POWERFUL 20 WATT - ATOMSTACK X20 Pro LASER vs Wood!

Pay someone to personalize your woodwork no more! That is one advantage to a laser engraver like the Atomstack x20Pro with its 20 Watts of Optical power, but there are lots of other things a person can do with a laser as powerful as this one. Cutting through solid wood is something I think it can handle well, but I need to test it out to see how well it does through some different solid woods. While we're at it, we may as well take it to the extreme and try it out on the 7th hardest wood on the planet, African Blackwood.
IMPORTANT WARNING!! Using a CNC to cut wood is pretty traditional, and maybe for good reason, lasers and wood can seem a bit scary, so the proper safety precautions need to be taken. A fireproof enclosure being one, some type of exhaust for the smoke, and a fire-extinguisher is also a must in any shop. A laser should always be watched, just like a CNC router for wood, each piece of wood is a little different and the results can not be 100% predictable.
In this video, I go through the process of testing some of the softest woods and hardest woods as well as some composite materials to see what happens. For the software, I was not super impressed with LaserGRBL, so I ended up purchasing Lightburn, it is a fairly simplistic software, but it does the job well.
After making the video, I am definitely going to invest in a honeycomb bed, this will help a lot with dark carbon material being deposited on the bottoms of the parts, it can easily be cleaned off with alcohol, but that's a step worth avoiding in my mind.
Let me know what you think of the testing, if you have any ideas for future videos and if you know how to finally cut THROUGH African Blackwood.
If you're interested in the product or others from ATOMSTACK, check out their website below. My laser is the X20Pro, there is a newer X30Pro, which is even more powerful with a 6 Diode Laser coming to 33Watts of Optical power, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it most certainly is!
FYI - I do not receive any commission from any sales
www.atomstack.net/
X20Pro (in video) - www.atomstack.net/collections...
X30Pro (newest) - www.atomstack.net/products/at...
If you'd like to become a patron to help this channel grow and get involved with future video ideas, here is the link: / needitmakeit
If you'd like to support the channel, the links below are affiliate links, a small % of any sale goes towards making future videos for this channel and thank you everyone for your interest and support!
#atomstack
#lasercutting
#lasercuttingmachine

[@burtgraham3689]

just bought an atomstack A20 pro - now all I have to do is learn how the settings work i.e. cutting and the engraving. What would be your settings for cutting 3/4 poplar - I ask this because I woodburn wedding plaques and use the scrollsaw to cut out the ovals. - btw good job explaining how you do the cutting

[@Engineering_Science]

can you make inlays with this laser? Let say there is a end grain patterned cutting board and now inlay is required, instead of using a precision CNC mill to create the inlays, can the laser cutter do the task instead?

[@BurntUpCustom]

Setting up my atomstack a70 max now. So ready to get started.

[@NeedItMakeIt]

Nice! I'd like to know how it does, that's way more powerful than mine.

[@BurntUpCustom]

@@NeedItMakeIt I'm going to do a video. Probably won't be great but I'm learning.

[@miamivice966]

I would love to see if it will really engrave steel.

[@Platttraining]

Would 3mm and 5mm plywood be a problem or just fine or just fine on this x20? Looking for a Diode laser prior to co2 laser arriving for my classroom.

[@Nusserdt]

Wish I had seen your video earlier. I have a X40 Pro and your video shows exactly the problem with laser cutting. It is always a balance act between cutting and burning your material. I mostly try to cut 9 mm plywood (multiplex) and get huge issues to cut more complex shapes. Cuts are inconsistent or the surroundings are heavy burned.

[@NeedItMakeIt]

I've been dealing with some of the same problems as well. It seems that plywood is one of the most inconsistent materials, some layers must be fare more dense and don't cut so well. I think that may be the reason we see so many pieces made from MDF, or thinner plywood. The only way around it seems to be to make more passes to make sure you get through everything. I'm not sure if a CO type laser would be better for this. It's nice to have a laser, but I agree that thicker materials can be tough to figure out.

[@Nusserdt]

​@@NeedItMakeIt I came to the same conclusion for the 9 mm plywood. after all the advertisement and the reviews I didn't expect that that will be the endboss. It's a lil bit disappointing, more passes raise the risk of burning again and much more passes with less power raise the time you need for cutting. I ask my self the same question about the CO2-Lasers but do not have a experience or an answer. Another approach I think about is to replace the Air Assist with a persistent compressed air line. The Air Assist is by design not very strong and maybe a controllable air pressure between 1-2 bar will improve the results? But as we both know more air can also promotes the formation of flames. -.-"

[@3DPI67]

Impressive, I had the impression those type of lasers are only good for cutting paper and felt

[@Engineering_Science]

It used to be that way, now it can cut through thick wood.

[@-Viceroy-]

How about some gasket cutting? There is various gasket materials and many thicknesses. Some of the better heat resistant gasket materials can be tricky for lazer

[@NeedItMakeIt]

I'm definitely up for that, I will need to get an enclosure going ASAP!

[@EricRobb]

Any ideas why my x20 pro seems so under powered? It struggles to cut quarter inch plywood. 100 mm/s, 100% power 2 passes. I adjusted the S value as recommended. Any ideas?

[@NeedItMakeIt]

I've struggled with some plywoods, I believe it could be related to the type of plywood you're using. If you're using high quality Baltic birch ply it'll be more dense and the laser will struggle. Plywood is a bit tricky, it changes density constantly, I've had areas which require 4 passes, and areas which only require 2. That's my best guess, if you want to provide some more info we could try to get to the exact source together.

[@mivonprinceleyva]

I want to burn an image on a 1 inch wooden dowel. Can this system do that?

[@NeedItMakeIt]

Most of the lasers available these days have a rotary tool that can be added which allows the dowel to rotate while it's being engraved. There are newer machines now which might be better options than this one, Creality has one called the falcon 2 as well that you might want to check out. I assume you were talking about engraving along the length of the dowel and not the ends.

[@jeffallen3382]

I would like to see leather, both veg tanned and chrome tanned leather.

[@NeedItMakeIt]

Pretty sure one of those is a bit dangerous

[@jeffallen3382]

@@NeedItMakeIt it's an internet myth.

[@WaschyNumber1]

On the web side it says Atomstack X20/S20 Pro 130W Watt laser not 20watt.🤔

[@TheGabb3r]

Yeah, that's marketing at it's 'finest'. The 130W refers to the power supply used for the electronics and laser, not the power of the laser itself. When looking to purchase a laser, the key feature to check out is the power of the laser first, the other numbers are not very useful and tend to confuse potential buyers.

[@WaschyNumber1]

@@TheGabb3r company's should get punished for making fals advertising.

[@NeedItMakeIt]

I figured that would confuse people as well, I like to do the tests to see what the capacity is regardless of the printed wattages, hopefully the video helped to show this.

[@gregs4163]

You didn't mention what power you where running at? Cutting should be a balance of speed and power, cutting at 100% power all the time will shorten the life of your laser. I usually cut in the 70-85% power range and slow down the cut to help maximize the life of the laser.

[@NeedItMakeIt]

Good point, these tests were all at 100% power, not ideal for the laser lifespan.

[@thedirtyn9335]

Ya