What is the Best Laser Cutter and Engraver for You?

so maybe you want to get into laser cutting and engraving we are going to get into a bunch of different types of lasers and talk about what might be the best for your situation what is up guys I'm Brandon welcome back to the shop this week we're going to get into all things lasers so have you seen my other videos you know that I've done quite a few laser projects as well as quite a few laser reviews you can check those out up there so in this video I'm gonna give you a quick rundown on what lasers are out there especially if you are more on the maker hobbyists side of things and you're looking to add one of these to your shop so we've got lasers that range from this guy which is a couple hundred bucks and it's a diode laser all the way to larger co2 lasers that are actually an import from China to the higher-end hobbyist market this is a full-spectrum use but there are a bunch of different ones out there now these are just the lasers I have in my shop but we're gonna get into all the ones that I have been able to find online so I've done an entire roundup post on all of these guys which breaks it down by all the different details the sizes the powers the costs below but let's get into what are the best lasers in 2020 so let's start off with my top picks and we're gonna start at the lowest end of the spectrum and really when you're looking at buying a machine you really want to look at what you actually want to do there are three different types of lasers at least the ones that I cover in this review and that the lower end is a diode laser is actually from orter this is a kind of a Chinese import where there's a pretty good job but most of these diode lasers are gonna have something like this this is the actual laser module and they are typically between two and five watts I've done a review on this one which is like 175 US as well as its larger one which is about 200 bucks and really the larger one the orator version two is my top pick if you want to get in just kind on the bass level you really just want to check it out see what you can do because it's got a really big work area I mean it does a pretty good job for laser engraving and that really is the key those diode lasers especially the ones that come on the lower in scale you're not gonna be able to do much laser cutting you'll be able to do like paper maybe some cardboard maybe maybe super thin would like veneers if you do multiple passes but these are great for engraving I've done some really cool kind of full picture raster picture illustrations using those as well as doing marks so maybe you're looking to put just logos on two cutting boards or in great people's names these little guys are a really good way to get started all right so we're actually going to step up a good bit to my next recommendation this is my budget-minded co2 laser so that's actually mine which is this blue guy sitting behind me I spent my own money on this guy and this was after a ton of research we might be wondering what's the difference between diode and co2 we won't get deep into the actual science and the physics of how it works I included that an article down below but the big thing is they're way more powerful but they also they have a big massive laser tube in the back and because of that they're a lot bigger but they also are more fragile because there's a big piece of glass but you jump up from like 4 or 5 watts to in this case 50 ish watts once you get to that range what that means is you can actually start to cut through wood probably my favorite thing to cut is about quarter inch plywood I do tons of things quarter-inch plywood I do signs I do boxes so I did a full build video on this on a desktop organizer you guys can check out up there but what's great is I'm using full quarter inch plywood as well as I've used quarter inch acrylic so not only are going to be able to do all of the Knights engraving you're also going to be able to get into cutting so really the biggest drawback with these it's the fact that it is an import from China and that's not a knock on Chinese quality it's really a knock on the fact that all the documentation and the software just isn't in English and honestly it isn't the nicest so what I actually do is I run a different piece of software for this guy that what came with it is called light burn and light burn is absolutely amazing if you've seen any my other videos that where I talk about lasers you know that is the software that I use you can use it on the co2 lasers as well as the diode lasers but you might have some things out of the box come out a little bit weird from shipping I know some friends have had their glass tube was actually broken and some other kinks that you can work out but especially if you go through eBay you're gonna be able to get all that stuff returned and fixed without having to pay for anything extra so I'd strongly recommend to going that route so really stepping up to the highest and lasers that you might be considering are what I'm gonna call Kickstarter lasers and that is because if you have ever looked at a laser before more than likely after that you've actually seen an ad for glowforge the 3d laser printer and glowforge is probably the most popular you guys have seen come out so glyph or attach three different versions and I have picked kind of their most basic version that's kind of my runner-up for these higher-end Kickstarter desktop lasers and what's great about these in general is they're gonna have cameras the software's gonna be way nicer and usually the build quality is gonna be nice to the glowforge is great I have some friends that have it it is really really really easy to use and you can actually tell them they're marketing their target isn't just for makers or woodworkers but really kind of stepping into the crafting DIY space and because of that the features are super accessible and that's why I picked it as kind of the runner-up and the biggest drawbacks I've seen with LaForge is really the fact that the the software has to be accessed wirelessly you can't connect a computer up maybe you're in a garage like I am and the Wi-Fi isn't as great and but also because of that the price is a good bit higher you are going from something that is like 1500 and going up at least $1000 to get a machine that has a smaller work area in a less powerful laser but you're getting