The whole issue of the metal warping here is essentially the same issue when welding or surface grinding thin metal: too much heat concentrated into too small of an area at once. Two suggestions to reduce metal warping. The first is to back the workpiece with a block of a good conductor (such as aluminum) instead of the wood. The other is to change the order of operations so no area is heated for long periods (do a little engraving in an area then move to the opposite end of your work piece) - this may not be practical with the software you use (it would be trivial with MasterCam).
Damn (sorry for the expression 😔) you are for me one of the most serious fabricators on TH-cam. You work ethic, detailing, explaining,… and so much more are through expiring!
So after watching the whole video, I have a quick question. What would happen if you tried to engrave "regular" steel? I'd love to be able to laser a makers mark onto my parts, but I typically only use 4140, reaching for other steels as needed (like 303 stainless for things like dumbbell handles). Would it cause excessive oxidation? Or is there another reason you can only use stainless? I should probably just Google this, but other folks may be wondering the same thing so I figured I'd ask here.
My top tip for using the 'paint' type spray can, is once you have finished using it flip it upside down and give it a quick press. This will clear the spray head and stops it blocking up.
Metals (overall) tend to be more reflective of light, as the wavelength gets smaller (ie. towards and beyond UV), but inadvertently - it's quite difficult to make lasers very powerful in the small ("Hundreds of nm") wavelengths. But as it happens to be, around the 1,000nm wavelength (Near Infrared) are fibre lasers - which is a technology that basically consists several meters of coiled fibre optic wire, doped in special elements (eg. Ytterbium "Yb"). We then use a primary diode lasers (pump or feed lasers) not unlike your blue ones there, in that they are frequently combined in parallel, but more powerful and typically in the 910nm (+/-) range. These are focused down the doped fibre optic and bounced back between two mirrors, this excites the Ytterbium in the fibre optics, and then that lets go of a slightly longer wavelength (1000-1100nm). The mirror at one end will permit some of the long wavelength light, but still bounce the 900's back and forth. This is fairly efficient in terms of energy saturation, and allows these lasers to be VERY powerful - in the order of dozens of kilowatts, where (with the assistance of compressed oxygen) can cut through inch-thick steel. Fibre lasers are not quite "Hobbyist friendly" yet - the price is still quite high for powerful models (mainly due to the rare element doping requirements and high power optics), but they're coming down. Slowly. Have a look at the OMTech 20W.
Marco Reps has a really great fiber laser teardown video. I looked at the fiber laser markers, but they're still a little more than I want to invest. If someone is really itching to send me one...that might be another matter.
@@campkohler9131 There is a secret cabal of health insurance companies doing all that they can to keep ytterbium scare by promoting its use in dentistry tools. Diabolical!
I've only recently discovered your channel and have been watching a lot of your past videos. Just wanted to give you props on having a ton of really great projects and very engaging style of presenting them! I'm in the process of acquiring all the bits necessary for both the lathe vfd upgrade, and the electronic lead screw. Thanks for taking the time to put together these great videos.
I just got an S1 40w and have already engraved anodized aluminum and found it was easy and the results were fantastic. Judging by your process here, I think stainless may be just a degree of higher difficulty but I’m about to give it a go. Great tip on the cercoat
Looks great! It's funny how we often miss the little details like the sanding direction that seem obvious in hindsight. Anyone else notice that the ATC frame isn't lined up with the LMIT frame? =P
Thank you for sharing, your video shows a diode laser actually burning on stainless and for a hobbyist this is good to know. I have been looking into getting a laser cutter for ages but the cost of getting a Co2 laser is to much for what I intend to use one for, and this type is at good price.
Hey, great work. I used to make control panels like these, but I used a different technique : I simply printed on a transparent film, with a high quality inkjet printer, then sandwitched the film between the metal panel and an acrylic (2mm thick) plate with the same openings as in the metal panel and screwed everything together. That tech. gave me 3 advantages : can print in color, and being able to recover/modify and just throw away the old film, and finally the outer acrylic layer is postive protection that can be cleaned easily without worrying about the legends being wiped away. Hope this helps.
I like that you uses mutable programs and different applications to get this job done. You are very knowledgeable and a good narrator. When you do have something go wrong you show it so people know it happens and can make adjustments with some help from you. Thank You for your time and expertise.
James, I use Laserbond 100 which is a lesser expensive alternative to Cermark and does an excellent job. I've used it on metals and glassware and it looks great. Also I've learned that as soon as I get the aerosol can in my hand, muscle memory would take over and I'd be in "paint full-coverage mode"... had to break that habit and learn to only spray the product where there was going to be etching.. as you say, it is expensive so no need to waste on un-etched areas.
You know, I was just thinking; if you were planning on doing a batch of the same panel, making a paint 'masking panel' from thin plywood/MDF would be a great way to save CerMark and also minimise clean-up after laser engraving.
And for those who live where the humidity is high, rust can be prevented in one of two ways: 1) periodically wipe down the steel surface and cover it with a thin film of light machine oil or mineral oil; or 2) finely grind or polish the surface to a high sheen. I live where the humidity is 92+ percent during some months. I recently found an old lathe toolholder I made back in the late 1980's in an old toolbox that had been in storage since the early 1990's. I could see a slightly discolored impression of my thumbprint where I'd touched the part decades ago, but the rust beginning to form from the acid in my body oils could not be felt or measured.
