I am currently on the fence on getting a new CO2 laser. Due to me being in The Netherlands the choices are limited and am currently gravitating towards the XTool P2S. (I’d love getting a Thunder Bolt, but it’s unavailable here)
However, I’ve read that the P2 had some compatibility issues when it came to Lightburn. Camera and auto-focus both didn’t work. So, my question is, has this been fixed and/or is this working for the P2S?
If this hasn’t been fixed, I’m getting the feeling this might be XTool intentionally blocking those functions for Lightburn. And that, that is a problem for me.
I’d like to know why you can’t get a Thunder laser there? Is it something the law excludes for some reason?
Most of the Chinese boards/firmware use standard gcode (grbl), this allows Lightburn to operate without any issues. When xTool adds something like LIDAR to track the distance for focus on a curved surface, these are options only available with xTool software and eliminate these operations when using xTool with Lightburn.
If they wanted Lightburn compatibility they could inform the developers on how this works and I’m sure Lightburn would incorporate it… However, virtually all of these Chinese board manufacturers won’t advise any western countries on their technology.
I assume it’s the same today as it was a couple decades ago when I spoke to a Chinese guy and he advised me that if they say anything someone doesn’t like, they could end up dead or imprisoned for giving away Chinese state secrets. This guy had to wait for all of his relatives to die before he moved to the USA and became a citizen to avoid retaliation. From this viewpoint, I can see why they don’t tell us anything.
I actually do not know why Thunder does not sell the Bolt here, the do sell the ‘Nova’-series here for some reason. But that’s another big step above my budget. Bolt was already stretching. I will contact them about not selling the Bolt, see what the reason is.
As far as choices in CO2 lasers that I’ve found so far that are available.
XTool (P2S)
Omtech Polar (Also Maker series, but I has no camera integration)
Gweike Cloud
My issues with the above
XTool, as said, I don’t like to be locked in their software (looking at Glowforge debacle). And another big one is that I saw quite some complaints on machine issues and hardly any support… If I’m spending that much money, I need a decent machine and support.
Omtech Polar and Gweike Cloud seems like it’s technically the same machine and a lot of reviews are so-so.
Now, I know, reviews are subjective and a lot of people write mostly their negative experiences, but still.
And this is where I hit a wall. I have no idea what other brands I can look at.
As far as Diode lasers go, those are widely enough available. But I was looking for that little bit of extra power to get cleaner edges and cut clear Acrylic as well.
Although the Gweike and the Polar look a lot alike, there is a number of differences. One is these desktops don’t have a chiller, only a reservoir of coolant. Once that heats up, you have to stop. Don’t know if that’s could be an issue with you or your environment.
I have a link to a comparison video between the two you can watch, maybe that will help. Both machines have a Ruida controller, however It appears the Gweike has customized firmware in the Ruida. You can see it behave differently in the video.
Neither have the standard Ruida machine console, so some options, such as user origin, machine IP are not available. Both also just light up a red ring when there is a failure, so there is no error messages about the fault, only a red error ring.
I don’t know, but it appears the Polar can be used with Ethernet, but it doesn’t work with the Gweike. You can use the magnifying glass icon (search) to search the Lightburn for Gweike and see what Lightburn users have commented about it. I believe @BillieRuben has a Gweike, might want to see what she’s posted about them.
Some people have added a console to the Polar, but it appears it’s not to be an option with the Gweike. Don’t know if it’s related to the firmware, but it’s most likely.
Both pretty much require you buy parts for that particular brand. The low end Thunder bolt uses an RF excited metal tube, I believe it’s about 30W and would probably be more dependable and doesn’t require any coolant, it’s air cooled.
I’d stay away from Glowforge… they require a monthly subscription fee to the site, without it, it’s a brick and there are plenty of people waiting for parts.
I wouldn’t buy a Glowforge, but you do not have to pay a subscription fee to use a Glowforge. The subscription is for their “design” system, which you don’t need to use. Their control software uses SVG files, so you could design in LB, and upload SVG to it.
I understood that Glowforge needed an Internet connection otherwise it was a brick? Is that not correct?
@berainlb nice to see they added some type of screen, wonder how compatible it is to the standard machine console. I wonder if they have a specific firmware that supports this screen or? I can’t see much and it being a glass display I guess they could display text, but one of the major complaints is there is no error messages, just the red ring … Wonder how they’re handling that?
They also claim it’s 55W… a standard 50W tube is over 1 meter in length, and the whole machine is only 970mm wide, so you can’t shoehorn a 50W or higher power tube in there. My tube in my ‘50W’ was only 880mm (90mm less than their case) and it only produced 43W measured with a Mahoney watt meter. It was an OMTech China Blue 50W machine.
From this photo, the tube looks substantially shorter than the 970mm width of the case.
IMO, this coming from a Lightburn support manager says a lot. Thank you for your input I am actually waiting on the answer from Thunder Laser on shipping it to me and what the cost would be. But it might be over my budget, we’ll see.
To be clear - hardware wise, they’re both good machines. The P2’s compatibility issues stem from a lack of information from the vendor side that we’re trying to rectify, though communication has been slow, at best. Thunder’s controller is a known factor for which we have excellent support in LightBurn, and Thunder’s customer support is also excellent. We have more ability to solve problems for Ruida controls because of this.
I am actually waiting on the answer from Thunder Laser on shipping it to me and what the cost would be. But it might be over my budget, we’ll see.