I did a little searching on here but I can’t seem to find what I’m looking for or the posts were years old and we all know how fast technology can change. I have a Elegoo Phecda 20W and I’m wanting to add an C02 so I can do glass, clear acrylic and other materials that diode can’t handle. I want something that can fully take advance of Lightburn, which is why I backed off getting an XTool.
Price Range: $1500 to $2500
Materials: Craft Wood, Particle Board, Tile, Cork, Glass, Acrylics, Metals including color changes with Stainless Steel, Slate and other stones used for stuff like plaques and coasters.
Among DSP controllers Ruida are the best supported and most common among LightBurn users.
Among Ruidas 6442G and 6445G are among the best supported. However, those using other common controllers including 6442S and 6445S and Ryxon KT332N do so seemingly without much fuss. It’s only if you get into less common controllers where compatibility may be an issue. I’d suggest doing a search for the specific model that you’re considering on this forum to confirm potential problems.
That will be aggressive for a CO₂ laser with a Ruida controller, which, as @berainlb points out, is basically what you want. In round numbers, mainstream 50W (-ish) lasers start around $3k from reputable sources.
While it’s possible to get a cheap-ish K40-style laser and upgrade to a GRBL-family controller, AFAICT doing so requires considerable effort to get the controller settings working with the hardware.
If you want to engrave or do other work on metals, like color or oxidizing, you’re kind of stuck with a fiber. Or in all probability a higher power ssl or a 1064nM device. Some of the more powerful ssl will create a partial group of oxidation, but both are really the wrong tools for doing metal work.
Even on the co2, I use LBT100 marking spray on stainless steel mugs.
Cloud Ray has a Russ Sadler spec machine, that I wish they had when I bough mine… It would have saved me a lot of headaches… I think it’s a bit out of your price range, but it’s been completely upgraded from the norm…
Good luck
I bought this one from OMTECH’s eBay store last summer for $2100 (looks like they dropped the price a little): OMTech ZF2028-60E 60W CO2 Laser Engraver Cutter Cutting Engraving Machine | eBay. It’s the second one I’ve bought from them and I’ve very happy with their customer service.
Thank you everyone for the feedback. It brought me in the right direction for what I should search for. The Monoport 80W(Just under $3k with a chiller) looks very promising. I was looking at the OMTech but I hear mixed opinions on issues they have. I see now that Fiber is better for metals, so I’m not going to worry about it if I can get away with marking sprays to make up for it.
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