Elegoo Phecda - A full 20w diode package for $600?!?

Elegoo sent us out their 20w Diode Laser with an air filtration system built in. This kit came complete with air assist, roller rotary, honeycomb panel, and leg extensions all in one box. This kit currently retails for only $600, so I was excited to check it out.
Amazon Affiliate Links Below. These links provide a commission to this channel.
ELEGOO PHECDA 20 Watt Laser on Amazon:
US:amzn.to/4b3aK98
(CA)-www.amazon.ca/...
(AU)-www.amazon.com...
ELEGOO PHECDA 10 Watt Laser on Amazon:
(US)-amzn.to/4b3aK98
(CA)-www.amazon.ca/...
(UK)-www.amazon.co....
FreeMascot Laser Safety Goggles - amzn.to/40x1lSO
Diode Laser Enclosure used in this video - amzn.to/3SE0iP0
Enclosure used in this video - amzn.to/46DjhfS
Follow me on Instagram and Facebook for behind-the-scenes on what is happening in my workshop!
/ vintauri
/ vintaurisworkshop
vintaurisworks...
www.amazon.com...

[@Liberty4Ever]

Thank you for a very good review. I just assembled my 10W Phecda last night... mostly. I still need to add the air assist, but first I need to reinsert the ends of the loose X and Y timing belts that were detached when handling the laser to assemble it. :-( I purchased the 10W version because I'm going to use it for engraving and it has half the spot size of the 20W version so it should do higher resolution engraving. $250 for a minimalist 10W laser is a good deal. I'm an electrical engineer and I design and build custom CNC machinery. Elegoo should have shipped the Phecda assembled. They're obsessed with flat packing everything because shipping (from China to the destination country and from the warehouse to the customer) is a large part of their cost, but this laser is mostly flat so unlike bed slinger 3D printers there is little savings in making the customer assemble a kit. It would be globally much more efficient to assemble the laser in China by people who have done that job hundreds of times in a controlled factory setting with production grade tools (torque drivers, etc.) and assembly fixtures rather than forcing the customer to figure out how to assemble a laser from a KZbin video. Almost all customers would have gladly paid $50 more for an assembled and tested laser. The cost to Elegoo is probably the same because they could pay for the assembly at their factory with less material and effort packaging the parts, far fewer returned lasers, and more sales based on happier customers. The user should slide the laser head into the dovetail, tighten the screws to retain it, plug in the air assist hose and electrical connector on the laser head and maybe screw in the four feet. The user experience should mostly be: plug it in, don the protective goggles and turn it on. What we really need is for some nerd to reverse engineer the Phecda and show us the tips on how to use it. I'll be using the laser offline, in short run engraving production. So far, all I've seen are Lightburn videos and the happy 99% fact free Elegoo marketing video showing what it does but not how to do it. The supplied sample images are 284X284 pixel monochrome 8 bit PNG images. I want to know how the Phecda firmware interprets the PNG file. Monochrome only? Does the laser interpret gray scale as laser intensity, either by pulse width modulation or by dithering pixels? What is the resolution in pixels per millimeter? Can I home the laser from the front panel or manually push the laser head to the bottom left corner to home it and have the laser engraver accurately and repeatedly locate an engraving from the USB flash drive on a fixture that's located relative to the laser frame? I'll be learning all of that stuff for myself, hopefully this evening. I guess I should create a KZbin channel and post this stuff myself, but I'd hope that there would be useful end user Phecda videos after three months. :-/ Thanks for the link to good laser protective glasses, even though I plan on building a light proof enclosure that's designed to suck in outside air and expel the exhaust outside.

[@spdycar13]

I bought this but haven’t set it up yet. This is very helpful. Thanks!

[@Vintauri]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kroke1]

Hello, what can you say about these lasers? I think the price performance looks great. Can you recommend it or should you spend a little more money? What about reliability and accuracy?

[@darkforestmade]

Remove the filter, add some limit switches, and pick up a decent enclosure, and you have a crafting beast for less than $800. I 3D printed a top for the filter enclosure that directs the air towards my enclosures exhaust fan. I use mine daily and it has already paid for itself. Complete, plug and play, limit and rotary switches are available for ~$25 each.

[@Vintauri]

My thoughts on this exactly. I loaned this one out to a friend who has made those mods and he's enjoying it!

[@mrfoameruk]

The thing is a pack of 2 switches and cable to connect is less than £1. People have added them on the Facebook group but they should have come as a stock install.

[@brianbarranco7986]

good video nicely done clear, and you covered many good angels of laser engraving. I'm a complete noob my machine is actually on the way doing homework and glad I found your little cheat sheet here lol. subscribed looking forward to seeing more videos ✌

[@kroke1]

Great video 👌 I see that this video is 2 months old now. Based on your experience, can you recommend this laser engraver? How reliably does it work? I've looked at so many lasers and there are just too many on the market. Should you spend a little more money and maybe buy a 30 watt one or is 20 watts enough for cutting and engraving work? The price drew my attention to this laser and I only know Elegoo from its SLA printers. But since I unfortunately find very few or no test/evaluation videos on the web, it is difficult to weigh up whether this laser is good or not. Sure, you can unpack a device and get started soon, but what does it look like after several hours of running? I have a few lasers on my watch list and they would be this Phecda, Atomstack x30Pro, Ikier K1Pro 30W, Longer Laser B1 30W, Longer Ray 5 20W, Creality Falcon 2 22W, Xtool D1Pro 20W. It would also be important to me to have a rotary that works properly, ideally one where the handles don't interfere with cups. 20-30W and Air Assist is important. I would be happy to receive feedback.

