The Longer Laser B1 30W Takes Center Stage - The Laser You MUST Own

[@deanmiller294]

How does this guy not have more subscribers? One of the nicest You Tubers to watch and provide honest reviews of products.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Quality over quantity 😉. But certainly tell the world that this channel is here to help ramp up Makers with a helpful community.

[@ericeinsmann5559]

Steve, as mentioned by Vintauri below, you can bump up the homing speed in lightburn. From the lightburn console, enter $$ and this will list all the g-code settings for your laser. $25 is the homing speed. Simply enter $25=2000 (or whatever number you choose) and this will update the homing speed. Forgive me if this is obvious to you, I included this info for anyone else that may happen to see this and wants to know how to do it. thanks!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Yes for sure. My gripe is that they chose such a slow default.

[@stevenclark2894]

@@SteveMakesEverything Perhaps the slow home speed was set so low to help reduce the latency in the limit switches. Unless they installed optical limit switches, the mechanical type are finicky when engaged at higher speeds. Just a thought

[@SteveMakesEverything]

@@stevenclark2894 I'm not sure. It's certainly easy enough to change. I also had to do this on the AlgoLaser Delta

[@Vintauri]

Excellent overview of this laser! I'm glad we could compare notes and that you found the root of the issue. I did edit my device settings to bump up the homing speed a bit as it was ridiculously slow. Thanks for the shout-out!

[@eddrm4685]

Heading over to your channel right now.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Thanks Steve. You certainly helped inspire me to dig into some of the issues I was having. Community is so much better than competition 😁. We definitely need to chat more.

[@eddrm4685]

Great video! I watched several other videos and noticed the start/stop on all the tests had that burnout hole and thought like you there was an issue with this laser. The engravings were bad as well on the other videos, nice work noticing and then actually fixiing the issue. I was thinking it was a accuracy problem because it affected cutting and engraving so I dropped any thought of buying one. Your video popped up and I thought ok lets see what steve has to say, thinking if he says it's awesome he might be a shill. I think you proved you are doing fair and honest reveiws here. (not a shill) I bought the Longer 10w with your link and will do the same if I decide to buy the 30w this weekend. Thank you for all the work you put into your videos.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Well I like to be thorough. When I saw the engraving results, I seriously told Longer not to sell this laser yet. If a laser is terrible I would certainly say something. I’m just happy that Longer didn’t have serious issues and that the solution was easy (after 3 days of email exchanges with them)

[@Longer3D-mo8sj]

Wow, your review is wonderful and objective. We will try our best to do our best!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I try to be honest and direct with reviews and when I really love a product viewers will know about it

[@atienne_navarre]

I love Longer. I dont have any Longer Lasers but I have two LK5 Pro and an LKp4ro printer and they have been the least problematic of all my printers. Maybe Ill put this on my wish list.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I definitely agree. They make great products and in the $

[@ValleyForged]

Love the Longer as well. They don't have all the 'best stuff' but they never fail me! Also, the kerf on the 20w is smaller than the others I have tested. Love to have you see if this one is no different. I should be getting one soonish as well. Thanks for the great work!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I think they were happy with tried-and-true technology for a long time, but with the Longer Laser B1 30w, I believe they have taken great steps to move into the spotlight on new tech. They compete very favourably with xTool and Atezr with this laser

[@ValleyForged]

@@SteveMakesEverything Love to see you compare the kerf with those other two if you still have them. Thanks for the reply!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

@@ValleyForged I do indeed. If I can find a few minutes I'll run some tests,

[@ffindustries752]

Thanks... I had some strange thought that it needed fancy settings. But someone else gave me the clue. The other image settings are dots. And shading is about the concentration. While the gray scale is a variable power. Makes sense once thr penny drops. All about assumptions and Dunning Kruger. PS: I like your work...😊

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Thanks!

