I keep thinking I’ll produce some grand treatise on something or other, but never find the time to sit down and write. Partly because I’m a perfectionist and putting something out for all to see that isn’t up to a high standard is difficult for me. Partly because I’m a jack of all trades (and thus master of none) so don’t feel like I’m capable of providing anything good. Throw in having three teens in various activities, projects galore, and a fair amount of laziness and well…
Anyway, I saw the recent call for articles and realized I had a topic I could put together pretty quickly and not be worried about my lack of expertise or perfectionism since it is something brand new to me and I hadn’t seen anyone discussing this topic previously. I’ve been thinking a lot about a side hustle for quite a while and I finally pulled the trigger on something I think I can make a go of – laser engraving/cutting. I just received this laser a few days ago and have been playing with it ever since. It’s about the cheapest one you can get, but it is decent quality and has a couple options that are pretty important to me, namely limit switches on the tracks and three laser types that cover a good range of potential work types. This last is important as we’ll see in a minute.
The Basics
Like many things, laser engraving and cutting is a large subject. We’ll just touch on the basics. There are four types of lasers used: UV, diode, CO2, and fiber. Diode lasers are the cheapest and that is the one I bought for learning, see the picture below for some details. Diode lasers are good for working with organics like wood, leather, paper, etc. They will also work on acrylic (is that organic?) and with the right techniques you can mark (not engrave or cut) some metals, glass, and stone. The main advantage of diode lasers is the low power and small pixel size, so they are best for recreating raster images, including photos. The main disadvantage is they are slow. CO2 lasers are also good for organics, but have more power and are much faster than diodes. They are also much more expensive, generally starting in the mid four figure range for anything decent. I don’t know much about UV, but they also start in that range and get quite expensive from there. Fiber lasers start pushing five figures and are the only ones that will cut or engrave metals. We have one like this at work for engraving stainless steel parts for our products. It cost $25k and is made in the US. Many lasers are made in China, which is where mine came from (Hong Kong, actually).
Apart from laser types, there are various form factors as well. Mine is the simplest T or L type with two tracks meeting at one point. Larger ones have a gantry style with a square frame with a single movable track that rides on top. Some are open form, while others are enclosed in a box like the one we have at work. This is just scratching the surface, but you get the idea. Let’s get to the fun part!
Using the laser
One of the reasons I got this laser was the simplicity of setup. It was fully assembled except for the laser, which was simply a matter of plugging in the wires and attaching it to the dovetail on the track. Easy peasy! Next I had to decide on controlling software. There are two main programs for running lasers: LaserGRBL (free, opensource, Windows only) and Lightburn (paid software for Windows, MacOS, and Linux). I downloaded both, but used LaserGRBL for this demo. I’m not sure if I will buy Lightburn yet, but probably will at some point. They charge $60 for a year of updates for the version I need for my laser. You can keep it forever, but need to pay every year to keep getting updates.
One of the neat things about the laser I got is it’s small and portable. It literally just sits on a flat surface to operate. It has the option to attach to a substrate with included brackets, so I bolted mine to a 18″x18″ piece of AC sanded plywood. I also burned in a grid pattern with metric measurements for easy alignment of the workpiece. For the laser to work properly, it needs to be focused. My laser came with the gauges to focus it to 50mm from the workpiece. Once you connect the laser to the computer and the software you need to place the gauge under the laser but on top of the workpiece as shown in the picture below.
Now we need to decide what to burn, both the design and the substrate. I’ve been practicing with thin cardboard we had from random boxes, though I did burn an image of my late mother in law onto the back of a pine wood plaque we had (at my wife’s request) for testing purposes. She wants to make a bunch for her seven siblings this Christmas – without the hanger in her forehead!
For our purposes I’ll stick with the cardboard and use an image from the Glibs merch to burn. You can use raster or vector files, each having differing use cases. I grabbed a jpeg from the website and saved it to my computer, then opened it in LaserGRBL. Typically, you’d edit the image in your favorite imaging software to get it just right, but in this case the image was just fine for our purposes. Once I changed a few settings and made sure the workpiece was properly aligned, I was ready to burn.
