Raymond Laser Engraving Machine

1.  What is the laser engraving machine?

It is a laser-based machine engineered with a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) system that can engrave a wide range of motifs on different materials just by using the thermal energy of a laser that enables carving the surface to a certain depth in a contactless way.
Embedded with a CO2 gas sealed tube as a laser medium, the Co2 laser engraving machine is capable of processing only non-metals like paper, wood, leather, laminates, acrylics, glass, stone and much more.
The numerous advancements brought about by laser technology, e.g. high-speed, maximum precision and versatility, led to a drastic change in the engraving industry as the usage of the traditional engraving tools and techniques have gradually been replaced by the laser engraving machine, which has become the official engraving tool.

it is astonishing to know that the laser can perform as good as artificer sculptors, engravers, and carpenters or even more aesthetically, accurately, and speedy.

2. How does a laser engraving machine work?

Operationally, laser engraving machine is user-friendly, within a short time and following just some few practical steps would get your workpiece engraved:

Graphic design

The fundamental task is to decide which design you want to laser engrave, whether it be a logo, image or an intricate motif.

On your computer, use any vector graphic software like Photoshop, Illustrator or CorelDraw to create your own design with measurements that fit the targeted area on the material.

Laser configuration

Set the laser configuration you want to use for your engraving application by determining parameters like the wattage and speed. Then send the engraving design with the configuration to the laser engraving machine.

Start engraving

Place your engraving material on the engraving area and, press the start button to laser engrave it. Once the process is done, you would be able to collect your work piece.

Operating a laser engraving machine resembles to printing papers on an inkjet printer. Isn’t it?

Operationally, they seem to be virtually quite similar since both begin with designing the output image on a computer, set the device parameters and press print to convey a certain piece of information on the surface of the material. However, technically the laser engraving machine is more sophisticated in terms of mechanism comparing to a printer.

What makes it a sophisticated machine?

Simply, because it is composite; it combines an optical system, a linear rail unit, CO2 laser gas tube and water or air cooling system, which all together interact simultaneously and continuously during the laser engraving process.

What happens inside a laser engraving machine when you laser engrave a material?

When the laser beam is emitted from the CO2 glass tube (laser source) it is transmitted through the reflecting mirrors of the optical system, then focused on the surface of the material by the focusing lens. The high energy density of the laser beam heats up the focused point, which quickly evaporates so as it creates a point pit with a certain depth and contrast.

Based on the laser engraving setup of the stored image, the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) automates the movement of the linear X-Y axis console to drive the laser head over the surface of the material from left to right, top to bottom and back and forth.

Following a pre-defined scanning trajectory, the laser head can perform either a sort of raster engraving where the laser beam sweeps line by line or point by point to engrave large pixel contents like graphics, or a vector engraving (vector by vector) where the laser head engraves continuously the path of the strokes (lines and curves) that form the engraved image.

As the storage of information is carried out by the CNC in binary form, this implies that whenever a "1" point is scanned, the laser is turned on, and when a "0" point is scanned, the laser is turned off.

Photo Credit:Stylecnc

3.What’s the difference between fiber laser engraving machine, and CO2 laser engraving machine?

As a matter of fact, this is one of the most frequently asked questions among people who are considering buying a laser engraving machine. For this reason, we keenly devoted this part just to encapsulate the differentiating factors between fiber laser engraving machine, and CO2 laser engraving machine.

Different laser medium, different laser wavelength

Laser engraving machines are principally distinctive by the laser medium as the core component that determines the wavelength of the laser beam. Each machine bears the name of the laser medium it contains.

Fiber laser engraving machine is equipped with an optical fiber cable as a laser medium that usually enables an emission of a 1,060 nm wavelength, whereas the CO2 laser engraving machine contains a CO2 gas-filled tube that generates a wavelengths of 10,600 nm. Both wavelengths are situated in the infrared spectrum and they are not perceived by the human eye.

Different materials and applications

According to the laser wavelength, a given material would either absorb, reflect, or don’t even react to the laser beam. This implies that each of the CO2 and fiber laser engraving machines can engrave a compatible scope of materials depending on their absorption levels.

