Anyone have an Ortur laser?

[Iguanadon]

I use a laser engraver for engraving names and other small scale stuff with a very basic laser that does a great job. I'm curious though if anyone has the "ORTUR Laser Master 2 32-bit Motherboard 20watt" I need something faster and don't really want to buy something only to find out it doesn't gain me anything. https://www.gearbest.com/laser-engraving-machine/pp_009895272714.html?wid=1349303#goodsDetail

[kmmcrafts]

How slow / fast is the one you have?  Like... how long would it take to engrave the Brandy text on the Dachsund you posted above?  The 40W C02 laser I recently started messing with would do that in about 3-5 minutes tops.. maybe faster.. I haven't experimented too much with running it on the max power and speed setting.. I've only run it at 8% power so far and 550mm per sec. speed setting.. Believe it will run faster than that but I can't imagine doing it n my makeshift table, probably fly off the table, LOL

Edit to add:

Just as a reference I engraved and cut through this 1/8" BBply at 8% power and run the engrave speed at 350mm sec. and cut (same power ) 10mm sec. These took 20 minutes to do the 4 ornaments and the keychain in the center.. The video is 4x faster..

Edit again, NOT 8% power.. 8 milliamp power setting.. That is misleading as my tube max power shouldn't run more than 18 milliamp .. you can but you shorten the laser tube life and or damage it.. 

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by kmmcrafts

[Iguanadon]

10 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said:

How slow / fast is the one you have?  Like... how long would it take to engrave the Brandy text on the Dachsund you posted above?  The 40W C02 laser I recently started messing with would do that in about 3-5 minutes tops.. maybe faster.. I haven't experimented too much with running it on the max power and speed setting.. I've only run it at 8% power so far and 550mm per inch speed setting.. Believe it will run faster than that but I can't imagine doing it n my makeshift table, probably fly off the table, LOL

BRANDY would take about 15+ minutes on my current laser and the sea turtle is around 19 minutes.  The detail and quality is fantastic, so I'm very happy with the laser, but when I have 50 golf tee games to do, it takes way too much time.

I have found someone with the Ortur and he's going to do a test of the sea turtle for me and let me know how long it takes.

Edited September 30, 2020 by Iguanadon

[kmmcrafts]

10 minutes ago, Iguanadon said:

BRANDY would take about 15+ minutes on my current laser and the sea turtle is around 13 minutes.  The detail and quality is fantastic, so I'm very happy with the laser, but when I have 50 golf tee games to do, it takes way too much time.

I have found someone with the Ortur and he's going to do a test of the sea turtle for me and let me know how long it takes.

The specs on the one in the link you posted shows maximum speed is 3000mm a minute.. if my math is correct that equates to 50mm a sec.  and that's IF the machine is powerful enough to get the image quality you're looking for.. I don't know the specs of the one you have but being more powerful isn't going to mean it's faster.. 

[Iguanadon]

1 minute ago, kmmcrafts said:

The specs on the one in the link you posted shows maximum speed is 3000mm a minute.. if my math is correct that equates to 50mm a sec.  and that's IF the machine is powerful enough to get the image quality you're looking for.. I don't know the specs of the one you have but being more powerful isn't going to mean it's faster.. 

Yeah, that's my concern and some items I do the fine detail is amazing with the NEJE.  I've found 2 people willing to do a test for me on their Ortur's, I'll see how they look and the elapsed time.

[kmmcrafts]

If you're making that many I would be looking at a CNC router, LOL... That's a lot of holes to drill.. 

With the CNC you'd just draw up the design of the triangle and where the holes are.. also will do the engrave.. however many of those you could get from a 2ft x 2ft board the CNC would carve, engrave , and cut them out for you in about 2 hours.. set it up next to your scroll saw and keep an eye on it while cutting puzzles,  

[Iguanadon]

4 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said:

If you're making that many I would be looking at a CNC router, LOL... That's a lot of holes to drill.. 

