-2015, 11:54 PM
aww, come on Dave. Your better than that. Your a good guy, no reason to insult.


When the company I worked for was looking at the FSL machines, we got a bad vibe. They way they talked, and treated us. Whew! Dodged a bullet I think. Then how they ran their competition to the ground. At least when you buy direct you kinda know what you are getting into. I've been pretty happy with 3 of the 4 china machines I have worked with or owned of the years.

If anyone lives in Utah and are thinking of buying a chinese laser. I'd be happy to show them mine if they want to stop by, and give them the good, the bad and the ugly!

Dan Hintz
09-11-2015, 6:03 AM
aww, come on Dave. Your better than that.

I assure you... Dave is no better than that :D

Bert Kemp
09-11-2015, 8:21 AM
I too will gladly have anyone that would like to come see my Rabbit stop by. Already had a couple, so if your anywhere near AZ or Phoenix and want to stop by for a demo just give a holler.

Bert Kemp
09-11-2015, 8:24 AM
He's just telling it like it is:rolleyes: I don't think its an insult, just saying you have a eye closed because you own one and just like anyone your going to back it no matter how bad it is.


aww, come on Dave. Your better than that. Your a good guy, no reason to insult.

Jerome Stanek
09-11-2015, 9:30 AM
Why not, their good machines for the cost, especially the new 5th generation ones.

Seems like a lot for a low end machine. Looks like just an upgraded k40 that you can get for $400 and upgrade to a better controller for another $400.

Matt McCoy
09-11-2015, 9:44 AM
Seems like a lot for a low end machine. Looks like just an upgraded k40 that you can get for $400 and upgrade to a better controller for another $400.

Well, not exactly correct about the "looks just like an upgraded K40".

Bert Kemp
09-11-2015, 9:51 AM
Thats all the gen 4's were a a K40 box. now they changed the look of the case so you don't get that impression, but its still a thin case and and a very low end machine. Thats all I'm gonna say don't want to get in to this whole debate again.


Well, not exactly correct about the "looks just like an upgraded K40".

Matt McCoy
09-11-2015, 10:14 AM
Thats all the gen 4's were a a K40 box. now they changed the look of the case so you don't get that impression, but its still a thin case and and a very low end machine. Thats all I'm gonna say don't want to get in to this whole debate again.

Hi Bert: I understand. It still does not make it a K40 by design or specifications, no matter how many times it's repeated. I've had both. It does share the fact that they are both entry-level hobby lasers. I don't recall if you had a Gen 4 or the current Gen 5. I do recall that you were treated poorly and the situation was not handled professionally.

Scott Shepherd
09-11-2015, 1:37 PM
Guys, take it easy. I've just deleted a couple of posts that were starting to get a little heated.

Dave Sheldrake
09-11-2015, 4:50 PM
aww, come on Dave. Your better than that. Your a good guy, no reason to insult.

It's not an insult Mike, it's an observation. You have owned one or more FSL machines and are making recommendations based on that. That's fine...the problem is there is no comparisons.

If you had said "They are great machines out of the 5 different makes I have owned and used" then it would be an informed position.

The sad reality is when the FSL Gen5 is compared to the basic Chinese boxes fitted with the new 6585 driver cards there are no benefits to choosing FSL and some considerable drawbacks. The newer Leetro offerings will do everything the FSL card does at a third of the price.

It's a little like me saying Chinese gantry machines make great engravers if I had never owned a Trotech Speedy or that EFR tubes are the best DC tubes in the world if I had never used a GSI SLC or Coherant. I found to my cost it pays to be very careful when posting opinions as there are people that will take what we say at face value leading to unrealistic expectations and problems later down the line.

It is fair to say when compared to other FSL machines the Gen 5 is the best they have produced....sadly all that means is the others were worse not that the Gen 5 is good.

Clark Pace
09-11-2015, 7:12 PM
I'm not a fan of FSL. But I am glad for those who got them and happy with their purchase.

Matt McCoy
09-12-2015, 8:31 AM
The sad reality is when the FSL Gen5 is compared to the basic Chinese boxes fitted with the new 6585 driver cards there are no benefits to choosing FSL and some considerable drawbacks. The newer Leetro offerings will do everything the FSL card does at a third of the price.

