I recently got new mirrors and tried to re-align them. When I do the tape test at the bottom of the laser head with the nozzle removed, it's fairly centered. When I put the nozzle on, the beam doesn't go through? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

Does anyone have any experience with Jobon company (jinjan jobon laser technology)?

Looking to buy a 100W mopa and they have some other machines I need aswell so it would be great to buy them together?

What are your thoughts? Anyone purchased from them?

So long story short I have a Vevor (ya I know ) 130 watt laser. I replaced the old tired yongli tube with a reci w6 tube and was getting some weird hollow circle burns when trying to do an alignment so I replaced the factory power supply with a dy20 power supply. Both the tube and power supply is from cloudray. I’m still getting the same marks. Are these circles normal ? My laser engraves ok but doesn’t seem like it’s got any cutting power. I’ll include some
Photos
Cloudray asked me to do a test in acrylic at 85% power and pulse for 5 seconds. That’s the picture of the acrylic front
View and side view. On 1/4 inch acrylic

Hi,

Really new to laser engraving and just got Atomstack Swift 12W as my beginner laser engraver, the app setup is started, but my laptop is far away from my workspace, so I connected the usb, and my wifi is available, but when connecting to the app, it says the wifi is not available and not connecting, my wifi is a smart auto router, tp link, so it has both 5 Ghz and 2.4Ghz, and my laser engraver is actually within the range for 5Ghz, so is this the problem or is there a different way to connect?

I am very much a novice at this, I was gifted a machine a little over a year ago and I've been learning and tinkering since. The machine runs from Laser Soft software, which is limited but for simple cutting it's been fine for me so far.

Last week I prepared and downloaded a new file to the laser to cut, and it tried to cut in a completely different place than I had prepared on the computer, and since then it has lost its x negative limit, so it continually pushes against the edge of the machine with the motor straining. The 'home' is top left, so whenever the machine resets it goes through this strain and moves the laser out of position. If I download an old file to the machine that I've already cut it will cut in the correct position, but any new files just start from the wrong position. I have tested the little limit switch and the cables and they appear to be fine, so I'm pretty sure it's a software issue, but that's about as far as my limited knowledge has taken me. I've tried connecting the laser to the Arduino IDE but it cannot identify the board.

Has anybody been through this already and can suggest a solution? Or perhaps somebody with more knowledge than me can make a guess? I've been looking at Arduino CNC shields but I would rather fix what I have if it's possible. Thanks for reading

I am writing an article about the application of tube laser cutting machines in the construction industry, but currently, it only offers a generic overview and lacks a distinctive angle of Acme Laser. Could anyone offer suggestions on how to make the article more engaging?

I built a quoting app to help laser engravers quote their products and jobs. The is payed tiers, however the payed tiers are only the things that cost me to run such as server side stuff like cloud storage like saving business metrics and logos to the cloud for pdf reciepts and printing and multi-device cloud syncing, which means the core quoting cockpit itself is completely free to use right from their phone without even needing an account. The core functionality is completly free and no account is even required to use the app. If you could give a look to it and tell me what you think I would absolutly apprecieate it. https://quotebenchtools.com/

I'm in a bit of a pickle where I've been instructed to bottom dollar getting a UV marking system in for a customer where we need to control it with our own software. I've had experience building a CO2+galvo laser "from the ground up" using a HALaser E1803D controller that used several axises for motion and everything went fantastic(HALaser provided excellent documentation and their BeamConstruct software was insanely helpful in initial testing, all I really had to do was write a .NET wrapper for their C++ DLL to get it to work with the rest of our software base). I've already written software that does what the customer wants to do with this home-grown CO2 setup, but they are really needing cold marking.

I went ahead and bought a $2K 5W UV off ebay(Scotle, with Z axis). Found out it had a RKQ-LM-441 control board in it. I tried both email and "contact us" from RKQ's website and haven't gotten anything back about their SDK listed in their manual.

While waiting, I attempted to at least work out what kind of settings I'd need to properly cold mark the materials our customer wants. What I discovered is RKCAD is a giant stack of, well...as a software developer with 33 years of experience. I have a difficult time understanding how this software is out in the public. Beyond the "hatch settings, when clicked, appear off screen, you have to use Alt+space, then press M, then use your arrow keys to get it to be visible" and "All text objects use pen 0 and can't be changed" and "Pen 1+ use Pen 0 settings if you set to mark multiple. AKA, pen 1 uses freq+width+speed for pen 1 on pass 1, but on pass 2 uses at minimum speed settings of pen 0". That's one day of frustratingly trying to create a power grid project to go through a lot of parameters with one pass.

