Giving my 50W laser a shot at some of the tests @JefferyJ has performed using his 20W laser to see what/if the differences are worth the cost. Let me know what else you want to see.
hello , i am in search of a laser like this ( actually i`m searching a JPT 50W source ) and i want it for making different tags from aluminium sheet, can you please tell me if it will be enough for cutting 3/4 cm pieces and engraving them, and also i would like to engrave some aluminium components with a depth of 1-2 mm . can you please tell me if this laser is enough for what i need ? thanks
I'm also considering a 50w raycus. I need it to cut up to 1.2mm thick aluminium, but also for carbon fibre. I have found a few videos of people using the fiber laser to cut carbon fibre but not many. Do you have any thoughts or experience of using the fiber laser to cut carbon fiber e.g. up to 1.2mm. thickness?
I found your vdo the best out there. Many people just give the info without actually demonstrate. I have a question for you. I’m looking to engrave micro details on small pieces of stainless steel up to 1mm depth. 5x5cm working surface area max. Speed is not a concern but it has to be very precise. What kind of system would you recommend? Would a 20w be enough to go that deep? Thank you in advance 🙏
Jeremy, thank you very much for your comment and stopping by. Micro details are really what fiber lasers are great at. I have done text as small as 0.15mm in height with very crisp detail. For your application, the depth is something that you may struggle with on a 20W fiber. I can really only speak from experience with my 50W laser but if time is really not a problem for you, then a 20W laser will absolutely be able to get there, it will just take a lot of passes.
I just got this same laser last week.. ps- I had a lot of issues with EZCAD 2.14.9, so I found 2.14.10 on the internet and it fixed the inability to import vector files.
I will absolutely have to try that. The version that came with my laser was super old. I'm pretty sure it's 2.9.something. I'll definitely be giving 2.14.10 a shot. Did you also go with a 50W?
Very cool, thanks for posting this. Was looking at getting a 50W as well after watching the JefferyJ vids, tho I am leaning towards one of the JPT laser sourced ones to get a little more flexibility for doing plastic marking. I'd be really curious to see what kind of depth you can get in steel with a longer focal length lens like a 150 or 175.
@@mpmachining7227 Mostly I was just interested in seeing if the engraving depth was still acceptable even with some of the longer focal length lenses on a 50W fiber source. Not sure what all I'd mark yet, but I have a couple of potential business clients for batch marking so even on small parts, the more area the better to make setup blocks for marking multiple parts per setup. For depth engraving, I'd say .025 or .030" that doesn't require dozens of passes would be acceptable. Much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time!
I unfortunately think you're probably going to be disappointed if you're looking to get 0.03" deep with a 150mm lens. It's definitely possible, but as you put it, it will take many dozens of passes to get there. I don't have any personal experience using one but from what I have read, both the JPT and mopa sources do just slightly worse at achieving depth than the normal q switch laser. Even using my 70mm lens, it would take a dozen or so passes to get to that depth
@@markk3948 it would depend on your meaning of "cut". Will it mark and deep engrave aluminum, absolutely! If you are thinking you want to use it like a plasma cutter to cut aluminum sheet or plate, this is not the machine for you
Hi! Great video. I just bought a new Raycus 50W and I would like to know how can I get a file like that. I'll buy it if available. I would like to start engraving metal. Thanks!
Kelvin, I actually downloaded the file from another youtube user JefferyJ. Check his page out and see if you can find it in his video description. If not then let me know and I'll send it over. I'm sure he wouldn't mind me sharing his file but I'd like to give him credit for his work! Thanks for stopping by
Have you ever cut anything as small as a watch movement gear? I make custom watches and am currently looking to pay someone to cut watch movement parts.. Eventually i would buy a machine.. But for now wondering if the resolution is good enough.... Thanks for the video post :)
@akina akina what size are we talking? The laser has no problem at all with high resolution in small parts. If you check my Instagram I have cut some American flags on firearm barrels where the stars were about 0.008" wide and looks great under magnification. How thick is the material?
You absolutely can. You could get much deeper than that if you wanted. Obviously the biggest factors there would be how large the project was and how much time you were ok with spending. You definitely can't get 0.2mm in one pass with a 200mm lens. But if the part is small it wouldn't take much time at all
I'm impressed with the results of this machine. I'm studying buying one of these to CUT between 18 and 15 gauge steel sheet. I've been searching from cnc plasma cuters to 150w co2 lasers and now just discovered this fiber engravers. The truth is I don't have space on my apartment for any plasma or co2 laser. As I don't need a large cutting area, I think this may fill my requeirments. What do you think?
Unfortunately, cutting 15 gauge steel with this size and power laser will be painfully slow and borderline not usable. A cnc plasma is definitely the route you would want to go if your goal is to cut sheet metal. This can get through 15 gauge but it’s going to have to do a ton of passes and you will likely find issues with the metal reforming together as it is cut if you do not have a wide enough kerf built in
The file was actually one I found in a video from JefferyJ on UA-cam. Look in the video description of his videos and if you can't find it let me know and I'll send it to you
I have a 30w Raycus fiber laser now. I'm wondering if the 50w is a worth while step up. Mine takes about 20-30 slow speed passes to cut a small circle in a piece of thin .045 aluminum business card. Have you tried cutting anything similar with yours?