That's great. I didn't realise that diode lasers could mark stainless directly. I can get a similar result by spraying "Coldgal" zinc based paint onto the bare metal and then running my CO2 laser hot and slow. It's about 5% of the cost of Cermark!
How do you get rid of the coating from the unmarked area? What other material could one use that is dirt cheap? Flour, powdered sugar, some kind of powdered sand or glass? Maybe a sheet of some kind of colored plastic that can be peeled off after burning. The mind boggles.
@@campkohler9131 The zinc paint comes off easily with mineral spirits (turpentine). It doesn't affect the laser engraved area. Like the Cermark it's quite black and very durable.
Hi James, at 14:15, you can assign a tool path (T1 and T2 in the layer pallette) which still lets you properly frame but will not output. Nice work by the way!
It's a combination of "molybdenum compounds" and silica, so it fuses into a glass. The pigment may be the same, but the overall chemistry is different.
I just tried Brilliance Laser Marking Spray for the first time. Washes of with just water, and you can't get any blacker print. I tried the Laser Bond Tech spray which also washes off with water, but only prints in kind of a gray, and leaves residue behind. Last test ran was 20mm @100% which deformed the metal, using Brilliance. Anything higher though will not bond to the metal. And yes, this testing was done with the xTool D-1 laser. Brilliance is expensive, but you don't need to fully cover the part.
Can you please tell me if this is a 10w or 20w? I have had my 20w for about 2 months now and you are so far ahead of me.... especially with your patience :-)
I use the CerMark (yes it's a bit expensive!) - it washes off with water and a gentle cloth (much easier than rubbing with a rag) - great video though 👍🏻
The laser cross hairs for precision alignment of the head with the work piece looks like a very useful feature. The creality falcon laser, which I bought, doesn’t seem to have anything like that ☹️
Excellent video. My partner and I are looking to do some motorcycle and car part customizing using a laser and I wasn't sure if they diode would get the job done. Thanks for showing me the possibilities. Great video, well paste and excellently put together.
All of your videos are terrific, James! I am extremely impressed by the breadth of your knowledge and the wide variety of builds you successfully execute. Only problem is, I see you using something and am sure I need the item you are using!! I guess a xTool is now in my future!
As usual, you have impressed me with your ability to absorb an unfamiliar chunk of software, learn all its buttons, and then remember it all well enough to narrate its use in real time. Dunno how you do that…
Frickin’ lasers! Great project to try this out on. Another professional job. I have see these lasers advertised and demo’d everywhere. Would be interested in your final thoughts on the product after your aluminum video. So far, it looks very good to me for a hobbyist. Thanks for sharing!
12:20. Play around with LightBurn. You’ll find it’s remarkably easy to control sizes, alignments and other design elements. You just need a little familiarity with it’s tool set. I decided to buy it, just after testing it for 2 minutes!
For someone who owns serious lasers I am impress to see that it actually marked the SS. And yes, not being deep and permanent is understandable, but it also did very good with Cermark. Anodized Aluminum will be a breeze since it doesn't require that much power. However the software and print driver looked very cumbersome. I guess I am just spoiled 😄
Right now, I do all of my engraving mechanically. I’ve been thinking about a laser unit. It’s difficult to decide on what to get. The largest size I need to engrave is a standard rack panel width of 19”, but just to about a 0.5” from each edge. The height would be about 4 rack high, or 7”, again not quite to the edges. So, ok, that’s a fair size. So what will do that? Well, a fiber laser will, but for that size, we’re talking about $4 to $7 thousand! Ah, that’s a bit much as I’m not charging for what I do. CO2 machines tend to not be terribly reliable over the long term. But they will work, just not very well for metals. So laser diodes are next. There are different photo laser colors. Mostly from blue to violet. So the question is, you’ve used stainless, which I do use for parts, but rarely panels. Will this work with aluminum, particularly anodized? If so, would black anodized work better, as it might easily burn through the black layer? Have you tried? Oops! I typed this right before the end of the video where you mentioned anodized aluminum. Still interested to see black anodized.
I enjoyed this review, thank you James. You inspired me to build my own CNC Mill and all the information you provide and share is amazing and so detailed....keep it up
Nice and interesting video! I put a diode laser on my CNC and had some similar problems with laser marking. I used LaserWeb to generate G-code. Which worked but it was not ideal with a lot of wasted time. Then I just used the horizontal milling in Fusion 360 and set the end mill to 0.1 or 0.2mm depending on the material. To export, I modified the post processor to turn off the laser at every linking move. This greatly increased speed of my projects. Also, the spindle speed can be changed to set laser power. In my case 24000 rpm = 100%.
Nice result, James. The path for rendering in the tooling app was kinda weird. Since the laser can move in X/Y why does the software insist on raster scanning the entire surface like a TV CRT beam. Doesn't make much sense. As mostly vectors that are aligned with the axes this should have been a very rapid cakewalk. Is it done like this because of concern for repeatability of positioning? Strange. Keep on trucking my man.
You can choose the pattern it uses. I used offset fill and raster fill for different parts of the artwork. You may have skipped that part of the video?
Thanks for sharing. I'm only getting interested in dabbling with low cost lasers since I'm already retired. I like how you explained everything very simply. My one concern is eye safety. I have watched a number of videos where they mention that not all laser glasses are of adequate quality.
i know im whining but man... nowadays, every video that's interesting (including this one... thats a compliment) is a 15-20-30 min video. i just dont have time to download all this into my brain 🤣 Great video. Very informative. You have a new sub.
