Testing Lens Power on a 50W Fiber Laser

Trying out some different size lenses on a 50W fiber laser. Trying to determine how much the larger lens effects the power density and just some rambling along the way.

[@JohnChuprun]

Interesting results, thank you for sharing.

[@I_ammm_mojojojo]

excellent review

[@gordon6029]

Thanks for this review. I need to make some parts which require very small holes in very thin stainless. Just wondering how small a hole you could punch in thin stainless?

[@madisoncrawford2483]

I have lots of questions Where can I buy the extra lens and at what cost? How can I contact you directly if possible? I just purchased this 50w but with a 300 lens, this video was so helpful thank you.

[@JabariHunt]

Great video!

[@fate2022]

Very nice video, I have a 50w coming from China soon, I am hoping the customs issue will not be an issue. I do have a questions regarding the EZCad software and how to do a certain type of engraving. I have an idea I want to do essentially a rectangular shape,and have the depth of the engraving get deeper as you go from left to right, is this something you have played around with?

[@mpmachining7227]

I'm glad the video was of some help. I have been loving my laser and getting a ton of use out of it. As for your application, that's not something I have had to do and definitely not something that the software was designed to handle. EZCad is setup to do 2D marking so variable depths within a single hatch can't be done automatically. That's not at all to say you aren't able to get the outcome you're looking for. There are several ways to get a 3D effect but unfortunately almost all of them are very manual processes where you slowly change the size of the image and run passes over and over again. That would effectively run more passes as you move from left to right which would make the right side deeper. Doing it that way can give you pretty great 3D marks but will take a lot of time if you don't want obvious steps in the engraving. The more steps you do, the less obvious the transition lines will be. Another option would be to try marking the file as a dithered bitmap rather than a vector file. Just make the image progressively darker on one side than the other and play around with your power profile so it engraved the darker points with more power than the lighter points and the darker side will also have more dots than the lighter points. This is by far the most automated way you can handle the 3D effect, unfortunately it's going to involve a much longer marking time as dithered images are just thousands of lasered dots rather than continuous lasered lines meaning you remove much less material. I hope that at least steers you in the right direction

[@fate2022]

@@mpmachining7227 thank you for you quick reply and honest answer, I will definitely work on figuring it out once I start using mine. If I do manage to figure out something useful, I will let you know.

[@compuyeya]

Que marca es su lente de 50 x 50 mm amigo, gracias de antemano.

[@user-je6ob6cu8r]

How much is the laser cutting gold?

[@myrandomlife5266]

Would you recommend this laser for firearm work? Etching and cutting? Or just etching/engraving? What are your thoughts?

[@mpmachining7227]

I use this laser almost exclusively for firearm work. It is an extremely valuable addition to the shop but very far from a replacement to the mill. The laser does a great job at engraving/etching but you will be very disappointed if your goal is to use a 50W fiber laser to cut holes through a slide. It's just the wrong tool for the job.

[@shanqayyum]

Hey Bro, thanks for these informative videos. If you don't mind me asking how much did the 50 watt cost? I'm trying to get one but I'm seeing a whole range of prices, don't want to overpay or underpay.

[@mpmachining7227]

That's a hard question to answer. I can tell you what I paid but like you said, there is a huge difference in price range. I paid $7200 for the laser after tax, shipping and all of the accessories I got. You can find them directly from China for MUCH cheaper but I have heard enough nightmare stories from people doing that so I decided to stay away. I see them on Amazon going for $5500 fairly often but I can't speak to the quality or customer service with those.

[@shanqayyum]

Thanks for the info bro, Ya since Covid happened the prices have dropped considerably from earlier in the year so I was super confused as to what I should be paying. by the way I see you bought a few different focal lens, why was that?

[@mpmachining7227]

Sean Q most of what i do is deep engraving. If you watch the video it will explain the advantages of smaller lenses for depth.

[@lazerusmfh]

Battle Resistant Outfitters I bought mine from sign in China and was about 8k for a 30w MOPA included a laptop and rotary fixture

[@fmixthings]

Any chance this can go through 14ga mild steel? I have a friend who needs some cut. Otherwise i woukd use it for engraving firearms for another friend of mine.

[@mpmachining7227]

Unfortunately even this 50W laser really isn’t meant for cutting. You could eventually get through 14g mild steel with the right settings but it would take an extreme amount of time and really just wouldn’t be worth it in my opinion. It works amazing for engraving though

[@chrisvantuinen1142]

What power setting were you using for this test?

[@mpmachining7227]

chris VanTuinen i don’t remember off the top of my head, ill have to check. Im fairly certain that it was at 100% for each run and the only variable was number of passes and lens

[@shadowrob7709]

The problem is not the f-theta lenses, but that the toy lasers do not have a zoom beam expander with divergence compensation.

