To my understanding this needs LaserGRBL as Software. It seems this is Window software only. Kind of a wired choice for an Open Source project.
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It's a cute project, but hardly seems practical with the availabilty of Chinese laser engravers that have 5-10x the laser power for only $30-60 more.
Any particular ones you would recommend? I’m not super familiar with this technology tbh
I dont have a product recommendation but I do have a safety recommendation, and that is research about laser safety before buying anything. There are cheap laser engravers out there without proper safety shielding that can and will blind you. As long as you have good laser safety glasses it's fine but the ones that they ship with the product are often not actually rated for the power levels or wavelengths that the laser has.
As a musician this would be cool to engrave my logo or QR code onto stuff, and support an open source project.
Are Lazer engravers any different than a CD burner that can move on 2 axis?
Most of them are going to use the laser diode out of a Blu-Ray, set in a heat sink that'll let them at least try to run the thing at about a watt.
This will let them kind of mar the finish on some wood I guess. Compare this to a CO2 laser that start at about 30 watts that can punch right through plywood and acrylic and diode lasers are just 1. uselessly pathetic and 2. will blind your ass in the ugliest way possible.
You see, something like a CO2 laser is far-infrared, the tube itself glows a nice purplish pink but the laser light is invisible to the human eye; even if your rods or cones reacted to it, which they don't, your cornea is opaque to it. You get shot in the eye with a CO2 laser, you're going to get burned on the cornea. Which, thanks to motorcyclists, might be an injury a surgeon can fix, if your entire eye doesn't just pop like a superheated zit.
Diode engravers use blue light. As in, in the visible spectrum. Pretty close to the wavelength your blue cones respond to, actually. Since your eyes are designed to use that wavelength of light, your corneas are transparent to that wavelength. So if you get hit in the eye with a blue laser, you just get a third degree burn right on your retina. None of the sciences or religions can fix that; there's just going to be a blind streak in your vision from now on.
Wear your goddamn safety glasses while working around class IV laser devices.
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