Help Choosing A Laser

Hello everyone

I am really liking LightBurn. It’s taken me sometime to get used to it, but now it’s a breeze. I’ve been mainly using a Ortur Laser Master 7W.

I’m looking at upgrading, so I’ve found this laser on Alibaba

For 40w with a Ruida controller, it’s $500
for 50w with a Ruida controller, it’s $750

I’d like to know if this is something worth investing into at this price point?

I’m doing engravings mostly and will probably stick to that.
Is there a difference in engraving quality over the Ortur Laser Master?
Faster, slower, etc?

Thanks guys

Matt

Hi Matt
At that level you will get a basic box that will probably require a fair bit of upgrading. I would strongly recommend that you invest some hours with Russ Sadler at Sabar Multimedia on You Tube:
[https://www.youtube.com/user/SarbarMultimedia/videos]. Seriously some hours here will be a very good investment.
Russ is a retired engineer in the UK who has taken a cheap Chinese 50watt laser and turned it into a machine that rivals the output of Trotecs and Epilogs.
It is most likely that you would have to buy a new tube and a more modern Ruida controller. However, at the end of the process it is possible to end up with an excellent product.

Hi Pierre52

Yep, I’ve been subscribed to his channel and I’m impressed with what he does. I’m still new to lasers, and more or less want something that doesn’t take up my time in upgrading. But thank you for your feedback I appreciate that.

I have what’s often described as a ‘K40-D’, which is a box that looks like a K40, but with proper linear rails, a lightweight open head with air assist, a manual Z bed, and an optional Ruida controller. I think it was about $800 including shipping, so that’s close to your $750 point. It’s not a fantastic machine, but it’s significantly better than a stock K40, and will be much faster than the diode laser for engraving, and will cut thicker stuff.

Diodes do a good job of getting a dark burn on wood, and the beam spot is very small, but if you stay in the 40w to 50w range you’ll still get fine engraving, not quite as good for contrast, but much better performance overall.

In general, until you get to about the $5k mark for money, you’re looking at a system that’s going to have some corners cut somewhere. On the other hand, these systems aren’t terribly complicated, and there’s lots of online group help available, so if you’re a little bit handy you’ll pick it up.

Thank I’m glad you shared that info. I guess I’ve got some more learning to do

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