As I said, diode lasers are really slow, but for something so simple and only burning into cardboard, this went really fast, taking about a minute and a half. For reference, the photo of my mother in law took an hour and forty minutes. The final result is nothing special in this case, but I think you can see some of the potential for this technology, especially for the side hustle I’m working on. Currently, I’m thinking mostly wood engraving with raster photos for now, since that is where this little laser shines, but I hope to get another laser for this machine so I can do some cutting and deeper engraving. And since this machine is portable, you can just place it on larger workpieces to engrave small images, for example on a business sign or a door. I have a lot to learn before I start making any money, but it’s fun and I like the tinkering so it’s a labor of love so far and I hope it stays that way.
Ooh, this reminds me of the posts on 3D printing.
Except it’s completely different.
Shhhhh. You’ll ruin the surprise.
They both can use Gcode and some of the machines are built alike. Some machines are made to simply swap heads and go from lasering to printing to cnc machining,
https://us.snapmaker.com/products/snapmaker-artisan-3-in-1-3d-printer
You didn’t say if we were allowed to hump the laser or not.
That’s ill-advised.
Depends which way it’s pointing.
Where are the sharks with frickin lazer beams on their heads?
Yes, but can I use Lightburn to make labels for DVDs or CDs?
Oh, that is Lightscribe, never mind.
Funny enough my quick read on Lightburn is that it too outputs Gcode.
I know your article is about the home market, but…
🤓 Akshully; CO2 lasers were the defacto industrial laser for a couple decades until fiber came along. The one we have at work can cleanly cut 3/4″ thick steel.
And how much do those set you back?
When it was new twenty years ago, it cost close to…
*insert Dr. Evil “One. Million. Dollars.” gif*
You don’t use Yag for steel? That seems odd.
From my limited knowledge of YAG, it got superseded by CO2 for anything under an inch. Back when I was more involved in it, from what I gathered they were used primarily in very heavy cutting. Shipyards and such. CO2 was king of fab shops from roughly the ’90s until the ’10’s.
We used Yag for laser welding back in the 90’s. CO2 was primarily used for cutting polymers.
I don’t have experience in the bigger metal fab stuff though.
Interesting. They must be much more powerful and expensive. Everything I’ve seen for small business/light industrial is fiber only for cutting metal. Even true metal engraving is not possible on the CO2 lasers I’ve read about.
Yes. It’s 4000 watts and cost around a million when new.
The MIL image is really nice.
Seconded.
Really cool article! Very fun side-hustle. I wish we would have gotten around to visiting about this at HH22. I’m guessing with your current machine, burning designs into three dimensional objects like water bottles or tumblers isn’t possible? If it is, get a hold of me. I’m looking for some swag!
I didn’t have it then, but had been researching a while. I can’t do it with this laser head, but I plan to get another laser to swap in with a bit more power and larger dot size for doing things like tumblers and tougher engraving. I also need the rotary attachment to do round objects.
https://ortur.net/products/ortur-yrr2-0
That’s very cool. Keep having fun and learning. I hope you write more articles as your knowledge grows. You let me know when you’re ready to take my money! 🧐
I’m hoping sooner rather than later. Everyone I’ve talked to says just do it. Even with the glut of people buying lasers (and 3D printers) there is plenty of work and people eat this stuff up. I probably need to focus on a few things first, rather than trying to do it all, but if you have requests, I can go that direction first.
I was thinking something along these lines. But like you say, there’s a lot of folks doing the same. You find your own niche and jump in.
Those must be pretty cheap tumblers to get them for $15 customized. I’m guessing a fast laser too, probably like 15-30 seconds per item. I do think the custom touch is a good way to go.
I thought the same. I found someone doing Rtic’s for around $20 and someone else doing Yeti’s for about $30.
I agree that custom is the way to go. Probably the only way to really make any money. I just got my plasma table operational and we are getting ready to embark on a custom sign and knickknack side hustle. There are a lot of people doing that, but near as I can tell, not many within 40-ish miles of me. We’ll see how it goes.
It shows in your writing style that you have three teens: easy to understand explanations interspersed with a few technical terms. Geek out too much and teens tune out. The mother in law pic is awesome.
Thanks. Topics like this can get overwhelming quickly. I’ve given one son a short lesson so far. He’s the one likely to become an engineer or something similar.
I’m amazed at how easy this laser is to make highly detailed images. But as I said it is slowww. The MIL pic took an an hour and forty minutes.