[@kapa1611]

👍👍 great review as always :)

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Thank you 🤗. Hopefully it helps in the decision process for anyone buying a new laser

[@thewoodpost]

Well the Xtool Roller work for this are do I have to buy theirs thank you so much for sharing awesome video very

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Yes it should work. Any rotary attachment is just a stepper motor

[@otexugodewallstreet2581]

if i am not wrong, you can edit the homing speed in the config of machine, in the lightburn

[@deanmiller294]

Where is that setting? I know you can change the whitespace speed, but don't see a homing speed.

[@eddrm4685]

Would it bother the machine to just move the head close to stops/switches by hand?

[@eddrm4685]

move the head close to stops/switches by hand...then have it home itself, is what I'm asking.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Yes you can tinker with some Lightburn variables to change this. My only gripe is that the default value is far to slow

[@SteveMakesEverything]

It’s an option, but you can’t crank the head over too quickly

[@MichaelAcks]

Thanks for the review Steve! How do you feel about the Longer B1 vs the Atezr L2?

[@SteveMakesEverything]

These are always tough questions, but based on cost, power and ease of assembly, I’d give the edge to the Longer Laser B1 30W

[@grdutton]

Configuration - RTFM!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

😁

[@DavidJordan-mq2ob]

I have a longer B1 machine. I enjoy the machine itself. I'm wanting to purchase a chuck style rotary , can you recommend one that will work with the longer b1 machine?

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Look at either the Xtool RA2Pro or the rotary from Atezr. Either should work, but best to dive into the Longer Facebook group and ask a few people what they are using.

[@NICKLETT1]

Hi Steve. Having trouble with homing on B1 30 watt. Keeps hitting front rail. limit switch x and y are installed.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Make that the homing position is in the lower left corner in Lightburn. Also make sure that the limit switch at the front of the laser can be reached.

[@NICKLETT1]

Thank you Steve. I had the Y axle limit switch in the wrong set of holes. I didn’t realise there was two sets of two holes. I must’ve missed that in the directions thank you very much.

[@billmurphyoutdoors337]

I just bought the longer b1 40 watt and it is a great laser but the way they hold the laser head on the dove tail is very hard to get to when you have big hands like I do...was wondering how you over come this problem...Bill

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Hi Bill. Yes I agree that they make the screw very hard to get too. I don't have a solution for this other than to use needle-nosed pliers or maybe 3D print some kind of extender to bring the screw out further. Or get a longer screw

[@texascrossbowdude636]

Xtool uses their own free software creative space and seems easy to use for beginners. Videos I've seen show with creative space you tell it the type of material, thickness and it automatically sets the perimeters as a good starting point, does light burn have a similar feature?

[@SteveMakesEverything]

In lightburn you can use the material library. It’s kind of similar in capability but is a bit more complicated. Overall lightburn is more capable than xTool XCS but has more of a learning curve. Also newer lasers from xTool and others, have more features than traditional diode lasers and these aren’t supported in lightburn

[@eddrm4685]

Oh yeah.. one of the reveiws had an issue with the air assist. The issue he had was weak airflow at the cut. Did you notice any issues here? I'm guessing no or you would have mentioned it. Thx again!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I didn’t see any issues with airflow. It is possible that the air hose was pinched by a zip tie that was pulled too tight.

[@isaiahgillett2573]

Vintauri mentioned that the airflow valve was a bit wide for him so he tried putting a tape over it and pulsing the laser to get narrower opening and he saw cleaner cuts. That was with the 20w.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

@@isaiahgillett2573 He and I talked about this, but I didn't try it. His results seemed to look better with restricted airflow, though I'm not sure why just using the valve didn't produce the same results.

[@ainttakenanyshit]

The early machines had a nozzle opening that you could "drive through". Longer listened and now the units are shipping with a SMALLER / proper sized opening. I'd throw that "air valve" in the trash as when you need air, go full blast, when you don't, turn it off in LB. Longer specifically states to NOT use the valve as it will load down the pump, burn it out and and cause WWIII 🙂

[@lmandsons]

Great video. I'm having the same issue.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Glad it helped

[@dreamkiss4u]

what do you think about the creality falcon 40w laser cutter engraver thats pretty much the same price range?/

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Creality makes great products so you should be fine.

