Powerful cutting and marking laser - 80w (20W) FoxAlien diode laser

[@DavidDunster]

I am very happy with the purchase of my two, yes, two, 80-watt lasers. They are very powerful and, as an example, I was cutting 1/8 plywood on a 40-watt at 80%, 1000mm/m in 15 passes. The 80-watt did it in 6 passes at 1000mm/m at 50%. They have made a huge difference in my cutting time.

[@laserwizard1982]

Awesome video, James! Thank you so much for the shoutout! I'm glad you give credit to the early pioneers! Lol.

[@FlyBy2507]

Marking metal is really impressive.

[@erniegray3500]

great video just got a 4040XE and I'm glad to see it's compatible. Had a good laser on my 3018 but I seem to have fried it so it was time to step up an go bigger, now to bite the bullet and order this laser. Thanks always enjoy your videos

[@RaphaelRema]

Great review, as always.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Thank you

[@nickynorton]

Impressive as always James I,m glad you mentioned about High Power Lasers and NWT as I,ve found that over 5 watts doing quality Tiles become a challenge especially on Multi Diode systems as the beam not only is larger (0.1 mm and greater ) but also becomes disproportional ie the horizontal is 3x smaller than vertical some of my thoughts from numerous tests on a multitude of laseres 1/ The fox Alien Laser is amazingly esthetically a Twin to the Xtool 10 watt 2/ Cooling ..as the wattage goes up the attention to cooling becomes an absolute must ...I,ve found that these multi diode High watts are under cooled (ie air Flow) and use cheap fans ...I have a Opt Lasers PLH3D-XT-50 (5 watt) . The cooling fan is a high end Sunon with 23 CFM @ 2.3 inches water Static pressure . As such they state that this Laser can run at 100% power with only 1-2 C temp rise . The three 10 watt lasers I have (2 x5 watt diodes ) use cheap bearing fans with approx 16 CFM ( I measured about 9 real CFM) 3/ Power ..The P/S is 24 VDC 5 amps >>>this requires at least 16 Ga wire ..and my visual of the wiring indicates they are using maybee 20 Ga 4/ TTL compliant ....Most controllers now are 32 bit and as such the TTL/PWM signal is 3.2 Volts .I have tested some Laser units that struggle with 3.3 Volts 5/ PWM frequency adjustment($33) ...The standard appears to be approx 1200 Hz .This appears to be suitable for the older machines that at best could ACTUALLY go 8,000 mm/min , BUT now manufactures are boasting up to 24,000 mm/min . At that speed 1200 Hz is too slow to get actual full Power . adjusting the PWM to 5,000 Hz or greater helps overcome this To date the only laser that has a driver circuit that can accommodate this change has been the Opt laser 6/ SPEED ..I,ve done a lot of testing on these so called speeds. For simplistic Vectors they come close as the G-Code generated (instructions per inch) is not Overwhelming . BUT when doing say a 318 DPI raster image at 20,000 mm/min the amount of instructions generated will "choke" the processor and LightBurn . Doing Greyscale will literally stall the Machine. To overcome this lightBurn and Ortur have worked together to enable Gcode clustering. The latest LightBurn firmware has this Option and also requires the processor firmware to be able to support this. I believe at the moment only Ortur and Timothy Rothman's controller have this firmware.

[@foxalien_official]

Great video James. Thank you so much for sharing with us this excellent video!😁

[@cheekyoscar1353]

Excellent video as usual james . 🏆🏆 I can also confirm that the 80w laser is awesome 👍.. thanks for the video great job ...

[@alaincarbonneau8889]

Bonjour. Très bon vidéo J 'ai comme CNC un FoxAlien Master Pro et je voudrais acheter ce Laser 80W et ici sur amazon au Québec, dans le contenu du produit, on ne voit pas la plaque de fixation, ni le power supply et le prix est de 229.00$ canadien. Est-il possible qu'il manque des composants. Merci Good morning. Very good video I have a FoxAlien Master Pro as a CNC and I would like to buy this 80W Laser and here on amazon in Quebec, in the product content, we do not see the fixing plate, nor the power supply and the price is $229.00 Canadian. Is it possible that some components are missing. THANK

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Fox Alien 80w Laser - bit.ly/3I76N7J Update: since I recieved my laser, it no longer comes with the flow adjuster on the side, just a 90 degree nozzle for the hose (thanks cheeky oscar)

[@gordon1201]

You say it marks steel, have you tried copper? I want to know if with enough passes it could remove the copper form a PCB

[@christopherwilliams3293]

I'm thinking of grabbing the XE-PRO. I can upgrade the laser, but I will like to provide color to my laser engraving. From what I hear, speed and power determine the color. The XE-PRO is fast as a CNC router, but slow for a laser. Do you think I will have enough speed to have access to a wide range of colors?