We are going to list the materials for each laser engraving technology so that you would clearly discern the difference between them.

Which materials are compatible with the fiber laser?

Fiber laser engraving machine tend to be good at engraving all sorts of metals such as:

• stainless steel
• carbon steel
• silicon steel
• aluminum
• anodized aluminum
• cobalt chrome
• copper
• bronze
• brass
• zinc
• some few types of plastics. 

Application industry

Its application is widely used in the automotive industry, electrical and digital appliances, precision machinery, medical equipments, jewelry, building materials, pipes and other industries.

Which materials the CO2 laser engraving machine is suited to process?

CO2 laser engraving machine can engrave professionally organic materials such as:

wood,bamboo,leather,glass,plexiglass,crystal,acrylic,horns,paper plates,marble,leather,rubber,plastic.

In addition, by increasing the laser power, CO2 laser engraving machine can perform precision cutting of non-metallic thin plates such as acrylic, medium density decorative plates.

Application industry

Laser engraving machine has a broad application especially in textile (apparel, embroidery, home furnishing fabrics, handbags, and leather clothing), surface carving in the toy industry, food packaging, and medicine packaging and, ceramic furniture, wood crafts, models, advertising, decoration and electrical appliances.

Different machine structure

In addition to the range of laser wavelength and the type of applied materials, there is another intrinsic criterion that differentiates the fiber and laser engraving machines, which is the structure of each machine.

Take a look at the fiber and CO2 laser engraving machines, their outlook is obviously not alike. As we can see, the working principle of the laser head that makes all this huge difference.

As we can see, the working principle of the laser head that makes all this huge difference.

The laser head is stationary in the fiber laser machine it can be moved only vertically to adjust the focal distance prior engraving. The laser medium is usually attached right behind the laser head within few centimeters.

What's the different between CO2 galvanometer vs CO2 CNC Laser Machine-Photo Credits:Barchlaser

The laser head of the Co2 laser engraving machine is movable across all the engraving area, thanks to the X-Y axis console. In this structure, the laser tube is installed at the back side of the machine, which necessitates the laser beam to get transmitted though the reflective mirrors in order to reach to the laser head.

What's the different between CO2 galvanometer vs CO2 CNC Laser Machine-Photo Credits:Barchlaser

4.What’s the difference between laser etching, laser engraving, laser marking, and laser cutting?

Laser is an ultimate versatile tool. By simply making some few adjustments to the laser configuration, your laser engraving machine would be ready to process the material either by marking, etching, engraving or cutting, which are named as laser processes.

In the next line you will realize how these laser processes are differing from each other and, we will inform you when you can utilize one of them:

Laser Marking

In laser marking, the laser targets the material substrate or the coating layer by exposing it to a level of heat with the aim to merely changing the appearance of the material surface without disrupting it. Depending on the material reaction to the heat, the process may result in a dark contrast, bright contrast or a color change.

You can use marking process if you want to convey high contrast marks, on organic and inorganic materials.

Laser marking process - Photo credit: ulsinc 

Laser Etching

Laser etching effect is situated somewhere between marking and engraving. During this process, a concentrated laser beam applies a high level heat to melt few layers of the material substrate or the coating layers resulting in a slight deep cavity that reduces the reflectivity of the etched target and increases its contrast.

Etching is very suitable for processing materials such as metals, polymers and glass.

Laser etching process - Photo credit: datalogic 

Laser Engraving

Laser engraving is a progressing form of etching. Its working principle is also based on heating the material surface and evaporating it not melting it as the etching does. The laser beam in laser engraving process is much more concentrated compared to laser etching, thus the engraved marks reach high depth levels as many layers are removed.

Laser engraving process - Photo credit: ulsinc

If you envision creating deep and durable marks on any non-metallic material then engraving process will perfectly suit it.

Laser Cutting

Laser cutting uses a very sharpened and high energy laser beam to extremely burn or vaporize the entire thickness of the cut shapes contours on the processed material. The thermal power leaves polished cutting edges.

Many different materials can be laser cut efficiently. For this matter, you need to use the right laser wavelength for your material and choose properly the laser power that suits well the cutting geometry.