[@egonverleysen695]

Nice job!! THX!! but I wonder if there ever will be a laser on the market where you could choose you bed size..... just wondering!! I would be interested!!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Well that option is starting to appear. Several lasers offer extensions to make existing lasers larger.

[@egonverleysen695]

@@SteveMakesEverything I know, but I would like to have a 20cm to 1 m bed size for rc modeling building… and that is still not possible…

[@SteveMakesEverything]

@@egonverleysen695 You mean you want a laser with an adjustable size? Hmm, that would be interesting.

[@NICKLETT1]

Hi Steve, Is the B1 good for engraving lettering.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Yes, absolutely, though I personally like the capability of the ACMER P3 in part because it's enclosed. The B1 is a great laser though and I don't think you'd be disappointed

[@NICKLETT1]

thank you so much Steve. If I choose to bite, I will definitely go through your website.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

@@NICKLETT1 Thanks!

[@Ingannapoltron]

Good evening, I saw your video and not knowing the English language I tried to understand something. Did I want to ask you for an opinion? this 33 watt B1 laser today 10-04-24 is offered on Bangood at a price of 657 euros which seems low compared to other lasers of similar power. In your opinion is it a good deal or given the price difference is there something that isn't convincing. I would be grateful for your response and I apologize for the translation. Luca - Verona (I)

[@SteveMakesEverything]

That price seems to be good for the 33W

[@eddrm4685]

Well I have not purchased a 30watter yet...I plan to, but see some decent looking upgrades on some of the options out there. Any chance you will be doing a reveiw on the Atezr L2 36w Laser? It would be great to know how theses 2 compare. The Atzer is about $350 more, I think the upgrades it has might be worth it. What do you think of Atezr as a company? Going to watch your videos on Atezr products now.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

The 35W L2 is essentially the same laser as the V35 so you can compare output to that. I’m not sure what upgrades you are referring to on on the L2. The only significant one is autofocus, but it’s far too slow for me to ever use. Just some clarity of 35W lasers vs 20w or even 10w lasers. Don’t get hung up on power as the key feature. Most laser companies show 35W and 40W lasers cutting through lumber, but in reality that is never a use case you are likely to have. Instead think of power as a gauge of speed. Higher power laser can engrave and cut faster. This is more important in a business than in your house,so if you’re on a budget, then opt for a 20W laser and you won’t really be disappointed, but you’ll save a ton of money. Both of these are great lasers, but right now, I would give the edge to the B1.

[@eddrm4685]

How about the linear rails would they be worth the extra $$$ ? Are they on X and Y ? One of the reasons I am looknig for more power is to cut into some rocks from N.H. beaches... Some one had a video where they cut into a rock with the B1 30w about .5mm deep, it looked good, how true that is I don't know. My Longer 10w (I think) melts the rock and most of the time (depending on the rock) embosses what ever I am engraving. Thank you for the feedback...going to wait a bit before I buy...Hopefully the sale on the B1 doesn't end.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

@@eddrm4685 The linear rails are nice. If your 10W is melting the rock, then your speed might be a bit slow, and you might want to go faster with multiple passes. From any stone that I have engraved, I can say that results can be very unpredictable due to the composition of the material. I don't honestly think this has much to do with the power of your laser. I've taken two stones that have looked identical in color, yet one engraves nicely, and the other basically melts. I now try to do a sample of tiny engraving on the back of the stone to ensure that the main engraving will be what I want.

[@maccaslasher]

thinking of buying one of these for 3d grayscale engraving. Cant get the results im after with my 100watt co2. has anyone tried it that can show results

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I only use grayscale for image engraving and this laser will certainly work

[@compdad]

As a new user to Lasers and light burn, I see a lot of gradient tests, but how do a set up a Grayscale gradient test in a strip, such as you demonstrate in this video. Thanks in Advance..

