Darkly Labs emblaser - affordable laser cutter - review

[Giles]

That Hobarts stuff is what I'm using. I get the 600 X 300 sheets and cut them to 600 X 200 for economy (MDF as well). Very good service from them, quick, and good stuff......

[Simond]

Thanks all,

 

I now need to convert your Emblaser power to my CO2 current. My laser is rated 35W and the current meter goes up to 50mA, so I could assume the the meter is "oversize" and that a milliamp is more or less a watt, or I could scale it, and assume 50mA is 35W, giving me a nominal voltage of 700, which is not in line with the 35kV I was expecting...

 

The ply I purchased is birch...

 

Ho hum, try again...

 

Best

Simon

[monkeysarefun]

Talking materials, I was unable to find anywhere obvious down here that sells taskboard, but finally found this place in the US that seems not tooo dear. Postage was a bummer at $100US though, however that amount was based on the package dimensions and so hardly change whether I bought one sheet or 100, so I bought 40 sheets which should last a while. And if it doesn't work in the laser cutter its sculptural abilities look interesting so hopefully I can find another use for it.

 

For basswood ply, I've bought mine from  here. Their price seems not too bad.

 

And I just edited this to add this picture from their website. How not-heavy would those pallets be!

 

 

For 3mm ply, the cheap BC grade from Bunnings is fine:-

 

 

 

 

Cheers from Chris.

Edited April 3, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[raymw]

 

I now need to convert your Emblaser power to my CO2 current. My laser is rated 35W and the current meter goes up to 50mA, so I could assume the the meter is "oversize" and that a milliamp is more or less a watt, or I could scale it, and assume 50mA is 35W, giving me a nominal voltage of 700, which is not in line with the 35kV I was expecting...

 

 

Hi Simon,

 

I'm not sure if you're getting your W and KV mixed up, but anyway, the cutting capabilities of a CO2 laser, compared to the diode laser of the emblazer will be different. (due to wavelength, focussing capabilities, losses in transmission via mirrors, etc). I think you will have to experiment for yourself, you'll find materials you can cut, and they can't (and vice versa, I expect).

 

Best wishes,

 

|Ray

[monkeysarefun]

Hi Simon,

 

I'm not sure if you're getting your W and KV mixed up, but anyway, the cutting capabilities of a CO2 laser, compared to the diode laser of the emblazer will be different. (due to wavelength, focussing capabilities, losses in transmission via mirrors, etc). I think you will have to experiment for yourself, you'll find materials you can cut, and they can't (and vice versa, I expect).

 

Best wishes,

 

|Ray

 

How could a bloke called Ray NOT know heaps about lasers!

 

Hey Simon,

 

As Ray said, your laser cutter has different capabilities from the emblaser, being a CO2 unit and all. Have you seen this blokes blog? He has a unit that sounds like it matches  your specs, so maybe the info in his blog might be more pertinent to you in regards to settings and so on.

 

Not for one second trying to get rid of you though, OK? Just trying to find someone who can help you with your ply problems.

 

I wish I had your laser - in fact, I have the adoption papers all ready to sign ...... dad!

 

Cheers from Chris

Edited April 3, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[Simond]

Thanks all for your thoughts.

 

Ray, don't think I'm mixed up here - Watts is Volts X Amps - and, doubting myself, I just went out to the garage and checked that the meter is in mA (milli - 1/1,000A) rather than uA (micro 1/1,000,000 A).

 

The machine is quoted as being "35W" so, if it had a 100% duty cycle, it would need 700V at 50mA to get to 35W. CO2 lasers have very much higher voltages that this, so my conclusion is that either the meter is mismatched to the application, or that the duty cycle is less than 100%

 

Regarding the effects of different wavelength, etc., in this I agree with you, the absorption of different materials at different wavelengths varies dramatically. Nonetheless, I'd hoped that getting a steer from the solid state boys on power & cutting speed might inform my experiments.

 

In this, I have learned one thing - the solid state boys have only 4W to play with, so cut in multiple passes. This is much less likely to scorch the wood than hitting it with more energy in a single pass. Of course, you pay for this in longer overall time to produce the parts.

 

Thanks also for the link - I'll read it during the next experiment!

 

Best

Simon

[Giles]

I've just cut my stringers, and it took two attempts, because I put a new sheet of 0.8mm ply in, and got a dreadful result.....

 

 

It didn't cut through, it cut wide, and burnt the edges..... It would have been very disheartening had I not known that there was nothing wrong with the laser or its settings. Fortunately, I had enough room left on the previous sheet I had been using and cut the components again - without changing anything.... And got a perfect result. Conclusion - the ply is different, and doesn't cut well at all, and to get the really good results I've been getting, I've got to have the correct ply. Both pieces came from Hobarts, one was exterior grade, and the other ''laser ply' -both sold for laser stock, though...... I'm pretty sure that the good stuff is laser ply, but as the quantities were the same I can't be 100% sure, dammit....

[teetrix]

Simon,

 

AFAIK cutting lasers are pulsed (at least in engrave mode) and "fire" very short impulses. The more impulses per second, the more energy is applied, resulting in more or less deep engravings or cuts. The 700 V you have calculated may be the average value resulting from working and idle times.

But I'm not an expert, so open to corrections...

 

Btw, which make/brand of laser are you using?

 

Michael

Edited April 3, 2016 by teetrix

[monkeysarefun]

Ply can be weird. I had a piece that had a 1cm wide  inviisible strip through the middle of it that would not laser. Everything I tried to cut out that ventured into this strip just didn't work.  There was nothing obvious that caused this, even checking the area with a jewellers loupe showed nothing up. I am collecting all these bits and will be making armour out of them for when the aliens attack.