The process of laser cutting- Photo credit: ulsinc

The process of laser cutting- Photo credit: laserline

Did you manage to discern the difference between these laser processes?

Let us break it down for you!

You would notice that the main difference between these laser processes is how deep a laser beam can penetrate and remove substrate layers down in the material, and how it would the final appearance (contrast and reflectivity) of the workpiece look like.

The four laser processes can be listed in two main processes:

• Material ablation: it encompasses only laser processes that remove partially or entirely the layers of the material like laser etching, laser engraving and laser cutting.
• Surface modification: it involves laser processes that merely modify the properties and appearance of the material surface like laser marking.

5. How many types of laser engraving machines there are?

Laser engraving machines come in various models whose specifications vary in accordance with the laser engraving needs.

At first sight, it would be obvious to observe the difference among laser engraving machine models from the shape and size, as the overall size will all depend on the size of the working area.

The types according to the working area

3020 laser engraving machine

This is the desktop laser engraving machine that has a dimension of 800*500*260 mm and comes with a 300*200 mm of the working area.
This compact model is equipped with a hermetic CO2 glass tube, which supports two laser power wattages (40W and 50W) and performs at 500mm per second as a maximum engraving speed. Moreover, laser cutting is also doable with this machine, and depending on different materials the cutting thickness may reach up to 5 mm.

This machine supports an online data transfer interface via computer.

4040 laser engraving machine

This model is compatible with desktop laser engraving and it is recommended for personalized laser engraving. It offers a working area of 400*400mm, which is much bigger than the 3020 model.

Equipped with hermetic CO2 glass tube, this compact model operates perfectly at 40W and 50W laser power wattages reaching an engraving speed up to 1000mm per second. In addition, it is possible to cut up to 10mm of cutting thickness with this laser engraving machine.

Moreover, the data transfer interface of this machine is via computer (online connection).

6040 laser engraving machine

As its name suggests, this industrial grade laser engraving machine has a working area of 600*400mm, which is comparatively larger than the desktop models.

It contains a CO2 sealed glass-tube, and powered by different laser wattages ranging from 50W, 60W and 80W to 100W, which enlarge the possibilities of engraving and cutting with a maximum engraving and cutting speed at 60,000mm and 6000mm per minute respectively, and a maximum cutting thickness of 10 mm.

The data can be transferred to this machine via USB drive (offline interface).

6090 laser engraving machine

This laser engraving machine is offering a working area of 600*900mm and is embedded with a CO2 sealed glass-tube. It is powered by three wattages (60W, 80W and 100W) enabling therefore a maximum speed at 60,000mm/min and a cutting speed that can reach up to 6000mm/min.

The cutting and engraving data can be transferred either by USB drive or by computer connection.

1390 laser engraving machine

This model is designed to operate on industrial sites offering a large working area of 1300*900mm which is compatible with a wide array of relatively large materials.

Same as the previous model, this laser engraving machine is equipped with a Hermetic CO2 glass tube and supports the following laser powers: 80W, 100W, 130W, 150W, 180W.

Additionally, this machine has a maximum engraving and cutting speed at 30,000mm/min, with a maximum cutting thickness of 20mm.

This industrial machine model supports a USB communication interface, yet the computer connection option is still available.

This is the largest laser engraving machine, which is designed especially for processing very large-sized industrial materials. It comes with a large working area of 2500*1300mm with aluminum knife platform.

Like the previous model, the 1325 laser engraving machine consists of CO2 sealed glass-tube and is powered by 80W, 100W, 130W and 150W according to the specific need of engraving and cutting. Such configuration enables an engraving speed that may reach 60,000mm/min as maximum and allows cutting at 6000mm/min.

This large-sized machine model offers two communication interfaces offline and online. You can either transfer data via USB drive or connect to computer.

6. What are the main parts of a laser engraving machine?

laser source

Laser source is the component that delivers the laser wavelength. Basically, the laser source in a laser engraving machine consists of a CO2 gas filled in a sealed glass or metal tube within which the excitation of light photons produces the laser beam.

