Should you buy a laser engraver? Or is it just a waste of money

I bought this laser engraver about nine  months ago I've used it a couple times   and it's been sitting in a corner of my  basement collecting dust since then was   this a huge waste of money well if you've ever  considered buying a laser don't fall into the   same trap that I did here are six things I  wish I knew before buying a laser [Music]   all right the first and most important thing you  need to know about lasers is that they smell and I   mean stink you can not use this laser or any laser  in your basement or your office or in your house   whatsoever without having some sort of enclosure  and some sort of exhaust it's just not possible   not only does it stink it's like toxic fumes  burning wood is one thing even that is toxic   but when you start to burn acrylic or metal or  other Plastics that can be really dangerous in   a total health hazard there are ways to control  the smell and exhaust the fumes but those are   really important considerations and something you  should probably look into before even buying one   of these I mean it really gets to me when you see  YouTubers having it set up on their workbench like   this or in their garage with the door closed  and running their laser engraver it's just   not possible there is no way so there is a way to  manage those fumes and extract the dust and I'll   show you my setup in just a bit but just really  important to know that you just can't have your   laser engraver open air like this and be running  it without some sort of protection and some sort   of exhaust you just can't do it especially when  you live in Canada Winters are cold you can't   just open the garage door and vent it out in  the winter well I guess you could but come on   all right so here is my laser setup and I know  yeah it's a really sexy corner of my basement   in my mechanical room the electrical panel and  the Wi-Fi and the Heat and everything but this   is the only place I could find that was right next  to a window so I could exhaust next to electricity   so I could plug everything in and it's just a  quiet space of my basement that I don't really   use so I've got this box like I said that I built  it's really simple it has a hinge lid just use   this little piece of plywood to keep it open like  that the X tool inside I added some vent holes on   the side and the bottom for it to pull in enough  air so that the fan has enough airflow to exhaust   basically and then when I use it I just open up  the window install this little plate in the window   and that way it can exhaust and then when I'm  done I shut it down and bring it back inside   the laser enclosure I built a small window using  a piece of acrylic it's not tinted so not safe to   look at with your eyes so that's why I make sure  I'm always wearing my included safety glasses   I've got the control for the exhaust here  and the control for the air assist pump   right over here computer plugged  into the laser and I'm all set   something else to consider if you're thinking  about buying a laser engraver is the cost and   I'm not just talking about the cost of the laser  itself but like everything included you may see   a laser engraver that's I don't know a thousand  fifteen hundred and think yeah I can afford that   but there's a lot more that goes into purchasing  a laser sometimes things aren't included you'll   need accessories and I'm going to break that down  for you here and I'll get to those in a second but   first what I want to say is that I bought this  laser with my own money I didn't get sponsored   I didn't get a free tool or anything like that  not that X tool hasn't tried to send me a free   tool like a bunch of times like a lot in fact  I actually got an email from them this morning   asking me to collaborate with them but uh again  I paid for the laser I didn't want to accept any   free tools and that's because I don't want to feel  like I owe anybody anything I don't want to feel   like I have to say anything that I don't believe  in or anything like that so I want to be able to   say what I want use it how I want it so this is  all paid for with my own money and not sponsored   in any way alright so let me break down on the  cost of the laser for you so you understand what   I mean by the total investment and not just the  laser itself so the laser tool itself costs 1749   dollars for the laser and the Gantry itself but  you might have a hard time using the laser just   out of the box without a few extra accessories  I ended up buying both the honeycomb grid and   the air assist so what those two things are the  honeycomb grid is that metal kind of grid that   looks like a honeycomb that allows you to raise  up the work piece a bit and makes it much easier   safer and cleaner to especially cut anything it'll  just allow the material to breathe underneath   and give you much cleaner Cuts less burning less  charring things like that and that was 269 dollars   whenever cutting with a laser there's usually a  bit of like air being blown in to make the cuts   cleaner so it won't burn and leave etching and  scoring so you need some sort of air pump air   assist which doesn't come with the laser in this  case sometimes it does this one you have to buy   separately so that's an extra 209 so if I just  add up the actual tools the laser the honeycomb   grid and the air assist that comes to a total of  two thousand two hundred and twenty seven dollars   but there's more than that like I said you need  some sort of enclosure and a fan to control the   exhaust and the fumes especially if you're doing  that like in your basement you can't just run a   laser without having any sort any sort of exhaust  I decided to buy the X2 laser enclosure it was   245 dollars but I ended up returning it like  immediately after one usage I could tell that   it wouldn't work it wasn't containing the fumes at  all I could still smell the exhaust fan was really   not strong enough it's this tiny like three inch  fan maybe that barely blows anything at all so I   ended up returning the X tool enclosure so I did  a lot of research of what people were doing and   how what kind of setup they had for glow Forge  and other similar types of lasers and the most   effective solution that I found was an inline Duct  Fan and I have the cloud line S6 fan and it's a   six inch duct and it was only 169 dollars which is  pretty cheap consider wondering how well it really   works in addition to the actual fan you'll need  some hosing and that was 27.99 and you'll need   some flanges to be able to connect it to the box  and to the window so that was another 25 dollars   oh and I almost forgot I bought a power bar slash  surge protector a pretty decent one to make sure   I protect my laser and everything and that was  22. so total investment all included just to set   everything up and get it enclosed with the fan and  everything like that 24 70 95 plus tax Canadian   but let me reassure you that xtool always has  promos and discounts going on so I didn't actually   pay that and you can usually get away with it  a lot cheaper than that I ended up paying 1728   total plus tax for a total of about two thousand  dollars for the everything the entire setup so not   so bad but then again I don't use