There are times when you want to cut or design various materials such as plastic and wood. A laser engraving machine is useful in such cases. It may not be familiar to those who do not do DIY, but let’s see how to choose a laser engraving machine that is convenient for making things.
What Can You Do with a “Laser Engraving Machine”?
Don’t you think that you can’t make a stamp using a photo saved in JPEG or an original logo or design without requesting from a specialty store? In fact, a desktop-sized compact laser engraving machine that can be used for personal use is on sale. With this, you can easily make a stamp at home.
However, there are many types of laser engraving machines on the market from many manufacturers, and you may be wondering which one to choose. Therefore, this time we will introduce how to select a laser engraving machine and recommended products in a ranking format. If you are unsure about purchasing, please refer to it.
At the end of the article, we also introduce precautions when using a laser engraving machine, so please take a look to the end.
How The Laser Engraving Machine Works?
The laser engraving machine collects the laser light with a lens to make it powerful and store heat. By irradiating the heat, materials such as wood, leather, and glass are scraped.
You may have experienced an experiment in elementary school, etc., where you used a magnifying glass to concentrate sunlight on one point and burn paper. Laser engraving machines use the same principles as their science experiments.
How to Choose a Laser Engraving Machine?
There are various types of laser engraving machines, and they have various functions. From here, we will introduce the key factors in choosing a laser engraving machine.
When choosing a laser engraving machine, why not choose from the types of lasers you use. Here, we will introduce the features of each of the three types of lasers: “CO2 laser”, “fiber laser”, and “YAG laser / YVO laser” .
A CO2 laser is a carbon dioxide laser that uses carbon dioxide as a laser catalyst. It is possible to create continuous waves and high-power pulse waves, and by irradiating a laser beam, the surface of the object to be printed is deformed or peeled off by thermal energy and engraved.
It is the most common type of laser and is used in many laser engraving machines. Engraving with thermal energy Since engraving is performed with a gas laser, engraving can be performed on materials other than metal.
A fiber laser is a type of solid-state laser and is called a fiber laser because it uses an optical fiber as the amplification medium . The light source is amplified by a resonant medium called active fiber and oscillated as laser light.
This fiber laser has about 100 times the output of a CO2 laser, so it can be engraved on a wide range of materials. It can be used for all resin types and a wide range of metals. In addition, finer and more accurate engraving is possible than with a CO2 laser.
In the flatbed type, the head that irradiates the laser beam moves in the X-axis and Y-axis directions to irradiate the laser beam . Because of this operation, it is also called a plotter type or laser plotter.
Since the processing area can be set widely, it is suitable for processing large materials or multiple materials side by side at once. It has the disadvantage that the processing speed is slower than the galvano type.
Some laser engraving machines have high wattage. With an output of 1000mw, you can engrave on materials such as wood, bamboo, plastic, leather, rubber and cork. If it becomes higher 3000mw or 5000mw, it is possible to process metal and cut materials.
It is important to consider what you want to process and what you need to cut, and then choose the laser engraving machine with the most suitable specifications. By the way, processing acrylic may generate gas. Be careful about ventilation and use a laser engraving machine.