With the CNC you'd just draw up the design of the triangle and where the holes are.. also will do the engrave.. however many of those you could get from a 2ft x 2ft board the CNC would carve, engrave , and cut them out for you in about 2 hours.. set it up next to your scroll saw and keep an eye on it while cutting puzzles,  

I can't imagine these things will remain popular among my customer base for long, so I'm hesitant to invest a lot into something for an item that I sell for $7.50 or $10 each... The cutting of the triangles, drilling and sanding take very little time per piece, it's the laser engraving that drags on.  I trained my wife on it as she can go back and forth to the garage every 15-20 minutes and set up another one.

[Iguanadon]

@kmmcrafts Well, the Ortur does cut faster... a lot faster... 3 minutes by one person and 5 minutes by another for the sea turtle, same size.  Looks like I'll be buying an Ortur.  LOL

[kmmcrafts]

Well that is good to hear.. Will you be able to use both lasers at the same time or is it not worth the effort to hook them both up? I mean I realize the one is a bit slow but running it is making more pieces.. Probably would need to have two computers though.. so might not be doable..

Good luck with it and let us know how you like it if you get one.. I'd like to see a video of one running.. probably is one on YouTube already, guess I'll go look..

 

[jbrowning]

Would there be a way of hooking up 2 lasers to the same computer via usb's. Then have 2 separate sessions of the software open at the same time?

Jim

[kmmcrafts]

9 hours ago, jbrowning said:

Would there be a way of hooking up 2 lasers to the same computer via usb's. Then have 2 separate sessions of the software open at the same time?

Jim

Might be able to.. probably take a better computer than the one I have in my shop for the CNC / Laser.. It has to think about what it's doing for what seems like 20 minutes, I'm doubting mine would do it but maybe a newer better one would work like that... as much dust etc that the shop gets.. I wasn't putting anything too nice and fancy out there.. Just to give an idea.. it's a laptop that I bought in 06 on clearance as it was a "old" model, LOL... Windows XP,  .. Maybe my machines would run faster with a better computer... hmmm.. LOL

[Rolf]

I have a NEJE 7w with a master 2 main board that allows me to use GRBL, I also use Lightburn software that gives me much more control. Laser power certainly comes into play as you can move faster with more power and get the same results. but the type of file that you input also has a lot to do with it. 

[kmmcrafts]

22 minutes ago, Rolf said:

I have a NEJE 7w with a master 2 main board that allows me to use GRBL, I also use Lightburn software that gives me much more control. Laser power certainly comes into play as you can move faster with more power and get the same results. but the type of file that you input also has a lot to do with it. 

I've been researching Lightburn software.. I can't use it with the control board my K40 has at the moment but I've been seriously considering upgrading my control board to run it on my K40.. There is another new software.. (well.. new to my hearing about anyway) that the guys on the K40 groups have been raving over.. I can't think of the name of it now.. but some have been saying it's better than Lightburn..   

[puzzleman]

Scott,

You have really progressed with your skills. I am impressed!

I recommend you check out the Association of Games and Puzzles - http://www.gamesandpuzzles.org/index.php

I joined and went to their convention in Denver last year. Nice bunch of folks. And we toured Liberty Puzzles in Boulder: https://www.libertypuzzles.com/

 Chris Wirth, owner of Liberty Puzzles, gave a presentation at the Denver convention. Fascinating. Convention next year is in VA - not too far from NC.

And they have a quarterly magazine. The last issue features an article by Janell Amely from GA who uses a laser to cut acrylic puzzles. Very nice article.

You can see some of Janell's work here: https://www.3catmax.com/

Brian

[Iguanadon]

1 hour ago, puzzleman said:

Scott,

You have really progressed with your skills. I am impressed!

I recommend you check out the Association of Games and Puzzles - http://www.gamesandpuzzles.org/index.php

I joined and went to their convention in Denver last year. Nice bunch of folks. And we toured Liberty Puzzles in Boulder: https://www.libertypuzzles.com/

 Chris Wirth, owner of Liberty Puzzles, gave a presentation at the Denver convention. Fascinating. Convention next year is in VA - not too far from NC.