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I really should share mine, but it’s pretty simple to create. Go to Google images and look for a greyscale gradient. Drop it into Lightburn and set it to a grayscale engraving.

[@andrews4796]

My B1 gets delivered tomorrow. I am new to all of this. Where in lightburn do I change that setting from g3 to reg g?

[@SteveMakesEverything]

You will see this when you are creating a new device for your your B1. By default it will be wrong, but you can change it there

[@homehobbybuilds2450]

Hi Steve. Would you recommend this laser over the xtool 20w or the atezr 20w for overall use (hobby use and small business production)?

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Well when you factor price, performance and features, I would favour the B1 30W right now.

[@ainttakenanyshit]

I WAS on the fence between the Longer B1 36 vs 48 watt machines. I had a Algolaser 22 watt which had "issues" and decided to order the B1 36 watt. From my understanding, the lower power lasers usually perform "better" in terms of quality with fine detail as their one diode, (5 watt) or two diode, (10 watt) lasers have a smaller beam, which is what you want for fine detail. For me, the B1 36 has a 0.08mm x 0.15mm beam profile and the B1 48 has a 0.10mm x 0.15mm beam profile. SO, unless you really have a need for more power, the B1 36 was/is my choice.... IF your piggy bank has extra jingle, I'd buy the B1 48 watt and add their 2 watt "ruby laser" that has a 0.03mm x 0.03 mm beam profile... The Longer website is out of stock with the Ruby and as of right now, 4-8-24 2 P.M EST, big A has the Ruby head for only 399. I was feeling a little flush and I also bought the Ruby from big A which SB delivered today - my B1 36 is also out for delivery today via UPS.... **CHRISTMAS** IN April 🙂

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

has anyone modified a co2 laser to run with a diode laser head?

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Are you asking about a CO2 laser that is also a diode laser? I have thought about this with my DIY CO2 laser, and in theory, it should be pretty easy to do. But I'm not sure there's a lot of value since a CO2 laser can do 90% of what a typical diode laser can, plus it can do a lot of this a diode laser can't.

[@silmalalan2335]

Just assembled the B1 30W. After powering up and accessed by Lightburn, I had it move to the "home" position. It reached the Y switch ok but came to a hard stop 2mm before hitting the X switch. Seems like the switch location is wrong. Hear of anyone else with this problem?

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I haven’t, but make sure there isn’t anything in the way on either side, or that the cables aren’t binding and preventing movement. In the worst case you could adjust the switch location, though I can’t remember if that’s possible on the B1 or not.

[@silmalalan2335]

@@SteveMakesEverything Thanks for the quick reply. It's a hard stop and I can't see anything in the way. Temporarily, I'm gluing a 2.5mm shim to the side of the head until I hear back from Longer. Hopefully they have a fix.

[@johncrunk8038]

Does that Y limit switch actually work? On my machine, the laser head hits the frame before the limit switch is touched.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I 3D printed a little extension to press the limit switch sooner. If you have that and it’s still hitting then maybe it needs to be longer

[@saj9814]

@everyone... Is Longer better than sculpfun, including post sale customer service and upgrades. Thanks

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I try not to answer questions like this. 😁. In general I prefer the Longer over the Sculpfun, mostly because the Longer laser has been keeping up with innovations whereas Sculpfun seems to be selling the same old technology for years. Anytime I’ve had to talk to Longer they’ve been pretty responsive, but keep in mind as a KZbinr they probably pay more attention to me because they don’t want me telling viewers their support suck.