[@kenokoci9853]

Sorry what is that?

[@IntelliTrance]

From what I was told, with a higher wattage laser, you can engrave a larger area with a larger lens, while maintaining power. Also, I was told that a 50 watt laser will engrave faster than a 20 watt laser. Is this correct?

[@mpmachining7227]

Sorry, I must have missed this comment from you. Both of those things are absolutely true in my testing. And the results (shown in my depth testing video) are very significant between a 20 and 50w laser

[@ALibadran90]

Hi Sir . I have a 50 watt but struggling to cut through a 1.2 mm silver sheet. Considering buying a 100 watt Mopa or 60 watt. what are your thoughts?

[@mpmachining7227]

I have never had a ton of luck using the laser to cut. I have done some tests on 1.6mm steel and been able to cut through it, however, it takes about 20 minutes to cut through for a circle that is only about 12mm diameter. A 100W would definitely work much better but I don't have any experience as to how much faster it would be

[@mpmachining7227]

I couldn't agree more with the lines compared to holes. The wobble setting works pretty well but honestly I have had great results with just making a very thin rectangle and hatching that pretty tight. Where wobble works way better is obviously anything that wouldn't be a straight line. If you're tracing around an object to cut it out then wobble is your friend. Most importantly, use the smallest lens that you possibly can. The difference in power is huge when comparing say a 70mm to a 300mm lens

[@brandongaysr.4922]

What kind of depths do you think I could get on steel? I wanting to know if I could make 1/16" or 1.5mm depths. I need to be able to make sharp corners that are hard to achieve on milling machines.

[@mpmachining7227]

You can absolutely make 1/16". The only question would be how large the marking would be and how fast you need it done. I have done tons of engraving in tool steel (A2) and carbon steel but it takes a couple dozen passes

[@brandongaysr.4922]

@@mpmachining7227Time is not an issue. I will be making small stainless boxes that need a deep wood grain look on some and a deep honey comb style pattern on another. The octagon of the honey comb will be no bigger than 1/4". If it can handle that it will be great for any other project I would be doing. I've been looking to get a laser and have had several projects that would have most likely been much easier with one. I'm just trying to get something that will do what I need. I'm also a machinist so I do alot of metal working with mills and lathes.

[@mpmachining7227]

This is definitely going to suite your needs if that's the case. I'll be honest that doing the honeycomb would be WAY faster on the mill if you could live with the small corner radius of a 1/8 or 1/16" tool but the laser will make perfect corners if you need and wood grain would be next to impossible on the mill and super easy on the laser

[@brandongaysr.4922]

@@mpmachining7227 Great! Thanks for the replies. To bad you're not a laser salesman, you would have just made a sale. I've was just watching some of your other videos. I also dabble in knife making and gun mods. I hit the subscribe button. Will definitely be checking out the rest of your videos. Thanks for your time.

[@mpmachining7227]

Haha thanks a lot. I try to help the community as much as I can. It has definitely helped me a ton along the way. I really do need to get some new videos uploaded too. So much has changed since my last ones were filmed

[@nzachary1863]

Where did you pick up the lenses? Thanks

[@mpmachining7227]

All but the 70mm I ordered along with the laser. The 70mm lens I picked up on eBay by just searching around (the seller I used is no longer in business). It came from china but you can expect them all to perform about the same

[@jackwilborn2353]

With a 60W mopa, a friend wanted to purchase a 100W... Prices are down from the video, but I warned him that a F100mm lens for my 60W as 100W is $370+. Over 8 times more expensive... Most of the

[@mpmachining7227]

Thank you for the information! I have been debating a 100W MOPA for a long time but I'll definitely have to weigh that into the decision making.

[@andylasers7288]

How deep did you manage to do those holes, did I hear right some were 0.8 inch?

[@mpmachining7227]

If you watch at around 10:10 mark, I put up a chart of the depths with each lens. I got about 1/8" deep (0.121") on the deepest test. You can obviously go deeper than that if you were to run it longer

[@LASERSHOWSSRL]

@@mpmachining7227 Ahh, its a 1/8th inch hole diameter at 0.013 inch deep, I miss-understood thinking that you basically drilled the hole 1/8 deep.

[@mpmachining7227]

LASERSHOWSSRL no, you were correct with your first assumption. The diameter of the hole is the same for each (i dont actually remember how big it is but about 0.2” diameter). I did drill that hole 1/8” deep in aluminum with the 70mm lens. Like i said, depending how many passes you did you could go even deeper. I just kept all settings the same between the lenses and ran the test to see the difference

[@LASERSHOWSSRL]

@@mpmachining7227 Ahh, that is super.