it so that kind  of hurts so when I first bought my laser engraver   I have to admit I didn't do that much research  I just kind of figured it would be a cool way   to add some customization some engraving to some  pieces maybe have a little bit of a sideline and   sell a few items and at the time I had seen you  know ads for both X tool and or tour or turo or   Master 3 something like that both of them had a  similar price point and then the X tool came out   with a 20 watt laser which was an upgrade compared  to the other models which were I think the top was   10 watts at the time so when this one came out  with 20 watt I was just like yeah let's go for   it similar price not that much more expensive  than the 10 watt so I said let's just go for it   probably should have done a little more research  for reference this is a dialed laser don't ask   me the difference between CO2 and fiber and  all that but this is a diode 20 watt laser   something else you should know is that not all  lasers can do everything a laser can do when I got   this laser I was initially hoping mostly to just  engrave and cut wood but I was also hoping I would   be able to cut clear acrylic for templates router  templates things like that but unfortunately this   laser can't do that to cut clear acrylic you  need a CO2 laser or something even better so do   your research something else I hadn't considered  when I got the laser is how time consuming it can   be even after the initial setup you know getting  it out of the box assembling it could take an hour   an hour and a half building the enclosure figuring  out the dust collection or not dust collection but   fume extraction once all that is figured out and  you're set up and finally ready to cut there's   so much more that you need to learn including  design software but even if you use an existing   logo or something that's available out there and  you want to engrave that you still need to learn   the laser engraving software whether that's X tool  creative space which is their proprietary platform   or light burn which is what most people use when  laser engraving now I haven't gotten around to   learning that one yet but it's on my list and it's  probably the best tool out there I think at least   from what I've heard and definitely something  I'm going to need to invest time and learning   so if you think you can just put in your laser  cut file hit start and walk away come back three   hours and everything's done it doesn't work that  way unfortunately you have to be pretty close by   you have to babysit it watching it I mean it is  a laser things can go wrong Catch Fire I mean God   forbid but always have a fire extinguisher nearby  but you do have to keep an eye on it come back to   it check in on it to make sure everything's going  okay kind of like a CNC you know you can't just   hit the button and walk away so you do have to  consider that you have to be physically present   to use it which is also a Time suck there are also  frequent software updates glitches things you need   to figure out and research and not to mention the  fact that you actually have to clean this thing   something I haven't done yet but you do need to  make sure your laser lenses and mirrors and all   that are cleaned as well as the honeycomb mine is  getting kind of dirty I'm gonna need to clean that   eventually so all to say there is a lot of time  that needs to be invested in owning a laser tool   like this I know it seems like I spent the last  15 minutes trying to dissuade you from getting a   laser but that's really not my intention here I  truly believe that laser cutters can be a great   tool if you're willing to spend the time that  you need to learn how to use the tool and not   end up like me with a two thousand dollar laser  sitting in the corner of your basement but rather   than discourage me this video is actually  encouraged me to start working on new designs   learning light burn and just testing out stuff  on the laser cutter to see where it may lead me   if I'm really going to commit to using my laser  more often I'd better get comfortable so the first   step is to get rid of this rickety old stool I  went to Princess Auto to pick up a new shop stool   and they had a great deal on this DeWalt stool  and it only took me about a minute to assemble   all right enough messing around next up I'm going  to try to cut a 3D sign out of my logo I've never   done this before but I'm pretty sure I can figure  it out and this brings me to my final laser beware   tip of the day there's a considerable learning  curve with laser cutters finding exactly the   right settings to make the perfect cut can be a  challenge but eventually it becomes second nature   at least I hope it does all right I've imported my  logo into the laser software so I'll set my piece   into the machine you can check the framing to  make sure the laser will cut where you want it to   and when that looks right I'll  start up my exhaust fan   and my aerisys pump   then go ahead and hit start   normally I'd close the lid but I'll leave it open  for a bit so you can get a closer look here I'm   just engraving the backer board I'm hoping that  having everything engraved on the backer will help   me get the alignment just right I'll then use  a second piece to cut out all the letters and   glue them to the backer board in a second you'll  hear the machine beep the flame detection sensor   was tripped so the laser automatically shuts  off unfortunately that means that the job is   totally lost because you can't start it up again  so I grabbed a new piece and started from scratch   I think the issue was trying to cut six  millimeter MDF too slow in a single pass   cut all the way through but I'm still  gonna see if I can try and get it out   at least the front doesn't look so bad   but like I said you need some  time for trial and error   I got frustrated with the MDF so I eventually  switched over to thin plywood for the cutouts   the cut only took seven minutes compared to a 30  minute failed attempt for the MDF even so the cut   wasn't perfect and I had to knock the letters out  like I said it's a learning curve to figure out   the settings and get a perfect cut with that done I painted the backer   black then painted all the letters  the deer and the circle white   I was happy to see that the engraving was still  visible through the paint I grabbed each piece   added a little CA glue and glued them one by  one doing my best to stay within the lines   and big reveal it's not perfect but hey for  my first sign I think it's pretty cool   and this will look great up on the wall in  my shop thanks for watching see you soon

Channel: DIY Montreal

Views: 442,429

Keywords: Things you should know before buying a laser engraver, Things you should know before buying a laser cutter, The truth about laser cutters, Should you buy a laser, Things to know about laser engravers, Are lasers worth it, Are lasers a waste of money, Laser cutter, Laser engraver, Diode laser, Don’t buy a laser until you watch this video, Xtool D1 pro, Everything you need to know about diode laser cutters, Xtool, laser, Reasons you shouldn’t buy a laser engraver, DIY Montreal

Id: NXIRsUSDVG0

Length: 14min 29sec (869 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 22 2023