Darkly Labs emblaser - affordable laser cutter - review

[monkeysarefun]

I now need to find where I can buy 'Rowmark' (and what kind of Rowmark it is - as they produce all sorts of plastics) in the UK so I can do 'plasticard' stuff as well......

 

I'm on the search too for the plastic coated card mentioned in several sites, such as the stuff this guy uses to great affect. The problem is that they seem to have product names that are fairly generic, such as 'lasercard' or 'laserply' which don't tell you anything about the producer. There seem to be lots of people asking about similar materials all over the web with little in the way of an answer let alone a link to a manufacturer, so I personally think it is made from Unicorns or  something.

Edited February 23, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[Mike Bellamy]

 

I'm on the search too for the plastic coated card mentioned in several sites, such as the stuff this guy uses to great affect.

 

Amazing detail there - plenty of ideas for Giles to try . . . . . . . .

 

.

[eldavo]

Looks like real potential. Quite surprised you can achieve those cutting results with just 4 watts of laser power.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Gt.Shefford]

Blimey!

 

 

I now need to find where I can buy 'Rowmark' (and what kind of Rowmark it is - as they produce all sorts of plastics) in the UK so I can do 'plasticard' stuff as well......

 

I earn my living as an engineering designer and consultant, and often have to come up with strange linkages and whatnot- so I'm looking forward to being able to make little proving models for myself and Clients...

 

Trotec - www.engraving-supplies.co.uk are the UK distributor for Rowmark products. You'll need to contact them for materials sales. The stuff you are most likely after is 3X1-204 bright white.

 

Jonathan

[monkeysarefun]

Trotec - www.engraving-supplies.co.uk are the UK distributor for Rowmark products. You'll need to contact them for materials sales. The stuff you are most likely after is 3X1-204 bright white.

 

Jonathan

Hey thanks for that Jonathan! I see Rowmark have a distributor here in Australia. I'll call them today (prepares for disappointment in case they say that minimum order is 1000 sheets. as per usual with this kind of thing...)

Edited February 23, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[Giles]

Trotec - www.engraving-supplies.co.uk are the UK distributor for Rowmark products. You'll need to contact them for materials sales. The stuff you are most likely after is 3X1-204 bright white.

 

Jonathan

Jonathan - thank you very much!! I'll give them a call.....

 

(Yippee...!)

[Chris121]

No Good! I couldn't resist all the pictures of the detail possible with the Emblaser and have taken a deep breath and placed an order for a 4W A3 kit - so now I just have to be patient for a few weeks!

 

I too had begun to look for a source of Rowmark in the UK, and was finding it quite elusive - thank you Jonathan for the link to Trotec.

 

As a bit of background, I am hoping the laser will be able to combine the convenience and simplicity of use of the Silhouette Cameo but without the limitations of blade and sticky mat, and the accuracy, and ability to handle thicker materials of the CNC without its workholding and programming demands (in fairness I ought to add that my Roland CNC, while excellent, is not one of the latest generation of 'maker-friendly' benchtop machines and I am using rather too heavyweight software - a legacy of my old day job). A tall order I know, but if I get at least some of the way there I will be very well satisfied, and it will be fun trying!

 

So, thank you for starting this thread Monkeysarefun - fascinating stuff and please keep it coming, especially while a lucky some of us wait for DHL to come knocking (or, more likely, phoning to request the Duty and VAT!).

 

All the best,

 

Chris

[monkeysarefun]

A run of hot days, peaking at 41 today means that no lasering has been done but I have been able to spend the time creating a number of cutting files in Inkscape to try out on the weekend, including some trial brick and stone engraving files so I'll see how they go.