[@ClintonCaraway-CNC]

Happy New Year James!! Great video as always!!

[@douglasbell557]

I’m new to laser engraving and wold like to know if I can use the 80 watt laser with a PROVerXL 4030 CNC with the 6060 up grade.

[@alandimery3379]

Do you think that the XE pro + this 80w laser is better than a £1,000 dedicated laser machine?

[@Wardmediagroup]

Do we continue to use the existing power supply along with the new power supply, or does the new one replace the old one? 1 power supply or 2??

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Use the new power supply just to power the laser. Any other power supply that was running the machine should continue to run the machine

[@jamesgrace1926]

Do you need your computer connected hardwired for better results rather than Fox's micro disk setup

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

The quality is the same however I believe you have more control and options using a computer

[@wonderfalls2]

Great review. I would love to see if you can etch copper to make PCBs. Not sure if this is the correct wavelength.

[@DavidDunster]

Is it possible to use the Brass Nozzle from Laser Wizard in place of the nozzle that came with the 80 watt? If not then I will order a proper air hose to fit the 6mm inlet.

[@laserwizard1982]

If i get my hands on the 80W module, I'll for sure design a nozzle for it!

[@DavidDunster]

@Laser Wizard I have 4 of your nozzles, it looks about the same inside diameter, but I just want to ensure the center hole lines up with the beam.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Sadly no, or not the one I have which fits the 40w laser. The lens on the 80w laser has a smaller diameter

[@laserwizard1982]

@David Dunster actually, I believe that I already make a nozzle that will fit the 80W FoxAlien module. Is the lens housing diameter 16.00mm? I have nozzles that are 35mm long (for a 40mm focal length) and 16.10mm ID (to fit 16.00mm lens housing).

[@philipgreenwood166]

Hi James, I am looking to cut between 2mm and 2.5 mm ply on my Masuter Pro, with as much accuracy as possible. Given your comment about power and focal width accuracy being a trade off, would you advise the 40W laser or the 80W model. speed does not matter but accuracy of the kerf really does matter. cheers Phil

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

I dont have the equipment to accurately measure them but there is not much difference apparently. Less than 0.1mm which on desktop machines like these is absolutely nothing at all. The key will be doing some focus tests when you get it and do them in small increments like 0.1mm to find the perfect focal length

[@robertdelancy975]

Would you mind sharing your test file for the stainless power/color test

[@albertoandres4534]

Hello can it cut white acrylic 1/8 3/16

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

White acrylic is a pain to cut but it can do it eventually. Darker colours workbetter for cutting

[@tomgustafson4081]

James, another great video. I just received my 80w laser and installed it on my Vasto. But I cannot get the power out. I cannot cut 3mm plywood when set at 2mm/min, 100%. I am using Lightburn, device is GRBL. Can you share your settings and device. Thanks in advance.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

I trust you are using the extra power supply? Check the lens of the laser make sure there are no obstructions an make sure there is a clear hole through the air assist. Make sure your Smax value in lightburn matches your $30 on the Vasto. I was using a Masuter Pro to run this

[@tomgustafson4081]

@@JamesDeanDesigns Thanks for the quick response. I checked the laser. All looks good. I don't follow you on checking the Smax value in lightburn. My $30 was 10000 but my $32 was 0. I changed the $32 to 1 and the laser started to cut but not much better. I changed the $30 to 1000 and now cutting is much better. Cutting 3mm plywood at 500mm/min at 100%. But now the outline function with the laser on burns a path. What do you have set for $30,31 and 32? Thanks in advance, Tom

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

@@tomgustafson4081 so there is a setting in lightburn called Smax, and it basneed to match your $30 setting. Doesn't really matter what the figure is as long as both are the same. I'm guessing your Smax was 1000 which is why it's now working better. Sadly the downside to powerful laser is even at low settings its still quite strong. There should be a % setting next to the Fire button. If you drop that down as low as possible it may help when you're framing

[@NuggetKnocker]

Would you care to sell or share your test file parameters you did to color tone the knife? I have bought that fox alien laser, and get any results with it. Thanks

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Thr test files can be generated within lightburn, Laser Tools> material test I believe. I have found different grades of stainless steel work better than others. The problem is I don't know what grade actually works best

[@NuggetKnocker]

@@JamesDeanDesigns have you tried this with aluminum? Thank you so much for your time.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

@@NuggetKnocker diode lasers do not work with aluminium. It's something to do with composition of the metal

[@ericeinsmann5559]

Nice video James! Have you seen the 20watt output laser module from Comgrow? I would be curious to see a comparison between the two.. The Comgrow is available for $180 less than the FoxAlien..