the massive ease of use with it that is a big plus [Music] so my top pick is actually going to be a version of one that I have behind me and that is the muse line from full spectrum they actually sent me this unit they have three different versions they have the core the 2d and the 3d this is the 3d version behind me kind of their top end one so I might be a little bit biased but really when you look at the specs it kind of makes sense on why this one is really really nice so really the differences between those three are the camera systems the core has no camera whatsoever but it has all of the really nice features that we'll get into here in a second and then the 2d has a 2d camera which again is this one behind me has a camera that can go up and down with material it can actually sense how thick something is but core is kind of what you compare with the glowforge the only drawback is at the core you don't have that internal camera but their software actually like a good bit more in it's not just web-based you can access it from the web I've been inside before and started a laser cut and then actually came out and make sure nothing was catching on fire but their software is called a Retina engrave and it does a really nice job so it's browser-based but what's nice is you can access it offline so you can actually connect directly into it then put in the IP address into a web browser and you can go basically directly into this controller the overall build quality on these are really nice they're all metal they have a really nice warranty and another cool feature about these is you can actually remove the bottom so maybe you do have a massive piece that you want to engrave and it just is not gonna fit you can actually take the whole machine and put it directly on top of the piece that you're working with which is awesome and then again when you step it up to adding the camera systems you get all of those great features as well another thing with co2 lasers is not only are you gonna have the laser but you're also going to have an air compressor which helps basically put out the fire when the laser is cutting on most materials as well as a water chiller and that's gonna be a pump and then a vat of water that's gonna cycle through the actual glass to but where the laser goes for my Chinese one down here that literally is an aquarium pump a compressor that's super loud and then I have this little plastic thing that I put all of it inside on the full-spectrum side what's great is all of that is inside of one single unit and that's actually controlled by the laser so ill turn the compressor on when it needs it they'll run the water when it needs it and all of that being integrated is another cool bonus once you get up to that higher level so let's do a quick overview of some of the other lasers that are out there so probably the most popular one for the maker hacker community and something people like to call the k40 there's actually a bunch of different versions of these it basically just means there's a Chinese import it's 40 watts Orion is probably the one I see the most these are good but if you get it no you're gonna have to do a lot to it more than likely in things are gonna break on the good side you're gonna actually learn how the laser works you're probably have to replace parts you're gonna have to add parts and they're usually less than 400 bucks so basically doubling the price of a much less powerful diode laser you're gonna step way up to a 40 watt but you're going to lose safety features you're going to lose a lot of reliability you have to tinker a good bit with this thing to get it to work so there are a lot of other videos online where people have the k40 they kind of walk through what they did to it so good yards to check that out before you actually decide to pick one up another really popular one that I've been seeing over the last year it's actually from dremel it's called the digital AB L C 40 and you guys can see that it actually looks really really similar to the full-spectrum used and that's actually because a dremel has partnered with full-spectrum to put this thing out it's a little bit more expensive than the full-spectrum version and because you've got the Dremel name on it as well as the dermal support and for the most part this is pretty comparable to them use 2d so next up in that kickstarter area is the make blocks laser box so this is 40 watts it's gonna look pretty comparable to the full spectrum and the glowforge but really they are kind of marketing this towards education and using this in a school classroom so they'll kind of see those terms as well as kind of marketing when you go to their channel but it seems like a pretty good system again it's Justin come in a pretty pretty high price even compared to the glowforge and a full spectrum so one laser company that's actually pretty interesting is called flux specifically the flux which they call the world's smallest co2 laser you guys can see this thing actually is pretty tiny it's 30 watts but you can still do about 11 inches by 8 inches on the cut side it's gonna have all the bells and whistles like integrated software cameras out of focus and what's really nice about this is the size and the weight so they really build this as a desktop where you can move this around just know that the actual workspace of it isn't going to be super great and actually this is more expensive than again the Chinese import that 50 watt that is still my top budget pick for a co2 so flux also has a larger version they call it the beam box Pro this is actually 50 watts it is a much larger work area and it is coming under $5,000 with all of the other stuff you would be looking for like autofocus Wireless good software for them this part and camera system and it is actually just a bigger version of the flux beam box so they actually have three different lasers in their line I don't have much experience with these I haven't seen a lot of people with them and the Bema is probably the most interesting of these three but the B box and the bean box probe are going to kind of get you in the same range as a glowforge and the full spectrum use time to wake up [Applause] now a real interesting company is in Blaser and they are out of Australia and this is actually a high-end diode laser not a high-end diode laser like the power but the actual gantry and everything around it