What else can MOPA Fiber Laser Engravers do? Welding, Cutting, Cleaning, Coloring, Milling, ...

[@marks47]

"This thing is a certified chonker" in a German accent is hilarious. Keep up the great videos.

[@Xerpocalypse_]

Watching your videos about these laser engravers makes me realize how fast and loose the phone repair places in the local mall are playing with their iPhone-adhesive-removal lasers. Open air kiosk in a high foot traffic area, laser machine just sitting out in the open. No opaque enclosure, no interlocks. No safety glasses for passers by (obviously 😬).

[@NavinF]

That's because laser injuries are incredibly uncommon compared to mundane accidents like getting hit in the eye with physical objects. Ever seen a data center tech wearing laser safety goggles when messing with a fiber amplifier? No, for the same reason why you don't wear a helmet while driving even if it's safer to do so

[@SumUnicus]

​@@NavinF Because u don't want a fiber straw in your eye?

[@NavinF]

@@SumUnicus wtf is a "fiber straw"? Communications fiber comes with cladding all around and a ferrule on the ends. You'll rarely work with bare fiber so that's not relevant

[@SumUnicus]

@@NavinF Yes... If they are short...

[@yellowcrescent]

Most transceivers I've seen in a datacenter environment have been under about 20 mW-- assuming they use lasers at all (many low cost MMF 1G or 10G SR optics use IR LEDs instead). Multiple orders of magnitude difference between that and a 60W pulsed laser. Many techs will even try to look into the end of a LC or SC connection for light with their phone's camera (only works for 850nm)... lol

[@Peter_S_]

Achieving the highest quality Eraserhead is always of paramount importance.

[@CraigLandsberg-lk1ep]

I missed the price of this?

[@JohnDuthie]

These channels are what make KZbin awesome.

[@shazam6274]

Would be neat to see a follow up making PCBs. Likely less hassles, mess and time than a PCB milling machine.

[@bobweiram6321]

If setup precisely, it can create an entire PCB in minutes with solder mask.

[@scifactorial5802]

The internal pressure to buy a MOPA rises every day. Marco being the main culprit. I am super interested in seeing more tests with the lithium batteries. How long does it take to get a weld going? With welding the cells its all about limiting the heat that goes in the guts of the cell (besides not melting the insulation) so wonder how it stacks up against spot welding. This multisecond weld is definitely worse, but if it takes little time to weld a fraction, you could swap between cells while welding a larger pack. With spot welding 21700s around 30 Joules seems to be enough for a single good weld on 0.15mm nickel.

[@reps]

Sorry for the pressure! Here is some more 😵‍💫 www.accessdata.fda.gov/cms_ia/importalert_255.html I fear these toys are too good to remain unregulated and available forever

[@jamadir]

​@@repshattest du Probleme mit dem deutschen Zoll?

[@jamadir]

​@@repshattest du Probleme mit dem deutschen Zoll?

[@dylanevans5644]

I guess a big problem is ensuring every piece of nickel is clamped to the respective cell. A whole nickel strip would be much harder to hold with tiny magnets (even if you managed to avoid demagnetisation with shorter pulses). Could maybe be overcome with some type of clamp... But for safety that would have to be something you could set and then put into an enclosure.

[@DooMMasteR]

Aus eigener Erfahrung, nein, selbst Laser im kW Bereich kann man unproblematisch kaufen/importieren.@@jamadir

[@KrakenGuy]

I didn't realize just how much I could use a fiber laser engraver until I watched this video. Great watch as always, Marco.

[@ikbendusan]

i've experimented a lot with colours by the way. if you have a formula for a specific colour with a specific material (4 mm thick a2 stainless in my case) with a specific image, it will get the same colour every time. even the focus doesn't matter that much. in my expeirence, if you make a field of squares, and then try to engrave a bunch of text, the outcome will be different with identical settings and materials

[@DustinShort]

Since it melts metal... How long before you turn it into a metal powder 3d printer?