CO2 sealed glass-tube, Photo Credit: Asroyale

Laser controller

Laser controller consists of a user interface serving to control the laser unit by manipulating the control pad, to change parameters, send or receive laser inputs, start or stop the laser engraving process. Moreover, It allows you to position the laser head in the XY-axis and move the Z-axis up and down.

The user interface is equipped with an LCD screen that displays what users are manipulating in real-time.

CO2 laser CNC controller- Photo Credit:Instructables

Work table

It is a table placed on the surface of the working area and on which the material to be engraved or cut is loaded over it. This accessory is crucial to achieve good quality outputs especially by lowering side effects of laser beam like smoke, radiations and residues.

There are different types of work tables each one is ideal for a certain application. Here is some of the work tables that you might need to consider while buying a laser engraving machine:

Aluminum Cutting Grid Table

Aluminum Cutting Grid Table-Photo credit: Epiloglaser

Plastic Cutting Grid Tabl

Plastic Cutting Grid Table-Photo credit: Cncroi

Aluminum Slat Cutting Table

Aluminum Slat Cutting Table-Photo Credit: Cutlasercut

Vacuum Table

Vacuum Table-Photo Credit: megaflex

Honeycomb Cutting Table

Honeycomb Cutting Table-Photo Credit: Troteclaser

X-Y axis linear

This control motion assembly that consists of an X and Y-axis with their respective motors and drivers, is responsible of directing the movement of the laser head over the engraving area in either raster or vector mode.

Frame thickness

The frame is regarded as the backbone of the laser engraving machine, if it is fragile the whole laser engraving system would not perform well and eventually may cause downtimes.

That’s why it must be robust and thicker enough to maintain the stability and accuracy of the machine for long runs.

7.What the materials that can be engraved by a laser engraving machine?

Wood

Wood laser engraving and cutting are virtually the most common laser applications. Laser engraving machines process all types of wood no exception, only the configuration that changes from a type to another. Wood tends to burn especially during cutting due to high applied temperature, that’s why it is mandatory to have a ventilation system on board to avoid burn edges.

Wood engraving-Photo credit:All3dp

Leather

Cutting and engraving on leather are among the specialties of the laser engraving machine, which makes it an asset for fashion and decoration industries.

Very small patterns and exquisite inlay can be made with laser to decorate leather products such as bracelets, shoes, wallets,

book covers and more.

Leather-Photo credit:All3dp

Leather-Photo credit:Rayjetlaser

Acrylic

The possibilities of acrylic applications are almost endless. The result on transparent acrylic makes a matte white or transparent engraving depending on the engraving parameters.

Acrylic allows a better engraving result for the realization of photos and engravings very rich in details.

Acrylic-Photo credit:Epiloglaser

Acrylic-Photo credit:Trotec-materials

Paper

Available in a wide variety of types, paper is a material that allows the creation of a lot of engraving and cutting possibilities when it is processed with laser.

Multitude of paper applications can be produced, such as invitations, brochures, business cards, photo albums and greeting cards.

Paper-Photo credit:Shutterstock

Paper-Photo credit: Rayjetlaser

Glass

Laser engraving of glass offers incredible freedom of design. Even the most detailed photos and images are engraved with great precision on different types of glass including pressed glass, float glass, crystal glass and mirror glass.

Besides flat surface glass, it is possible to engrave round-shaped glass by adding a rotary attachment inside the working area.

Paper-Photo credit: Rayjetlaser

Paper-Photo credit:Ateliercreations

Plastic

Laser engraving machine can be used to engrave or cut different types of plastic, such as ABS, polyamide, or polycarbonate. However, for certain plastics, laser treatment generates gases toxic to humans. The following types of plastic are therefore not suitable for laser cutting or engraving: PVC, vinyl, polydibromostyrene, PTFE.

Plastic-Photo credit: Signlink Plastic-Photo credit: Pinimg

What can be done with a Co2 laser engraving machine?

With a CO2 laser engraving machine, the possibilities of engraving are limitless as you could be doing fascinating designs.

8.How to verify laser engraving machine technical specifications?