IIRC, cermark is mostly Molybdenum, and the laser is sintering it on. You can buy the raw ingredients (dry moly lube) and make your own for cheaper. They have a new version - cermark 2 - that is suppose to work better with low powered lasers. Do you know which one you used?
Nice work! Since I don't own a laser I would have made the panels out of pcb. The connector holes and silk screen will be perfect. But a trial using laser and powder coat would be really interesting.
I'm sorry up front. (Im a bit OCD)... but the intersection between "probe", "estop", "atc", and the high right side of "limit" is of by at least a pixel. In particular, the line above "atc" is low. Lotsa love. I'm thinking real hard on getting the 40w x1 pro. The price seems right.. I've done 3d printing... bored. I like to work in metal. Should I get the laser engraver, or the cnc plasma cutting table?
Excellent tip about setting the power to zero for outside boundaries of the part. Also appreciate the info about how to get the laser to follow the line of the geometry, instead of back and forth like a dot matrix printer. I have a Ortur LM3 and these tips saved time (and money) immediately which is an excellent bonus. Like the switching between Fusion 360, Illustrator, and LightBurn. 👍👍
WOW, I like how it looked even before you did the one with the spray. I have an Amazon mini router 3018, it has a blue 450 nm laser, I may try that. I was going to do my control panel in 1/8 inch MDF to attach to my control box. You are moving way faster than I am. I started to build my EDM machine over a year ago. At first, I wanted to do a wire EDM but, I went with a probe in a drill bit head. I have not designed my circuit yet for Electrical discharge. I am getting there! Take care, thank you for your videos. Keep up the great works. Lee
I'm very curious about EDM. I tried to get involved with AvE's project a few years ago when it looked like he was headed that direction, but it didn't go anywhere.
I'd be curious if you dissolved borax and then mixed it with black paint if you'd get a similar result to the spray. Borax is used to prep crucibles, because when heated, it forms a glassy glaze over the surface so your melted metals don't stick to the graphite.
With a CO2 laser it is generally not recommended to use it at the rated power as it shortens the life of the tube significantly. Is it safe to use full power with this laser?
Great video! Suppose you put a tiny mic on the head, amplify the sound of the cooling fan, and, from a speaker at the edge of the machine, flood the area with out-of-phase sound. Will that cut down the whine?
Great video!! I just purchased the D1 20W laser platform for use in my knife making shop. Does that spray on stuff work with other metals as well? Like high carbon steel?
I wonder if you can test regular powder coating powder. Comes in many colors. Should work like the spay you used at a fraction of the cost. And you could do different colors.
It would be interesting to see if you could put a thin layer of powder coating powder on the part and cure it with the laser. I may give it a shot in the future. My 40w co2 laser has issues though. You might be able to apply the powder without a gun but it would be much easier to get a even coating with a gun. I only bring it up because powder is reasonably cheap and might be a feasible alternative to the cermark spray if you plan on marking metal a lot.
He actually says "cartesian robot", which isn't an arbitrary description, but an exact description of a machine with that type of movement 😅 Most simple 3d printers are also cartesian robots
Great channel James, I like the way you use a lot of different types of machines for your projects. I have picked up a several tips that I can use at work where I use some of the same type machines and do some CAD work too. I do have one tip for aligning your parts for laser etching. To save time on the alignment you could have the laser burn the outline of the part on a scrap piece of wood or cardboard then put your part on the outline instead of having to frame it several times to get it lined up. You would probably need to be able to set an origin point at the laser for this to work good and I don’t think I saw you do that, not sure if you can on your machine. Keep the videos coming!!
Good tip. I'm not totally sure about this particular laser. It de-energizes the motors as it sits idle, so I'm not sure how well it keeps position. But I have a project coming up that requires very precise alignment, and that's a fantastic way to do it.
Thanks for the idea, Colby. I had some trouble getting the laser to repeat in the same position every time, but once I got it sorted, it works a treat. I used the technique in a video that will be posted this coming Saturday, and it saved me a lot of trouble.
This is a really good video , super informative and really helpful. I really wavering on what machine i am gonna buy .. I am starting of as a complete newbie with lasers though i have some experience with a mori seiki cnc machine that a friend of mine owns and has been cutting trick high performance parts fro motor cycles fro years now. I have a ever growing itch to further my experience with cnc , So i am a small business owner as well , i am a drywall man , renovations and remodeling service provider, I am collectively buying tools for this and believe it or not its really easy to get them mixed up with others on job sites ie batteries cordless tools , hand tools ect. My solution is i am gonna purchase a laser engraver to put my brand on all my equipment and create a way to hopefully solve the problem of tools being mistakenly switched out. Plus like the video i just watched do some projects like you just showed . Thanks for the video,.
Have you thought about applying a resist to the steel, then using the laser to remove the resist? Afterwards you can use acid to etch the steel to whatever depth you want. Black nickel plate and remove the resist? My unique (I think) technique.
I find it interesting that you are building a new gantry style CNC machine at the same time Langmuir (like your plasma table) is coming out with its new MR-1 CNC machine....are you going to get a chance to test one of these new MR-1 machines first hand...?
I'd like to see how a galvo laser like the LaserPecker 2 does with marking SS this way. The reason is that when I order cut and 3D folded sheet metal parts from a place like OSHCut, their cutting laser doesn't mark very well. OSHCut *will* let you designate art for marking, but I tried and the results were not good. Since my parts are already folded when I get them from OSHCut, I can't stick them under an XY laser, so the only solution I can think of is to maybe aim a portable galvo laser at the spots I want labeled after I get the part.