[@reps]

would love to try but I think these metal powders also need an inert gas atmosphere

[@TheMason76]

Ich find deine Videos einfach nur geil. Dein trockener Humor, und dann richtig gutes Zeugs was du da vorstellst, oder eben selbst baust, auseinander baust, reparierst ... Einfach echt immer schön deine Videos zu sehen. 👍

[@juststeve5542]

What an amazing bit of kit, I wish I could justify owning one! Oh, and I hope the Florks helped, usually they just want to put ERA blocks on everything.

[@Chaos_God_of_Fate]

I really like that you can take it off, it has that add on cone thing and then use it as a rust remover or for metal reconditioning, or move the laser to the work instead of bringing the work to the laser. This is like a low powered version of one of those handheld fiber/IR lasers, I've half been thinking about buying/automating one of those as a side project just to see if I can- That's a really nice bonus feature! Great Video :D Love that flexible exhaust setup, I hadn't even thought of something like that- I'm sure I'll be making use of something like this in the future, just not sure exactly how yet. I learned something today so that means today is a win.

[@messor01]

I had a good laugh at the combativeness of the "pocket tiger"!🤣😂

[@mckidney1]

Christmas came early, we have a video!

[@tjackman]

This machine is much more impressive than I expected going into this video. Thanks for an interesting video as always! Just finished the Verdi repair video and now my brain is on Laser mode for the next few days.

[@illiakukharenko8920]

Awesome! I had to tune one of those machines, and took a freedom to play with it: had a great time decapsulating random microchips on scrap PCBs. And thanks for the Florks, we love them here in Ukraine)

[@zmakes]

Awesome stuff !! I work with these machines every day, and the amount you have figured out (and quite quickly, I'd add) is awesome to see!! Keep up the awesome work. If you have any questions about these systems or parameters, feel free to give me a shout.

[@zmakes]

Another fun thing to try is running your 60w with offset fills, roughly: 750mms 60khz 24% (depending on lens size) 200ns 0.03 line spacing (assuming a f160 110mm lens) Adjust power as needed. The desired finish is a light frost, so this is basically a glorified cleaning pass with most of the work being done by the offset fill path. This should work on most metals. Try to start with material that is smooth and clean if you can. You can do some pretty fun optical illusions.

[@DoghouseCustoms1]

Thank you for sharing. You are right, not many details on settings on the internet as of yet. Every little bit helps save material for testing.

[@peterlandin457]

If using lightburn, use "Wobble" when cutting steel. I have a 60w mopa and cutting 4mm steel with no problem.

[@ikbendusan]

omg the macrochip is so good i am going to make one myself

[@adipuiu5603]

Hello Marco, I see something very interesting at 3:13 an the microscope display. I have been watching you for a few years now and I really like your videos.

[@brenj]

Unintentional Face reveal

[@m4chfive]

why is there an FDA label on the box??? can it engrave various fruits and vegetables?

[@newmonengineering]

Some countries scan packages for life forms. For instance going to Puerto Rico they scan with special xray machines designed to look for food, insects, animals etc. Part of it is to protect wild life species from accident import of invasive species. Part is to ensure banned goods don't enter or exit. Every trip I take to PR gets an FDA sticker attached.

[@marksorn]

I’m subscribing just to hear you narrate. That being said my MOPA 60W arrives any day now. Love this channel. Looking forward to some settings

[@QsTechService1]

Wow that's a pretty awesome machine Make Your own bga stencils Can't get any better than that

[@BRUXXUS]

What a machine! I was lusting over it the whole time. Eventually, I'll be able to justify getting one of these...then building a safe enclosure for sure. ;)

[@FunctionalPrintFriday]

AWESOME video. Best vid out on an M7 that I've come across.

[@douro20]

Handheld lasers are used every day in tire plants to engrave barcodes on tires.

[@JensChristianRestemeier]

I wonder if you can do scratch-holograms with that.