Actually funny you ask. Just the other day, I used mine to cut some 0.05" stainless steel shim stock into 6" strips that I needed. I set it to run 30 passes going fairly quick at about 2000 mm/sec and was able to snap them right off. I had the shim stock sitting directly on my laser table so I was trying not to go through. At around 40 passes it would burn straight through. Only took about 30 seconds per 6" strip
The power of the laser has less to do with the ability to laser colors on things like stainless and titanium and the type of laser is the bigger factor. To do multiple colors controllabily on steel, you are going to want to go with a MOPA laser instead of a Q Switch type laser like I have. Unfortunately I don't own a MOPA laser so I would have a hard time telling you how much faster a 50W works over something like a 20W
To be honest I almost never use the laser to cut through anything. It's mainly used to deep and surface engrave on steel. For some tests because another viewer had a similar question I decided to try and push it deeper. I grabbed some 0.06" (about 1.5mm) thick steel sheet and cut some 1" (2.5mm) diameter circles out of it. I tried cutting the circle out rather than removing all of the material and engraving away the whole 1". It certainly will do it, but if I was trying to buy this laser with that in mind, I'll say you will be pretty disappointed. It took about 30 minutes on the first try. Changed some settings and got that down to about 15min. I'm sure you could likely reduce that even further but I decided it just wasn't practical to use this laser for that. I have cut tons of shim stock up to 0.01" and it does a beautiful job with that. It will cut it in one pass perfectly clean. What thickness were you thinking?
The power unit extends from the marking head all the way to the main unit and is connected via a fiber optic cable. Unfortunately that's not something you will be able to work on or replace yourself.
Ok I'm new to this. Got the cash to fork out but need to know what 50w machine will do the job fast and clean. Type III anodized 7075 416R stainless 6AL4V Ti 4140 heat treated steel MIL-B-11595E 4150 (CMV) steel 9310, 8620, and C158 tool steel. Marking depths of up to 0.03" Work area around 8"x6" min Will also need a 4th axis.
A couple of questions before I start trying to recommend anything to you. First, what is your primary goal for marking? For the 400 series stainless and the Ti, were you looking to achieve any colored markings or are you strictly trying to deep engrave everything? Also, is time a big factor for you? Do you care if the engraving takes a bit longer or are you going for as fast as possible?
@@mpmachining7227 just engraving. Time is money, but not looking to invest in something where the gains are relegated to the the point past acceptable standards. That is to say diminishing returns.
@@ahole5407 ok, if you aren't looking for colored engraving then you rea) and don't have a need for a MOPA or JPT source which would save you some money. My laser is a Raycus 50W source that I got from eBay (the seller I got mine from is no longer in business) and it came with the 4th axis. The important things to look for are that the machine is compatible with EZCad2 and that the power source is Raycus. This will give you a frequency range between roughly 20-80 or 20-100kHz. As far as an actual name brand goes, it's extremely hard to say. Most of the machines are made in the same one or two factories in China then imported here and either rebranded or just sold as is. The difference in price can vary widely for the exact same machine based on each seller. There are some American based companies that import the machines then do some initial QC checks on the machines and resell them for a higher price but with the piece of mind that you're actually going to get what you paid for (Cloudray Lasers, Wisely and OM Tech come to mind). A major thing that I have heard people have issues with is customs clearing the laser so an important selling point for me was that the machine was already in the US. My machine came from China but when I purchased it, it was sitting at a warehouse in China. You can just search through eBay for 50W Raycus laser and sort by location if that's something you are worried about. From there, I would just send some sellers a few emails asking questions. If they don't respond to you, or can't speak English you may want to just pass on the laser. Not that there is anything wrong with a company from China that doesn't speak English, but it makes customer service a real nightmare if you had any issues.
A 20W would be more than enough if your plan was to surface mark or just etch the coating off of metal. In my case, I do a lot of deep (0.01" and deeper) engraving into steel and aluminum which the 20W would be extremely slow and not practical for at all. The 50W does a great job at it though
@@Sam11747 also a really great question. I certainly used to use my cnc mill for all of my engraving. Unfortunately even the tiniest of tools can only get so detailed and are pretty darn slow. I have since moved all of my marking from the mill over to the laser which frees up time on the mill that i much needed. The level of detail on the laser is simply incredible. For example, i do a lot of american flags on the hood of pistol barrels where the entire flag is 0.5” or so tall and the stars are about the size of a pen point and under 100x magnification you can see every point on every star. Even on a Kern you would be hard pressed to get that result
@@mpmachining7227 Thank you for replying. All good points, and is pretty much the reason I want one as well. Plus, unlike a mill it doesn't make too much noise. I don't think I need .01" depth, nor for it to be really quick. Time isn't really an issue for me in the short to medium term. As I plan on running one in the background while I do remote work. Thanks again.
