[tjb1]

I was just wondering if anyone had experience with this particular laser(or similar) and could maybe list the issues/what needed fixed on it?

Updated USB CO2 Laser Engraving Cutting Machine Cutter ENGRAVER 40W Laserdrw | eBay

I am looking to get a cheap one to do some acrylic and wood, maybe engrave some stuff. I know last year I read a lot about the cheap ones where they pretty much require a tear down and rebuild to get good use out of them. Even a recommendation to a similar priced unit that someone has some experience with would be great!

I found this one also - http://www.ebay.com/itm/40-watt-CNC-...item3f27fe161b

But...it is a FSL unit and I know from reading that they are an avoid at all costs company.

[SPC-laser]

i would like to recommend you one model bigger than this，as far as i know，this mini model can't work so stable，we have these model too with 800usd。but if i give my advice，the 3040 model is best for you。

I was just wondering if anyone had experience with this particular laser(or similar) and could maybe list the issues/what needed fixed on it?

Updated USB CO2 Laser Engraving Cutting Machine Cutter ENGRAVER 40W Laserdrw | eBay

I am looking to get a cheap one to do some acrylic and wood, maybe engrave some stuff. I know last year I read a lot about the cheap ones where they pretty much require a tear down and rebuild to get good use out of them. Even a recommendation to a similar priced unit that someone has some experience with would be great!

I found this one also - 40 Watt CNC C02 Laser Cutter ENGRAVER from Full Spectrum Laser No Reserve | eBay

But...it is a FSL unit and I know from reading that they are an avoid at all costs company.

[tejaswood]

tjb1, I would not be so quick to dismiss the FSL laser you found on ebay. If you go back and look at the posts, you will only find a small number of unhappy users. I have owned one for almost 2 years and it has been an excellent laser right out of the box, If you want more info on it, go to FSLUSERS.freeforums.org ? Index page and post on the forum, it is a private run FSL forum.. You will find many happy users there and they can give you excellent advise. I wished I were looking for a second machine I would grab the one on ebay ASAP... It is a good price and the description says that it is in good running condition with low hours..

[SPC-laser]

most of the eaby 40w laser machine. are 20w 25w.

if you want to change a 60w laser tube in the future,it will be trouble.hope you can think it over before you buy it

[tejaswood]

Be wary of Chinese posters trying to sell you their equipment....

[SPC-laser]

we all want to help him, and i just want to give my advice with genral knowlege.it is better to know more before make a decision.

Be wary of Chinese posters trying to sell you their equipment....

[wontpontificate]

Few things about the K40 (cheap chinese ebay laser) machines

1) They were designed with the goal of engraving chinese signature seals. This isn't bad in and of itself, but the cutting bed they use tends to have a clamp designed for holding a seal block, which tends to be of limited use for much else. You'd probably want to pull out the included spring clamp arrangement and build a honeycomb bed.

2) they have no built in bed height adjustment for the Z axis, making it difficult to get a good focus on materials of different thicknesses. It's not too horribly difficult to build and add one when you swap out the bed, though it's a bit of a pain

3) Most don't come with an air assist nozzle. They are available for retrofit though, and if you're going to be cutting acrylic and wood, you'll find air assist invaluable.

4) the pump and water cooling arrangement that comes with it is usually suspect, and you'll want to add a few things like a flow meter (folks will use PC water cooling flow meters and such) and possibly a more reliable pump.

5) The controller board in these machines only works with the software they come with -- MoshiDraw or NewlyDraw/NewlySeal. Neither of these are really the nicest things in the world to use, and you'll find yourself inventing a number of new and colourful combinations of foul language as you fight with them to get them working properly. The controller board must be replaced if you wish to talk to other software, and since it's a standard X/Y axis unit with bipolar steppers, you can replace the brains with pretty much anything you want. Folks have good luck with parallel port boards and Mach3, as well as standalone DSPs.

6) you'll want to be prepared to do a whole lot of adjustment. The mirror screws are often coarse, making beam adjustments fiddly and annoying, and things go out of whack in shipping. You probably won't have a turnkey rig.

7) the laser power supply and tube can -sometimes- be suspect, and may not have the longest life out there. Power adjustments are all manual, with a single turn pot and a galvanometer to read the tube current, to make sure you're not going to blow it up.

For the most part, they're not horrible machines, but with the amount of tweaking and replacing you have to do in order to make them work to their full potential, you'll have spent almost enough money to get a machine with a larger cutting area, more appropriate bed with Z adjust already installed, likely a better tube and power supply, and control via a DSP.

Good luck!

-C

[aarggh]

most of the eaby 40w laser machine. are 20w 25w.

if you want to change a 60w laser tube in the future,it will be trouble.hope you can think it over before you buy it

I don't understand that, the auction states 40W, are you saying they use a smaller tube than they advertise?

cheers, Ian

[wontpontificate]

I don't understand that, the auction states 40W, are you saying they use a smaller tube than they advertise?

Not so much that they use smaller tubes, it's just that the really cheap laser tubes are like really cheap lithium batteries. The manufacturers very optimistic about the actual rating.

In the case of these laser tubes, you -might- get 40w out of them, with a really good power supply, during a planetary alignment, while speaking in tongues and painting ancient runes, for about a second before you fry it.

so, technically they can call it a 40w tube, but the chances of seeing that on any practical level are punishingly slim.

[aarggh]

Not so much that they use smaller tubes, it's just that the really cheap laser tubes are like really cheap lithium batteries. The manufacturers very optimistic about the actual rating.

In the case of these laser tubes, you -might- get 40w out of them, with a really good power supply, during a planetary alignment, while speaking in tongues and painting ancient runes, for about a second before you fry it.

so, technically they can call it a 40w tube, but the chances of seeing that on any practical level are punishingly slim.

Ok, that makes sense. The only issue I have then, is I've seen similar issues with claimed specs many times from different people or companies, and I quite often find the ones claiming to have the "good" version generally get the exact same item from the same manufacturer. So it's hard to tell which one is the "good" one!

cheers, Ian