Fun with lasers, anyone?

trekgod3

trekgod3

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Hopefully this is the appropriate forum. I just got a "Enjoywood M4" IR laser. It's a rebrand of the Atomstack M4. Man, this thing is fast and fun. They were close to $1500, but are now right around $700 on eBay. Here's a vid and some pics of plastic and metal mag engraving and an ar15 grip:





View: https://youtube.com/watch?v=S8AlWAyHdbc&si=2HnpRSOYQ8SBflRf
 
Nice. Would love to learn more about your experience(s) with it. Are you able to get some deep etches with multiple passes, etc or is it more of a cosmetic look? I did just watch a couple of videos on the AtomstackM4 - at the time, the CAD software got poor reviews.
 
brian said:
Nice. Would love to learn more about your experience(s) with it. Are you able to get some deep etches with multiple passes, etc or is it more of a cosmetic look? I did just watch a couple of videos on the AtomstackM4 - at the time, the CAD software got poor reviews.
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I would say it's cosmetic, but if you set enough passes and set your speed slow enough it should be able to etch. I watched all the videos on YouTube about it too, the software is a little clunky but not too hard to figure out. For the images in my video, I searched for images on Google and took a screenshot, then imported them into lightburn software, then did an image trace to create vectors then exported them as a dxf file which be included software for the M4 can handle.
 
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I like the name of the laser unit on eBay... "ENJOYWOOD."

Yes... enjoy wood. Any time you can get it! LOL!
Season 3 Nbc GIF by The Office
 
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Where did you find the SeaCAD software? Or are you using LaserGRBL or Lightburn? The latter two are the ones on the website but SeaCAD is referenced in the eBay listing.
 
I trimmed the video to make it shorter
 
brian said:
Where did you find the SeaCAD software? Or are you using LaserGRBL or Lightburn? The latter two are the ones on the website but SeaCAD is referenced in the eBay listing.
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The software comes with the engraver on the included USB stick along with the driver. I believe it's also known as BSL Cad, apparently it's a version of EZ cad. Unfortunately lightburn doesn't yet support this type of laser, they keep saying that support is "coming, and they're working on it"
 
Racer88 said:
I like the name of the laser unit on eBay... "ENJOYWOOD."
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I do believe the Chinese are running out of names for products for the US market... :rolleyes:

I did a poll on "which welding torch cooler would you buy" a few years back. The coolers are probably all made at the same plant just named differently. MorePorn won over ShitTurn and Diarrhea... :D

coolers.JPG
 
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Bobster said:
I do believe the Chinese are running out of names for products for the US market... :rolleyes:

I did a poll on "which welding torch cooler would you buy" a few years back. The coolers are probably all made at the same plant just named differently. MorePorn won over ShitTurn and Diarrhea... :D

View attachment 13956
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Yep. Amazon is FULL of chinesium like this. The names are weird if not funny.
 
With this machine etch enough to print on raw aluminum?
 
Hey that’s awesome!

I design and make custom jigs for lasers! (Specifically glocks but I am open to making more for different platforms).

Feel free to check them out. If you want I could give you a 10% off code for being a PGB member and contributing to the forum. Message me if you’re interested.

BENCHYMADE

I am in the process of making more demo and review videos now. More should be posted over the next month or so..
 
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gandrfab said:
With this machine etch enough to print on raw aluminum?
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I haven't tried it, but it should engrave every type of metal. There's a guy on YouTube who shows it working on steel, brass, copper, and rusty steel
 
Racer88 said:
Yep. Amazon is FULL of chinesium like this. The names are weird if not funny.
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Language translation is often very funny. On a personal note:

I have an Egyptian friend and former colleague whose name is Yomama. I attended his wedding in Cairo. When asked what I did there I said I was invited to Yomama's wedding.

Another former Indian colleague's name is Manmeet. My wife thought I was being coy when I told her Manmeet was in town and I would introduce her later that evening.

A Japanese receptionist once gleefully introduced me in English to a diplomat as "The gentleman from the USA with a mean face".

Speaking in French, I once asked cute admin in Montreal to lunch, "Je voudrais te manger". Except that means I would like to eat her. She replied (in English) that I was a little too forward but maybe we could go to lunch.

About the laser: I have been looking at different units for a while but haven't pulled the trigger. I looked at Xtool, Pecker (there's a good name) , and Creality. I cant decide whether 10W or 20W is best. I'm a total noob with this technology, so the lower power seems OK, but I know that in a short period of time, I may wish I'd gone for the higher powered unit.

Anybody familiar with these brands? I'm not set on any particular manufacturer. Any advice welcome. I can think of a dozen ways being able to laser engrave would be useful to me. I'm just not sure what questions I should be asking.
 
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When I was a wee lad, I worked in a Shell gas station pumping gas (when that was an actual job). Filled the tank for this oriental fellow and he gives me a credit card to pay with. I go inside into the office and put the card in the "kerchunk" machine and I notice his name is "Dong Suk Ok" and just about pissed myself laughing. :D It took me about a minute to regain composure and I went back out to have him sign the slip and I bust out laughing again as I handed him the card! :D He gave me a dirty look probably because it has happened before to him... :D

About lasers: I had a 60W CO2 OMTech (Orion) big boy laser engraver for a short while similar to the one in the pic. I went and looked at as a lark because the seller didn't want a lot of money for it because it wasn't turning on so maybe I could fix it if the price was right. Plus it was about 10min away. Took some info off it and did a little research and was considering an offer when the seller got back to me and told me to "just come get it out of here!" :eek: :) I was there with my trailer in 15min! :) This was a big unit, about 4'x3'x4'.

Once back at the shop, I got it unloaded and plugged it in. Nothing. Reset the emergency button and BAM!, things started moving and buzzing so I turned it off and figured I better read the instructions. ;)

It came with a water cooler for the laser tube, a blower for the lens near the work piece and an exhaust blower to suck the cabinet dry of smoke. The unit was essentially new but 4 years old and had been sitting. I refurbished what needed to be refurbished, added new distilled water to the cooler and checked the focus of the laser on the mirrors, one at a time (there are three) with a piece of tape and all looked good. Put a piece of cardboard, then scrap wood down, adjusted the height of the laser from the work, pressed the demo program and it printed a machine logo, some Chinese characters and punched out some holes. :)

Kids weren't interested in it :( , I didn't want to have to buy LightBurn SW for it, I didn't have time for it nor did I have the room, so it got sold. A CO2 laser is more for wood, organic materials and plastics. With a cup spinner, they will also burn the paint off a metal cup made for the purpose. They are not really for metal as about all they can do is maybe discolor stainless.

laser0.JPG

I also had an Aufero diode laser, I think it was 10W. Good for coasters and such. I paid $100 and got it working with an old HP laptop worth about $75. Sold the package for $250.

What I really would have a use for is one of these desktop fiber (galvo) lasers that WILL do metal but the price of entry is at least a few thou... :(
 
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