I am shopping around for a similar setup. Since you’ve owned it a while what consumables have you gone through. Can you do an update if time permits as to the results you have been able to achieve with this? Thanks.
@John Downs sorry for the delay in responding. UA-cam actually doesn't inform me when someone comments on my videos for some reason (I'm bad at this whole UA-cam thing) so I try to look through all of my videos once a week or so to see if I missed any. The seller that I purchased my laser from seems to no longer be active on eBay unfortunately. Below is a link to a similarly priced 50W laser but there are a bunch on eBay that you can search through. The important things I would look for is that the laser is being shipped from somewhere in the US and not from China (it will be made in China either way, but you want to pay extra for one that's already passed through customs and is here in the US) then try to message the seller and make sure they have the ability to communicate clearly with you and answer some questions about the laser. I asked each seller I was researching whether or not the laser module was a Raycus unit and if the control board was a genuine BJJCZ board. If it isn't, then a licensed version of EZCad (the software that should come with the laser to run it) won't work. If you have specific questions, feel free to message me on Instagram or reply on here. www.ebay.com/itm/50W-150x150mm-Detached-Fiber-laser-marking-machine-metal-Non-Metal/123968156043?hash=item1cdd13f18b:g:vwsAAOSwkMVc1QaV
@@mpmachining7227 i just find out that bjjcz board some are "lite" and other "standart" version, both are claimed "genuine". Maybe you could tell me the difference? Also how much have you paid in total with dellivery to door? Thanks.
Mr. Diddi honestly, only time will tell. I have a few hours of run time on it now with no issue but its next to impossible to prove 100k hours for a hobbiest. If it ever have any problems with it ill be sure to make a video
Well, let's think about this. 100,000 hours is around 4,166 days. That would mean: A. This laser is rated for continuous operation for around 11.4 YEARS. Dunno about your luck, but I can't think of many LEDs that get that kind of real-world lifespan. Don't even ask about lightbulbs. But that's continuous. Let's say the laser has a duty cycle of 40% (I've no idea if this is accurate, but seems not entirely unreasonable for a high-power electronics platform. Think welders.) That would be: B. around 28 years of CONSTANT use within its duty cycle allowance. eBay has been around for 25 years, to put this in perspective. I would say that if this were a military laser platform, undergoing regular routine maintenance with the clockwork-like consistency one could expect from... well, from a military... then I'd STILL be bloody amazed if it lasted the better part of three decades. So let's strip it down to 10,000 hours. 416 days. Or about 1.14 YEARS of CONSTANT use within the duty cycle (24 seconds on, 36 seconds off. 24 on. 36 off). I'd STILL be amazed if even the power supply survived cycling like that. Hell, find me a laser POINTER that will survive a cycle like that. So - and this is from ignorance, mind; I'm an engineer, not an optics/laser specialist - Imma go with: no. Not a chance in hell. Even assuming it WAS made of the highest quality Chinesium in the Land of the Rising Quality Control Fault. BRO is right. For a hobbiest? You'd never know if it will. Even if it only makes it 41.6 days (1,000 hour lifespan). Let's say you're using it a couple times a day, for the length of the tests shown here, say twice a day for 8 minutes each. That works out to around around... oh! Hey! About 4,000 days. Or about 100,000 hours. Total. Time. OWNED. Hmmm. Maybe I just cracked their code?
Absolutely. That is the main reason I bought it actually. It does a pretty amazing job. I have some pictures up on my instagram where you can see some of the results I have gotten with it on Firearms
@@mpmachining7227 I was actually just scanning through your Instagram and followed you haha. Is it fairly easy to operate overall? I’ve got a firearms store and am looking to slowly add some engraving in. Is the build plate large enough for most of the work you have to do on guns? Will it still work for engraving things such as wood or glass if I wanted to do any of that?
@@Yan1 the working area hasn't been an issue at all. The size you can do is determined by the lens that you are using. With a larger lens you obviously get a larger area, however, you get significantly less power (I have a whole video on lens size vs power) so you just need to pick the combination that works for you. My largest lens is 300mm and my smallest is 70mm. As for materials it can engrave. Unfortunately, due to the wavelength of 1064nm that the laser is operating at, it will not work on glass or any other transparent objects and it does not work on wood well at all. It is mainly meant for metals and some plastics. For wood and glass you would want a CO2 laser, which conversely can not engrave metal. Those are a bit of a generalization because there are some hacky ways to get a fiber laser to mark glass or a CO2 to etch metal, but by and large for metal/plastic you want Fiber and for Wood/Plastic/Glass, you would want CO2
@@Yan1 There are a bunch of people who use lasers to do firearms engraving and you can find them in these laser groups: facebook.com/groups/440091022989424/ facebook.com/groups/4105345129538639/
Hey buddy I bought cloudray 50 watt laser and I can't get this thing to engrave any depth at all. I've watched so many videos with everybody's 50 W laser in graver and they are doing 10 times what mine is doing? Do you have any idea what could be wrong?. I can't find information anywhere man I have nowhere else to look
We can definitely get you squared away. A few questions to figure out what the problem might be. First, what software are you using? EZCad2 I'm guessing? What settings are you using to engrave? (Power, speed, frequency, hatch settings and number of passes) Next, what size lens are you using? Not sure what it shipped with default, I'm guessing a 120mm or a 150mm came stock but you could have swapped that which makes a big difference on power output. Lastly and where in guessing a problem might be for you. What are you using to determine and set your focal length? If you don't have your focal length dialed down to within about 0.05", you will drastically lose power of removing material. And just to make sure I'm on the same page for what you're looking for, what depth are you actually looking to achieve and in what material?
