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Introducing the First Fourth Generation LED Laser Engraver: Roly Automation Lasermatic10

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What constitutes a Fourth Generation machine? Everything is included in the box! Industrial mechanical construction with little or no assembly required.   Improved safety with a full enclosure that does not let the raw laser light out.  Full cable management. Maintain  the small spot size for more precision Interior lighting to help with setup and observing the system in operation. Built-in camera for use with Lightburn. Exhaust fan built into the machine  Rotary system included Well-documented setup and operating instruction in the native language of the country being delivered to. Technical support directly from the manufacturer. Additional Thoughts There may need to be more than the small exhaust fans in these machines to overcome the stack effect in a house when trying to exhaust from a basement location. A powered Z-axis system for autofocus would be interesting. A little air from a variable air assist keeps the laser lens clean when engraving.  I manually manage the engraving and
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The true cost of a Monport K40 CO2 Laser

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  The Monport K40 series of CO2 laser engravers have slowly evolved into a more flexible tool using controller hardware that now supports Lightburn software.  We also have better control of the power output of the laser. A CO2 laser is different from an LED laser in several ways.  First, the laser beam is a different frequency of light than the Blue LED lasers allowing the CO2 laser to engrave and cut through materials that the LED laser cannot.  The CO2 laser uses a high-voltage power supply to excite the CO2 gas in the laser tube; the laser also needs water cooling.      One of the significant advantages of the K40 laser is the complete enclosure to protect the user from the high voltage power supply and Laser emissions.  While the enclosure also limits the engraving area of the laser to about 8 in by 12 inches, the safety features are very welcome.  This is a bit like the limited space on most 3D printers, and we need to understand it. Out of the box, the K40 is a fully functional d
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Shop Setup, Tools, and storage,... Lasers and 3D printing

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I have started re-organizing the shop and tools for better availability and to take up less workspace.  While not complete and still on the edge of messy, it is past due time for an update. I have kept my Mac mini (2014) running in the shop for now, but I have changed to a smaller Dell display that is mounted on the wall over the review K40 Laser (there will be a series of posts on that soon) I am testing the Comgrow middle-size enclosure for my Xtool D1 laser.  More on that later! One of the most significant changes is moving my supplies and tool storage to "portable"  containers.  I am using the Ridgid system from Home Depot.  I started with a couple of stackable open-top bins and expanded with two boxes for fasteners, a go box with tools, a mid-sized box for the single-purpose power tools, and a rolling box with the high-power tools.  These all stack and lock together.   https://www.homedepot.com/b/RIDGID/N-5yc1vZ18g/Ntk-elasticplus/Ntt-ridgid%2Bmodular%2Btool%2Bstorage%2B
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The Thrill is Gone Ryobi

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  A couple of years ago, I started trying to save money by moving some of my shop tools to Ryobi.  Most of the 40v outside tools have done rather well.  But the 18v tools are causing me more and more trouble. Let me start out with the  ONE+ 18V Cordless Multi-Tool .   The first little problem is the rubber pad with the logo.  It is falling off; yes, this is minor, but really. The next problem is the tool mounting system.  The process for attaching the tools is hard to do and it is slow.  Another annoynance, that keeps on giving!   But the final insult is that the power switch was getting harder and harder to turn on.  Until now, it is stuck off.  At least the other annoyances are no longer a problem. I feel a change in the wind....
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ProverXL 4030 in the Garage!

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 I am planning to use the CNC to carve a lot of MDF.  The dust in the basement shop was too hard to control, so I built a workbench and put it on a machine cart to move it where I want in the garage. Here is an overview video:
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Setting up the Sainsmart ProverXL 4030 bed

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 The bed of the 4030 is done with a sheet of MDF.  I have added a 1/4 in spoil board to the top so that any mistakes save the bed.  I followed the ideas from James Dean Designs and used his files to mill the spoil board flat.  Here are the pictures and some instructions. Completed setup The first step was to mill out two spoil boards.  I forgot to take pictures of that step.  Look at the videos for his process. The spoil board is attached with blue masking tape and CA glue: I  used the door stops to hold things in place while the glue setup. Using a surface bit and the g-code file from James Dean Designs faced the board nicely.  I then cleaned things up and put on two coats of Polycrylic sealer
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Engraving Slate using the xTool D1 10w Laser

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 I used one slate to run two different power tests on a test tile.  One on each side.   From a tile burn Grid This one really helped me understand the range of marks we can make on a slate.  The following is the grid out of LightBurn and it was not as much help: There is quite a range of marking you can do.  I feel that it will allow some interesting effects.  I only needed one "tone for the project I am doing."   I did one test slate at 2000mm/min and 40% power for my 10W laser.  The design did not look right, so I changed the design slightly, and here is the finished project. Finished Slate Coaster Added Logo on the bottom I changed the speed to 1800mm/min and 40% power for the final project.  It slightly deepened the engrave.  The slate's top took about 16 minutes, and the bottom logo took 2 minutes. The setup is straightforward.  In Lightburn, I created two concentric square boxes on one layer that I do not burn.  These are for reference and alignment.  One is at 100m
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