imagine taking the desktop co2 style of body but then put a diode laser inside of it and that's kind of what an blazer is trying to do they got a couple different versions one is the Emblaze or two which includes a full enclosure it's gonna have things like autofocus 3d cutting and carving lighting air assist all the things you would probably find with a nice or co2 laser it's just gonna come in a pretty high price this is gonna be around 2,500 bucks but if you want to step it down they kind of have like a kit version of that as well they call it the Emblaze or core it's gonna be $1000 but you're gonna have a awesome build quality as well as a massive work area and this one I would kind of compare with the or tour version too and you can really see when you step up quite a few hundred dollars more you're really getting the really nice bill as well as the safety features that this guy comes with if I was gonna look at a diode laser and I just wanted to engrave but I wanted to really manufacture things actually probably leaning towards this this guy looks pretty interesting so probably the most interesting design of any of the lasers is to come from snap maker they actually did a pretty successful Kickstarter back in the day where it was not only a delay sir but also a CNC in 3d printer you basically have one gantry and then you have three different heads that you can put on it because of that is gonna be a diode laser because you are taking the actual diode laser component and attacking it I saw mixed reviews on the first one but actually they're coming out with a 2.0 which looks really nice this is not out yet but you guys can check out information all over the place if you just look online it's a speaking of CNC actually probably the cheapest way you can get into it and still kind of have a massive work area like most CNCs have compared to lasers is actually to buy just the diode head a lot of companies and make units that you can pretty much replace the router I'm with the laser head and their J tech makes a great one I've seen a lot of people do that with the Invisibles x-carve or the shape boku so that is one for you guys to kind of get into it but still work with a system you're already familiar with but again most of those heads are still gonna cost you about 200 bucks which that or tour version two is going to include the same laser head but then its own gantry as well and also going back to those Chinese lasers again you can pretty much buy the same unit if you just upgrade the wattage you can go from 50 watts to 60 to 80 200 to even like 150 and pretty much it's the same machine it's just gonna be a bigger tube as well as a bigger work area and some kind of by what your knees are for and as you're kind of getting past that 50 watt version you're probably looking more at this as manufacturing which kind of leads into one big area I've left out and that is like the pro level machine this video is really for if you're hobbyist and you're wanting to get into this stuff even though these things are several thousands of dollars they are a lot cheaper compared to like the top-of-the-line machines that if you're running a business and these are gonna be the ones probably going to be looking at these are gonna be from companies like epilogue which probably is like the b'keen in the laser world they have a zing line which it's kind of targeted towards the lower end market but they're still real expensive like nearly ten thousand dollars then you also have companies like boss with the LS 1416 which is 50 Watts kind of the same range of these desktop units that we're talking about they're just a lot bigger and then full spectrum they make top-end lasers as well they have a full line called the Pete series and then the PS 20 Pro is gonna come in about the same price as the muse 2d it's going to be a bigger unit and more geared towards folks that really have used lasers before so one use case that I get asked a ton about is can this engrave metal like literally on every video I've done that's probably one of the top ones and then a lot of these units come with a rotary unit meaning that you can put something on it and it's gonna spin it around and you engrave and there are a lot of folks that want to laser engrave into metal cups like yetis and you can't do that with a diode or a co2 laser to really engrave a metal you've got to jump up into a fiber laser full-spectrum actually makes a fiber version kind of in the muse shell but that thing is real expensive and then you really get into kind of the fiber world I'm you're gonna be talking about will over $10,000 which is pretty crazy but there is kind of a workaround and what people will do either they'll powdercoat so in case of the yeti they'll powdercoat a color then you can use a co2 laser to actually engrave that powder coating off so you actually show the metal underneath and you kind of get the effect of engraving on to the metal but you aren't actually marking the metal you're marketing the material on top of that now you may not have a powder coater there also some sprays that you can get once called sarah mark it's expensive it's like 100 bucks for a spray can which is crazy but you're gonna be able to spray on top of a piece of metal and they're actually going to laser engrave that piece off these will not be able to cut at all you'll have to get into fiber if you want to cut metal if you guys get one let me know because I heard that looks super so many lasers out there there are tons of different dimensions and ways to compare them do they have cameras do they not how big is the actual cutting area how much wattage do I have what type of laser is it and during the course of making this video actually put all that together in one big table you either take a screen shot of this or you can check it out in the full review down below and speaking of full reviews we're actually going to jump into the full spectrum use so kind of my top pick this would be the 3d version and we will check out how it really works you can see a bunch of the cool features so I will see you guys there in a second and until next time go make or break something in your workshop see you guys you

Channel: Make or Break Shop

Views: 394,342

Rating: 4.8671837 out of 5

Keywords: diy, woodworking, laser, laser cutting, laser engraving

Id: Cj4Bp_BIK7s

Length: 18min 5sec (1085 seconds)

Published: Fri May 29 2020