And they have a quarterly magazine. The last issue features an article by Janell Amely from GA who uses a laser to cut acrylic puzzles. Very nice article.

You can see some of Janell's work here: https://www.3catmax.com/

Brian

Hey stranger, good to hear from you.  I hope all is well.  Thank you, I'll look into all of this.

[Rolf]

Kevin, I suggest doing a trial, most are free, with any new software to see if you like it. Lightburn has a 30 day trail that they kindly extended as my initial control board was not compatible with it. 

Edited October 7, 2020 by Rolf

[OCtoolguy]

On 9/30/2020 at 2:36 PM, Iguanadon said:

I can't imagine these things will remain popular among my customer base for long, so I'm hesitant to invest a lot into something for an item that I sell for $7.50 or $10 each... The cutting of the triangles, drilling and sanding take very little time per piece, it's the laser engraving that drags on.  I trained my wife on it as she can go back and forth to the garage every 15-20 minutes and set up another one.

"Trained your wife"? Tell me how you managed that. I've been trying to "train my wife" for 50 years and have not done it yet.

 

[Rolf]

"Trained a Wife" you guys do live on the edge!

[rash_powder]

I have a 20w Ortur LM2.  The laser module died after maybe 2 weeks of very little use.  

Ortur is sending a new one, but it is a process and the last email I got was maybe 1.5-2 weeks ago that they would ship me a replacement.  Nothing since.

If it never comes I guess I will have to find a replacement on my own.  They are out there.  

You may have a different experience, but from what I have gleaned from Ortur and Lightburn forums and a few other locations, this is a very common occurence.  

[meflick]

On 10/26/2020 at 11:07 AM, rash_powder said:

I have a 20w Ortur LM2.  The laser module died after maybe 2 weeks of very little use.  

Ortur is sending a new one, but it is a process and the last email I got was maybe 1.5-2 weeks ago that they would ship me a replacement.  Nothing since.

If it never comes I guess I will have to find a replacement on my own.  They are out there.  

You may have a different experience, but from what I have gleaned from Ortur and Lightburn forums and a few other locations, this is a very common occurence.  

@rash_powder did you ever get your new laser module and get your Ortur LM2 running again?  Any further insight on it?  Are you using Lightburn?

@Iguanadon Scott, did you get the Ortur laser and get it set up?  Any insight on setting it?  Usage?  Are you using Lightburn software with it?

[rash_powder]

I did get a replacement laser module from ortur; but i have not yet three weeks later tried it again.  I was using lightburn.  

[Iguanadon]

On 11/12/2020 at 2:11 PM, meflick said:

@rash_powder did you ever get your new laser module and get your Ortur LM2 running again?  Any further insight on it?  Are you using Lightburn?

@Iguanadon Scott, did you get the Ortur laser and get it set up?  Any insight on setting it?  Usage?  Are you using Lightburn software with it?

I did receive my Ortur a couple of weeks ago and I assembled it last weekend and got it working.  I have a lot to learn though.  LOL  I tried the free trial of Lightburn and found it too complex for my needs so now I'm trying LaserGRBL or whatever its called.  But I haven't had the time to really focus on playing and learning.  I've gotten it to burn text as well as some of my images for my golf tee games so I know I have a working machine.

[Linda In Phoenix]

How is that Ortur 20w working for you after a few months to play with it?  I'm thinking about maybe getting one, so your experience after this long would be nice.

[OzarkSawdust]

That's strange...I was just looking at those on line last week. Half thinking about a laser, mainly for logos and names. Hearing experience and seeing pictures is always good.

 

[kmmcrafts]

How does one deal with the smoke from these things? I don't really see a exhaust for it or since it's all open framed not really a way to exhaust the smoke.. Not a very healthy thing to breath in all the smoke from running one inside.. especially if working with acrylics.. I like the size of the machine as opposed to my K40 but I don't like that it's open framed and no exhaust.. I'd have customers complaining about my scroll work smelling like smoke if I did this in my shop area where I store my scrolled project inventory etc.. That would be a no for me on this unless there is a smoke extractor..