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Thread: Full Spectrum Muse Review

  1. #1

    Full Spectrum Muse Review

    Does anyone have any insight or performance review of Full Spectrums latest hobby laser 'Muse'? Found out its $5,500-6,500 for a 40watt glass tube desktop - seems high. That's about 2-3x more than the Glowforge which FS looks to be emulating. But, pretty slick lookin!

    http://fslaser.com/Muse

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Philman View Post
    Does anyone have any insight or performance review of Full Spectrums latest hobby laser 'Muse'? Found out its $5,500-6,500 for a 40watt glass tube desktop - seems high. That's about 2-3x more than the Glowforge which FS looks to be emulating. But, pretty slick lookin!

    http://fslaser.com/Muse
    Looks like trying to emulate Glowforge is exactly what they are trying to do. Unfortunately, glowforge hasn't exactly been a success story so far.

    I personally would not buy a laser that doesn't have: external exhaust, true air assist, a moveable z axis, or a pass through of some type.

    You just aren't going to be able to do much of anything without those features even if it does work as advertised (which I highly doubt at this point in time). I got a good laugh at them including cutting acrylic as a feature. Good luck doing that with no way to vent the fumes out of the room.
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  3. #3
    Well that is a kick. Fs sued hurricane laser back in the day for copying thsm. Now fs seems to want to copy gf.

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    Ron,

    If you are truly interested in what the Glow Forge is supposed to be offering I might wait until it is out and been running in consumers hands a bit. Let others be on the bleeding edge with this. As for Full Spectrum....you may want to search for them on this and other forums and see what experiences people are having. I do not have an FS machine so I can't personally attest to their product good or bad. Others have written at length about their direct experiences though. I agree with Keith on his requirements for a machine. But then you may have more specific interests in what you will do with a machine. For a 40 watt machine though the price seems high to me.

    Have you considered what you want to do with it? Hobby use? Small business? Mostly cutting? Mostly engraving? A mixture? What materials and what thicknesses overall? What kinds of throughput do you need if this is a business? Is time to completion a big factor? Any work on cylinders planned?

    Folks will help if you want to answer. But I was mostly asking that all rhetorically in case you hadn't gotten that far yet and were just intrigued by the overall features listed for the Glowforge and FS machine.
    900x600 80watt EFR Tube laser from Liaocheng Ray Fine Tech LTD. Also a 900x600 2.5kw spindle CNC from Ray Fine. And my main tool, a well used and loved Jet 1642 Woodlathe with an outboard toolrest that helps me work from 36 inch diameters down to reallllllly tiny stuff.

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    If you are waiting for the Glowforge you will have to wait till late next year at least if they start shipping when they said

  6. #6
    I own a couple FSL machines, their 4th gen and 5th gen hobby lasers. Their hardware isn't great but it's reasonably solid, and the 5th gen is an in-house design, not a retrofit of a Chinese K40 (like their gen 4).

    They are apparently selling the Muse along with their gen 5 hobby laser, which is around $3500. Still expensive compared to a Chinese unit but it is an American company so you'd expect to pay more. Whether it's worth the premium or not is of course up to the individual- I know enough about lasering now to get a Chinese unit for my next one, but I don't regret learning on those as the software is actually pretty good. I believe the Muse is supposed to be their "premium" hobby line, and I have no idea how they can justify such a high cost. The camera thing is (IMHO) no way worth a $3000 premium.

    Keith are you saying this about the Glowforge or the Muse?

    I personally would not buy a laser that doesn't have: external exhaust, true air assist, a moveable z axis, or a pass through of some type.
    I don't know much about the Glowforge but the Muse has external exhaust. The Z axis is a lens adjustment not a bed adjustment so not great but not too bad. The base also comes off, so while it's not a "pass through" you can operate on larger pieces without too much trouble. Air assist is fine for fire suppression but it's not a close-range directed blast so you don't get the speed benefits offered by close nozzles on nicer machines.

    Regarding their support, apparently they have done much better in the last year or two. Most of the people that had really bad experiences were telling their stories from a few years back. I don't know if they've changed since then or not, but I don't see a lot of "fresh" angry stories from FSL users.
    Last edited by Bert McMahan; 12-21-2016 at 6:33 PM.

