Hello, I’m looking to buy my first laser and was looking for some opinions on what lasers are working the best. I’m wanting to engrave and cut wood so I’ve been looking into the stronger 10w diode units mostly. I’m currently leaning toward the Atomstack X7 pro due to its offline ability as I’m currently using a desktop and it’s not in my shop. Experiences and opinions welcome thanks.
You’re best bet is to search for those in the forum and draw your own conclusions.
I’ve done a good bit of looking online and the x7 gets some good ratings in pretty much every place but here seems that a few people have had some issues with it. I like the ortur just don’t think it quite has the power I want.
I really like the Xtools D1 as well but I guess just looking for opinions of is it really worth the extra money without and offline controler.
If your main intention is to use the laser with LightBurn then you may want to rule out the Xtools D1 for the time being. There are a number of users here dealing with some fatal flaws to the current implementation including the inability to change GRBL configuration settings.
The Atomstack also disallows GRBL changes but seems the defaults are tuned well enough to allow for quality burns.
One benefit of the OLM2 Pro is that it’s very well supported and @OrturTech who works for the company is often present in this forum helping directly. You’ll see a lot of problem scenarios for Ortur here. Not sure if they’re any more problem prone or just a lot more popular but QC for Ortur in my experience has been fairly good.
Sculpfun I’ve seen pop-up more and more. Their machines seem competent but public support seems almost non-existent.
Did you deliberately rule out NEJE for some reason? You don’t mention it. They claim one of the strongest lasers to date if that’s important to you. I believe it was previously marketed as 40W but have since moved on from using input power figures. They now refer to it as having “optical” power of 15 W. They justify this because there are 2 diodes with claimed 7.5W of output power each.
Atomstack M50 module has a similar configuration.
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I actually just started looking at the NEJE. The power seems very nice but seems very bare bones. A big thing for me was to have the ability to run it without a PC present but also the cost of an xtool is almost the same as most of the other ones with a cheap PC. If I’m being honest I was very set on the Atomstack x7 pro until I got on here and saw some people having issues. I don’t mind fixing things and improving them just don’t want a bad laser as my first one to ruin the experience.
One thing for perspective I’d say is that while having the ability to run jobs disconnected from the PC may be valuable in the long term that at least in the beginning, and depending on the type of work that you’re doing, that a LOT of the up front learning curve of starting with lasers is going to have you doing a lot of iterative work actively on the PC and burning. Trying to do that via sneakernet and an SD card will likely just put you off.
There’s a lot of base learning about general function of the laser, about LightBurn itself in terms of how choices in LightBurn affect mechanical movement and output quality, as well as experimentation on the materials you’re burning to. The more rapidly you can work through these iterations and the lower you can make the cost of each failure the faster and less frustrating your ramp-up will be.
This is one thing that LightBurn brings to the table. Because it integrates competent design capability with laser control capability iterations are much faster than other workflows where you need to do all design and correction work in one tool, then bring into another tool with another set of tweaks to run the job. LightBurn lowers the cost of those iterations.
If your final end-point is that you’re running a handful of the same job or similar jobs on the same type of material then having an untethered system could be useful since you’d have everything dialed in by that point. If, however, you’re expecting to always be working with very unique scenarios, working with odd shaped pieces, or generally doing more one-offs then the value diminishes in my eyes. I’ve never used the X7 so they may have a lot of capabilities built-in that make this stuff easier but I’m going to assume it’s close to most 3D printers where it’s just basic job start and manual overrides for speed and power.
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That’s a very good way of looking at it. Besides burning my logo on some of my peices I have a feeling most jobs will be unique to that work so maybe the idea of no computer isn’t a good one.
What lasers are you familiar with and can speak towards experiences with? I’m not brand bias or anything I just want the most capable for the money I guess. Thanks for the advice.
I’ve directly used Ortur and most familiar with their line. I’ve written up my experience with the brand if you’re interested here:
Honestly for you I’d think about how you plan to use the laser. Is it primarily engraving or primarily cutting. Optimizing for one can actually reduce the performance. If you’re not sure you probably want to lean toward one optimized for cutting since you’ll be able to get acceptable engraving results with some tuning. Would be harder or impossible to go the other way round.
You’ve already put some thought into the untethered aspect of it.
It’s not something I even thought much about when I first purchased but after sales support is higher on my importance list now. Both in terms of public support for firmware upgrades and documentation as well as direct problem support. This is most important early on as you’re getting going or if you have a hardware issue. A lot of people start out thinking this will be like printing to a laser printer when it’s closer to 3d printing in terms of learning curve and fidgeting.
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So tge main use I’ll have up front will be engraving that being said I already have a few projects in mind where cutting will be very important.
I will say I’ve heard Orturs customer service is better then most and to be honest if they had a 10w laser I’d be going for them hands down.