[@reps]

interesting thought! might need an additional x-y motion table 🤔

[@KallePihlajasaari]

I have been pondering the use of a cheap IR laser onto black perspex or other suitable material that will make a smooth semicircular bottom groove. Making a special machine that has an end effector with angle and radius axis attached to the end of a positioning stage might make the highest quality scratch holograms. Instead of a laser using an preloaded air bearing and marking with a tungsten carbide or sapphire sphere on a spring loaded pin that is pressed into the plastic substrate with a micrometer Z axis would provide dainty lead in and out to give better line fade.

[@JensChristianRestemeier]

@@KallePihlajasaari There is a Steve Mould video about handmade holograms, in it he mentioned that someone is solving the groove positions from a Blender 3D model and then cutting it with a CNC machine - so it is definitely possible. The question is if a laser etch will produce an appropriate grove to reflect the light appropriately for the effect.

[@theperfectshuffle]

This guy lasers holograms kzbin.info/www/bejne/iX60pGRtjceMq7Msi=6l2hqdd_YN2Reb5k

[@chronokoks]

The interesting function is at 1ns when the JPT MOPA switches to a cw mode and that can make interesting effects on some materials.

[@Krmpfpks]

4:39 he says „250 by 250 mm working area“, on screen: 250mm^2. I think that should be 250^2 mm^2.

[@AckAckNack]

In my company we weld these sealed through-connectors or other (stainless) steel parts with normal 60/40 tin solder after wetting the contacts with conc. phosphoric acid. Wear safety goggles, gloves and do it with forced ventilation.

[@Exabyde]

"The whole machine costs only $500..." - YES! "...more than the 20W MOPA from the competition" - NO! I know I have to wait until hell freezes over for a machine that capable to get affordable, but I had almost 2 nanoseconds of hope there.

[@dylanevans5644]

Haha. When he said that i had a similar first thought... Followed by thinking he must have misspoke as there was no way this thing is cheaper than a 40w gantry style... Then he dropped the next line. $500 would be something 😅

[@pappaflammyboi5799]

​@@dylanevans5644 It's about $4600 as of this writing.

[@THEOGGUNSHOW]

@DisabledEngineer As a disabled Marine Corps combat veteran, hobbyist-inventor/tinkerer, and general engineering enthusiast, this is very inspirational to watch. My disability is not visible, so I don't have the same issues as you, but I understand your struggles. I have oftentimes considered an exoskeleton design over the past 3 decades. If I may offer two ideas 💡 for your consideration:1) Consider all possible modalities of kinetic machines and their dynamic pros & cons. If you could find or build a small Hydraulic pump paired with some Hydraulic actuator/s and work out the specific kinematics for your use case, well you can't bet the power. 2) Electric linear actuators will also produce much more mechanical force. (Though they are often too slow, so you will have to pay close attention to sourcing an appropriate motor and gear train.)

[@notsonominal]

Yes - don't care what the question is, when it comes to lasers, "yes"!

[@UnreasonableSteve]

"250 x 250mm area" shows "A = 250 mm^2" - normally i'd interpret this as 250 (mm^2) and not (250mm)^2 - the real area is 62500 square mm (mm^2)

[@szeptaczsprezarek]

Time for real questions: can it outperform direct-laminate PCB printer and previous laser engraver in PCB manufacturing :>

[@reps]

I have actually invested quite a few hours into finding out, but no result yet. Theoretically this guy could achieve a 1µm spot size and certainly remove copper much faster than FeCl3. What's problematic are thermal delamination of small features and overexposed edges. The former could be avoided by slowing the whole process down and the latter needs different time constants or a kind of ramp mode. Will report if I find out more

[@askjacob]

@@reps I guess some of the magic would be finding the best follow up pass to remove any carbonisation from the glue and laminate as well? From what I have seen from other people trying, this can be an issue...