I did a stainless test card using a small sheet of stainless, a K40 CO2 laser, and some Dry Moly Lube spray as the surface treatment, and that has been in someone's pocket since 2018 with no wear on the engraved surfaces. It may be an extra option for you. I don't know how well it would work with the UV Diode laser, vs the IR CO2 laser.
I think the black pigment in the Cermark is a molybdenum oxide. It's probably worthy trying with just the moly spray to see how much difference the silica and other glass components make.
I'd like to know how well it would fuse powder coat. There wouldn't be as much cost or waste. The media isn't as expensive and you might be able to brush off and reuse the extra powder. I think it's worth an experiment. Maybe if you do too we'll get to see it?
Looks pretty good! If you like we could try and burn one using our fiber laser for you just for comparison. It definitely cuts material away as opposed to oxidizing, though not super deep.
The line outline warning less than fill isn’t cause the line after is a cut but rather that a slower outline will give a more crisp outline cleanup mark if you’re doing shapes/text on things like leather/wood/etc. If your outline is a little slower than fill, it just defines it a little more in a lot of cases. Also for frame, you can check your frame with the outer layer turned on. Then just before you engrave toggle the button to turn off that layer from outputting in the top right.
Great result! I have been told that diode lasers should not be used at 100%, or the diode generates really quickly. However, it's understandable that you need all the power it can deliver with a small laser.
@@Ale_Lab semiconductor laser lifetime is directly related to operating temperature. If the module is designed well and can dissipate the waste heat effectively, it should have a long life, regardless of power level. The quoted lifetimes are considerably longer than those of tube lasers.
That turned out well, but you need a shark that looks like it is holding the tool head. 🦈😀 Those open lasers scare me... I think I would have to make an enclosure for it.
Nice work as always James. One thing could be better I think from a graphic design point; the border outlines are too close to each other which makes them connected for a human eye. If the separation is just a few millimeter wider it looks cleaner and more defined as separate areas. Small tip. Thank you! Best, Job
It's a design challenge, because if you make the borders smaller, you start running into the connector lock nuts, and this is a visual challenge as well.
thanks. that was helpful. just got the same laser, was curious about the effects of add ons like that. i would have been fine with the original, or maybe another pass (or two)? anyways, very cool, something i will be doing soon!! thanks
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You can use T1/T2 layer instead of 02 layer so you can frame without really burn the path.
The whole issue of the metal warping here is essentially the same issue when welding or surface grinding thin metal: too much heat concentrated into too small of an area at once.
Two suggestions to reduce metal warping. The first is to back the workpiece with a block of a good conductor (such as aluminum) instead of the wood. The other is to change the order of operations so no area is heated for long periods (do a little engraving in an area then move to the opposite end of your work piece) - this may not be practical with the software you use (it would be trivial with MasterCam).
Damn (sorry for the expression 😔) you are for me one of the most serious fabricators on TH-cam. You work ethic, detailing, explaining,… and so much more are through expiring!
So after watching the whole video, I have a quick question. What would happen if you tried to engrave "regular" steel? I'd love to be able to laser a makers mark onto my parts, but I typically only use 4140, reaching for other steels as needed (like 303 stainless for things like dumbbell handles). Would it cause excessive oxidation? Or is there another reason you can only use stainless? I should probably just Google this, but other folks may be wondering the same thing so I figured I'd ask here.
My top tip for using the 'paint' type spray can, is once you have finished using it flip it upside down and give it a quick press. This will clear the spray head and stops it blocking up.
Looking forward to your aluminium engraving video! Also, I would be interesting in seeing a very close zoom (and/or microscope image) of the markings.
Noted!
Metals (overall) tend to be more reflective of light, as the wavelength gets smaller (ie. towards and beyond UV), but inadvertently - it's quite difficult to make lasers very powerful in the small ("Hundreds of nm") wavelengths. But as it happens to be, around the 1,000nm wavelength (Near Infrared) are fibre lasers - which is a technology that basically consists several meters of coiled fibre optic wire, doped in special elements (eg. Ytterbium "Yb"). We then use a primary diode lasers (pump or feed lasers) not unlike your blue ones there, in that they are frequently combined in parallel, but more powerful and typically in the 910nm (+/-) range. These are focused down the doped fibre optic and bounced back between two mirrors, this excites the Ytterbium in the fibre optics, and then that lets go of a slightly longer wavelength (1000-1100nm). The mirror at one end will permit some of the long wavelength light, but still bounce the 900's back and forth. This is fairly efficient in terms of energy saturation, and allows these lasers to be VERY powerful - in the order of dozens of kilowatts, where (with the assistance of compressed oxygen) can cut through inch-thick steel. Fibre lasers are not quite "Hobbyist friendly" yet - the price is still quite high for powerful models (mainly due to the rare element doping requirements and high power optics), but they're coming down. Slowly. Have a look at the OMTech 20W.
Marco Reps has a really great fiber laser teardown video. I looked at the fiber laser markers, but they're still a little more than I want to invest. If someone is really itching to send me one...that might be another matter.
Forgetting the cost, having something in the DYIer's garage that will cut 1" steel seems like a new source of disabling injuries. Yikes!
@@campkohler9131 There is a secret cabal of health insurance companies doing all that they can to keep ytterbium scare by promoting its use in dentistry tools. Diabolical!
