Darkly Labs

Hi,

Darkly Labs will be exhibiting at a Model Train & Railway show in Australia next month.

We would love to show some of the amazing work created with the Emblaser.

If you have any hi-res photos of your creations and perhaps some of it being made, please get in contact with us. We would like to print them out and feature them on our stand.

All creators will be fully credited and we will even send you a copy of the printed image that was used.

thanks,

Domenic

This overheating 'may' have been caused from small amounts of debris dust getting into the connector over a long period of time. This would have caused the connection to eventually overheat like this.

We have legacy stock of these connectors and also the Emblaser 1 pcbs if you ever need them replaced.

The current performance between 10w and 20w is minimal, especially with the testing we have conducted with a number of laser units available on the market.

The issue is that the 20w units have a bigger spot size which detracts from the increased power output. They are also inadequately cooled, resulting in degraded performance and very short life spans., Be really wary of the numbers some manufacturers are quoting as they are far from the reality.

We stand by our 10w laser upgrade as a cost effective, reliable and best combination of power and performance and cost.

At the moment, we have an Xmas sale on our 10w upgraded Emblaser Core 10w machines that you can review here:

https://darklylabs.com/product/emblaser-core-kit/

Please let me know if you would like more information / explanation about performance and what we have tested.

Domenic 

Hi Kev,

I don't think it will cut through metals yet, but we were able to engrave directly onto bare stainless steel. The word 'Test' in the attached image shows the result.

Hi Everyone!

Our new 10w laser upgrade not only has more power, but also has a finer laser beam. This means the kerf size is at least half the size, allowing for much finer detail.

Please let me know if you have any questions. We are posting new videos and information regularly, so please check our youtube page or the Facebook 'Emblaser 2 Laser Group'.

Best regards,

Domenic

We have recently revised the Darkly Labs website. Information, projects, help centre, etc has been streamlined.

We are also committed to supporting our products, even after they are superseded. For all Emblaser 1 users, please always get in contact with help@darklylabs.com if your E1 needs a part that may not appear in our online store.

I also encourage you to join our mailing group as there are some new product announcements this year that will be significant for model railway enthusiasts.

darklylabs.com

Domenic

LightBurn is excellent for these 'depth engravings' or carving.

They have just added a bunch of image manipulation properties that let you tweak your image to get better depth results. Select the image, right-click, and pick 'Show Properties'.

I just ran a rough test and attached some photos below.

This forum has always been a great supporter for Darkly Labs products.

I just wanted to send out an alert that we have had a number of Emblaser Core machines fraudulently purchased within the UK.

Please be careful of anyone (other than Darkly Labs) offering Emblaser Core machines for sale. These machines have been flagged as stolen.

We would appreciate contacting us privately if you see any suspicious activity relating to this.

Thanks,

Domenic

This is all absolutely amazing and inspiring craftsmanship.

That's great news!

Unfortunately there is no upgrade from the E1 to the ECore or vice versa. Apart from the fact they look similar, the components are completely different.

The ECore uses new electronics, optics and diode tech. The new laser unit requires more current and controlled in a different way to get its performance. The E1 was just not designed to handle that.

The new laser unit is also factory calibrated, which needs to be done for all the optics system to work correctly. Even if customers experimented with the new laser unit on an E1, it requires some very specialised equipment to calibrate the optics for the different controller.

We did spend quite a bit of time discussing how we could make the new technology backward compatible but unfortunately it wasn't feasible.

Now, I have finally figured out how to 'follow' the posts on this discussion (i know, i know...) and hopefully can become more of a participant.

Engraving onto transparent materials

The laser diode we use operates in the visible light spectrum (448nm) resulting on it passing directly through transparent materials. On the other hand, CO2 lasers operate at near IR frequencies and are able to interact with transparent materials. This is why CO2 lasers can cut and engrave clear acrylic.

Although cutting transparent materials is not possible with an Emblaser, engraving is. We achieve it by applying a thin coating of paint onto the material (works great on glass or acrylic) and then engraving onto that surface. The paint absorbs the light energy long enough to heat the material underneath and allow it to slightly melt.