@mpmachining7227 I watch everybody's videos that pretty much have the same fifty watt laser as me and they are doing deep engraving. I know this thing isn't going to cut through a 1/2 inch of metal,but I see them engraving at least an 1/8 to a quarter inch. I mean mine just scratches the damn surface. I'm wondering if my machine is faulty. I hate to bother you I just can't get no answers from anybody. And trying to get ahold of cloud ray the company is just a nightmare.
@@mpmachining7227 I've tried increasing the power. , decreasing the power,increasing the frequency,decreasing the frequency messing with the speeds and it just doesn't want to do what I see everybody else doing.
Unfortunately the seller on ebay is no longer listed. I would just search around for one on youtube and try to find one that's already located in the US (it will be made in china already but you don't have to deal with customs if it's sitting in a warehouse in CA) and read seller reviews obviously
@@ruggedsapper4751 ahhh something ATF compliant I'm guessing? I have done tons of lowers with mine (I have a 50W.) If you aren't trying to use it as a business and doing hundreds of them, a 20W fiber can definitely hit 0.003" deep it will just take considerably longer than a 50W obviously. As you can see in this video, I have gotten 0.125" deep in 6061 fairly easily
Wait, wait, wait... the 0.005" (1/200 of an inch) came out 0.1" (1/10 of an inch)... and that's a GOOD thing!? Maybe I'm misunderstanding... I'm an engineer, not an engraver... typically something missing it's mark by a couple ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE is a BAD thing ("Report! How how did the missile defense grid perform?" "Well, looks like they were getting close..." "'Close'? Wait... 'WERE'!?") So clarify for me here: are you saying the file was designed for a 20W, and when run on your 50W produced such a differential, and so you're excited about how much extra power you have to throw around? Or was that an ironic criticism of the laser's accuracy/the software's performance? I'm genuinely asking here.
Haha I can absolutely understand your confusion here! I probably could have done a better job explaining in the video than I did. The file was borrowed from a different user on UA-cam named JefferyJ. On his 20W laser he ran this file and got a depth of 0.005". I ran the exact same file on my 50W laser using different lenses without changing any settings just to see the depth I got and those were the results. To be clear, with this software, you are unable to make any "depth" settings directly. The laser can be adjusted for power (as a percentage of 50W in my case), frequency (from 20-100kHz which also can change depth and surface finish based on the amount of heat added into the part) and the number of passes it makes as well as how far apart the lines are that it's marking. All of those things will have an effect on the depth but you can't simply tell the machine to engrave to 0.005" and it will adjust as necessary. In this case, his video was aimed at finding the settings he needed in a specific application to get to the 0.005" depth. He could then use those settings in the future for that same material to have a known depth. For my test, it was less important the actual depth achieved and more so the relative depth using the same parameters. So yes, in short, I'm just happy that I can more easily get MUCH deeper engravings in the same amount of time. I hope that clears that up!
And socket manufacturers can't seem to manage more than a light frosting on the surface to indicate size. grr.
Great demo.
hello , i am in search of a laser like this ( actually i`m searching a JPT 50W source ) and i want it for making different tags from aluminium sheet, can you please tell me if it will be enough for cutting 3/4 cm pieces and engraving them, and also i would like to engrave some aluminium components with a depth of 1-2 mm . can you please tell me if this laser is enough for what i need ?
thanks
I'm also considering a 50w raycus. I need it to cut up to 1.2mm thick aluminium, but also for carbon fibre. I have found a few videos of people using the fiber laser to cut carbon fibre but not many. Do you have any thoughts or experience of using the fiber laser to cut carbon fiber e.g. up to 1.2mm. thickness?
I found your vdo the best out there. Many people just give the info without actually demonstrate. I have a question for you. I’m looking to engrave micro details on small pieces of stainless steel up to 1mm depth. 5x5cm working surface area max. Speed is not a concern but it has to be very precise. What kind of system would you recommend? Would a 20w be enough to go that deep? Thank you in advance 🙏
Jeremy, thank you very much for your comment and stopping by. Micro details are really what fiber lasers are great at. I have done text as small as 0.15mm in height with very crisp detail.