Engraving working area

By virtue of its significance to the engraving process, the working area must be checked carefully. It’s quite easy to verify this parameter; you just need to determine the width and length of its surface, and make sure the max size of your materials does not exceed it.

Example: 600*400 mm

Laser power

The laser power is the amount of energy needed to engrave certain engraving configurations and it is measured in Watts, thus, it can be verified by referring to its wattage. So, ensure that the Watts befit perfectly your engraving demands.

Remember that laser power can be set as a percentage between 0 and 100% according to your application. More powers mean darker and deeper engravings as well as shorter time to finalize the workpiece.

Additionally, always pay attention to the CO2 laser tube because its length is a good indicator of the laser power.

Max material cutting thickness

As mentioned somewhere in this guide, laser engraving machines can perform cutting to a maximum depth with a specific configuration of laser power and moving speed.

The max cutting thickness is usually measured in millimeters, and in order to verify whether your material can be cut or not you need to make sure that the max cutting thickness of the laser engraving machine is at least equal to the thickness of you material.

Moving Speed

Simply put, the moving speed of the laser engraving machine is the distance crossed by the laser head per second, the distance is usually measured in millimeters.

The moving speed is a modifiable parameter you can set its value in percentage from 0 (no movement) to 100% (max speed).

Example: 500 mm / second

Laser controller

Verify the laser controller capabilities. It is preferable that your laser engraving machine come with more advanced and user-friendly laser controller such as DSP type, which is a lot more powerful and cost-effective as it will give you more control so that you can remote quite a lot of stuffs in the laser configuration without a need to use a computer.

Communication interface: USB or connect to a computer?

Determine what type of communication interface that you see is more suitable for the connection to your laser engraving machine.

Do you want to connect your laser unit to a computer?

There are two different ways for doing that. If your computer is close enough to the machine you may connect via USB connection. But, if your machine will be installed a little bit far from your computer you’d better to connect via Ethernet connection.

In either way you can manipulate the laser engraving via computer.

Or do you prefer to connect via a USB flash drive?

You will need in this case only to save the engraving design to your flash disk and plug it into the laser engraving machine. In such way, reading the data and manipulating the laser is all done on the laser controller.

cooling system

Since the laser engraving machine tends to heat up, it is important that it has good ventilation known as cooling system to protect the laser tube from overheat.

The cooling system can either be water cooled if the laser engraving machine comprises a CO2 glass tube, or it may be air-cooled if the CO2 tube is made from metal.

compatible software

Laser engraving machines are designed to operate with certain software packages that support raster engraving and vector engraving.

Software package may comprise raster graphics editors like Adobe Photoshop, GIMP and, it may also include vector-based editors such as AutoCAD, Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw.

Make sure that the software you are using is compatible with the laser engraving machine that you intend to purchase.

Supported file formats

Typically, there are a lot of file formats that can be supported by laser engraving machines. The most commonly supported file formats are: Raster files (.cpt, .ps, .bmp, .jpg, .tiff, .gif, .png), Vector files (.cdr, .ai, .svg) and more.
Just determine the graphics editor that is compatible with the laser engraving machine, then you will be naturally able to verify the supported file formats.

9.What are the support equipment devices of the laser engraving machine?

Water chiller

Water chiller features a refrigeration system that cools regularly a certain amount of water stored in a water tank. The water pump enables the cool water to circulate inside the laser engraving machine to maintain a tolerable temperature of the laser tube and prevent eventual overheat of the machine.

Air compressor

An air compressor is an auxiliary device that provides the laser engraving machine with high pressure gas like oxygen or nitrogen. Compressed air is discharged in a tight stream, which is directed right where the laser is focused so as to cool down flammable materials and avoid burning; it prevents as well the dust from sticking on laser lens.

Air compressor-Photo credit: Thunderlaser

Air Purifier

This is a great device to have inside the laser workshop, it helps to maintain clean and healthy environment by improving indoor air quality. It removes instantly all dust and smoke produced by the laser, and without having this device it might be harmful to inhale such residues especially for long runs of the machine.

Camera System

The camera system can be attached to the laser head in a way to scan the working area and preview it. With such feature, it can detect the registration marks preprinted on the material and make automatic adjustment then process the laser no matter how the material was positioned on the working area.