I guess I’ll have to do a little more looking. I’m ready to pull the trigger just want it to be on the right unit.
What type of material would you be cutting? With the right setup the LU2-4-LF is perfectly capable of some impressive cutting. Not something you’d want to be doing all day but frankly none of the diode lasers are particularly adept at cutting.
For what I currently was thinking of making mostly just 3mm plywood maybe some 3mm red oak ply nothing to crazy. I would like to be able to handle up to about 6mm but isn’t an absolute must.
I was just thinking the 10w diodes would help me future proof it as much as possible or atleast until I figure out how much I like it and then buy a c02 laser to cut
3mm ply is perfectly attainable. 6mm is doable but you’ll need a good setup. That’s true for all of these but the stronger lasers will make a more significant difference at this thickness.
Keep in mind that you can always upgrade the laser module later as required even if you don’t replace the chassis. Other thing to consider is that lifespan of these for working units is not particularly high. Neje and some others are claiming 10000 hours but I find that dubious, maybe under low load and ideal conditions. I think expecting a year of moderate use at this point is fair so wouldn’t put too much credence on the future proofing side of it. I had one module fail with very low hours on it. I attribute that to running consistently at very high power levels (over 90%).
There’s been quite a bit of discussion about diode longevity in various topics but nothing definitive yet on this subject. Doesn’t help that manufacturers are genuinely making advances in power level and cooling but are also making these bold new claims without any real data demonstrating this. There was a topic recently specific about Neje longevity at high power.
That’s true I didn’t necessarily think about the life span of the laser unit. It seems like everything updates so quickly I don’t see how anyone would have good data on the topic.
What I liked about the ortur the x7 and especially the xtool is the overall fit and finish looks very nice(especially the xtool) and while that may not mean to much for the use case it seems to me atleast that it shows thought and actual time spend developing the unit.
Yeah… there’s been a ton of development and you can see how the manufacturing is moving away from off-the-shelf components. Honestly, though, the machine being made of standard extruded aluminum isn’t really an indication of quality as much as it is refinement and manufacturing scale.
If fit and finish are important for you then maybe consider Ortur Aufero Laser 2. It looks fairly sleek. Not sure why it’s actually cheaper than the Laser Master 2 Pro.
This reminded me also that Ortur does offer a separate offline controller that you have to buy separately. It’s pretty new. Apparently it only works on the Laser Master 2 Pro and Aufero 1. I haven’t used it but the controls seem basic but serviceable.
The things that would put me off the Xtool D1 right now are the problems with LightBurn I indicated earlier but also it lacks limit switches and doesn’t home. This makes it slightly less convenient in my eyes. I believe the older Atomstacks also excluded limit switches but I believe the X7 does have them. The inability to change GRBL configuration is what bothers me about Atomstacks now.
I didn’t know ortur had a Aufero Laser 2 I’ve only seen the 1 I’ll have to take a look at that.
The inability to work with lightburn is a big holdup point. I’m not familiar with it but it seems to be the hands down go to product.
The laser master 2 is kinda what started me on this jurny as it was one of tge first I had seen and looked at so maybe I’ll circle back to that and possibly just upgrade the laser module when ortur offers a stringer one if I even need it.
It’s hard to appreciate how streamlined and user centric it is unless you’ve experienced what came before it. What comes across as obvious appears so only in contrast.
There are a lot of guys on here running NEJE modules on Ortur frames and controller.
One consideration for thought… Ortur seems like they’re in process of transitioning to 24V systems for their new line of products. Their older line was 12V. I’ve seen some other 24V systems from other manufacturers as well. I don’t know if this indicates an industry shift or if the market gets bifurcated. But that’s a consideration when replacing the module. You can use 12V modules on a 24V system but you’ll need to provide a 12V source either by stepping down or providing an independent power source.
Appreciate the heads up on the 24v stuff.
Realistically I’m not 100% sure how much use I’ll get especially at first from it. It’s more or less a toy for me for now. Once I tinker with it enough and learn alot more I may want to upgrade or the offerings then will be even better. That’s what draws me away from the really expensive machine like the xtool. I’m sure it will become a very important and useful tool but I don’t think spending top dollar up front is the beat way to look at it. The ortur seems to fall in a good place both price and options wise and to hear they have good customer service is all the more reason.
I didn’t realize the D1 was so pricey. It’s definitely a nice unit and I’m sure they’ll work out the kinks in it eventually. Looks like they’re using a dual diode system as well.
I think your approach is sensible. This is one of those things where you don’t really know what you need or want until you start using it.
I upgraded my Atomstack A5 Pro to the M50 module mentioned earlier, and I am very pleased with how that module performs. Your mileage may vary, but the upgrade was a snap and well worth it. IMHO.