Hey Jim. Thanks for the quick look! I’m anxious to see what else it can do. My XT8 is ordered and it really cant get here fast enough.😂 I believe that you are correct that this compliments the detail capability of the XT50 with this workhorse XT8… which is actually not too shabby on detail of it’s own.
You are right, if a person is on a tight budget, the XT50 is a really great laser because it can actually still cut 1/8" wood (just a little slow) in one pass, and is probably the best diode engraving laser out there. It blows away any other one diode laser that I know of.
I haven't even turned on my 15 watt yet, now I just want to order that one and use it instead! 😄Thanks for the quick look and looking forward to the detailed vid!
hey man awesome video! I'm definitely gonna be adding one of these to my business!. question though. The avid cnc actuator its mounted to is that something avid will sell you separately? can I mount this directly to my Z axis with say an adapter plate and just remove it for when i'm CNC cutting or is an actual actuator with a linear guide necessary?
Right now the AVID kit comes with the 15w laser, the actuator, and the whole control box. I don't know if they will sell that w/o the laser so you can add a different one or notm, and I doin't know if they will just sell that deploy mechanism. I got a prototype from them when I helped with the testing. I would suspect that at some point they will offer different laser models as well. One thing I do know is that you need an extra spring to lift the actuator with this heavier laser, and a bigger power supply than what they put in their laser box, and the Opt adapter box needs to be upgraded (ok, I guess thats 3 things). You can contact their customer service guys, they are very responsive.
Yeah if I'm too he honest I find the avid system to be a bit on the expensive side. I suppose it's plug and play with their system but I'm definitely not shy about deploying a diy system. I'll speak with opt and see what they suggest. Thanks for your insight! This is just about as powerful as I think I'll ever need.
@@Silverturky Yes, this one brings a lot more capability with the higher cutting speed and depth. I think the AVID solution is a pretty good price for those who don't want to do wiring or build the mounts, or write any software. My process for deciding the cost being reasonable is not if I could build it cheaper for myself, but if I was building these for others could I make enough money at it to make the long term support worth it. The answer on this one was "no". The parts are over half the cost, and then they did a lot of software work, and they do a good job of supporting it. For those of us who like to build stuff, we don't need support, and our hours don't get counted, then its better if we build it ourselves 🙂
Thanks Jim, very good video. Have you done similar testing with regards to engraving? Would your findings translate into being able to achive tighter line intervals by using faster speeds, as only the most intense center portion of the beam would be burning the wood?
Thank you. Yes, for engraving organic materials the beam width is very dependent on the power level and feedrate. It is less so for engraving metal and cutting organics because you need such a high power level for that that you are running relatively slow and high power. However, for engraving things like wood, paper, leather, or even doing things like the Norton White Tile method on ceramics, you will get a significant variation in pixels line width so you always have to do a little characterization to figure out what step over you want for fills, or what you want to call you DPI number when setting up a picture raster. Opt has to specify the beam size in a consistent way, so they have some fancy tools to measure beam profiles so they spec the beam size to be something like the area that contains 90% of the total power (or something like that). This gives you a means to compare each laser. However, you can make a significantly smaller line than their spec based on how easy the material burns, and your feed and power level. The beam profile of the laser probably affects this as well. A long or short focal length laser will probably have a different shape to the power distribution.
Yes, if you send me an email at jnwdwks@gmail.com I will answer any questions I can help with. I also have a setup document here: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xB6J0RZIU1j8g951NkP-8HXC1swC2C-B?usp=drive_link for the hardware and software setup on an AVID machine with Mach4.
Hi. Do you know if a new firmware (when available) of the PLH3D-CNC Adapter is upgradable by yourself or if is needed to send back the unit to OptLasers ?
This one is completely different. It has a new screen, and new electronics inside to handle the higher power, and a whole set of opto isolated inputs. The only thing that is the same is that it looks the same from 30ft away.
@@JNWoodworks Yes, i know that. I was asking if with the new one will be possible to upgrade the firmware when a new version is available. Sorry for my poor English 😞
Hey Jim.
Thanks for the quick look!
I’m anxious to see what else it can do.
My XT8 is ordered and it really cant get here fast enough.😂
I believe that you are correct that this compliments the detail capability of the XT50 with this workhorse XT8… which is actually not too shabby on detail of it’s own.
You are right, if a person is on a tight budget, the XT50 is a really great laser because it can actually still cut 1/8" wood (just a little slow) in one pass, and is probably the best diode engraving laser out there. It blows away any other one diode laser that I know of.