[@gillessauvage5663]

Hello, How much speed did you use for your hole test ?

[@mpmachining7227]

Hello, I got the file for the test from another KZbin user names JefferyJ but I have included the link to the file below if you would like to see the settings or try the file yourself. www.dropbox.com/s/f9gv53duc8zhz0p/Marking%20a%20Predetermined%20Depth.ezd?dl=0

[@kelbyparker9712]

I can point you to a few laser groups where you can find lots of settings...facebook.com/groups/440091022989424/ facebook.com/groups/4105345129538639/

[@csxal]

Have you tried using this on stainless steel? I have some stainless steel keypad plates that I used to have my laser shop etch my company name and info on them and they no longer have that laser.

[@mpmachining7227]

csxal absolutely. It works very well on stainless. Unfortunately it isnt a MOPA laser so it cant do fancy colors on stainless

[@csxal]

Battle Resistant Outfitters Thank you!

[@nickmalone3599]

Did you keep the same settings for each lens?

[@mpmachining7227]

I did. The only thing that changed was the lens size and the height of the head so they were focused

[@davidlee186]

I am looking to engrave letters in 6061 / 7075 aluminum between a 1/16 and 1/8" deep and about the same size in dia. would a 20 or 30 watt do the job, ? Funds are a factor here, Just getting started

[@mpmachining7227]

Unfortunately I think you would be extremely disappointed with a 20 or 30w laser if your goal is to get that depth. Even my 50W would struggle to get up to 1/8" depth in a reasonable amount of time on a larger part than the hole in this video but it certainly could do it. With most of the fiber lasers the real question becomes how much time do you want to spend when it comes to depth. With a little bit of compressed air blowing the ablated material out and manually adjusting the focus as the laser goes, you can achieve some really deep marks. But at a certain point it just becomes cumbersome to do. If your main purpose for the laser is to engrave to that depth, a 50W laser at minimum is what I would recommend, with a 100W being much closer to what you would actually need.

[@davidlee186]

@@mpmachining7227 Thanks I checked the depth has to be 3mm, Im trying to find a way to engrave without breaking the bank.. Again thanks for your time

[@henkkaa88]

How long does it take to cut 1mm stainless steel with that 70mm. Lets say 50mm x 50mm rectangle to cut? Thanks.

[@mpmachining7227]

This type of machine really isn't meant for cutting but it certainly can do it (just slow). I have cut plenty of 1.5mm steel with it. It would take somewhere around 10-15 minutes to cut straight through a 50x50mm box.

[@henkkaa88]

@@mpmachining7227 okay thanks. Probably faster on silver? I ordered a 80w machine

[@mpmachining7227]

Yea it's all very material dependent. The more heat deflection in the material, the longer it would take. Silver would certainly be faster and definitely even faster on an 80W machine compared to this 50W

[@Yukam1912]

can u provide sellers website pls

[@mrfoameruk]

Prices have seemed to have dived over the 2 years of this video.

[@raedabdulla3807]

Cutting gold

[@mpmachining7227]

Definitely doable although I have never personally cut gold on this machine

[@makeitpersonal454]

can this engrave glass?

[@mpmachining7227]

Unfortunately Fiber lasers are unable to mark on clear surfaces like glass and plexiglass. It has to due with their wavelength (1064nm) of the beam and how it interacts with material. If you want to mark on glass and organic material like wood, you would want to look for the much cheaper C02 lasers. They can't mark metal like the fiber laser can, but they do a great job with those materials

[@IntelliTrance]

Id love to see pure copper lasered

[@mpmachining7227]

I'll have to grab a piece. It would definitely be interesting to see how it reacts considering how well it conducts heat

[@IntelliTrance]

Thanks! :-)

[@ch.wey.4406]

Beim nächsten mal friss Dein Schnitzel nach dem Video

[@robbillpries6198]

Great video!

[@mpmachining7227]

Thank you very much. I wish I got around to filming more. I have the laser and the mill running at least every other day, I just have to learn to set up a camera

[@robbillpries6198]

@@mpmachining7227Right on. Well im glade i ran across this video. I've been running a 30 fiber laser for a while now but just purchased a 50w today. Same brand as what you have there. Hopefully it'll run as well as yours seems to.

[@mpmachining7227]

@@robbillpries6198 I have definitely been happy with mine so far. Ran a 60 part order of some dark marking in stainless this past week and it worked great. What lens/lenses did you end up going with?

[@robbillpries6198]

@@mpmachining7227 I assume that you are on FB & or IG? If so let's carry on with this conversation over there

[@robbillpries6198]

@@mpmachining7227 Look for me under Pries Laser Works