For your application, the depth is something that you may struggle with on a 20W fiber. I can really only speak from experience with my 50W laser but if time is really not a problem for you, then a 20W laser will absolutely be able to get there, it will just take a lot of passes.
What parameters did you run ?
I just got this same laser last week.. ps- I had a lot of issues with EZCAD 2.14.9, so I found 2.14.10 on the internet and it fixed the inability to import vector files.
I will absolutely have to try that. The version that came with my laser was super old. I'm pretty sure it's 2.9.something. I'll definitely be giving 2.14.10 a shot. Did you also go with a 50W?
Very cool, thanks for posting this. Was looking at getting a 50W as well after watching the JefferyJ vids, tho I am leaning towards one of the JPT laser sourced ones to get a little more flexibility for doing plastic marking. I'd be really curious to see what kind of depth you can get in steel with a longer focal length lens like a 150 or 175.
No problem at all, thank you for watching. Roughly what size would you be trying to engrave and how deep? I can do some testing for you if you'd like
@@mpmachining7227 Mostly I was just interested in seeing if the engraving depth was still acceptable even with some of the longer focal length lenses on a 50W fiber source. Not sure what all I'd mark yet, but I have a couple of potential business clients for batch marking so even on small parts, the more area the better to make setup blocks for marking multiple parts per setup.
For depth engraving, I'd say .025 or .030" that doesn't require dozens of passes would be acceptable.
Much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time!
I unfortunately think you're probably going to be disappointed if you're looking to get 0.03" deep with a 150mm lens. It's definitely possible, but as you put it, it will take many dozens of passes to get there. I don't have any personal experience using one but from what I have read, both the JPT and mopa sources do just slightly worse at achieving depth than the normal q switch laser.
Even using my 70mm lens, it would take a dozen or so passes to get to that depth
@@mpmachining7227 does this cut aluminum?
@@markk3948 it would depend on your meaning of "cut". Will it mark and deep engrave aluminum, absolutely! If you are thinking you want to use it like a plasma cutter to cut aluminum sheet or plate, this is not the machine for you
Hi! Great video. I just bought a new Raycus 50W and I would like to know how can I get a file like that. I'll buy it if available. I would like to start engraving metal. Thanks!
Kelvin, I actually downloaded the file from another youtube user JefferyJ. Check his page out and see if you can find it in his video description. If not then let me know and I'll send it over.
I'm sure he wouldn't mind me sharing his file but I'd like to give him credit for his work! Thanks for stopping by
Have you ever cut anything as small as a watch movement gear? I make custom watches and am currently looking to pay someone to cut watch movement parts.. Eventually i would buy a machine.. But for now wondering if the resolution is good enough.... Thanks for the video post :)
@akina akina what size are we talking? The laser has no problem at all with high resolution in small parts. If you check my Instagram I have cut some American flags on firearm barrels where the stars were about 0.008" wide and looks great under magnification. How thick is the material?
@@mpmachining7227 ok ill message u on ig ..
Do you think i can do with 200mm lens 0.2mm deep in aluminiu with 50w laser?
You absolutely can. You could get much deeper than that if you wanted. Obviously the biggest factors there would be how large the project was and how much time you were ok with spending. You definitely can't get 0.2mm in one pass with a 200mm lens. But if the part is small it wouldn't take much time at all
thanks for the knowledge, do you know how to use globe marking on a fiber laser machine
What do you mean by "globe marking"?
@@mpmachining7227 I see there is a rotary globe marking menu in ezcad2, but I don't know how to use it.
I'm impressed with the results of this machine. I'm studying buying one of these to CUT between 18 and 15 gauge steel sheet.
I've been searching from cnc plasma cuters to 150w co2 lasers and now just discovered this fiber engravers. The truth is I don't have space on my apartment for any plasma or co2 laser. As I don't need a large cutting area, I think this may fill my requeirments.
What do you think?
Unfortunately, cutting 15 gauge steel with this size and power laser will be painfully slow and borderline not usable. A cnc plasma is definitely the route you would want to go if your goal is to cut sheet metal. This can get through 15 gauge but it’s going to have to do a ton of passes and you will likely find issues with the metal reforming together as it is cut if you do not have a wide enough kerf built in
Can you upload your table with settings for ezcad?
The file was actually one I found in a video from JefferyJ on UA-cam. Look in the video description of his videos and if you can't find it let me know and I'll send it to you
I have a 30w Raycus fiber laser now. I'm wondering if the 50w is a worth while step up. Mine takes about 20-30 slow speed passes to cut a small circle in a piece of thin .045 aluminum business card. Have you tried cutting anything similar with yours?
Actually funny you ask. Just the other day, I used mine to cut some 0.05" stainless steel shim stock into 6" strips that I needed. I set it to run 30 passes going fairly quick at about 2000 mm/sec and was able to snap them right off. I had the shim stock sitting directly on my laser table so I was trying not to go through. At around 40 passes it would burn straight through. Only took about 30 seconds per 6" strip
@@mpmachining7227 That helps my decision. Thank you!
