Hi all, I have this 100W laser that makes a weird crunching noise when I move the X axis. What do you think can be the source? I’m suspecting the belt, or can it be the ball bearing?

Begginner here, so go easy on me- any help appreciated.

I used a box generator and the ray trace function in Inkscape on some manga covers. Super quick design.

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need simple unfinished stars for crafts, maybe 2 to 4 inches. local craft packs get expensive quickly. i found wood craft manufacturers on alibaba where laser cut plywood stars are basically pennies in quantity, but edges can come dark or rough depending laser settings. anyone ordered these bulk? is birch ply worth paying more than MDF for painting? solid wood seems unnecessary unless youre leaving grain visible. holes for hanging may be useful. im mostly trying to get pieces that are flat and consistent, because warped thin plywood is annoying to decorate. maybe 500 units. sanding every single one by hand would completely erase whatever money bulk order saved.

Hi, I have the H2D laser and have been using it to engrave leather, the smells are absolutely horrible, and was wondering how you guys have it set up?

I was thinking of buying the AC Cloudline S6 inline fan and a duct reducer (6in diameter to 4in duct) and have it exhaust out the window. Or maybe just getting the S4 model and have a simpler setup.

Thank you all in advance!

Hi! I’m looking into getting my first laser engraver for some small metal products. My need is mostly dealing with raw 6061 aluminum and anodized pieces, stainless nameplates, brass logo plates, and some serialized small parts.

I’m now stuck between starting with the F2 Ultra or going straight to the X1. The F2 Ultra seems like it would cover what I need right now, but I also don’t want to realize six months later that I need more flexibility for batches or a wider range of other projects. What would you suggest or do you have other recs? Hoping to make a decision before the Black Friday deals begin so I can make the most of them.

I recently switched from LightBurn to Bernie, and I'm pretty impressed by the features it offers, especially considering it's donationware.

Has anyone else tried it? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

So I need replacement for silicone water pipes that connect the chiller and rear machine at bottom. For some reason its not possible measure the default pipe diameter for now.

So I want to ask anyone here have this machine? What is the inner diameter (ID) size for the water pipe?

Hi everyone. I just changed my faulty psu and bought a new dy-20 for my 150w-200w laser. However now, i cant put power more than 40% as it is pushing past 30ma. Ideally, i would want ruida controller to be at 100% and be at 30ma where my meter ranges to. Is this possible to adjust somewhere? Thanks.

I apologize if I’m skirting the commercial rule here.

I cannot for the life of me find a honeycomb small enough for the A1C.

The cutting area is 150mm squared and the Z platform is about another 5mm border around that.

Since the A1C is enclosed and the platform moves it would need to be secured to the threaded homes in the platform methinks.

Since I want to be cutting very thin and light card stock etc. with only a 5W blue I guess I could use a wood backing or similar. But it can be upgraded to a 10W blue and a 1.2W IR head.

I don’t have the camera version so overruns are possible if I don’t get the positioning of small pieces exactly right.

Other than this I’ve been very happy with the pair of A1C’s for light work.

I am looking for advice in choosing a laser cutter. I will mostly be cutting paper and cardstock. Eventually I may want to cut balsa, etch metal, etc, but that's not important now.

Whatever I choose, it must work with macOS.

It must be able to cut edge-to-edge on 8-1/2 x 11 paper, larger support is preferred.

My 1st project is a complex label that will already be printed that I will want to make cutouts from.

I will need cut a variety of rectangles and holes, with some holes as small as 4.8 mm and I will need sub-mm precision for the location of the small holes, because those holes will need to align with existing mounting holes on a machine.

I have a PDF that has the label as well as matching cuts. It's not hard for me to generate an SVG, or other format cutting file from this PDF. It's important to me to not have to regenerate the cuts in their software, I'd like to just import them from a file (of any format they want) that I auto-generate from the master PDF.

I imagine there would be some registration step to let the machine match the cutting file to the actual paper to be cut. This must be precise.

I've heard of xTool and Rolly, but don't know the pros and cons, or if other brands are worth considering.

Any advice? I have $500 to $1500 to spend, depending on features, etc.

This is my first experience with laser cutting and I am working on a project for school. I'm very inexperienced with safety precautions for things like plastic cements, so I'm looking for any adhesives that don't have many health risks when working with it. My current design has 4 layers of 3mm acrylic that are roughly 4x4in/10x10cm each.

