I have a 60w mopa fibre from the Wuhan laser district. It’s a galvo ipg with ezcad 2 which is common on the sub 10k lasers.
Ezcad comes with a serial number generator script tool . Barcodes etc there is an sdk for it but it’s an older version that’s out there.
It can also control a linear motion or rotary for doing production runs
Matt, what is the throughput that you need (versus latency)? I’ve seen beautiful laser-marked anodized done with a 40W laser (@phil_from_seattle suggested) – one person told me it takes multiple passes to achieve the result that he wanted – he was happy enough with the speed for his needs.
Good question, but I don’t have a great answer. I would like throughput and latency to be the same as we run each unit through the line: programming+test/top-level assembly/calibration/marking/carry-case assembly. Calibration is the bottleneck. Under 2 minutes total for the marking station would be good so that it keeps up with the calibration station. In 2 minutes, need to connect USB, load machine, mark/engrave, unload the machine. So, say 90 seconds for engraving? The backside engraving area is no more than 60 x 30 mm.
The other consideration is the total cost. I pay ~$1 / minute on the line, but that likely doesn’t cost much compared to the laser. Even at a very optimistic 5,000 Joulescopes a year, saving a minute is $5,000, so likely does not justify bumping up to a super-fast laser.
I’ve done some laser engraving on anodized aluminum. On the 60w or 80w, $6000 Chinese machine at the makerspace I used to frequent, I ran it at 200% speed and 20% power, so, not much power being used.
A vector based font would speed up the engraving process. Rather than scanning the laser back and forth and engraving a raster image, it could just trace out all the characters. Faster, but you don’t have the ability to use thick, pretty looking fonts.
I bought a fiber laser from XT lasers in China a 30W model. The lens choice offers different options like for a 200x200mm area or a 100x100mm area. With a minute of time you should be able to mark quite a surface with it. Note that the more you want to burn away to longer it takes. So to mark black anodized aluminium with a large white area will take long. When it comes to safety it came with laser goggles. I have no idea what the safety requirements are in the USA. There again I’m based in Africa so I assume we have less regulations. It comes with EZcad software which includes an incremental serial number generator. I marked bar codes with it so its quite accurate. Further a nice toy to have and it costed me $4000. Why don’t you publish a label you want to mark, Maybe some members want to trial it on their machines to see how long it takes and how well it comes out.
Not sure if you are aware or not but Perspex can block/attenuate laser reflections down to safe levels, so you can enclose your jig with it and safely will be a non-issue. Just make sure you get the right type/color to block the laser wavelength.
Thanks for the recommendations @nickb, @Bikkel, & @PeeJay. I spoke with my CM on Friday. If they get any laser system, it needs to be a class 1, FDA-certified, commercial system with US-based support.
For now, the 20 W MOPA LaserGear BOQX is our leading candidate. The quoted all-in price is $18,693 including shipping and fume extraction system.
Next step: convince my CM to buy it! They are asking some of their key customers to see if adding a laser marking service makes sense for their business. If not, we’ll have to work something out.
Thanks all for the feedback and recommendations!
unless you really want a MOPA specifically or the price difference is none, or small i wouldn’t do it. they’re extremely finicky on settings to get the colours repeatable. in the two years i’ve had mine i’ve been able to reproduce the settings once.
it’s a tiny temperature range to control the colour. maybe somehow the one you’re getting they have some solution to it or able to repeat it, but i have stacks of failed tests.
also that laser you linked, is a chinese ezcad 2 driven laser i paid i think 8K delivered for my probably the same brand ipg/raycus but 60W mopa, which it doesnt have the enclosure/extraction or usa support you need, but just letting you know its the same system in a box so you’re paying about an extra 14K for the USA additions
ezcad 2 is discontinued, not that it really matters since if it does what you need , updates don’t matter. the replacement ezcad 3 needs a new driver board which is 2k and needs a rewire, there are a lots of clones of the ezcad boards as well, you can only find out if official by checking serial number with the ezcad people. maybe theyve updated to the 3 but i’d be surprised.
it is also horrendous software, i did some RE and tools for it to help with the settings
apologies, i should say, this is my understanding of what it is by looking at their website and software videos, so only if they sell you what they’re advertising will my notes match
Thanks for the tip! For this application, we are removing the black anodized aluminum, which could be done just as well with a normal fiber laser. The price difference between fiber laser and MOPA does not seem to be too great anymore, but you do give up a bit on wattage.