Nice video mate, what is the difference between a 20w and 50w for engraving different colors? cheerz
The power of the laser has less to do with the ability to laser colors on things like stainless and titanium and the type of laser is the bigger factor.
To do multiple colors controllabily on steel, you are going to want to go with a MOPA laser instead of a Q Switch type laser like I have. Unfortunately I don't own a MOPA laser so I would have a hard time telling you how much faster a 50W works over something like a 20W
Will it be suitable for cutting metal foils?
Thickness is 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm.
Stainless and Nickel, Brass and Copper, Aluminium
Absolutely. I just cut some similar thickness steel the other day with it. Works great
To be honest I almost never use the laser to cut through anything. It's mainly used to deep and surface engrave on steel. For some tests because another viewer had a similar question I decided to try and push it deeper. I grabbed some 0.06" (about 1.5mm) thick steel sheet and cut some 1" (2.5mm) diameter circles out of it.
I tried cutting the circle out rather than removing all of the material and engraving away the whole 1". It certainly will do it, but if I was trying to buy this laser with that in mind, I'll say you will be pretty disappointed. It took about 30 minutes on the first try. Changed some settings and got that down to about 15min. I'm sure you could likely reduce that even further but I decided it just wasn't practical to use this laser for that. I have cut tons of shim stock up to 0.01" and it does a beautiful job with that. It will cut it in one pass perfectly clean. What thickness were you thinking?
@@mpmachining7227 0.15 mm to 0.20 mm at most. It's under 0.01" for sure.
That would be a reasonable thickness to cut for sure
I have 30 W. Is it possible to change to 50w
The power unit extends from the marking head all the way to the main unit and is connected via a fiber optic cable. Unfortunately that's not something you will be able to work on or replace yourself.
Ok I'm new to this. Got the cash to fork out but need to know what 50w machine will do the job fast and clean. Type III anodized 7075
416R stainless
6AL4V Ti
4140 heat treated steel
MIL-B-11595E 4150 (CMV) steel
9310, 8620, and C158 tool steel.
Marking depths of up to 0.03"
Work area around 8"x6" min
Will also need a 4th axis.
A couple of questions before I start trying to recommend anything to you. First, what is your primary goal for marking? For the 400 series stainless and the Ti, were you looking to achieve any colored markings or are you strictly trying to deep engrave everything? Also, is time a big factor for you? Do you care if the engraving takes a bit longer or are you going for as fast as possible?
@@mpmachining7227 just engraving. Time is money, but not looking to invest in something where the gains are relegated to the the point past acceptable standards. That is to say diminishing returns.
@@ahole5407 ok, if you aren't looking for colored engraving then you rea) and don't have a need for a MOPA or JPT source which would save you some money. My laser is a Raycus 50W source that I got from eBay (the seller I got mine from is no longer in business) and it came with the 4th axis. The important things to look for are that the machine is compatible with EZCad2 and that the power source is Raycus. This will give you a frequency range between roughly 20-80 or 20-100kHz.
As far as an actual name brand goes, it's extremely hard to say. Most of the machines are made in the same one or two factories in China then imported here and either rebranded or just sold as is. The difference in price can vary widely for the exact same machine based on each seller. There are some American based companies that import the machines then do some initial QC checks on the machines and resell them for a higher price but with the piece of mind that you're actually going to get what you paid for (Cloudray Lasers, Wisely and OM Tech come to mind).
A major thing that I have heard people have issues with is customs clearing the laser so an important selling point for me was that the machine was already in the US. My machine came from China but when I purchased it, it was sitting at a warehouse in China. You can just search through eBay for 50W Raycus laser and sort by location if that's something you are worried about. From there, I would just send some sellers a few emails asking questions. If they don't respond to you, or can't speak English you may want to just pass on the laser. Not that there is anything wrong with a company from China that doesn't speak English, but it makes customer service a real nightmare if you had any issues.
Thank you for the information. Is there a particular reason why you went with a 50w instead of a 20w?
A 20W would be more than enough if your plan was to surface mark or just etch the coating off of metal. In my case, I do a lot of deep (0.01" and deeper) engraving into steel and aluminum which the 20W would be extremely slow and not practical for at all. The 50W does a great job at it though
@@mpmachining7227 thanks for the reply. Then why use a 50W, instead of just using a mill?
@@Sam11747 also a really great question. I certainly used to use my cnc mill for all of my engraving. Unfortunately even the tiniest of tools can only get so detailed and are pretty darn slow. I have since moved all of my marking from the mill over to the laser which frees up time on the mill that i much needed. The level of detail on the laser is simply incredible. For example, i do a lot of american flags on the hood of pistol barrels where the entire flag is 0.5” or so tall and the stars are about the size of a pen point and under 100x magnification you can see every point on every star. Even on a Kern you would be hard pressed to get that result
@@mpmachining7227 Thank you for replying. All good points, and is pretty much the reason I want one as well. Plus, unlike a mill it doesn't make too much noise. I don't think I need .01" depth, nor for it to be really quick. Time isn't really an issue for me in the short to medium term. As I plan on running one in the background while I do remote work.