[raymw]

Ply is a natural material, and will not be consistent in composition, and the middle laminations may not be as even as those on the surface, as you are finding out. If it is any consolation, pro laser cutting firms, those capable of cutting steel sheet up to an inch or so thick (with air assist) and lasers in the kilowatt range, will normally insist on providing the steel, since it is too much faffing about to set the machine for some of the stuff that the customer might want to supply.

[Giles]

Fire escape coming together. It's surprisingly resilient, and can be twisted around without breaking. I have yet to draw the hand rails and cut these.

 

 

Edited April 3, 2016 by Giles

[monkeysarefun]

Fire escape coming together. It's surprisingly resilient, and can be twisted around without breaking. I have yet to draw the hand rails and cut these.

 

 

I'd give 5 thumbs up if there was a icon that did that!

[nick_bastable]

very nice and good to see these units been used to create models

[teetrix]

very nice and good to see these units been used to create models

 

... instead of turning people into skeletons and dust? (like mentioned in the very first posting )

Edited April 3, 2016 by teetrix

[Simond]

Simon,

 

AFAIK cutting lasers are pulsed (at least in engrave mode) and "fire" very short impulses. The more impulses per second, the more energy is applied, resulting in more or less deep engravings or cuts. The 700 V you have calculated may be the average value resulting from working and idle times.

But I'm not an expert, so open to corrections...

 

Btw, which make/brand of laser are you using?

 

Michael

Hi Michael,

 

Unintentionally at risk of thread hijack!!!

 

My laser is a second hand HPC LS3020

 

I was tending to be thinking the same way as you are, but when it's in scan mode, the needle barely flickers most of the time. When in cut, there's a steady current. I'm just completing the front wall of my shed now, at 8mm/s and 7mA in 2mm MDF.

 

Apart from it taking an hour and a quarter to etch the brickwork, and some issues with alignment of the cut and etch layers, I'm pretty happy with the way it works. I will try to do a double etch at twice the speed, say 15mm/s to see if this reduces the scorching, and, if I'm lucky, the kerf too. I'll probably try it on one of Giles' brick outhouses before going up to something rather bigger.

 

The front wall finished. I was going to post this about three hours back but lots of stuff going on...

 

 

Best

Simon

[monkeysarefun]

... instead of turning people into skeletons and dust? (like mentioned in the very first posting )

 

 

You"re not following my thread on the "evil overlords of darkness"  site then...?

Edited April 3, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[Giles]

With a coat of primer

 

 

Edited April 4, 2016 by Giles

[alant]

That's really looking the part Giles.

 

 

With a coat of primer

[BrushType4]

Simond, not sure if it just the photo, but your mdf looks like its curving upwards from the bed. This will seriously impair your cutting and engraving performance.

 

 

Good laser though.

Edited April 5, 2016 by BrushType4

[Simond]

Phil

 

Thanks for the tip. The MDF did curl up a bit, but wasn't like that before the cut. I assumed it was the cutting that caused the deformation. The sheets are "nearly flat" before they go in.

 

Do you think that clamping it down would be advisable? I'd thought about this already, but would be interested in your experience.

 

Best

Simon

[BrushType4]

Simon,

 

I don't clamp my work down, but I do use bars and weights to hold it down. I keep meaning to make a clamp, but even a clamp may still need weights if the middle of the sheet bows. 

 

Ideally the MDF should be kept in a level, dry place so its square and ready to use.

 

With the settings to use, have you made a ramp test yet? this is a good way of working out the cutting/engraving properties of the laser/material. Remember though the laser changes over time and the air quality, ambient temperature all can influence the cut. 

[SHMD]

A great thread this one...   ...I'm (still) resisting getting one of these cutters myself.

 

 

Anyway. How thick are the 'beds' of the LASER Cutters and what are they made of?

 

I'm thinking that you could use magnets.

Directly if the bed is ferrous or, if not, then with one magnet above the work piece and one under the bed directly beneath the first one.

Several 'pairs' of small Neodymium could be used with some 'clamping inner cut-outs too.

 

 

I've just had a 'play' with several 10mm diameter by 3mm deep Neodymium magnets. (I imagine that this is way thicker then the Emblaser's bed.)

I used a piece of 10mm thick wood and placed magnets above and below.

They 'clamped' thin work quite well and could be spaced 50mm apart with no problems.

I found that you could place 2 pairs of magnets 25mm apart if you placed the 2nd pair with an apposing field to the 1st pair.

 

 

Kev.

[Giles]

 

 

Fire escapes complete (apart from painting). I had one rail fail to cut cleanly out of the five, which was pretty reasonable, given how fine they are, and that I chose 3 passes to cut (thereby relying on very accurate registration). Again, the rails are 0.8mm ply, posts cut with the main grain of the ply, and drawn about 0.8mm wide (so minus the kerf)

 

 

[Nile_Griffith]

Fire escapes complete (apart from painting). I had one rail fail to cut cleanly out of the five, which was pretty reasonable, given how fine they are, and that I chose 3 passes to cut (thereby relying on very accurate registration). Again, the rails are 0.8mm ply, posts cut with the main grain of the ply, and drawn about 0.8mm wide (so minus the kerf)

 

 

 

 

 

How bl**dy impressive are those!!!!

 

Top work Fella!!

[monkeysarefun]

Giles, You're the emblaser king!

 

You should submit that pic to the projects part of the darklylabs forum -  thats  awesome.

 

I've been waylaid by someone at work hearing I have a laser cutter trying to talk  me into doing his daughters laser cut wedding invitations because 'why pay 15 bucks a card when a bloke at work will do it for nothing?" (he thinks..)

Edited April 5, 2016 by monkeysarefun