[@tomgustafson4081]

James, Thanks for the quick responses. I have received a replacement laser from Foxalien. They are great on customer service. However, I am still struggling with the output. I cannot achieve the cutting speeds that you are getting with your 80 w laser. My maximum cutting speed in 3 mm plywood is 500 mm/min. I would like to measure the output. Where can I get the laser power measuring device, gentec? I searched, but could not locate the one on the video. Thanks in advance, Tom

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

You essentially need to contact Gentec and they will tell you the supplier for your country. One thing to note is different plywood have different densities and glue composition. I usually buy balsa or basswood which is more laser friendly than your average ply wood at a DIY store

[@tomgustafson4081]

@@JamesDeanDesigns Thanks for the quick response. I purchased some 3mm basswood plywood and made some test cuts. Speed was better than the cutting in 3mm baltic birch but I still could not achieve the 1200 mm/min that you are able to achieve. What is the wood you are cutting in the video? I can only achieve 650 mm/min cutting in the basswood plywood.

[@wutangmaster357]

Great video as always, do have a question have you tested it with the 4040XE

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

I havent, I recently had to sell my 4040-XE but it should still work as the power supply is separate

[@ianmerriman4590]

Great video James thank you. Is it posible that you could make the file for the 3D printed focusing aid available?

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Sorry, forgot to add that. here it is but I'll also add it to the description

[@ianmerriman4590]

@@JamesDeanDesigns Thank you James

[@ianmerriman4590]

Happy New Year

[@idiotburns]

can it work on a 3018 sainsmart

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Yes but you'll need a way to mount it as this will be too large to sit in the standard 3018 holder

[@richardhince9764]

Does anyone have any reliable lifespan figures for this impressive unit, eg in terms of hours expected?

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

It's meant to be something like 10,000 hours but given its not even been out that long I don't think any one will have reached that count yet.

[@CraigThomson-d1v]

hi James just a wee question have you ever tried to cut 10mm oak with this laser and if so what were your settings i am planing on doing a couple projects on an extended masuter pro but it is very important that the laser is capable of running for extended periods and can cut out the parts quickly any suggested settings or advice would be appreciated

[@6strawb]

Can this mark aluminium like it does stainless?

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

No. With aluminium being softer I actually thought it would but its something to do with the composition of aluminium and the diode lasers, they just don't mix

[@6strawb]

@@JamesDeanDesigns Thanks that's what I thought, aluminium seems to be a problem for lasers.

[@laserwizard1982]

@James Dean Designs I believe it is because aluminum conducts heat extremely well, whereas stainless steel is an insulator. The other reason is like you said, the chemistry of the material. Stainless steel oxidizes to a rainbow of different colors depending on the temperature. Aluminum fully melts at a low enough temperature that it still looks like aluminum just liquid. No hope for color changes with aluminum. For anyone wanting to produce beautiful aluminum pieces with their diode laser, you can very easily burn away anodization from aluminum plates with any power blue diode laser.

[@mazzugara]

What glue were you using there james?

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Starbond black CA glue. You need to be careful with CA glue on acrylic because it can go frosty but I was very delicate and neat with the application

[@morrismurray3621]

How did you do a focus test? I want to do that with my 20W/5W laser

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Depending on what machine you have, you can either slope a piece of wood so it starts really close to the lense and laser a straight line on it. The laser line should start thick, get thinner, and go back thick again. The point the line is the thinnest is the best focal distance. Alternatively there is a test file in this video which steps the laser down and does little lines kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5-pf3l7mdKDoLc

[@morrismurray3621]

Thanks that is perfect. So glad that a) you are approachable and b) that you answer so fast!

[@HenriqueFunari]

12V or 24V?

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

No, the ART file will only open in Carveco and the other gcode files are to be ran through your control software such as Candle, UGS etc

[@HenriqueFunari]

@@JamesDeanDesigns Is the laser module powered by 12V or 24V?

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

@HenriqueFunari that reply was for someone else which is pretty odd...anyway they are 12v

[@ianmerriman4590]

Sorry to be a pain James, the file for the focusing aid contains only the internal part.

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Sorry, Have just updated the file now

[@ianmerriman4590]

@@JamesDeanDesigns Thanks again James

[@williamfoster7920]

Has anyone determined the diode life yet?

[@JamesDeanDesigns]

Its near impossible because it really depends on how powerful you run it each time and the length of time it has been ran at that power as well. I've been using this for months and still going strong.

[@crazycraigy88]

hi James just a wee question have you ever tried to cut 10mm oak with this laser and if so what were your settings i am planing on doing a couple projects on an extended masuter pro but it is very important that the laser is capable of running for extended periods and can cut out the parts quickly any suggested settings or advice would be appreciated