I just bought a fiber laser for metal engraving.
I’m expecting an increase in theft and need to start permanently marking stuff.
“Not Yours”
“No El Tuyo”
“SI, Se Puede!”
What did you get?
Omtech 35W
My understanding on Omtech is they are good value lasers but require some technical skill to get running well and maintain. They aren’t quite as plug and play as some of the more expensive brands, but I have no personal experience.
I’m in the process of building an enclosure at the moment, complete with HEPA filtration. I’ve also got to get some good goggles. Open laser beds scare me a bit.
Mine came with glasses, but unsure of the quality. I need to get my basement setup for a true workspace and ventilation to outside, I’ll probably build some type of simple enclosure too, but for now just a flex tube and fan should work.
I was relatively amazed that they can use the fiber lasers to color steel from green to purple to red. They vary the pulse length and intensity to achieve the effect. I didn’t opt for that upgrade since I just wanted engraving, but it was still pretty cool.
I didn’t know they could do that. That’s very interesting. I need to look into these machines more.
Have you considered pointing the laser at the thieves?
I take this post as a sign the Burning Time is upon us. Good thing I restocked on 5.56 this week.
Love that pic of your MIL, but, um, mistook her for Dr Spock there for a second.
Some cleavage would’ve cleared that up.
LOL
I was thinking Moe Howard.
Don’t trust myself with a laser. At least not until my significant other gets through menopause. They didn’t tell me about this stuff when we exchanged vows.
The real reason for Japanese sword and firearm restrictions?
Once you’ve tied the Gordian knot, the only solution is the Alexander the Great method.
Cheat?
Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll tough it out with her.
Gaaaay!
Very nice StillH, now I wish we’d had a group photo at HH time. Damn, that would make a great memento.
A gaggle of Glibs or whatever denominator Glibs come in. Next year for sure!
“An unmanageable of Glibs”
↑ This.
I was thinking “clowder”.
A Glut of Glibs
I believe the official denominator is a googol of glibs.
An actually of glibs.
Acktchually…
I vote this one!
A Glary of Glibs
This is the second time I have seen the word glary in my life. The first was this morning when I tried to use it in quordle. It wasnt correct.
Until right now I forgot I also typed it in this morning (but didn’t hit enter). Tonight I just went randomly searching for “GL” words on a dictionary website and it caught my eye. Weird.
An opinion of Glibs.
Terrible suggestion.
That’s just, like, your opinion, man!
The Zwak abides.
Q: What do you call a pair of crows?
A: Attempted murder
(I’ll show myself out)
An unkindness of ravens.
A pedantry of Glibs. 😉
Lol.
Winner!
DING DING DING
Perfect.
A leppo of Glibs.
Excellent article, Still Hunter.
It was nice to finally meet you (and your lovely wife) at Honey Harvest.
I commissioned a friend at work to burn the YMCA Camp logo (a specific YMCA camp not too far from Fourscore’s) onto some pine planks for me. He built his table himself – interchanges a small router or a laser or a plasma cutter depending on what he wants to do.
I went to the Cranberry Festival in Stone Lake, WI this past weekend. It seems plasma cut galvanized buckets and milk cans are all the rage. They were selling for good money too.
Good luck on your side hustle.
He really wants a lucrative side hustle and he’ll learn how to use that thing for tatt removal.
*sears limb off*
Tatt’s gone!
Same here though we didn’t mingle with the glibs much since the honey process was so interesting. Interesting about the buckets. Lasering galvanized is toxic though. I’ve thought of eventually building my own, but I need to get some skills first.
Have you considered strapping this thing to an ill-tempered sea bass?
Very cool. I’m eventually going to craft something to house my mom’s cremains, and something like this would be perfect to inscribe the quotation I’ve chosen for it.
If anyone is interested in something, let me know, probably in the forum. I will let you know if it’s possible and do it for minimal (likely no) profit to get more experience. Thanks!
Cancer: The Fool reversed – Negligence, absence, distribution, carelessness, apathy, nullity, vanity.
but surely the Supreme Court will save me from myself! – Mike Lindell
Did you just time-travel from yesterday or something?
He’s just acknowledging my prescience.
If you work at it, you might actually develop science.
