I have upgraded my 3018 CNC with a LaserTree 10W laser unit, I’m thinking of getting a bit of an upgrade like a stronger laser (20W) and a bigger workspace of around 60x60 cm. I have done a web search and found a lot of machines that would fit in this category, like the Longer Ray5 20W, the TwoTrees TTS20 PRO or the Creality Falcon2, 22W. The Ray5 is the cheapest of the 3 but it looks like a very nice machine, to be honest, so do the other 2 and there are many more to choose from. I am a relative beginner of diode laser machines, that’s why I would like to get some advice from the more experienced users at this forum!
Your 3018 probably has an Arduino based microcontroller in it that is an 8bit machine. Many of the newer controllers are moving towards 32bit controller.
Speed doesn’t really buy you a lot because even an Arduino can outrun these machines mechanical parts. It does get you a better resolution for pwm control. 8bits have 256 unique states 32bits have 4,294,967,295 unique states. 32bits is much more than you will ever use, but technically better than an 8bit generated pwm signal.
Ensure you can change the control variables. Some machines won’t let you, some will allow it, but reset when the machine is reset. Others will write the new value to it’s memory (or rom) and use it in the future… Probably don’t want to have a macro that sets you machine up every time you have to do a reset.
You can also look at maximum speed, how fast they can move the head around… it varies from ~100mm/s (6000mm/m) to ~800mm/s (~50000mm/m).
Is it’s intended use just general cut/engrave of natural materials or do you have some thing specific in mind?
My 3018 has the Makerbase MKS DLC32 V2.1 control board (32 bits). I started to use it for flightsim panels, using the CNC for cutting white acrylic (doesn’t work with a diode laser as you know) and using the laser for engravind text and symbols. I will upload an example picture). But after a while you want to make other things, the laser is a great addition to my CNC… The picture is the prototype of my new little project.
I cut the panels out of white acrylic, spray paint them grey and engrave them with the laser to burn away the paint. I used to do this with the CNC also (small V-bit) but the laser gives a far better result. For bigger panels for example like the one on the picture, my 3018 is a bit too small.
That board is quite an upgrade from the one in my pair of machines.
A year or so ago there was a bunch of really low cost lasers with pretty weak laser modules on them. I picked up a pair of them for $80 US each, from amazon. One is still stock, the other I mounted the NEJE 40630 (~$160 US) laser module. Both have 32 bit controllers. This is an option if you want to fiddle with them and put sweat equity into the machine, lowing it’s cost.
Just a quick note that the 22W Creality Falcon 2, which I just purchased last week, does not have a 60cm bed. The bed is 400mm x 415mm. Unless you know something about a set of extension rails I haven’t seen yet. I’d love mine to be bigger.
For the larger bed, maybe have a look at the Neje; it’s much larger.
The Ray5 looks like it’s even smaller than the Falcon 2. It does look like it has a nice screen. It would be nice to have a display on the Falcon so I could put more than one G-Code file on it.
I just the XTool D1 pro 20W with Extensions it’s 43 x 93 cm. Pretty nice for what I need and still fits on most tables. Before I bought it only the Neje’s had a larger working space from what I found, but I’m probably wrong.