Thanks again.
I am shopping around for a similar setup. Since you’ve owned it a while what consumables have you gone through. Can you do an update if time permits as to the results you have been able to achieve with this? Thanks.
Can you provide link to this machine on ebay?
@John Downs sorry for the delay in responding. UA-cam actually doesn't inform me when someone comments on my videos for some reason (I'm bad at this whole UA-cam thing) so I try to look through all of my videos once a week or so to see if I missed any. The seller that I purchased my laser from seems to no longer be active on eBay unfortunately. Below is a link to a similarly priced 50W laser but there are a bunch on eBay that you can search through. The important things I would look for is that the laser is being shipped from somewhere in the US and not from China (it will be made in China either way, but you want to pay extra for one that's already passed through customs and is here in the US) then try to message the seller and make sure they have the ability to communicate clearly with you and answer some questions about the laser. I asked each seller I was researching whether or not the laser module was a Raycus unit and if the control board was a genuine BJJCZ board. If it isn't, then a licensed version of EZCad (the software that should come with the laser to run it) won't work.
If you have specific questions, feel free to message me on Instagram or reply on here.
www.ebay.com/itm/50W-150x150mm-Detached-Fiber-laser-marking-machine-metal-Non-Metal/123968156043?hash=item1cdd13f18b:g:vwsAAOSwkMVc1QaV
@@mpmachining7227 i just find out that bjjcz board some are "lite" and other "standart" version, both are claimed "genuine". Maybe you could tell me the difference? Also how much have you paid in total with dellivery to door? Thanks.
Hi !!! How do you think. Is it true that this machine can work 100.000 hours?
Mr. Diddi honestly, only time will tell. I have a few hours of run time on it now with no issue but its next to impossible to prove 100k hours for a hobbiest. If it ever have any problems with it ill be sure to make a video
Well, let's think about this. 100,000 hours is around 4,166 days.
That would mean:
A. This laser is rated for continuous operation for around 11.4 YEARS. Dunno about your luck, but I can't think of many LEDs that get that kind of real-world lifespan. Don't even ask about lightbulbs.
But that's continuous.
Let's say the laser has a duty cycle of 40% (I've no idea if this is accurate, but seems not entirely unreasonable for a high-power electronics platform. Think welders.)
That would be:
B. around 28 years of CONSTANT use within its duty cycle allowance. eBay has been around for 25 years, to put this in perspective.
I would say that if this were a military laser platform, undergoing regular routine maintenance with the clockwork-like consistency one could expect from... well, from a military... then I'd STILL be bloody amazed if it lasted the better part of three decades.
So let's strip it down to 10,000 hours. 416 days. Or about 1.14 YEARS of CONSTANT use within the duty cycle (24 seconds on, 36 seconds off. 24 on. 36 off). I'd STILL be amazed if even the power supply survived cycling like that. Hell, find me a laser POINTER that will survive a cycle like that.
So - and this is from ignorance, mind; I'm an engineer, not an optics/laser specialist - Imma go with: no. Not a chance in hell. Even assuming it WAS made of the highest quality Chinesium in the Land of the Rising Quality Control Fault.
BRO is right. For a hobbiest? You'd never know if it will. Even if it only makes it 41.6 days (1,000 hour lifespan). Let's say you're using it a couple times a day, for the length of the tests shown here, say twice a day for 8 minutes each. That works out to around around... oh! Hey! About 4,000 days. Or about 100,000 hours. Total. Time. OWNED.
Hmmm. Maybe I just cracked their code?
@@grumblycurmudgeon That's funny! Maybe time will tell LOL
Will a laser like this work for firearms engraving?
Absolutely. That is the main reason I bought it actually. It does a pretty amazing job. I have some pictures up on my instagram where you can see some of the results I have gotten with it on Firearms
@@mpmachining7227 I was actually just scanning through your Instagram and followed you haha. Is it fairly easy to operate overall? I’ve got a firearms store and am looking to slowly add some engraving in.
Is the build plate large enough for most of the work you have to do on guns? Will it still work for engraving things such as wood or glass if I wanted to do any of that?
@@Yan1 the working area hasn't been an issue at all. The size you can do is determined by the lens that you are using. With a larger lens you obviously get a larger area, however, you get significantly less power (I have a whole video on lens size vs power) so you just need to pick the combination that works for you. My largest lens is 300mm and my smallest is 70mm.
As for materials it can engrave. Unfortunately, due to the wavelength of 1064nm that the laser is operating at, it will not work on glass or any other transparent objects and it does not work on wood well at all. It is mainly meant for metals and some plastics. For wood and glass you would want a CO2 laser, which conversely can not engrave metal. Those are a bit of a generalization because there are some hacky ways to get a fiber laser to mark glass or a CO2 to etch metal, but by and large for metal/plastic you want Fiber and for Wood/Plastic/Glass, you would want CO2
@@Yan1 There are a bunch of people who use lasers to do firearms engraving and you can find them in these laser groups: facebook.com/groups/440091022989424/
facebook.com/groups/4105345129538639/
Is this one MOPA?