It is advantageous to have this awesome device because it can improve remarkably the accuracy of the laser cuts and improve the working efficiency.

Rotary Device

The laser engraving machine performs very well on materials with flat surfaces because the laser head moves smoothly on the XY-axis, but when it comes to engrave round-shaped items, the task will be difficult or even impossible to achieve without attaching a support device. Hence, the rotary device is made particularly for such purpose, and it is a helpful add-on attachment for customizing mugs, bamboo, coconut shells and much more cylindrical and semi-cylindrical products.

Rotary Device-Photo credit: Triumphlaser

10.What are the benefits of owning a laser engraving machine?

Laser engraving has ever since its advent been as an industrial technology that was principally limited to industrial applications. What’s awesome about this technology is that it didn’t stop evolving, and now we have laser engraving machines at the disposal of companies aiming at adding value for their customers by personalizing their products.
That’s not all!
Laser engraving machines are accessible for those who aim to set up small business, for people looking to customize their own items and even for hobbyists interested in DIY equipments.

Cutting your designs

If you are a designer and you want to cut out intricate patterns, it would be a good idea to own a laser engraving machine. With such all-rounder tool you can be accurately cutting any shapes and sizes on wood, acrylic, plastic, leather or even jewelry, laser cuts have nice contours and leaves smooth edges.

Personalize any product

Personalizing products is an ingenious way to make your products stand out and significantly valorize your customers. Even as a newbie, with a laser engraving machine you can effortlessly impress you customers by adding personal touch to their products like engraving their logos, names, brand names and much more. Thus, the retail price of the personalized item will undoubtedly overweigh the original price prior engraving so that your earnings can skyrocket.

By the way, these are the most commonly personalized applications that you need to consider if you are planning to go for custom laser engraving:

1. personalized laser engraved gifts
2. personalized laser engraved bamboo cutting board
3. custom laser engraving wood
4. custom laser engraved wood signs
5. custom laser engraved mirror
6. laser engraved glass trophies
7. custom laser engraved tumblers
8. custom image laser engraving
9. custom laser engraved signet ring
10. custom laser engraving jewelry
11. custom laser crystal engraving
12. custom laser engraved basketball
13. custom laser engraved iphone case
14. custom laser engraved coffee mugs
15. laser engraved photo frames
16. custom laser engraved leather wallet
17. custom laser engraved pens

Laser engraving business

If you ever thought about starting a profitable small business with reasonable requirements, then laser engraving would be one of the best options.

Why is laser engraving good for business?

It is worth noting that doing laser engraving as business not necessarily requires targeting big markets though, a lot of small niches are waiting for laser engraving services, just like individual customers who need to customize for instance necklaces, phone cases, keychains and more personal stuffs. You may even target some startups to address their needs; you may help them to promote their brand with a laser engraving machine.

Another thing is the user-friendliness of the laser engraving machine makes no prior experience required for operating the machine. However, being familiar with the graphic editors would be a must for starting the business ASAP; otherwise, your supplier will provide you with adequate training till you get ready to run your laser engraving business.

Starting this business is not a big challenge at all, you just need a laser engraving machine matching your budget, and you need a personal computer to run graphic software. Moreover, you can choose either to open a store if your budget is good enough for it or you can merely run this business from home, it is also a good option.

Hobby business

As you know there is nothing awesome than having a hobby, it is the only way for turning your spare time more enjoyable especially if it were a kind of hobby that makes you a creative person.

Do you want to invest your leisure in doing some sort of cool art stuff?

Having a laser engraving machine is very exciting for hobbyists, they can have a lot of fun with such awesome tool. They can start in no time to bring their creative ideas to unique artworks. As a hobbyist you may use laser to decorate endless items with unique engravings such as artistic designs or cut small workpieces and engrave them with creative patterns.

There is a special type of laser engraving machine that is meant for hobbyists, and it is called DYI laser engraving machine. What’s interesting about it is that it comes dismantled into parts like Lego, so you will enjoy assembling the parts together and understand more its mechanism.