Hi Dave: If you have the time, would you mind expanding on this. Specifically the features of the 6585? Thanks.

Dave Sheldrake
09-13-2015, 2:41 PM
Hiya Matt,

The 6585 has quite a few functions that are not enabled in the earlier cards (they are there on the early versions but are not used)

True PWM control (variable tube frequency and pulse rate)
Corner variable speed control (accl based speed rather than fixed)
No dongle
Greyscale engraving
Network control (they have network ports)
Remote machine control via the network
(more as yet unlisted facilities that are not enabled such as using them to control vinyl cutter heads via Z axis movement and pressures)

Downside, for us over here the remote access and control function is a bit of a problem, having the ability to move/start/run a machine when in effect you could be the other side of the world is a huge NONO for health and safety law.My Mitsu has remote control access and the HSE inspector required that it was disabled before he would pass off the machine as safe for an industrial environment. (huge factories like car makers have a LOT tighter room controls and access controls than I do so can use it if required.)(laser fences/guards etc)

Looks to be a fantastic controller but then again so did the 6525/35 and that had a LOT of problems ;)

Matt McCoy
09-13-2015, 6:48 PM
Hiya Matt,

The 6585 has quite a few functions that are not enabled in the earlier cards (they are there on the early versions but are not used)

True PWM control (variable tube frequency and pulse rate)
Corner variable speed control (accl based speed rather than fixed)
No dongle
Greyscale engraving
Network control (they have network ports)
Remote machine control via the network
(more as yet unlisted facilities that are not enabled such as using them to control vinyl cutter heads via Z axis movement and pressures)

Downside, for us over here the remote access and control function is a bit of a problem, having the ability to move/start/run a machine when in effect you could be the other side of the world is a huge NONO for health and safety law.My Mitsu has remote control access and the HSE inspector required that it was disabled before he would pass off the machine as safe for an industrial environment. (huge factories like car makers have a LOT tighter room controls and access controls than I do so can use it if required.)(laser fences/guards etc)

Looks to be a fantastic controller but then again so did the 6525/35 and that had a LOT of problems ;)

Thanks Dave. I'm going to take a look at the manual tonight.

Dave Sheldrake
09-13-2015, 10:04 PM
321372


[CreateTechnicsCode_0]CreateTechnicsCodeName=TECHNICS_LASERCUT


[CreateTechnicsCode_1]
CreateTechnicsCodeName=TECHNICS_LASERENGRAVE


[CreateTechnicsCode_2]
CreateTechnicsCodeName=TECHNICS_LASERGRADEENGRAVE


[CreateTechnicsCode_3]
CreateTechnicsCodeName=TECHNICS_LASERHITPOINT


[CreateTechnicsCode_4]
CreateTechnicsCodeName=TECHNICS_PENCUT


[CreateTechnicsCode_5]
CreateTechnicsCodeName=TECHNICS_KNIFECUT


[TECHNICS_PENCUT]CreateTechnicsCodeName=ÎÞÃû
TechnicsCfgType=0
PenCutCoordSysOID=0
PenCutOptimizePathType=1
PenCutInnerToOuter=1
PenCutDownToUpper=0
PenCutBlockHeight=150.000000
PenCutAutoSetPathDir=1
PenCutCicleMinSegNumber=36
PenCutDisperseLength=0.050000
PenCutCloseGapLength=0.000000
PenCutOverlapLength=0.000000
PenCutAdjustForClose=0
PenCutQXEnterLength=1.000000
PenCutDelayDownTime=0.000000
PenCutDelayUpTime=0.000000
PenCutOneAxisBackLashLength=0.000000
PenCutTwoAxisBackLashLength=0.000000
PenCutSpeed=75.000000
PenCutGWAcc=200.000000
PenCutGWTime=0.010000
PenCutTrackSize=100
PenCutOffsetX=0.000000
PenCutOffsetY=0.000000
PenCutCtrolMode=0
PenCutCircleSpeedNum=0

They have a lot of functions that aren't normally used but are available on most of the Leetro series :)