I’m more of an idea rat.
Sad. No music posted with the piece.
Fixed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn-8n4QKUS4
(seriously, an awesome article)
https://youtu.be/X3cTPrWoHnM
I knew I forgot something! Good topical choice!
Stillhunter getting ready to laser
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7ZbNVb7Qh0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl9VaLC9kW8
https://archive.ph/wSo5q/ecf5fadb79b72978b5b654bec7af9356585f053f.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.ph/oenVw/8063329dc6b88a0f1de1beadea1580d0099555c1.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.ph/ValpJ/7bfe34db292c0bd1d5cc6a84e05bc12e76fd1ea3.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.ph/HzYNC/ff6a5dbdbf3840f491a6aeb35b229d12956da443.jpg
NSFW.
I asked last night but:
OEM or aftermarket?
Yesterday I would’ve said OEM, but based on that picture I’m saying exceptionally good aftermarket.
Stop staring at my future wife.
I’m back from testifying at the township meeting regarding options on the privately-owned and abandoned black burial ground. Thanks for your suggestions earlier.
I testified in favor of getting the owner to donate the 1/2 acre lot or try to purchase it for a bargain price by getting private donations (which I may have unwisely offered to solicit).
Another option – if he keeps being a dick about allowing anyone on the cemetery parcel to honor the veterans buried there – is to enforce the 1933 Commonwealth of Penna. law that requires the county to maintain the graves of U.S. Veterans. The whole mess is complicated with Law of Adverse Possession that prevents successors to the original owners (one of the first A.M.E. churches in the nation) from disputing the ownership and by a wholly unreasonable appraisal that says the 1/2 acre is worth $140K even though the law would require all 100+ bodies be removed before it can be built upon. Estimates to do so run north of $500K, so donating it and taking a tax deduction should be a no-brainer but the owner wants cash plus a deal to allow development on his adjacent 8 acre parcel.
How about he donates the cemetery and gets to develop his parcel. Everybody wins.
That’s what I told the owner several years ago. He’s 80 now and says his heirs can do what they want when they inherit. He’s content to pay about $1k per year in taxes in the meantime and use the cemetery as leverage when they decide to build 5 or 6 houses “whenever.”
Oh, good. A new hobby. Just what I needed!
Pretty fucking cool, brother. Trying to think of what I want you to make.
Come on out and we will discuss!
I’ve been looking for a good laser cutter/etcher for a hot minute. I have an old 5″ shell casing that I’ve been wanting to turn into a lamp for the last 10 years – hoping to get outlines cut of the 2 classes of ships I served on – and then with a nice shade and a bulb inside, it’d make a pretty nice table decoration.
Pretty interesting looking trailer here – https://screenanarchy.com/2022/10/guillermo-del-toro-opens-his-cabinet-of-curiosities-with-trailer-first-images.html
I didn’t see Del Toro’s last flick, and “Shape of Water” was a little off – but I’m a huge fan of his early material – and with 2 HPL stories adapted here – don’t see any reason not to check it out given the other talent involved.
Recently had a pleasant discovery; a guy who was influential in my early career – Philip Greenspun – is still blogging and is (somewhat unexpectedly) decidedly un-woke:
https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/
Background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Greenspun
Wow! That’s a life. And became a commercial pilot for 4 years after that too.
StillHunter, thanks for sharing this article!! I had no idea these things could be within reach of a skilled craftsman to use at home.
I harbor a secret desire to get a professional grade embroidery machine, but if I did, any piece of fabric in sight would be in danger of getting tagged. Someday perhaps…
MIL got one..not sure why, she is going blind. 15′ long and automated…
Always be safe!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/849524123/warning-stickers-laser-warning-do-not
Thanks a lot for this. I think.
I didn’t know this was so accessible at the personal level – lasers were exotic and “Don’t try this at home” kinda things.
( need to do some more research. I may hate you later.
None of those have stopped me from making a cartoon for…looks at sun dial…almost half a decade…shit has it been that long? (2022-2018= 4…half a decade is 5…shit.)
Time goes by faster the older you get. 😒
Buckle up.
It’s the zipper that I keep forgetting.
How is it morning already?
*sigh*
‘Sup peeps?
Good morning, Sean and RoaT!