@@campkohler9131 Seriously. That's a meter long cutting disc but with potentially no warning type of risk. No no noooo
I've only recently discovered your channel and have been watching a lot of your past videos. Just wanted to give you props on having a ton of really great projects and very engaging style of presenting them! I'm in the process of acquiring all the bits necessary for both the lathe vfd upgrade, and the electronic lead screw. Thanks for taking the time to put together these great videos.
I just got an S1 40w and have already engraved anodized aluminum and found it was easy and the results were fantastic. Judging by your process here, I think stainless may be just a degree of higher difficulty but I’m about to give it a go. Great tip on the cercoat
Looks great! It's funny how we often miss the little details like the sanding direction that seem obvious in hindsight. Anyone else notice that the ATC frame isn't lined up with the LMIT frame? =P
I noticed it while editing. If it weren't on the bottom of the box, I would re-do it.
@@Clough42 As someone who can't let go of the little things, I admire your restraint!
Thank you for sharing,
your video shows a diode laser actually burning on stainless and for a hobbyist this is good to know.
I have been looking into getting a laser cutter for ages but the cost of getting a Co2 laser is to much for what I intend to use one for, and this type is at good price.
Hey, great work.
I used to make control panels like these, but I used a different technique :
I simply printed on a transparent film, with a high quality inkjet printer, then sandwitched the
film between the metal panel and an acrylic (2mm thick) plate with the same openings as in
the metal panel and screwed everything together.
That tech. gave me 3 advantages : can print in color, and being able to recover/modify and just throw away the old film,
and finally the outer acrylic layer is postive protection that can be cleaned easily without worrying about the legends being
wiped away.
Hope this helps.
That's a good process. If you can laser cut the acrylic, even better. :)
Can also use a vinyl cutter and a temporary or permanent adhesive vinyl. It's like a laser cutter but with an xacto knife instead of a laser...
@@Clough42 sure, that's what I did exactly.
I like that you uses mutable programs and different applications to get this job done. You are very knowledgeable and a good narrator. When you do have something go wrong you show it so people know it happens and can make adjustments with some help from you. Thank You for your time and expertise.
James, I use Laserbond 100 which is a lesser expensive alternative to Cermark and does an excellent job. I've used it on metals and glassware and it looks great. Also I've learned that as soon as I get the aerosol can in my hand, muscle memory would take over and I'd be in "paint full-coverage mode"... had to break that habit and learn to only spray the product where there was going to be etching.. as you say, it is expensive so no need to waste on un-etched areas.
You know, I was just thinking; if you were planning on doing a batch of the same panel, making a paint 'masking panel' from thin plywood/MDF would be a great way to save CerMark and also minimise clean-up after laser engraving.
And for those who live where the humidity is high, rust can be prevented in one of two ways: 1) periodically wipe down the steel surface and cover it with a thin film of light machine oil or mineral oil; or 2) finely grind or polish the surface to a high sheen.
I live where the humidity is 92+ percent during some months. I recently found an old lathe toolholder I made back in the late 1980's in an old toolbox that had been in storage since the early 1990's. I could see a slightly discolored impression of my thumbprint where I'd touched the part decades ago, but the rust beginning to form from the acid in my body oils could not be felt or measured.
That's great. I didn't realise that diode lasers could mark stainless directly. I can get a similar result by spraying "Coldgal" zinc based paint onto the bare metal and then running my CO2 laser hot and slow. It's about 5% of the cost of Cermark!
How do you get rid of the coating from the unmarked area? What other material could one use that is dirt cheap? Flour, powdered sugar, some kind of powdered sand or glass? Maybe a sheet of some kind of colored plastic that can be peeled off after burning. The mind boggles.
@@campkohler9131 The zinc paint comes off easily with mineral spirits (turpentine). It doesn't affect the laser engraved area. Like the Cermark it's quite black and very durable.
Hi James, at 14:15, you can assign a tool path (T1 and T2 in the layer pallette) which still lets you properly frame but will not output. Nice work by the way!
Cool. I'll have to try it.
My understanding is the CerMark stuff's main ingredient is molybdenum disulfide, and that other 'moly' sprays can be used as a substitute!
It's a combination of "molybdenum compounds" and silica, so it fuses into a glass. The pigment may be the same, but the overall chemistry is different.
Trying some 'anti-seize' paste today myself... I refuse to buy a $30.00 can of hair spray for sheet metal....
I just tried Brilliance Laser Marking Spray for the first time. Washes of with just water, and you can't get any blacker print. I tried the Laser Bond Tech spray which also washes off with water, but only prints in kind of a gray, and leaves residue behind. Last test ran was 20mm @100% which deformed the metal, using Brilliance. Anything higher though will not bond to the metal. And yes, this testing was done with the xTool D-1 laser. Brilliance is expensive, but you don't need to fully cover the part.
Can you please tell me if this is a 10w or 20w? I have had my 20w for about 2 months now and you are so far ahead of me.... especially with your patience :-)
Wow looks great James! I'm looking forward to the anodized aluminum video. 👍👍
I use the CerMark (yes it's a bit expensive!) - it washes off with water and a gentle cloth (much easier than rubbing with a rag) - great video though 👍🏻
thank you for showing your errors - so helpful for people learning to troubleshoot for their own projects
The laser cross hairs for precision alignment of the head with the work piece looks like a very useful feature. The creality falcon laser, which I bought, doesn’t seem to have anything like that ☹️
in lightburn you hit can set the power to 1% and hit the fire button and youll get a red dot you can use to line it up
Excellent video. My partner and I are looking to do some motorcycle and car part customizing using a laser and I wasn't sure if they diode would get the job done. Thanks for showing me the possibilities. Great video, well paste and excellently put together.