I haven't even turned on my 15 watt yet, now I just want to order that one and use it instead! 😄Thanks for the quick look and looking forward to the detailed vid!
Great vid. I learn a lot from your videos. I haven’t reached the point where my current laser power is a limitation but when I do…
Really enjoy watching your reviews and amazed at how you are able to put everything together so quickly. Thanks Jim.
Thank you 🙂
Thanks!
thank you.
Great vid jim, I feel much better about my order now!!
Thanks Brian. I really think they hit a home run with this one.
Now I really want one!
Nice review Jim!
hey man awesome video! I'm definitely gonna be adding one of these to my business!. question though. The avid cnc actuator its mounted to is that something avid will sell you separately? can I mount this directly to my Z axis with say an adapter plate and just remove it for when i'm CNC cutting or is an actual actuator with a linear guide necessary?
Right now the AVID kit comes with the 15w laser, the actuator, and the whole control box. I don't know if they will sell that w/o the laser so you can add a different one or notm, and I doin't know if they will just sell that deploy mechanism. I got a prototype from them when I helped with the testing. I would suspect that at some point they will offer different laser models as well. One thing I do know is that you need an extra spring to lift the actuator with this heavier laser, and a bigger power supply than what they put in their laser box, and the Opt adapter box needs to be upgraded (ok, I guess thats 3 things).
You can contact their customer service guys, they are very responsive.
Yeah if I'm too he honest I find the avid system to be a bit on the expensive side. I suppose it's plug and play with their system but I'm definitely not shy about deploying a diy system. I'll speak with opt and see what they suggest. Thanks for your insight! This is just about as powerful as I think I'll ever need.
@@Silverturky Yes, this one brings a lot more capability with the higher cutting speed and depth. I think the AVID solution is a pretty good price for those who don't want to do wiring or build the mounts, or write any software. My process for deciding the cost being reasonable is not if I could build it cheaper for myself, but if I was building these for others could I make enough money at it to make the long term support worth it. The answer on this one was "no". The parts are over half the cost, and then they did a lot of software work, and they do a good job of supporting it. For those of us who like to build stuff, we don't need support, and our hours don't get counted, then its better if we build it ourselves 🙂
Thanks Jim, very good video. Have you done similar testing with regards to engraving? Would your findings translate into being able to achive tighter line intervals by using faster speeds, as only the most intense center portion of the beam would be burning the wood?
Thank you.
Yes, for engraving organic materials the beam width is very dependent on the power level and feedrate. It is less so for engraving metal and cutting organics because you need such a high power level for that that you are running relatively slow and high power. However, for engraving things like wood, paper, leather, or even doing things like the Norton White Tile method on ceramics, you will get a significant variation in pixels line width so you always have to do a little characterization to figure out what step over you want for fills, or what you want to call you DPI number when setting up a picture raster. Opt has to specify the beam size in a consistent way, so they have some fancy tools to measure beam profiles so they spec the beam size to be something like the area that contains 90% of the total power (or something like that). This gives you a means to compare each laser. However, you can make a significantly smaller line than their spec based on how easy the material burns, and your feed and power level. The beam profile of the laser probably affects this as well. A long or short focal length laser will probably have a different shape to the power distribution.
Hi when are you doing the full review of the PLH3D-XT8
I was hoping to have done it by now but have been busy. I will have a video out with cutting tests.
😮 Tu l'as déjà! Je suis un peux jaloux 😩🥲
Thank you for the video. I just got my avid and I'm setting up this 45 watt laser on it. Would you by chance be able to give any pointers on setup?
Yes, if you send me an email at jnwdwks@gmail.com I will answer any questions I can help with. I also have a setup document here: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xB6J0RZIU1j8g951NkP-8HXC1swC2C-B?usp=drive_link for the hardware and software setup on an AVID machine with Mach4.
Hi. Do you know if a new firmware (when available) of the PLH3D-CNC Adapter is upgradable by yourself or if is needed to send back the unit to OptLasers ?
This one is completely different. It has a new screen, and new electronics inside to handle the higher power, and a whole set of opto isolated inputs. The only thing that is the same is that it looks the same from 30ft away.
@@JNWoodworks Yes, i know that. I was asking if with the new one will be possible to upgrade the firmware when a new version is available. Sorry for my poor English 😞
@@IceCreams62 Oh, thats a good question. I can find out for you.
@@JNWoodworks Thanks, very appreciate, let me know 🙂
@@IceCreams62 It sounds like the board is physically updatable, but they don't have any updates planned.
I want...
🤣