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    Really? Your going to turn your laser over and remove the bottom each time you want to laser an object that is over a coupe of inches thick? NOT! That is what turned me off of the FS lasers.
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  8. #8
    I have to pull the 50# or so table out of my Triumph to do anything over 2" tall- While that is somewhat of a pain, I've gotten used to it. And because it's removable with no table-raising apparatus in the vicinity, I'm able to engrave items with it most other machine's can't.

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    Bert....I do see the air assist photos in the Muse photos on the FS site. But the Exhaust? looks like a standard computer fan grid in the photo. No connection for an external hose with a decent fan to draw air out and send it out of the room? Or am I no looking at the photos quickly enough?

    I do hope FS is doing better. I dont wish them ill. Just havent been impressed so far.
    900x600 80watt EFR Tube laser from Liaocheng Ray Fine Tech LTD. Also a 900x600 2.5kw spindle CNC from Ray Fine. And my main tool, a well used and loved Jet 1642 Woodlathe with an outboard toolrest that helps me work from 36 inch diameters down to reallllllly tiny stuff.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by John Lifer View Post
    Really? Your going to turn your laser over and remove the bottom each time you want to laser an object that is over a coupe of inches thick? NOT! That is what turned me off of the FS lasers.
    Some have removed the floor and placed onto a base or riser. You can buy one for rotary use/tall pieces or homebrew one that also allows passthrough.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by David Somers View Post
    Bert....I do see the air assist photos in the Muse photos on the FS site. But the Exhaust? looks like a standard computer fan grid in the photo. No connection for an external hose with a decent fan to draw air out and send it out of the room? Or am I no looking at the photos quickly enough?

    I do hope FS is doing better. I dont wish them ill. Just havent been impressed so far.
    There's a 4" port in the back. The computer fan is on the side by the power supply.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Keith Downing View Post
    Looks like trying to emulate Glowforge is exactly what they are trying to do. Unfortunately, glowforge hasn't exactly been a success story so far.

    I personally would not buy a laser that doesn't have: external exhaust, true air assist, a moveable z axis, or a pass through of some type.

    You just aren't going to be able to do much of anything without those features even if it does work as advertised (which I highly doubt at this point in time).
    Yes, those features I know I'd want too. Without pass thrus you're stuck working inside a big shoe box.

    Like GlowForge software it appears Retina Engrave 2 is simple to use but seems more geared for moms/daughters etching Christmas cookies in the kitchen.

    Just revisited the Boss LS1416 with 4 pass-thrus, 60W, auto z, air asst, exhaust, etc at around $4k. Ideally I'd like to really cut thru material as well and 60w is a good start.

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    Thanks Matt! Their photos didnt show the exhaust port which scared the heck out of me. My wife would be REALLLLLLLY unkind to me if I vented acrylic fumes into the kitchen.

    Dave
    900x600 80watt EFR Tube laser from Liaocheng Ray Fine Tech LTD. Also a 900x600 2.5kw spindle CNC from Ray Fine. And my main tool, a well used and loved Jet 1642 Woodlathe with an outboard toolrest that helps me work from 36 inch diameters down to reallllllly tiny stuff.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by David Somers View Post
    Thanks Matt! Their photos didnt show the exhaust port which scared the heck out of me. My wife would be REALLLLLLLY unkind to me if I vented acrylic fumes into the kitchen.

    Dave
    I am surprised she let you set up your lathe in there. Upside is that you could always use it for making gyros.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Philman View Post
    Yes, those features I know I'd want too. Without pass thrus you're stuck working inside a big shoe box.

    Like GlowForge software it appears Retina Engrave 2 is simple to use but seems more geared for moms/daughters etching Christmas cookies in the kitchen.

    Just revisited the Boss LS1416 with 4 pass-thrus, 60W, auto z, air asst, exhaust, etc at around $4k. Ideally I'd like to really cut thru material as well and 60w is a good start.
    I think Boss got a new line of lasers from their manufacturer late this year so I'll have to go back and look at that model. But I can tell you that as a company I've been impressed. Things don't always go smoothly with the Chinese hardware, so it's really nice to have someone who will pick up the phone and help with any issues. They've been great about handling the two or three small problems I've had.
    60W, Boss Laser 1630
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