If there aren't any good options for face-to-face clear acrylic adhesives, I can tweak my design to work with opaque adhesives but it would likely be more fragile.

I purchased as 20W diode laser recently and was wondering if I could engrave food like chocolates with it?

This is one of my earliest watch dials. I made it from laser test cardboard using a Mr Carve laser with only 2W of output, then used acrylic paint and a clear coat to finish it.

It was a very modest setup, but it let me experiment with small details and make something I was happy to put into a watch.

This one was for CET Ventures, an investment firm focused on defense-tech startups. The design includes their logo, small aircraft and bomb details, and luminous hour markers.

The photos show the loose cardboard dial, the finished watch, and the watch under UV light. The video shows the dial-making process, not the watch assembly.

I'm Meidan, the maker behind Rexx Timepieces, and this is my own workshop project.

Dial-making video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hebvzgrFJEI

If you guys like these cardboard dial projects, let me know and I'll share some more of them.

What laser engravers or brands are you guys using? I'm new to this and looking one that works on small wood items such as cutting and engraving ornaments, guitar pick gift boxes, small signs etc.. engraves tumblers and such items. Would love if cut acrylic! My budget is $2500 or less. Just trying to find a really good one within that budget that won’t completely stump me to use! I’m assuming a CO2 would work best but looking for the best options for multi use. Thanks for any input.

I spent some time testing setting on cotton fabric paper with the Bambu R1 and got it to cut out these sails for a Lego sailing ship. The file is on Maker World, if anyone happens to have this set.

My laser is dying when above 60% power. It started happening at the end of a long job earlier today. It's a 40w Longer B1, never given me trouble like this before. I thought that it was the power supply because of the way it dies and then comes back after the cut has been attempted (see video) so I hooked it up to a brand new power supply with the same specs as the original. Connections and software seems fine - all movement, homing etc are working as normal, and it cuts as expected when on a very low power setting - 30% or lower.

Really hoping someone here has some insight. I have already contacted Longer support but don't anticipate a very prompt reply.

Just curious what was your first project after doing initial learning and test grids.

Mine was this keyring with MDF stereo. It was definitely some experience to have a digital vector art which gets transformed to a physical object, Magic!

Hello I am an architecture student about to graduate from school, therefore I am losing access to our materials lab. I am looking for recommendations for laser cutters, that is the machine I am going to miss the most. The material lab has 3 Universal Laser System (VLS PLATFORM SERIES LASER SYSTEMS).

I am looking for a good workhorse laser cutter primarily for architectural model making. Cutting/engraving basswood, chipboard, paper and a larger(ish) bed would be preferred. I am okay at machine maintenance, I have had my 3d printer for 5 years and I’ve kept that up. Preferably under 1500 dollars, any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

So I’m losing my mind trying to figure this out and it’s gotta be something simple.
I started making paint kits to add to my booth for something for kids. And I’ve bought a few files but I really like making my own.
I cannot figure out for the life of me how to make these images simpler like others. Especially for painting. They don’t need to be super liney, I want them more open for kids to have more space to paint and not SUPER detailed.
I can’t figure out how to make the lines “thinner” I suppose so it’s just 1 line and not 2 next to each other. I attached a picture for reference. Every time I take a photo and make it into an SVG my lines are so thick it comes out as 2 lines once I place it in lightburn.
So I have a boot and I want it to look like the wooden one on the right bit how do I get my lines there without having to mess with nodes or redraw them.

Here is the painted version of my ocean depth map project of Catalina Island, CA.  I used acrylic paints thinned with water, 1:4 paint to water ratio, to give it a wash paint job.  I wanted to take advantage of the variations in the wood to give the water some texture.  I’m pretty happy with it except for a bit of paint running over the cut edges.  Next time, I’ll paint first and then cut.  I’m waiting on a shadow box frame I ordered to be delivered to finish this.  I used the following Liquitex Basics colors:

• Light Blue+Titan White
• Light Blue
• Cerulean Blue
• Cobalt Blue
• Phthalocyannine Blue
• Prussian Blue

Original Post - https://www.reddit.com/r/lasercutting/comments/1x9ibbm/ocean_depth_map_project/