 

Just a tip for those who have made the leap to purchase, the email you get to tell you your emblaser has shipped will include a link to the Cutlaser software registration page. You can do this before the laser arrives and I'd recommend you do, partly so it'll give you a chance to get familiar with it ready for when its time to use it but mainly because the registration process is not automatic but is done by the publishers helpdesk during office hours, Monday to Friday. I didn't realise this until I clicked on the link on Saturday afternoon when I'd finished the laser and wanted to run a test plot, only to find this out. Given that they are in the UK its probably not as bad for you blokes, but I had to wait until Tuesday morning until I got my license key...

[Giles]

Thank you for that very useful info!

 

 

Whilst I'm waiting, I ordered a very few sheets of thin Ply and MDF from https://hobarts.com two I can experiment when the time comes.....

[Talltim]

I'd like to thank Monkeysarefun for this enjoyably written thread. Although finances mean that I'm not likely to be in the market for one of these devices, it has still been a good read

[monkeysarefun]

I'd like to thank Monkeysarefun for this enjoyably written thread. Although finances mean that I'm not likely to be in the market for one of these devices, it has still been a good read

Thanks mate, I appreciate the comment.  I  have a lot of experimenting planned still and I will put everything -  good and bad  - up here. Thanks for following this.

Edited February 25, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

Thank you for that very useful info!

 

 

Whilst I'm waiting, I ordered a very few sheets of thin Ply and MDF from https://hobarts.com two I can experiment when the time comes.....

I'm planning on going down the ply testing route while waiting for the oz distributors of Rowmark to get back to my email (they never call, they never write ...) I have some .8mm ply from my model ship side of things that I want to use to try my brick and stone cutting files on and I've found a distributor for 0.4mm ply (which is pretty much what I reckon this guy uses for his amazing laser made things)  5 minutes from where I work, the catch is that its $170 per 1200mm square sheet, minimum order 3 sheets....

Edited February 25, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[nick_bastable]

Oh dear it appears I have succumbed to ordering one of these      I blame Mrs B who appears to have plans for its use 

[monkeysarefun]

Oh dear it appears I have succumbed to ordering one of these      I blame Mrs B who appears to have plans for its use 

 

 

Hey, welcome aboard - thats 3 now, my dad.. oops, I meant darklylabs – will be pleased. ( Should at this point confirm that I have absolutely no connection with darklylabs other than we both live in Australia. But, they are Victorians).

 

Problems with my laptop (curse you HP with your  "Please install this important update”) meant that my lasering was postponed until a couple of hours into Sunday afternoon. Where are those Indian guys who call up out of the blue and offer to fix the issues in your computer when you need them?

 

So I spent the time I did finally have experimenting with different materials, and then ended with some brick engraving

 

I found some 0.8mm ply in the shed and gave that a go with some unexpected results. Basing the fact that the Emblaser  cut 3mm ply in 3 passes at 6mm second full power, I figured that the same speed and power settings would cut through this in 1 pass, since its about a third as thick.

 

But it only marked it

 

. I had to really try various combinations of lower speed but less power versus higher speed but more passes until I got a clean cut, and even then when I tried my standard Georgian window it ended up a charred mess.

 

I think the fact that it is either a different wood or has a more sealed kind of finish on it is causing the issues, so its still a work in progress at the moment as far as cutting fine details is concerned

 

But on the positive side, if the aliens with their death rays invade - just make some clothes out of 0.8mm ply and you'll be laughing.

 

The key is to try different combinations of speed vs power vs number of passes until it works. And once you find that, write it down!

 

Additionally, the number of passes can be set in the software before you start lasering, but if you put say 3 passes and your project has 100 little elements it'll do each little element 3 times before moving on to the next one. If they are tiny and close together this can defeat the purpose of relying on 3 less powerful passes instead of 1 full one because the area still gets hit quite hard in a short space of time.

You can counter this though by just setting it to 1 pass and when its finished doing that one and gone home to bed, hit the 'cut now' button on the cutting window which stays up after its finished and it'll do it all again, then do that once more and you've got your 3 passes but you've avoided the issue of the laser spending too much time in one little area

 

All up, its very trial and eror, it can be quite a fine line between " thats amazing detail, I mut get one of these!" and "FIRE! Everyone for himself!"