It's not. This is a regular Q Switch Raycus laser
< 0.001 (5 passes) deep casting a shadow? That is much deeper then .001
Hey buddy I bought cloudray 50 watt laser and I can't get this thing to engrave any depth at all. I've watched so many videos with everybody's 50 W laser in graver and they are doing 10 times what mine is doing? Do you have any idea what could be wrong?. I can't find information anywhere man I have nowhere else to look
We can definitely get you squared away. A few questions to figure out what the problem might be.
First, what software are you using? EZCad2 I'm guessing? What settings are you using to engrave? (Power, speed, frequency, hatch settings and number of passes)
Next, what size lens are you using? Not sure what it shipped with default, I'm guessing a 120mm or a 150mm came stock but you could have swapped that which makes a big difference on power output.
Lastly and where in guessing a problem might be for you. What are you using to determine and set your focal length? If you don't have your focal length dialed down to within about 0.05", you will drastically lose power of removing material. And just to make sure I'm on the same page for what you're looking for, what depth are you actually looking to achieve and in what material?
@@mpmachining7227 light burn
@mpmachining7227 I watch everybody's videos that pretty much have the same fifty watt laser as me and they are doing deep engraving. I know this thing isn't going to cut through a 1/2 inch of metal,but I see them engraving at least an 1/8 to a quarter inch. I mean mine just scratches the damn surface. I'm wondering if my machine is faulty. I hate to bother you I just can't get no answers from anybody. And trying to get ahold of cloud ray the company is just a nightmare.
I would just appreciate any knowledge at all or if you can send me in the right path to try and figure this out I'd highly appreciate it.
@@mpmachining7227 I've tried increasing the power. , decreasing the power,increasing the frequency,decreasing the frequency messing with the speeds and it just doesn't want to do what I see everybody else doing.
What's the software?
EZCad2. It should come with all of these imported fiber laser machines
@@mpmachining7227 somebody doubt EZCAD not that stable? is that true?
I'm not sure if there are stability issues with different versions, but I have the latest release and have never had an issue at all using it
@@mpmachining7227 ok, thanks for your answer friend, I don't know how to text you in person, thanks
info on the seller. interested in getting one.
Unfortunately the seller on ebay is no longer listed. I would just search around for one on youtube and try to find one that's already located in the US (it will be made in china already but you don't have to deal with customs if it's sitting in a warehouse in CA) and read seller reviews obviously
@@mpmachining7227Thanks. do you have an idea how much watts do I need to engrave not etch on a 7075 aluminum?
How deep were you wanting to go?
@@mpmachining7227 . 003in (0.07620 mm)
@@ruggedsapper4751 ahhh something ATF compliant I'm guessing? I have done tons of lowers with mine (I have a 50W.) If you aren't trying to use it as a business and doing hundreds of them, a 20W fiber can definitely hit 0.003" deep it will just take considerably longer than a 50W obviously. As you can see in this video, I have gotten 0.125" deep in 6061 fairly easily
سعر المكنة ٥٠واط وكم تقطع معدن والمواصفات الفنية المكنة
Wait, wait, wait... the 0.005" (1/200 of an inch) came out 0.1" (1/10 of an inch)... and that's a GOOD thing!? Maybe I'm misunderstanding... I'm an engineer, not an engraver... typically something missing it's mark by a couple ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE is a BAD thing
("Report! How how did the missile defense grid perform?"
"Well, looks like they were getting close..."
"'Close'? Wait... 'WERE'!?")
So clarify for me here: are you saying the file was designed for a 20W, and when run on your 50W produced such a differential, and so you're excited about how much extra power you have to throw around?
Or was that an ironic criticism of the laser's accuracy/the software's performance?
I'm genuinely asking here.
Haha I can absolutely understand your confusion here! I probably could have done a better job explaining in the video than I did.
The file was borrowed from a different user on UA-cam named JefferyJ. On his 20W laser he ran this file and got a depth of 0.005". I ran the exact same file on my 50W laser using different lenses without changing any settings just to see the depth I got and those were the results.
To be clear, with this software, you are unable to make any "depth" settings directly. The laser can be adjusted for power (as a percentage of 50W in my case), frequency (from 20-100kHz which also can change depth and surface finish based on the amount of heat added into the part) and the number of passes it makes as well as how far apart the lines are that it's marking. All of those things will have an effect on the depth but you can't simply tell the machine to engrave to 0.005" and it will adjust as necessary.
In this case, his video was aimed at finding the settings he needed in a specific application to get to the 0.005" depth. He could then use those settings in the future for that same material to have a known depth.
For my test, it was less important the actual depth achieved and more so the relative depth using the same parameters. So yes, in short, I'm just happy that I can more easily get MUCH deeper engravings in the same amount of time.
I hope that clears that up!
anyone watching from india now?