Try using Fill shapes individually in your settings. that might speed things up too. I know this was posted 7 months ago but might help in the future.
All of your videos are terrific, James! I am extremely impressed by the breadth of your knowledge and the wide variety of builds you successfully execute. Only problem is, I see you using something and am sure I need the item you are using!! I guess a xTool is now in my future!
Gotta say that looks a lot better than the engraving our CO2 Laser at work does on stainless
Very nice work! The added text and outlines enhanced the look of the panel a lot
As usual, you have impressed me with your ability to absorb an unfamiliar chunk of software, learn all its buttons, and then remember it all well enough to narrate its use in real time. Dunno how you do that…
I use the space in my mind where other people remember each others' names. :)
Ah, I see. Worthy swap, that.
Frickin’ lasers! Great project to try this out on. Another professional job. I have see these lasers advertised and demo’d everywhere. Would be interested in your final thoughts on the product after your aluminum video. So far, it looks very good to me for a hobbyist. Thanks for sharing!
12:20. Play around with LightBurn. You’ll find it’s remarkably easy to control sizes, alignments and other design elements. You just need a little familiarity with it’s tool set. I decided to buy it, just after testing it for 2 minutes!
Same here. I won't buy another laser that doesn't support it.
Great video production/discussion/demonstration….enjoyed and nice finish!!
Outstanding James! Perfection is in the details. The older you get, the more appreciate it. Can't wait for the anodized aluminum.
This looks SO good, you've got me wanting to remake the gland plate of my control box, with my diode laser. Sharpie just doesn't seem to cut it, now.
Yeah, that's the danger of discovering something new and awesome.
For someone who owns serious lasers I am impress to see that it actually marked the SS. And yes, not being deep and permanent is understandable, but it also did very good with Cermark. Anodized Aluminum will be a breeze since it doesn't require that much power. However the software and print driver looked very cumbersome. I guess I am just spoiled 😄
What software stack are you using?
@@Clough42 I use Corel for CAD and Epilog has a fantastic print driver and Job Manager that we all use.
Right now, I do all of my engraving mechanically. I’ve been thinking about a laser unit. It’s difficult to decide on what to get. The largest size I need to engrave is a standard rack panel width of 19”, but just to about a 0.5” from each edge. The height would be about 4 rack high, or 7”, again not quite to the edges.
So, ok, that’s a fair size. So what will do that? Well, a fiber laser will, but for that size, we’re talking about $4 to $7 thousand! Ah, that’s a bit much as I’m not charging for what I do. CO2 machines tend to not be terribly reliable over the long term. But they will work, just not very well for metals. So laser diodes are next. There are different photo laser colors. Mostly from blue to violet.
So the question is, you’ve used stainless, which I do use for parts, but rarely panels. Will this work with aluminum, particularly anodized? If so, would black anodized work better, as it might easily burn through the black layer? Have you tried?
Oops! I typed this right before the end of the video where you mentioned anodized aluminum. Still interested to see black anodized.
I enjoyed this review, thank you James. You inspired me to build my own CNC Mill and all the information you provide and share is amazing and so detailed....keep it up
Nice and interesting video!
I put a diode laser on my CNC and had some similar problems with laser marking. I used LaserWeb to generate G-code. Which worked but it was not ideal with a lot of wasted time. Then I just used the horizontal milling in Fusion 360 and set the end mill to 0.1 or 0.2mm depending on the material. To export, I modified the post processor to turn off the laser at every linking move. This greatly increased speed of my projects. Also, the spindle speed can be changed to set laser power. In my case 24000 rpm = 100%.
Nice result, James. The path for rendering in the tooling app was kinda weird. Since the laser can move in X/Y why does the software insist on raster scanning the entire surface like a TV CRT beam. Doesn't make much sense. As mostly vectors that are aligned with the axes this should have been a very rapid cakewalk. Is it done like this because of concern for repeatability of positioning? Strange. Keep on trucking my man.
You can choose the pattern it uses. I used offset fill and raster fill for different parts of the artwork. You may have skipped that part of the video?
James - you’re having endless fun 👍👍😎👍👍
Is that a 20 or 40w? I tried looking up which laser was 400nm but couldn’t find it.
14:24 there are two colors all the way to the right in light burn and they are for frames and fixturing they are orange t1 and light blue t2
Thanks for sharing. I'm only getting interested in dabbling with low cost lasers since I'm already retired. I like how you explained everything very simply. My one concern is eye safety. I have watched a number of videos where they mention that not all laser glasses are of adequate quality.
I bought safety glasses from an independent source.
Another great video James. What are those white connectors you have on your panel? I’m looking for a 3 pin connector like that.
Thanks,
Paul
i know im whining but man... nowadays, every video that's interesting (including this one... thats a compliment) is a 15-20-30 min video. i just dont have time to download all this into my brain 🤣 Great video. Very informative. You have a new sub.
IIRC, cermark is mostly Molybdenum, and the laser is sintering it on. You can buy the raw ingredients (dry moly lube) and make your own for cheaper. They have a new version - cermark 2 - that is suppose to work better with low powered lasers. Do you know which one you used?
CerMark Ultra. It has a lot of silica in it as well, so it forms a glass material.
Nice work! Since I don't own a laser I would have made the panels out of pcb. The connector holes and silk screen will be perfect. But a trial using laser and powder coat would be really interesting.