[@Vintauri]

It's a decent starter laser. I don't think the air filter is worth the hassle and it really should have limit switches for homing the laser and being able to use absolute coordinates and fixtures for alignment. But for what you get with it, it's a decent deal.

[@Optikification]

I got the 10w with extras via kick starter. The inner fan and filter are a waste of time, they should have added limit switches instead of the filter/fan.

[@Vintauri]

I agree that leaving off the filter and adding limit switches would have been a cheaper and better route to go. It's still a nice laser for performance.

[@Optikification]

@@Vintauri Oh indeed as my first ever laser I love it. I just ordered the 20w head and psu to now ;-) I already added limit switches.

[@trojansailor]

Where do you get the test tool with circles? Is that through Lightburn also?

[@Vintauri]

It's one I'm custom making within lightburn. I'm doing some tweaks to it and then I'll offer it up for free for others to use as well.

[@onikiristudios]

@@Vintauriwould love to give your test tool a shot, I kickstarted the 20w phecda, it's all set up but I have literally not touched it, maybe a bit nervous about learning something new :S

[@isaiahgillett2573]

The thing I wonder about is how the cost of the filters will add up as you go along.

[@Vintauri]

I would just get an enclosure and skip the air filters. As I mentioned in the video, it was a cool idea but hard to implement well.

[@rmmelofull]

Phecda vs ComMaker B4?

[@Vintauri]

They are two completely different lasers meant for different uses so it would be hard to compare them. The Phecda is a diode laser good for cutting natural materials like wood, paper, leather and some plastics, where the Commarker B4 is a fiber laser meant for marking on metals and some plastics.

[@sjorlando7282]

Ok question - how do you tell Lightburn to " engrave" and image... and then go back and cut it out?

[@Vintauri]

You'll need to use two layers and setup a cut line around the image. If you're just cutting a square outline you can use the rectangle tool and draw the shape around your image, same with a circle. However if you want an outline that follows an irregular path, you'll need to either try tracing the image to get the outline, or manually drawing it with the vector tool. One you have that outline you set up your cut parameters and make sure to set your job priority by layer and have the image engrave first and then the cut path second.

[@OlesoulO]

Any information on the enclosure, I need one.

[@Vintauri]

That specific enclosure is one from Comgrow. It's just barely big enough and I had to remove one of the metal rods from the frame to get it to fit over it. amzn.to/3sGDTpN

[@RocketMagnetUK]

Elegoo had one available during the KS and should be with backers in DEC/JAN so presumably on their store around this time also?

[@Optikification]

I got a Twotrees one from Amazon.

[@chewi4u]

This review helped. Thanks

[@Vintauri]

Glad to hear it!

[@chompette_]

Will this be able to cut clear plastic? I would like to cut out curved model windows from thin sheet but, well, it's a laser, is it going to pass right through and not expend any energy into the material?

[@Vintauri]

Unfortunately no diode laser will cut clear acrylic. You’ll need to look at a Co2 laser for that function.

[@chompette_]

@@Vintauri ah damn, thanks for the reply!

[@rbmc1983]

Can it cut trough 1/8 mdf?

[@Ricks2Cents]

*I thought I can a Nice Wood Collection. LOL*

[@Vintauri]

It helps that I know a few people with sawmills!

[@Ricks2Cents]

@@Vintauri *I Mill My own Wood, But the Wood comes from my property. I cut down like 30 trees over the last 14 yrs.*

[@baranyagmur3418]

Hello . I also bought the same device. How can we obtain the cabin?

[@Vintauri]

The enclosure I used is this one. amzn.to/46DjhfS It was a tight fit in there but it worked.

[@bobkeniston4553]

How does it connect to your computer? Hardwire of Bluetooth.

[@Vintauri]

This laser connected to my computer via USB.

[@Anefecious]

Can you cut a 2mm, 3.5mm acrylic sheet with this?

[@Vintauri]

Yes but it depends on the color. No diode laser will cut clear at any power as the wavelength passes right through it. White and other lighter colors will also be a problem. Darker solid colors should cut just fine.

[@Anefecious]

@@Vintauri Thanks for the reply. I recently got into 3d printing and exploring designing PCBs. I thought may be an acrylic cutter can complement my designs and make them look complete. Can I paint a transparent acrylic to cut ? How opaque does the acrylic needs to be? Can semi transparent colored acrylics be cut? ? I am looking for something cheaper for my general purpose use case to cut and engrave. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[@armastat]

If you were to have an enclosure and a powered filter air system going to the outside could u use this for a couple hours in an apartment? without sticking up the place or smoking it out. in addition would the neighbors be calling the fire department? lol

[@Vintauri]

Using an enclosure and an inline fan will remove the smoke and generally it's too fine for people to see, however they may smell it and if they have windows close to yours they may complain. It will also leave debris on any window screen that may be in place. The other thing to consider is that the honeycomb or spoilboard will absorb some of the vapors and will smell over time. You can clean these to keep the smell down, but it will be there.

[@armastat]

@@Vintauri thanks for the advice. will now not mount it in the window but move exhaust away from building. am going to (over) build my own vent system with abt 300-400 cfm @6inch. with box being outside and pointed mostly up. winds should disperse it. I hope

[@teabagNBG]

could it engrave sneakers?

[@Vintauri]

It could on some depending on what material the sneakers are and if you can get them set right so they sit perpendicular to the beam and in focus.

[@Grandpa_LBM]

good video but the laser it self naaah, thanks for sharing

[@mrfoameruk]

Whats wrong with the laser?