Really cheap 300mW laser engraver

[dnar]

At that price I am tempted to get one just to see what they are like.

http://www.dx.com/p/neje-300mw-mini-...w#.VV3Xxm4Z7bU

Probably needs a ton of mods and improvements, but hey.

[142laser]

Oh, cool
The price is right.

[Photonbeam]

Here's another one for under $80 - with software. Amazing!

[Crazy]

http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/90...kit-92015.html
http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/in...ead-92263.html

Two threads from LPF. Pretty nifty! I guess the Chinese have to do SOMETHING with all the sleds from the de-lasered dvd burners

[VibrationsOfDoom]

...And, might I add, since I work with lasers at an engraving place (Trotec's mostly), if you are going to laser on aluminum or metal type surfaces, do yourself a favor and invest in some CerMark... This is designed to get dark engraving on, say, a surface like a lead pipe or other metal surfaces... We use that stuff like it's going out of style at work...

Most of you probably know this, but I'm sure not everyone works in an engraving company...

http://www.thermark.com/content/view/36/78/

[czyzczyz]

Looks like it's $73 for a minimalist (non-enclosed) 500mw model now (might be a short-term discount). I may give it a try.

That Cermark LMM-6000 substance sounds great, but would it even be possible to use with lasers of this low an intensity? Cermark's site doesn't seem to recommend its use with any diode laser under 10W. Maybe these little 500mw diodes would still work fine with it if run at 1/20th the suggested speed (assuming they can actually produce a constant 500mw for the duration of the slow engraving process). It'd also be nice if it were possible to buy a much smaller quantity, but it's not like they market this stuff to hobbyists who do low volumes.

[czyzczyz]

At $73 for the 500mw model I decided to buy in. This should be amusing.

If anyone wants to sell me a tiny amount of the Cermark I'd be happy to give it a try. But the lowest price I've found for it online is $29 for 25gm + $14 shipping, and it seems silly to spring for that when I don't expect it to be very usable on this low-powered engraver. Maybe my expectations are a little low.

[VDX]

... I'm using 445nm-diodes with 2W or 3.5W ... have a 6W for testing too, but not tried yet.

Here's a test in green anodized aluminium at roughly 2Watts from a 3.5W-diode with 50mm/s engraving speed:



Should be interesting testing with Cermark too ... have somewhere an old sample (hopefully not sedimented), so maybe testing in the next days ...

Viktor

[swamidog]

... I'm using 445nm-diodes with 2W or 3.5W ... have a 6W for testing too, but not tried yet.

Here's a test in green anodized aluminium at roughly 2Watts from a 3.5W-diode with 50mm/s engraving speed:



Should be interesting testing with Cermark too ... have somewhere an old sample (hopefully not sedimented), so maybe testing in the next days ...

Viktor

that's surprisingly good!

[LaNeK779]

did anybody get one of these? would be nice to have some real world results