I'm sorry up front. (Im a bit OCD)... but the intersection between "probe", "estop", "atc", and the high right side of "limit" is of by at least a pixel. In particular, the line above "atc" is low. Lotsa love. I'm thinking real hard on getting the 40w x1 pro. The price seems right.. I've done 3d printing... bored. I like to work in metal. Should I get the laser engraver, or the cnc plasma cutting table?
Excellent tip about setting the power to zero for outside boundaries of the part. Also appreciate the info about how to get the laser to follow the line of the geometry, instead of back and forth like a dot matrix printer. I have a Ortur LM3 and these tips saved time (and money) immediately which is an excellent bonus. Like the switching between Fusion 360, Illustrator, and LightBurn. 👍👍
Just remember to click "show".
Great work!!,why is the ATC not lining up at top with Unit rectangle?that bothers me immensely LOL!!Cheers from Toronto Canada!!
I could say I did it just to bug people, but the reality is that I noticed it while editing the video.
WOW, I like how it looked even before you did the one with the spray.
I have an Amazon mini router 3018, it has a blue 450 nm laser, I may try that.
I was going to do my control panel in 1/8 inch MDF to attach to my control box.
You are moving way faster than I am.
I started to build my EDM machine over a year ago.
At first, I wanted to do a wire EDM but, I went with a probe in a drill bit head.
I have not designed my circuit yet for Electrical discharge.
I am getting there!
Take care, thank you for your videos.
Keep up the great works.
Lee
I'm very curious about EDM. I tried to get involved with AvE's project a few years ago when it looked like he was headed that direction, but it didn't go anywhere.
Amazing! It would be interesting to see what level of detail that setup can deliver.
It's very impressive. They claim a spot size of 0.08mm, and it will indeed fuse a single line of Cermark. I was impressed.
I caught that you said you hang this on the wall when youre done. can you show us that setup by any chance?
I'd be curious if you dissolved borax and then mixed it with black paint if you'd get a similar result to the spray. Borax is used to prep crucibles, because when heated, it forms a glassy glaze over the surface so your melted metals don't stick to the graphite.
If you try it, let us know how it works.
With a CO2 laser it is generally not recommended to use it at the rated power as it shortens the life of the tube significantly. Is it safe to use full power with this laser?
I have a 9 year old Reci W2. Never had an issue running at "rated power". Not sure where you got your info.
So, which is it? At the beginning you mentioned using mild steel. But... your laser demo mentions stainless steel. So, did you switch? If so, why?
Great video! Suppose you put a tiny mic on the head, amplify the sound of the cooling fan, and, from a speaker at the edge of the machine, flood the area with out-of-phase sound. Will that cut down the whine?
Great video!! I just purchased the D1 20W laser platform for use in my knife making shop. Does that spray on stuff work with other metals as well? Like high carbon steel?
I wonder if you can test regular powder coating powder. Comes in many colors. Should work like the spay you used at a fraction of the cost. And you could do different colors.
It would be interesting to see if you could put a thin layer of powder coating powder on the part and cure it with the laser. I may give it a shot in the future. My 40w co2 laser has issues though. You might be able to apply the powder without a gun but it would be much easier to get a even coating with a gun. I only bring it up because powder is reasonably cheap and might be a feasible alternative to the cermark spray if you plan on marking metal a lot.
If you get it to work, let us know. I suspect it will just burn without fusing to the metal, but it would be awesome if it were an option.
"Artisan Robot" - The best two word description of the XTool D1 that I've ever heard.
He actually says "cartesian robot", which isn't an arbitrary description, but an exact description of a machine with that type of movement 😅 Most simple 3d printers are also cartesian robots
Looks great! I agree the second effort has a much better contrast. Great content as usual.
Great channel James, I like the way you use a lot of different types of machines for your projects. I have picked up a several tips that I can use at work where I use some of the same type machines and do some CAD work too. I do have one tip for aligning your parts for laser etching. To save time on the alignment you could have the laser burn the outline of the part on a scrap piece of wood or cardboard then put your part on the outline instead of having to frame it several times to get it lined up. You would probably need to be able to set an origin point at the laser for this to work good and I don’t think I saw you do that, not sure if you can on your machine. Keep the videos coming!!
Good tip. I'm not totally sure about this particular laser. It de-energizes the motors as it sits idle, so I'm not sure how well it keeps position. But I have a project coming up that requires very precise alignment, and that's a fantastic way to do it.
Thanks for the idea, Colby. I had some trouble getting the laser to repeat in the same position every time, but once I got it sorted, it works a treat. I used the technique in a video that will be posted this coming Saturday, and it saved me a lot of trouble.
„And its a freaking laser!“ totally felt that😎🤙
Nice, very informative. I like the final product.
This is a really good video , super informative and really helpful. I really wavering on what machine i am gonna buy .. I am starting of as a complete newbie with lasers though i have some experience with a mori seiki cnc machine that a friend of mine owns and has been cutting trick high performance parts fro motor cycles fro years now. I have a ever growing itch to further my experience with cnc , So i am a small business owner as well , i am a drywall man , renovations and remodeling service provider, I am collectively buying tools for this and believe it or not its really easy to get them mixed up with others on job sites ie batteries cordless tools , hand tools ect. My solution is i am gonna purchase a laser engraver to put my brand on all my equipment and create a way to hopefully solve the problem of tools being mistakenly switched out. Plus like the video i just watched do some projects like you just showed . Thanks for the video,.