Already have a good start on month-end financial reports. Unfortunately, that means I’ll probably have to go back and plod through the last half hour of the video of last month’s Board meeting so I can finish drafting the minutes. There’s this one guy there who JUST WON’T SHUT UP! Most unfortunately, he’s the guy who does my evaluation. 🙄
*Rambling Tangent Continues*
::sits wondering if this bit really needs to be part of the official record, sadly concludes that HE probably wants it there, ponders how to summarize gist::
https://www.fox29.com/news/police-5-schools-locked-down-after-nearly-30-shots-fired-in-kensington-double-shooting
I hope ES has a good alibi.
https://nypost.com/2022/10/04/four-florida-alleged-looters-arrested-in-lee-county-following-hurricane-ian/
Omar has the gayest facial hair.
For a minute, I thought you were talking about the Congresscritter from Minneapolis.
https://nationaltoday.com/national-vodka-day/
I’m in. 👍
Drink a little water today.
^^^ Russian pun.
Yummy yummy yummy
I got vodka in my tummy
Why are you drinking so early in the day? Don’t tell me you’re visiting Pie or Straff
I’m not really drinking yet, I just have that moronic song stuck in my head and figured I’d incorporate it into a comment somehow.
That’s gonna be a nyet from me, dawg.
More of a White Claw guy?
Bartles and Jaymes
Stick with the classics
Thank you for your support./reflexive reaction
Can you still buy those things? I wouldn’t mind picking up a four pack for old time’s sake.
Classic:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=niabuEIKYyc
Good for stress relief.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OjQzwyVFWc8
Mornin’, reprobates!
Good morning, ‘patzie! (And U and Stinky and Shiny too!) How (or what) are you holding up so far today?
LOL, thanks. Still waiting to see if all things must pass, not looking good on that front. Eldest son applied for an internal transfer; whether he gets the gig or not it is a step in the right direction. Mrs. Patzer’s family is a complete shishiw and we are unfortunately caught in the middle. So it goes.
So sorry about the lack of passage and about the in-law drama. I like almost all my in-laws (my late MIL was truly remarkable,) but sometimes I’m glad they’re all multiple states away. 😕
Those idiots completely ruined my godson’s celebration. God forbid they could just shut the fuck up for one day.
😞😒😠
Good Morning everyone.
No nukes detonated I see. Very Happy about that.
Who would have that DU would have such huge war bonners.
Mornin’. No nukes here, either. Things are looking up.
The day’s still young, there’s still plenty of time to get nuked later.
So…don’t pay any bills?
Ooh, I invented a new word!
https://nypost.com/2022/10/03/dad-killed-while-visiting-marist-student-for-family-weekend-identified-as-paul-kutz/
Paul Kutz, first identified by the Poughkeepsie Journal, was killed while standing inside the lobby of a local Courtyard Marriott on Sunday morning.
Youngest Patzer chose Scranton over Marist. Good thing, we typically will stay t a Marriott on visits.
So, two ‘homeless’ guys were in a hotel room together, where there were bombmaking materials, and had at least two firearms because they got into a shootout with each other, killing the bystander.
Who was financing their stay and why was it the FBI?
Side effects from Creantix?
Yeah, details are sorely lacking there.
I wonder if this was part of the stuff the homeless in hotels to make them go away trend.
DALL-E + CNC = golden age of custom furniture?
I want a forest scene carved headboard, but the labor costs for a project that size are somewhere between “too much” and “RUFKM?” Perhaps in the near future, materials will be the biggest price contribution.
Someone still has to do the art by designing the scene the machine would cut.
Hence DALL-E.
Or rather, the Gen3 which will be much better.
👎
Paging Not Adahn. Not Adahn to the courtesy desk, please.
https://nypost.com/2022/10/04/four-astrology-signs-linked-with-the-most-known-serial-killers/
Virgo is theorised to be the deadliest sign, followed by Gemini, with killer Jeffrey Dahmer – centre of the popular Netflix series Dahmer – being that sign.
Gemini here.
Glibfit?
https://nypost.com/2022/10/03/hotgirlwalk-inspires-new-york-fitness-craze/
Sorry, I am allergic to “viral TikTok obsessions”.
*email blast to all and sundry*
“Please approve our change”
*checks ticket*
Only needs approval by one, named person.