[@saj9814]

@@SteveMakesEverything wow thanks for this insight. I already have an Ortur and was naive enough to believe that 5 watt is enough for engraving business. Now I'm looking for a 20 to 30 watt machine, I dread the CO2 because it seems they are sensitive and high maintenance. Saw the new sculpfun 33 watt and Algo laser 22 watt. Do you have a review video of Algo laser alpha? Thanks for you vids very helpful. 🙏

[@SteveMakesEverything]

@@saj9814 I think I was supposed to get an Algolaser, but I haven't seen it yet. I believe they are owned by Ortur though. Definitely CO2 lasers require a bit more TLC -alignment, optic cleaner etc. They aren't an appliance like a toaster for sure, but rather an instrument.

[@LarryDMitchell]

Steve, I've been a subscriber to your channel for some time but what brought me here was a comment on FB and link to your channel that said "Laser tree also has an 30 watt upgrade kit for the OLM3" Have you heard anything about that? I used your affiliate link to go to their website and couldn't find anything.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Hmm is that something I said? I don’t know of a 30W upgrade for the OLM3. I’m not sure what Ortur has been up to lately. They have great lasers and used to own the market, but they gone quiet over the past year.

[@Lasertree]

​@@SteveMakesEverything Are you interested in testing our K30?

[@DimitriosAggelo]

I would like to ask if the lens changes to the longer b1 22watt

[@SteveMakesEverything]

Not sure what you mean. Can you clarify?

[@DimitriosAggelo]

@@SteveMakesEverything i mean if the lens in the head of laser change with new or if i would clean it

[@SteveMakesEverything]

@@DimitriosAggelo Ah, got it. Yes, you can do either. The lens is removable for cleaning or replacement. This is generally true of all lasers, though.

[@sigh_of_the_times]

I feel longer really dropped the Ball, I think they new of the software problems and sold the b1 to drag in cash and 2 they disappoint me because you guys have to figure out the problem for them and now the question is did they fix the software problem and the air assist problem that showed up in other videos. I really wanted to buy the b1 but if they still have the same issues I will go with sculpfun 30 watt lazer. It will be my first lazer and the last thing I need is to have problems right out of the box.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I love a contrarian opinion 😁. However I haven’t seen any real software problems with the Longer B1 and having used it in my own shop since I got it, it remains one of my favorite new diode lasers. The only problem I ran into was in Lightburn, which selected the wrong driver during automatic setup.

[@sigh_of_the_times]

@@SteveMakesEverything I guess that was the one I was referring to the selective of the wrong driver I really do like the b1 it will remain on the top of my list and I will be watching all the videos I can on this laser thank you for your videos.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

@@sigh_of_the_times I'm not surempf this was a B1 laser or a Lightburn problem. Either way it was easy to fix and resolved all of the issues I was having

[@bustamango863]

Please help me I have a DAJA d6 laser engraver, I want to engrave personalised initials “in gold”, is there some kind of gold foil I can use for this? ,

[@SteveMakesEverything]

A diode laser can’t engrave gold. For this you would need an IR laser or fiber laser

[@bustamango863]

@@SteveMakesEverything thank you for your fast response, so just to clarify I’m not looking to engrave gold, I’m looking for a gold coloured foil similar the the black water slip foil I use to engrave black letters into leather.

[@SteveMakesEverything]

@@bustamango863 Ah! I don't know of a particular foil that would do this (other than gold, of course), but in this case, I think you would apply it the same way you would if you were gilding engravings in wood. From my own misguided perspective, I would probably mask off the leather before engraving the letters and then paint it with gold acrylic paint afterward. (Disclaimer: I'm not any sort of expert in this area, so I wouldn't trust me 😀)

[@bustamango863]

Ok thank you for responding I will look into it. Very helpful thank you. @@SteveMakesEverything

[@IronMan-yg4qw]

best for the 1000$ price? XD

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I think so. One of the best engraving lasers I’ve seen and is solid as well

[@Inkognitation]

how did you manage to setup the wifi-connection?? theres only one way to operate this monster: you have to be in range of your usb-cable... this is sad!

[@SteveMakesEverything]

I used usb. I dislike most wifi features on diode lasers because most of the time they are pretty flakey.