Hi,

I'm new to this laser engraver thing and i just purchased this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280242513887

its the ArtCut M40 the parallel port version. I just wanted to get everyone opinion on this thing? I purchased it like a month or 2 ago and havent even opened up the box yet as I dont have the room for it as of right now. I have a small little shop in NYC and just made a slide out cabinet for it and cant wait to use it.

This is my very first laser engraver and I went cheap of course. This thing was obviously from china as the documentation was horrible and the tutorial video was pretty bad. But overall I kind of get an idea of how to set it up.

Also the cabinet I made doesnt have room for the gigantic exhaust fan that goes in the back of the machine and might have to have it stick out a bit. I was wondering if the fan is that necessary? And as for the water recirculating thing its kinda cheap I must say. They just use a fish tank filter thing. Do other laser engravers have to have these things too?

I just want to know if there is anything else I need to know before I start opening this thing and start messing with it?

Hi,

I'm new to this laser engraver thing and i just purchased this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280242513887

its the ArtCut M40 the parallel port version. I just wanted to get everyone opinion on this thing? I purchased it like a month or 2 ago and havent even opened up the box yet as I dont have the room for it as of right now. I have a small little shop in NYC and just made a slide out cabinet for it and cant wait to use it.

This is my very first laser engraver and I went cheap of course. This thing was obviously from china as the documentation was horrible and the tutorial video was pretty bad. But overall I kind of get an idea of how to set it up.

Also the cabinet I made doesn't have room for the gigantic exhaust fan that goes in the back of the machine and might have to have it stick out a bit. I was wondering if the fan is that necessary? And as for the water recirculating thing its kinda cheap I must say. They just use a fish tank filter thing. Do other laser engravers have to have these things too?

I just want to know if there is anything else I need to know before I start opening this thing and start messing with it?

Hi and welcome to the world of laser engraving.

First thing is to read, read, read the posts in this forum. There's tons of information from some very experienced engravers on here. I have learn't loads and picked up lots of tips.

I have only been into this process for a couple of months myself but I am thoroughly enjoying it. It still amazes me how intricately you can work on these machines.

I have a 40W 4060 size machine and so far so good.

Firstly, your cooling system is very important. It's a good idea to turn it on 5 minutes before you use your machine and leave it running for maybe 30 minutes after. This will help maximise the life of your laser tube.

Secondly, your extraction fan is fairly important. The laser works by vaporising the material being engraved and as a result smoke and fumes are produced. Without this the laser cabinet soon fills with smoke so you'll not be able to see what's going on in there. It'll also mean you will need to clean your mirrors more frequently.
However, I think you can have the fan unit some distance away, connected with the ducting to your machine and it will still pull the fumes and smoke out.
Engraving wood produces a lot of smoke and it has to go somewhere.

Finally, be prepared to practice on lots of samples. Try different speed and power combinations until you get the right result. Make sure you keep notes as you'll soon forget which setting where for which material.

When engraving images, put some effort into producing the image or your resulting engraving would suffer. A good photo editing suite will pay dividends. I would also consider some software called PhotGrav. This will save you a lot of time and will edit and convert your images to the right format for your machine.

Here's what I do - Select my image and open it in my photo editor. Adjust the resolution (read posts on this forum for more info) and the final size of the image. Do my cropping etc and save in an uncompressed file type (I use .tif)
I then open my new image in Photograv, select the material I want to engrave on to and process the image. This will give me a realistic visualisation of what the final engraving will look. I then save it as a .bmp file.
Now I have the finished file I can import it into my laser driver software and send it to the laser.

Hope this helps at least a little,

Good Luck

Dave.

I second what Dave said. On the exhaust portion of things I highly recommend getting a blower/vacuum powerful enough to keep things clear of "smoke" and residue. Also, once you become familiar with your machine you'll be trying different materials to cut/engrave. If you can imagine burt hair-that's leather or bone. Rubber stamp material-yuch. A good exhaust system is quite important!! I'd like to invite you to SMC and poke around here ~LOTSA great tips and fantastic advice. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/forumdisplay.php?f=8

c'ya

Never never let your laser tube get hot. The cooling water must be efficient or your tube will not last.

budP

thanks everyone.. im sure i will have blast creating stuff. but i havent even test the machine yet as it seems kinda confusing to setup since the how to setup video isnt very detailed.

has anyone had experience with the artcut 40 laser engraver before? Is it reliable and easy to setup with the software? I mean plugging in the stuff aint a problem, but they dont have much software documentation.

thanks