[@alexbv475]

I gave this a quick try and struggled not to burn the plastic pcb board (Granted I didn't try that long to get it working, and I was using fr1 instead of fr4 because that's what I had on hand.) Search "fibercuit" on youtube for an example of making a flexible pcb from a copper sheet and kapton tape using a 1065nm laser

[@squa_81]

32:05 have you tried static electricity as a way to clear the channels? A bit like electrostatic precipitators, exept you don't need a grid to electricaly charge the dust, you just apply a tension to the metal. i wonder if a sufficient electric feild would get the hot particule going to an electrode, thus clearing the high aspect ratio trench.... I hope you don't need several thousand volts for that though.... Shower thoughts...

[@dasfreakster]

Great video. What safety googles are you using in SMT Stencil portion of your video?

[@chinaman4639]

How strong does the oxide layer stick to the substrate? Can you remove it by swiping your fingers over it?

[@reps]

Adhesion is perfect, you'd have to grind or laze it off. I think chemical resistance might not be as good as unmodified stainless, colors might change when exposed to moisture or acidic foods, haven't tested this myself yet.

[@chinaman4639]

@@reps Yeah well you could just coat it with a chemical resistive polymer or something like that to prevent further color change (coming from normal oxidation in the air)

[@zmakes]

I recall a few papers showing the corrosion resistant being worse on areas with laser induced oxide growth but i think given the proper coatings you could mitigate that.

[@dreamcat4]

wondering what overlap and exclusive applications this 60w version compares or not to the iKier K1 Pro Max: 48W (which is about 1/3rd the price). clearly the applications are a bit different. but what can be done on those other gantry style ones (presumably they are diode ones instead of a fibre laser?)

[@reps]

blue CW diode machines can remove coatings and anodizing from metals, but can't really engrave bare metals

[@DaveEtchells]

That’s amazing that you can cut 2mm steel! I’d wondered if these small MOPA lasers could handle that. I see that Comgrow also makes a 100 watt model; I wonder how much more capable that would be without an air assist? Here’s a (kinda dicey) thought: What about not an air assist but a slowly-flowing oxygen atmosphere? It’d likely be pretty dramatic, but I wonder if burning the metal bits as they come out would help? (Or would it just more rapidly clog the throat of the cut with iron oxide?)

[@reps]

I also remember seeing an industrial machine that combined aquajet with laser cutter - their beam being conducted inside the water stream

[@DaveEtchells]

@@reps Oh, that's very interesting! I know that water absorbs IR, but maybe not at this wavelength, and/or not enough to matter over such a small distance. Very intriguing! Hmm, let's see; a dichroic-coated entry port for the laser... 🙂

[@simonwirz8886]

@@reps It's called Laser MicroJet by Synova (combination of a waterjet and a laser)

[@Bllinker]

4:15 Marco nooo, you forgot the parentheses, now all the pedantic people like me are going to comment about it!

[@reps]

ooo how embarrassing

[@piconano]

Egg plant emoji? Better luck next time? hahahaha I love your sense of humor.

[@zzzluvsk]

The color engraving blows my fucking mind

[@user-yc2eh9ki9u]

So this machine marking cutting and engraving metal gold silver ?

[@ShadowCraftEnterprise]

if you were to say upgrade the z axis with a good servo, could you effectively run this as a 2.5d?

[@shallowabyss515]

would love to see you build an enclosure for this!

[@captainboing]

Just wow!

[@user-yc2eh9ki9u]

Which machine is better to do name in gold or silver jewelry pendant ?

[@kurttaz]

Outstanding ❤

[@Bruceanddenise]

Ok, I'm sold!

[@The_Unobtainium]

18:10 - this concerns me a lot. What brand and model would you recommend? I have the same JPT MOPA 60W source (E2) and want to keep my eyes intact.

[@reps]

Put a light-tight box over the machine and point a webcam at the working area? Otherwise second hand ebay name brand goggles with a high OD rating at 1064nm, my best pair is Uvex Laservision

[@YPOC]

Can you do LIBS with? Creating a repeatable plasma seems to be easy with it, but capturing the plasma with sufficient temporal resolution could be difficult. You need to start capturing only after the the plasma has cooled down so most thermal radiation has decayed and breakdown spectra are dominant.