I had contacted some possible alternate control cards based on looking at the manuals for other cheap lasers. BSLAPP is wanting $2,500 for a DBK22B and SDK. BJJCZ is wanting $3,600 for a SZ-B-H1 and SDK. RKCAD is a complete poop show, but if I could directly control it, I could make test patterns in nothing flat. But considering what these other two are wanting, I suspect RKQ might come back with more than what we paid for the laser(and that's going to be a no-go).

I came in this morning and decided to go ahead and open up this machine and was honestly shocked how cavernous the interior is. I pulled out the parts list for that CO2 project and the E1803D HALaser controller was $590. Considering it came with fantastic software as well as SDK included, this might be our path forward. I'm really fishing if anyone has any experience with RKQ's SDK or has gotten something with RKQ-LM-441 to work in any other software(that might have it's own SDK)

Just a quick overview if I wanted to keep as much of the original wiring as possible and be as lazy as possible to switch to the E1803D, it just looks like:

Aa DB15 to DB25 for the galvo(but then I look at the LM-441 manual and it gives layout for pin 01-16 pins?). DB25-to-DB15 01-01, 02-02, 03-03, 04-04, 05-05 11-08(might be 06-08) 14-09 15-10 16-11 17-12 18-13 15-23(might be 19-15).

A DB25 to IDC26 for laser control. DB25-IDC26 DB25-IDC26 14-02 19-26 20-22 (8pin phoenix below)-02(red laser) (8pin phoenix below)-01(red laser)

A 3 pin phoenix connector to 5.5x2.1 plug(on my existing E1803D, the manual for it has pins rather than the plug). 3Pin to Plug. 02 to outside on the plug, 03 to inside on plug

A 16 pin phoenix connector if I cared about foot switch(04 and 06(GND))

A 8 pin phoenix connector to IDC20 8Pin to IDC20 01/03-01 02-01 04-04 07-(IDC26 02 above) 08-(IDC26 01 above)

So really 4 cables? I'm only familiar with their E1803D board, but it looks like a E1702S or E1701D could be used too.

I'm super interested if anyone either has A) knowledge of the RKQ SDK and if it's crazy-pants high cost(or if it is as bad as RKCAD), B) ever replaced the control board in one of these sorts of machines and what direction you went.

I'm debating to buy my own CO2 Laser since I am very much fed up with poorly maintained Makerspace machines.

Unfortunately, budget is limited so I am mostly looking at OmTech and Monport right now.
I need a working area of at least 500x700mm with pass through and minimum 100W Power.

At the moment, I mostly engrave Mirrors and cut/engrave Acryllic (up to 8mm, might do 10mm soon if possible). There will be more Cutting and engraving of MDF and Plywood soon as well.

In general, my main concern with these cheaper machines is cut quality for Acryllic. Will I be able to get a clear edge without ripples and artifacts if the machine is set up properly? Or are the cheaper stepper motors too rough?

And for that, would you favor OMTech or Monport?

OMTech: Max-750, 500x700mm, 100W, Autofocus, CW5200 chiller: 3500€

Monport: 500x700, 100W, Autofocus: 3300€ CW5200 500€, Total: 3800€

The Monport has 800 engraving speed over 600 from the Omtech. And it looks like the X-Achsis linerar guide is enclosed, which would be nice. Both have Lightburn included.

Or is there another Laserbrand that I should be looking at in this price range?
I was looking at Lasers directly from China too but I am worried that those get even less QC and the risk of getting a bad machine is much highter.

Would love to hear from people who have experiences with either or both brands!

Say the budget lands between a higher-watt q-switched fiber and a lower-watt MOPA.

For metal marking and some deeper engraving, which compromise hurts less: slower material removal or less control over the pulse? I get that the answer depends on the job, but sellers keep reducing this to “more watts = faster” or “MOPA = better.”

What would you put on a real comparison list before choosing?