 

 

So then I did some brick engraving testing, and I'm pretty happy. I was using the same 0.8mm ply as above which had an additional  problem on top of it being unlaserable   in that it was also  bowed up. The masking tape I used to hold it down kept coming unstuck due to the humidity here today, so  I may have to come up with some other way of holding it down – magnets or clamps or those new fangled gravity waves that scientists have invented.

 

Despite that little issue I was overall pleased with the result. I had 8 individual test area of bricks and it is a little strange how the laser goes about doing it. Rather than finishing one and going off to the next one it does a bit here and there then wanders off somewhere else, like a two year old in a toyshop:

 

 

 

Just noticed the laser was on in that one - hope you all had your orange glasses on!

 

But eventually it does get it all done.

 

I put together a few different bond types, because when I used to engrave bricks by hand it was always good old stretcher bond  I'd have never gone to the problem of doing English bond:

 

 

or Flemish bond:

 

 

let alone James bond:

 

 

These are cruel closeups since the actual bricks are 3mm by 1mm but the laser does seem to be doing a good and accurate job. Engraving is basically just like cutting but you lower the power or up the speed to get sufficient strength to burn a line of some depth, but at enough speed that it doesnt take several days. The A4 ply sheet with 8 patches of bricks was done at full power, 50mm/second and took about an hour 10 minutes. I could and will up the speed - like I said, theres a fair bit of trial and error. My rule of thumb on this – so called because I use my actual thumb – if I can run my nail across the completed engraving and feel furrows then it is probably good.

 

Now here is one quick and nasty very close close up  test of how the bricks would look when painted. I just sprayed it with Tamiya primer and  used talc for the mortar then rubbed it with a tissue by mistake. Its a very unfair closeup given the bricks are 3mm by 1mm.

 

I'm not sure what those white  blobs are that have appeared at this zoom level, probably germs or electrons.

 

 

 

Finally, here's a top tip. You get a little black template to use to set the laser height above your material. Its that rectangular thing on top of the surround at the bottom left  of this picture.

 

 

 

 

Obviously it'll be easy to lose but if you do what I did and think that putting it there on top of the laser makes it easy to find then just know that the weird vibrating and rattling noise that your Emblaser has worryingly seemed to develop is due ot that – take it off and the noise goes away. That'll save you the 15 minute of tapping things and testing tensions and tightness of belts and bolts that I under went.

To be continued

 

(below here will appear a random picture - I don't know why, and I cant get rid of it!)

Edited February 28, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[BlackRat]

Brilliant stuff! Keep it going! Learning so much here.

[monkeysarefun]

Brilliant stuff! Keep it going! Learning so much here.

Thanks heaps for the feedback, I know how Kim Kardashian feels when she gets positive responses from the pics of her bum she posts on Instagram every 5 minutes..

  (no, really I do appreciate the comment!)

Edited February 28, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[GreenBR]

Hello,

Like the idea of making your own bricks. Following with great interest please keep this knowledge / trial and error coming thanks.

Regards

[monkeysarefun]

Hello,

Like the idea of making your own bricks. Following with great interest please keep this knowledge / trial and error coming thanks.

Regards

No worries, though that might mean actually commiting to building something, but I am almost at that point. I will keep posting though... Thanks for following.

[mgbusa]

Although my Laser is much stronger, 40 Watt, I still have problems with some material. Plywood is one of the worst. Cheap plywood has a lot of cheap glue and most of the home lasers will not cut it. It took me over 3 years to find a supplier of high quality plywood. I also use a lot of basswood sheets for my exterior walls on my models. It cuts very easy and with less power and runs and if glued on a supporting structure there is no disadvantage over plywood.

 

Monkeysarefun,

Looking at the burned paper and the tabletop of your laser, it seems you get too much "backfire." The more powerful lasers come with a honeycomb table to prevent the laser light to get reflected back to the material you cut. Even with my honeycomb insert, I use an old plywood pieces under the paper to catch most of the laser light.