Sounds like I need to ask more questions about their “Minilase Pro SE software”. It may just be ezcad, which would be sad considering the price. I definitely expect to pay more than ordering off Alibaba, but that does seem a little steep…
they may have multiple versions and some may not be ezcad, or an ezcad sdk/board. they seem to brand a few things minilase, but i figured its worth making sure. i watched a few of their videos and it showed a rebranded ezcad, but there are others that aren’t but even those look like chinese driver/software rebrands to me.
it is useable software, especially if you are just doing the same thing over and over, its just the usual just below bare minimum typical chinese control software. since it’s not untenable. like sometimes you have to power on twice for the laser to fire, a few crashes, and the gui is a bit of a pain.
hopefully i’m wrong though
on the other hand, i’ve been using my 60W wuhan mopa, which unluckily arrived just as corona virus was spreaing in wuhan, and it’s still working just fine.
best of luck
I am learning more. This Laser Everything YouTube video was helpful. I found an enclosed SFX 50W fiber laser with JPT laser, FDA cert, and US support. Price is $6,195 delivered, all duties paid. I like that price a lot more!
It runs with ezcad2. I only need a fixed image for the top, which should be easy. Ezcad2 claims to support the bottom image with changing serial number and barcode. Regardless, I should be able to figure out some way to make this work.
I should meet with my CM next week or the week after to chat about the laser. We’ll see what they think about these two options.
you can download the ezcad software and run it in demo mode and play around with it. ezcad.com
can find some of my notes here, https://charliex2.wordpress.com/2020/01/31/fibre-laser-arrives-let-the-games-begin/ most probably aren’t relevant to you. but the link to the pen tool is also there
Wow, looks like you really dug into things! Thanks for the links!
I found out that the SFX 50W laser is class 4, not class 1. It looks like many of the Chinese laser enclosures do not have safety interlocks. Doh. I have a call with FOBA (super expensive!) tomorrow, and new quote requests to BesCutter, Hans Laser, and Schmidt.
Sorry I never commented on this! Thank you for the offer! I believe that I need to find a safe unit that is recognized in the USA as a class 1 system. I have seen great results from laser-engraving black anodized aluminum, so I know it can be done. I’ll be sure to get samples from my top choices, but I don’t want to take up your time for a laser that does not match my needs. Thanks again for the offer!
Well, I just received this from one of the laser vendors when I asked about class 1 and safety interlocks:
The machine has no interlock prevent it from being opened while in use.
Don’t worry about its safety issues. This level of laser has almost no harm to the human body. Many customers buy open design machines, even without protective glasses.
These lasers are rated as class 4 when not enclosed, which directly contradicts the statement from the vendor. This paper indicates that more caution is warranted. OSHA has some info, but this GWU presentation provides a very good summary.
I don’t think that I am being overly paranoid, am I?
Hey Matt - Very interested to see what you come up with. I use a hobby/lab quality device to mark low-volume plastic parts but it’s very clunky and requires a lot of “knowledge” to use successfully. I have been looking at alternatives for over a year but we’re talking $10K for anything barebones and a lot more for anything substantial. Now I don’t need to mark metal so our requirements may be different an you may not find a “safe” laser that can do that. Plastic requires very low power…
Keith
That GWU presentation is a fantastic summary, and you should follow if fully.
There are some areas of the world, where the use of enclosures for cutting lasers is not typical for industrial environments, but in UK, a class 4 laser without an enclosing shields and without interlocks would require laser safety glasses at all times (for all reflection types), potentially need suitable clothing, will need signage (including outside the room) and warning lights while in operation (including outside the room).
IR lasers for cutting are a particular problem for reflections as they are invisible, so if someone is exposed, they won’t have a blink response, so eye damage is typically worse from this type of exposure.
From the usage you’ve described, on an assembly line where the user has minimal training to run the laser, I would want to see enclosures and interlocks - but this is a risk assement choice, that you’ll need to make based on your working method.
Source: Running 40-100W CO2 laser cutters in a workshop environment, writing all the Health and Safety paperwork for using them (Risk Assesment and Method Statement) in the UK.
BTW, just as a sanity check, what is your feelings about using labels? There are “nameplate” labels that work with thermal transfer printers – they are fast and safer…
Lots of material/finish choices, apparently: Thermal-transfer printing | Variable information printing labelstocks | LINTEC Corporation
If you get a chance to go to MD+M East/EastPack/etc. in New York, (MD&M East | IME East) you can see various vendors in person.
For us West-coasters, MD+M West/WestPack/etc is in Anaheim: (https://www.mdmwest.com/en/home.html)
The existing Joulescope JS110 uses a Brady nameplate label, the B33-17-486. I could continue to use these for the Joulescope 2. However, they will definitely stand out more on the black anodized aluminum as opposed to the current natural anodized silver. Applying the labels is also annoying, even with a fixture we designed. Finally, I really like the look of the laser engraved top and bottom. If the laser engraving doesn’t work out, I could certainly stick with the nameplate labels.
By coincidence, I am meeting with my CM this afternnon. Their current position is that they don’t want to buy a laser this year. I have found a few options in the $10k to $15k range which seem to meet my needs and will hopefully also make them happy. We’ll see!
Having had applied product labels on boxes for years, I fully agree!