We actually like to use a paint called 'Peel Coat' which is a rubberised paint. After you have engraved onto it, the remaining paint can be rubbed off by hand without solvents etc.

I have attached a photo of some acrylic we engraved with this technique.

Hope that's not too far off topic and helps someone.

best regards,

Domenic

Hi Everyone,

We (Darkly Labs) are so impressed how long this thread has been running. I think it holds the record for the longest and most informative Emblaser discussion thread....ever!

I just wanted to send this post to let you all know that we have just released the Emblaser Core. This replaces the Emblaser 1.

Here is a link to more information about it:

https://darklylabs.com/emblaser_core/

Thank you for all your continued support over the years.

Domenic

Hi All,

I have been absent on this forum for a very long time. Glad to see it's still being contributed to.

If anyone is having difficulties with their E1, please feel free to email info@darklylabs.com, or let me let me know to login here and check..

If anyone is interested, there is a sale on the E1 this month. Check our online store for details.

Domenic

Hi all!

My name is Sam. I've recently joined the Darkly Labs team and it has been truely fascinating learning the ins and outs of the Emblaser, but more specifically, looking through all the amazing creations it can achieve.

After looking through much of the content in this forum, I just had to ask if anyone would object to us sharing some of your creations on our Facebook page? We think people would love to see your work!

Have a nice day Emblaserers!

Thanks,

Sam

Lens cleaning

Although the Emblaser is pretty forgiving with respect to debris on it's lens, it is worthwhile checking and cleaning it to ensure optimum performance. It is important to be very careful when dealing with the glass part of the lens as incorrect handling could lead to scratching or removal of the special AR coating.

We use a set of tools to clean our lenses as can be seen in the pic below. They include:

Blower.

Isopropyl Alcohol safe bottle.

Lint free cotton tip.

Magnifying lens.

Lens tissue.

Here is the process we follow:

1: Before you do anything, please start with a clean work area. We usually lay a couple of sheets of lens tissue down so we can rest our tools on it. It ensures a clean surface and that we are not introducing new debris onto the lens.

2: Remove the lens and examine it carefully with the magnifier. We use a 25-30x magnifier with a light. This makes it much easier to see an debris on the lens surface. We usually examine both sides of the lens but the debris is mostly found on the outer surface.

Here is a pic of a lens showing a fair amount of debris.

3: We first us the blower to try an blow away as much of the debris as possible. This is a safe way to remove debris since you do not need to make any contact with the lens. We check with the magnifier every now and then to ensure we have dislodged as much debris as possible.

4: If there is still stubborn debris, we now very carefully use our lint-free cotton tip dipped in some isopropyl alcohol. We have a special bottle that lets us disperse very small amounts of alcohol easily by tapping the lid. 

DO NOT USE ACETONE. Although this may be suitable for some glass lenses, acetone will damage the AR coating on this lens.

We apply a very light pressure with the cotton tip onto the lens and use a twisting motion to try and capture the remaining debris.

Once again we check often with the magnifier to see how we are going. You may find that the blower may help at this stage as well with some debris being dislodged.

Please try to keep the contact with the lens to a minimum. If you find some stubborn debris, just leave it. Its impact on performance will be minimal and the last thing to want to do is risk damaging the lens with excessive rubbing.

Here is a picture of the lens after cleaning:

5: Once you are happy, re-insert your lens and focus the laser.

We have been contemplating offering these lens cleaning kits for customers. Is there any interest in us doing so?

Hope that helps.

thanks,

Domenic

Hi Everyone,

This is Domenic from Darkly Labs.

Reading through these posts, we are constantly amazed at the quality of work and craftsmanship shown. It makes us proud to see the Emblaser being part of the tools used to create these amazingly detailed projects.

We have joined this topic to not only learn from the work being done, but more importantly, to answer questions or help resolve issues that anyone may be having with their machines.

We are always open to thoughts, comments and suggestions on how we can improve our product and its software.

Thanks,

Domenic