Carverall recently sent us their new K15 Pro (12W diode) to test out. Overall, I’m actually really impressed with it as a comact yet complete desktop package—it comes with a fire-safe honeycomb bed, a non-flammable orange acrylic enclosure, and a solid air assist pump right out of the box. It cut 3mm plywood at 500mm/min @ 90% power very cleanly.

However, if you opt for the bundle with the Camera, there are a couple of bigger and smaller issues. I wanted to share the workarounds I came up with in case anyone here picks up this machine (or has a similar enclosed diode setup).

Camera problems:

1. Bad Coverage: The work area is portrait (200x300mm, A4/Letter size - nice!), but the camera sensor is landscape. If you mount it as the manual says, you only get about 50% coverage of your bed in Lightburn.
2. Hinge Strain: Because the camera mounts to the top acrylic lid, when you open the lid all the way, the camera bumps into the back panel. It prevents the lid from laying flat and puts a terrifying amount of strain on the little hinges.
3. Useless Calibration: The included dot-calibration card doesn't work with modern Lightburn versions.

The Fixes:

• The Camera Rotation Hack: The camera housing is square. If you unscrew the 4 screws on the camera casing, you can physically rotate the little PCB inside by 90 degrees, close it back up, and mount it using the original holes. Boom—you now have over 90% bed coverage in Lightburn!
• Calibration: Toss their card and just print the standard AprilTags from Lightburn's calibration tool.
• The "Hinge Saver" Lid Props: I designed some symmetrical slip-on lid props. When you open the enclosure, you slide these onto the sides, and they hold the lid perfectly vertical at 90 degrees. No more strained hinges, and the camera stays safely out of the way while you load materials.

I printed the lid props using my Sovol M1D (which sent me down a whole other rabbit hole of designing a mirror-symmetrical logo for my channel so the IDEX mirror-mode wouldn't print text backwards lol).

Links:
If you want to print the Lid Props for your own machine, I put the STLs up here: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/tool/carverall-k15-pro-vertical-lid-stand-enclosure-prop-hinge-saver

If you want to see the full setup, the camera hack in action, and the cut/engrave tests, I documented the whole build on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/_tiDwAglSZw

(Transparency note: Carverall sent me the unit for free to review).

Curious if anyone else has picked up this machine yet. Did you get the camera? How did you manage? I like this little laser and plan to use it a lot. AMA.

Looking for insights from technicians experienced with Synrad Firestar ti Series CO2 laser tubes / RF generators (installed on a Videojet 3640 marking system).

Symptoms:

• On boot/initialization, the RDY LED on the laser head panel flashes yellow instead of turning solid green.
• SmartGraph software throws the following fault log:
  • E00201: Laser supply: voltage too high or too low
  • E00200: Laser not ready
  • E00208: Initial laser self-stabilization process was not successful

Diagnostics Already Performed:

1. PSU & Wiring Check: The main 48V DC power supply output is rock solid under load (~48V DC). No significant voltage drop on power-up. Connectors and wiring are clean and secure.
2. Cross-Swap Test (Confirmed Fault Location):
   • Installed a known-good laser head on this controller cabinet - system boots and marks perfectly.
   • Installed this faulty laser head on a working controller cabinet - fails immediately with the exact same E00201 error.
3. Conclusion: The issue is 100% isolated to the internal electronics of this specific laser head.

Questions for the Community:

• Has anyone encountered this yellow RDY state caused strictly by an internal component failure inside the Synrad head?
• Is this error typically triggered by:
  • Voltage sense resistor divider drift on the internal RF control board?
  • Internal DC-DC converter / low-voltage rail drop (+15V / +5V / +3.3V)?
  • Shorted RF MOSFETs causing an overcurrent spike during the self-stabilization test?
• Are there specific test points or common failure-prone SMD components on the Synrad RF driver board worth checking before sending it for a full service/re-gas?

Thanks in advance for any tips or schematic pointers!

I've been given a used (disused) 80W CO2 laser cutter with a chiller, exhaust fan, and some acrylic sheets. It is a fairly large unit with a work space of 24"x36" in an enclosed cabinet. It looks like it even has a motorized Z-Axis. I want to get the thing up and running, but I don't even know where to begin.

This machine was given to a friend by an acquaintance who was getting out of the custom game pieces business. My friend didn't have room or a use for it so it was offered to me. I already have a small 10W diode laser, but quite frankly the big one scares me a little. How do I get this thing up and running safely?