Honestly, with DYI machine you can even turn laser engraving from hobby to a small profitable business if you target well the market. You will find out that personalization of items like gifts, key chains, picture frames, notebooks, pens, etc. are actually some of the commonly demanded laser applications by customers.

Why should I buy a laser for laser cutting and engraving wood?

With laser you can process a wide range of wood types, it allows you to customize and decorate any wooden object you would have ever thought about. A laser engraving machine engraves even the most intricate details with high precision, not only that, it also accurately cuts any shape no matter sophisticated are the geometries of its contour.

Buying a laser engraving machine is worth it because every wooden product has the possibility to become unique, personalized, memorable and valuable with the incredible power of laser.

Check out below some examples of laser engraved and cut wooden items:

laser engraved wood iphone case

Laser engraved wood iphone case-Photo credit:Pinterest

Custom laser engraved wooden boxes

Laser craft engraving

3d laser engraving and cut

11.What’s the price of the laser engraving machine?

Price is the number one concern of customers when they are choosing a laser engraving machine, and most of the time the budget they can afford that determines how much they will invest.
Instead of sticking the focus merely on budget, customers do have to know what they need to do with the laser to determine the right configuration, because after all, what matters is the value and benefit they will get from making such investment even if they pay more.

Usually, the price of the laser engraving machine depends on the below factors:

The power and brand of the laser source

Every laser application requires certain laser power to achieve optimum results, so it depends on what you will do exactly with the laser. For instance, the wattage needed for engraving wood is much higher than what needs paper to be engraved. And cutting thicker materials also need more power than cutting thinner ones. Additionally, the speed of laser rely highly on the laser power, thus, fast laser processing consumes much watts.

In short, the higher is the laser wattage the higher will be the price of the machine. Therefore, if you consider all possibilities then you can choose wisely an optimal laser power that will offer you work flexibility at an affordable price.

The size of the working area

How big the materials you want to cut or engrave?

Put in mind that the more space needed to laser engrave or cut your materials the bigger shall be the working area, and the higher will be the price of the machine.

Try your best to choose the optimum working area to avoid paying extra money for an amount of space that will probably not going to be exploitable.

The quality of the X-Y axis linear

The quality of the spare parts of the motion control system impacts the quality of the engraving outputs, that’s why laser engraving machines must be equipped with high-speed stepper motor to enable perfect positioning, and accurate movement of the laser head movement during the laser engraving. Additionally, a robust X-Y axis linear ensures a low-maintenance; therefore, steel made X-Y linear is better than the plastic one for good stability. Having such standards is advantageous yet it costs more.

The control system: online or offline

The small-sized laser engraving machines support online connection to transfer data, whereas the large-sized industrial machines offer basically an offline connection besides online connection. Usually the offline control system costs more than the online control system.

The thickness of the frame

As aforementioned, the stability and accuracy of a laser engraving machine depend extremely on the thickness of its frame. If you are planning to operate the laser for long runs and get accurate outputs then you need to get a machine with a robust frame and that would cost you more though.

12.How to choose the right model of the laser engraving machine?

What is your material?

Before purchasing a particular laser machine, you must make sure that it can process the materials you plan to engrave or cut. We suggest you to refer once again to the list of materials that are compatible with the laser engraving machine.

What’s the max size of your materials?

By definition, the working area depends fundamentally on the size of the materials to be engraved. That’s the reason why determining the max size of your materials is an important thing to do prior buying a laser engraving machine.

What laser power for your application?

For selecting the power of the laser source that is needed to empower your laser engraving machine, you have to consider certain parameters, like the material, working area, engraving depth and engraving speed.

Answer the following questions so that you would be able to choose the right laser wattage.

• What kind of material I am going to engrave?
• What is the size of the working area?
• How deep would be my laser engraving?
• At which speed I want to process the laser engraving?
• What’s your purpose by this machine? personal use or commercial use, or mass production use?

In order to pick out the right laser engraving machine it is mandatory to determine properly the reason why you want to own it.

If you aim to use it at your home work shop just for the sake of personalization and hobby then buying some small-sized model will be satisfactory.