For bricks, I use the engraving feature of the laser. After I have drawn the bricks, I change the entire drawing to bmp. It is slower to engrave than scribe but in my opinion it looks more natural.

[monkeysarefun]

Although my Laser is much stronger, 40 Watt, I still have problems with some material. Plywood is one of the worst. Cheap plywood has a lot of cheap glue and most of the home lasers will not cut it. It took me over 3 years to find a supplier of high quality plywood. I also use a lot of basswood sheets for my exterior walls on my models. It cuts very easy and with less power and runs and if glued on a supporting structure there is no disadvantage over plywood.

 

Monkeysarefun,

Looking at the burned paper and the tabletop of your laser, it seems you get too much "backfire." The more powerful lasers come with a honeycomb table to prevent the laser light to get reflected back to the material you cut. Even with my honeycomb insert, I use an old plywood pieces under the paper to catch most of the laser light.

For bricks, I use the engraving feature of the laser. After I have drawn the bricks, I change the entire drawing to bmp. It is slower to engrave than scribe but in my opinion it looks more natural.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for the info. I'm still coming to grips with the concept of cutting things with a laser beam at the moment, and am still grappling with power vs speed vs number of passes vs materials vs what to put under the workpiece. There are so many variables compared with the old fashioned knife and saw methods!

 

. Interestingly for plywood, our local hardware chain here sells two kinds of plywood - a marine quality one and a lower 'BC" grade one which is about a third the price, and for a change it is this one which cuts really well..

 

I agree with the honeycomb sheet and have been trying to get some but as mentioned earlier on the only sources I can find is a Chinese seller on Ebay, which has it for a choice of either $99 with $100 delivery, or $199 with free delivery. The local Australian suppliers seem to be aimed at the people who want enough to build airpotrts, mines and shopping centres out of it. But I'll keep looking.

 

Thanks again for the feedback.

[PhilH]

I agree with the other posters, your posts regarding your experiences with this tool are very interesting. Myself and another RMwebber are in the very, and I do mean very, early stages of mulling over the purchase of one of these devil's machines so your thoughts are valuable!

 

Strange to think that as with so many other gadgets we now find indispensable tools like this, along with 3d printers, will undoubtedly be in every modellers home in years to come.

Edited March 3, 2016 by PhilH

[jonhall]

Trotec - www.engraving-supplies.co.uk are the UK distributor for Rowmark products. You'll need to contact them for materials sales. The stuff you are most likely after is 3X1-204 bright white.

 

 

 

 

I've had a very prompt reply from Trotec, having exchanged emails with them on Monday and Tuesday, I now have 3x 3inch squares of 0.8mm Trowlase ADA to try. I've attached their pricelist - its a bit expensive, particularly when you add postage, but apparently you can mix and match material/colour and thickness to get the bulk discounts, that,  and a flat £9 postage suggests that clubing together and buying as a group might be worthwhile?

 

Jon

Trotec Laser Ltd Laser Materials Price List 2015.pdf

[lyneux]

Blimey, that's pricey Jon. Metal etching is almost looking cheaper.

 

Guy

Edited March 3, 2016 by lyneux

[jonhall]

Blimey, that's pricey Jon. Metal etching is almost looking cheaper.

 

Guy

 

 

Well that's what I thought at first, but then a bit of maths suggests that 1245 x 610mm is 759450mm², and that a pack of evergreen 1mm thick is 2 sheets x 300mm x 150mm = 90000mm², so each trotec sheet is about 8 and a bit packs of evergreen, and that's about £40 worth, so actually the trotec is broadly comparable , even with postage.

 

Of course not many of us buy 8 packs of evergreen at a time, (well not of the same size)

 

Jon

[nick_bastable]

DHL have been in touch and parted me with £135 for VAT etc delivery should be Tuesday let battle commence