Amazing video! plz keep them coming! Great job!!!😍
Most excellent. I think I'm envious of your shop. :D
James,
That looks like it was custom ordered from a factory. Excellent job on the entire presentation.
Have you thought about applying a resist to the steel, then using the laser to remove the resist? Afterwards you can use acid to etch the steel to whatever depth you want. Black nickel plate and remove the resist?
My unique (I think) technique.
I find it interesting that you are building a new gantry style CNC machine at the same time Langmuir (like your plasma table) is coming out with its new MR-1 CNC machine....are you going to get a chance to test one of these new MR-1 machines first hand...?
Your attention to detail is amazing ... Thanks for Sharing ... Stay Safe and well ...
Just bought this laser and this is just what I want to do with it. Can you explain the surface brushing you did?
Very nice finish, I will try this method and thanks for sharing.
I'd like to see how a galvo laser like the LaserPecker 2 does with marking SS this way. The reason is that when I order cut and 3D folded sheet metal parts from a place like OSHCut, their cutting laser doesn't mark very well. OSHCut *will* let you designate art for marking, but I tried and the results were not good. Since my parts are already folded when I get them from OSHCut, I can't stick them under an XY laser, so the only solution I can think of is to maybe aim a portable galvo laser at the spots I want labeled after I get the part.
Your delivery of "it's a FREAKIN' LASER," had me cackling. Had to pause the video so I could leave this comment.
I did a stainless test card using a small sheet of stainless, a K40 CO2 laser, and some Dry Moly Lube spray as the surface treatment, and that has been in someone's pocket since 2018 with no wear on the engraved surfaces. It may be an extra option for you. I don't know how well it would work with the UV Diode laser, vs the IR CO2 laser.
I think the black pigment in the Cermark is a molybdenum oxide. It's probably worthy trying with just the moly spray to see how much difference the silica and other glass components make.
I'd like to know how well it would fuse powder coat. There wouldn't be as much cost or waste. The media isn't as expensive and you might be able to brush off and reuse the extra powder. I think it's worth an experiment. Maybe if you do too we'll get to see it?
Looks pretty good! If you like we could try and burn one using our fiber laser for you just for comparison. It definitely cuts material away as opposed to oxidizing, though not super deep.
awesome , looks super professional were you making these plates commercially.
It's way too slow for commercial use.
The line outline warning less than fill isn’t cause the line after is a cut but rather that a slower outline will give a more crisp outline cleanup mark if you’re doing shapes/text on things like leather/wood/etc. If your outline is a little slower than fill, it just defines it a little more in a lot of cases.
Also for frame, you can check your frame with the outer layer turned on. Then just before you engrave toggle the button to turn off that layer from outputting in the top right.
Yeah, I realized I could do that right after I turned off the camera.
Do you think the cermark would work on top of a powder coated panel or would it burn off the powder coat?
Very nice looking panel! Another laser engraving technique is that lasers cutters can burn through surface anodizing on aluminum.
EG If those electrical panels were alu and had a black anodized surface, the laser engraving would look silver/alu color.
Isn't the laser beam reflecting off of the steel and flying right back into the laser source? won't it destroy itself as a result?
Great result! I have been told that diode lasers should not be used at 100%, or the diode generates really quickly. However, it's understandable that you need all the power it can deliver with a small laser.
I know that's true of CO2 lasers.
@@Clough42I'm afraid the same goes for diode lasers 😢
@@Ale_Lab semiconductor laser lifetime is directly related to operating temperature. If the module is designed well and can dissipate the waste heat effectively, it should have a long life, regardless of power level. The quoted lifetimes are considerably longer than those of tube lasers.
@@Clough42 that is good to know. I have seen quite powerful diode laser and avoid them for that reason. I will read more about it. Thanks!
Have you tried cylindrical pieces? Along the length or around the circumference? Thanks
Looking very nice, the only little flaw are the mounting screws partially covering some of the power box markings
and you have to remind him about it
This is what happens when you design and make the panel around the connectors, and then later decide on a concept for the artwork.
Durablack is an amazing option for decorative labels and machine tags. Takes detail really well and is shockingly durable
That turned out well, but you need a shark that looks like it is holding the tool head. 🦈😀 Those open lasers scare me... I think I would have to make an enclosure for it.
Yeah, it's a concern. Eye protection is an absolute must, and I hang a sign on the shop door so someone doesn't walk in unaware while it's operating.
A closeup of the piece after machining would have been very interesting
Just had thought, maybe not a good one but a thought just the same. Wonder what powder coat sintered with the laser would look like.
Excellent sir, thank you for making this video. You have a great talent for explaining things !
i see people using acrylic paint and even tempura paint on glass to etch it. would that work for steel?
Nice work as always James. One thing could be better I think from a graphic design point; the border outlines are too close to each other which makes them connected for a human eye. If the separation is just a few millimeter wider it looks cleaner and more defined as separate areas. Small tip. Thank you! Best, Job
It's a design challenge, because if you make the borders smaller, you start running into the connector lock nuts, and this is a visual challenge as well.
thanks. that was helpful. just got the same laser, was curious about the effects of add ons like that. i would have been fine with the original, or maybe another pass (or two)? anyways, very cool, something i will be doing soon!! thanks
A cheap alternative to Cermark is Dry moly spray. Apparently it contains the same ingredient and costs a fraction :)
Ive been waiting for someone to do this with that machine. Im ordering one tomorrow.
Would you share the lazer safety glasses you used? Thanks.