For commercial use two options will be available depending on your budget. You may either target small market with a small-sized machine or target comparatively bigger market which requires machines with relatively bigger working area and high laser power.

Engaging in mass production is the extreme thing the laser machine is capable of. Such project needs a huge investment in industrial laser engraving machines meet the massive demand of large-format materials processing.

13.What’s the Knowledge and materials request for the beginner of the laser engraving machine?

Ability to use the software CorelDraw

One of the commonly used graphic editors is CorelDraw; it assists with creation, positioning and layout of designs, knowing how to use this software is an asset especially for those buyers who want to use the machine for commercial purposes. Likewise, it is also a good idea to learn this graphic editor for DYI and personal use, as it opens up possibilities for artwork and creativity.

As new to laser engraving business with no prior experience in graphic editing is a little bit frustrating. Don’t worry!  Your supplier will get your there through adequate training and support.

It’s advantageous to design by yourself, at such level you can reduce your charges if you were to recruit someone to do the task for you, and increase you profit margin.

Prepare the engraving materials,

A sound preparation of the material is a prerequisite to laser engrave or cut professionally. Hence, beginner laser users are required to be aware of all the applicable materials to CO2 laser engraving and cutting like the wood, acrylic, paper board, this helps to choose properly the materials and avoid some materials that generate toxic gases when fired with laser. Most importantly is to ensure that the material fits inside the working area.

14.What are the benefits and support for the buyer from the laser engraving machine?

Installation and commission

Usually when the customers purchase the laser engraving machine their suppliers provide them with a user manual that introduces a thorough guide on the installation, operation, safety, and maintenance of the machine.
The get-go is to install correctly the complete working system of the machine. For this purpose, the buyer has to read carefully the installation guide and apply as well as possible all instructions because any mistake may cause the machine to malfunction.

Most of the lasers engraving machines are installed as follows:

• Open the cabinet and take out the support equipments aside
• Install the air purifier
• Install the air compressor
• Connect the earth wire to ensure the safety grounding
• Install the water pump and pipes and put it inside a cool water bucket
• Connect the computer to the machine via USB cable or Ethernet cable if its online control system
• Plug the power supply cable and turn on the machine
• Software support

In order to acquire the basic skill set of the graphic software, laser engraving machine suppliers provide their customers with software support that comes in the form of training sessions on site or online.

Basically, the software support helps users step by step to prepare laser cutting and engraving files in raster or vector format and, assists in setting up the required laser parameters for each material according to the requirements.

Design pattern

Another benefit that you can get from you supplier is a special library of engraving and cutting design patterns that comes in the respective formats supported by the graphic editor like Corel Draw. This library is advantageous to be used during the training sessions on the machine.

Example of engraving patterns:

Example of cutting patterns:

Parameter setting reference table

Each laser engraving or cutting application requires an appropriate adjustment of laser power, speed and frequency.

How to find the right laser setting for any application?

As a beginner user, it is difficult to choose the right laser setting that suits your specific material and the desired results.

To avoid such inconvenience, suppliers suggest a parameter setting reference table for cutting or engraving different materials and different thicknesses, all what customers need to do is loading these settings into computer or laser and save them as presets for upcoming work.

Always test these settings on some samples prior applying it to your materials, perhaps you may want to modify slightly the setting till the result is satisfactory.

15.Conclusion

For personal use, owning the laser engraving machine will make your life more customized and unique, many cool designs can be laser engraved on your best stuffs. With this awesome tool you can commemorate you best life moments by engraving your pictures on wood, acrylic and crystal, and if you want to surprise your friends and beloved ones with customized gifts the laser is the best solution.

For commercial purpose, the laser engraving machine would help you to boom your product value. With such all-rounder laser equipment you will have the possibility to stand out from other competitors by personalizing your products with your company’s name and logo. Moreover, you may also add value to your customers by their logos, names, brand names and much more, in such manner your products will be easily promoted.

After reading this buyer’s guide, we believe that you can pick out the right laser engraving machine properly.

Most importantly, we also believe that you will be able buy the right machine from a reputable laser engraving manufacturer.

If you do have any further queries, we are warmly inviting you to apply for free consultation on our website.