[@yanfishtwig2356]

So cool at around 23.30 i caught myself actually making "Ooooo Aaah and Wow" noises

[@finndriver1063]

Have no expertise in laser-oxidising stainless for coloured engravings, but wondering if it's possible to derive the settings semi-automatically with a known test field and a high colour-accuracy camera? There'd still be small variations within the material ofc, but if there is a known relationship between laser 'strength', oxide thickness/texture, and resultant colour, then would an automatic calibration routine be possible? Save time and material, I'd think, but maybe there's too many variables involved to be practical.

[@DaveEtchells]

I you mentioned making a resistor standard with Nichrome wire: why not Manganin? I’d think it’s very low tempco would make it better suited.

[@reps]

Both can be annealed and tweaked to fantastic performance with a bit of patience. A 5ppm/°C NiCr wire is what I have available

[@DaveEtchells]

@@reps Oh, very interesting, I didn't know about changing the tempco by annealing. 5ppm as a starting point is fantastic, I had no idea NiCr got into that territory. (Wikipedia gives the typical number for manganin as +15ppm, but I now see other sources saying +/- 10ppm. I'll be very interested to hear about your experiments, I've long wanted to build my own reference resistors. (Kinda pointless in a way, my best meter is a decades-old 3457 that I've never had calibrated, and a couple of internet 5ppm voltage standards. I still like the idea of making my own reference resistors. though.) Oh hey - when are you going to build your own watt balance? Your community is waiting... 😆

[@Hiasibua]

For the thick steel sheet you could have used the laser to only mark or 'center punch' the round holes, and drill them out on a drill press or by hand later.

[@Larsema1]

Then the machine might have to wait for the first square hole to cool down before each round. But if there is a lot of holes it should be faster to mark and drill the round holes.. but not as exact.. or fun :D

[@flikflak24]

i do wounder if it would be possible to diy this guy into a slm metal powder printer? if it can melt the metal powder then the rest is easy

[@StuMas]

23:58 Are those laser sounds from the movie The Black Hole?

[@zunriya]

Finally new video

[@reedreamer9518]

What a fun expensive toy! I might have to get a job so I can buy one.

[@n0c0n3]

nice guitar pedal engraver you got there :)

[@sheldonthomas8773]

Can it cut carbon fiber plates?

[@jimsvideos7201]

...you figure you could weld copper tabs to lithium cells with this particular machine?

[@DrenImeraj]

I died at 17:44 🤣

[@thevoidedwarranty]

I didnt know there was a machine specificly for marking com .

[@FullcontactNerding]

I am a watchmaker and i crave a jewelry laser but its 12k it must be possible to adapt on of these chinesium machines. I mostly weld silver without coloring mit nem edding;) then it works but you need the highest power jewelry’s laser. 60w could be enough. Love to get you input.

[@zaprodk]

29:35 You missed the opportunity of doing laser soldering. Place a small ring of solder around the connector and fire the laser. Perfect soldering and no mess.

[@SurajGrewal]

What does MOPA stand for? Mother of penetrating apparatus. For sure, it'll penetrate into surface of anything.

[@markkrutzmann6862]

Master oscillator power amplifier. It means the machine has total control over its pump lasers and can thereby influence the actual laser beam of the fiber laser very precisely. There is a bit more physics involved but that's my understanding as a layman.

[@user-ts1xp4gm1b]

I've got some spare money. Should I get the comMarker or the comMaker?

[@aresgo31]

Ist der Laser eigentlich geerdet , ich habe die 220v Variante mopa und da ist ein extra erdungsanschluss samt erdungskabel dabei. Dank im Voraus

[@dasfreakster]

Were those laser sounds from the Disney movie "Black Hole"?

[@franke5478]

@Marco Reps: is the broken Laser still available?

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

Oh, how about tattooing!! Haha

[@PainSled]

9:00 The Blue Pill MCU! Though, I prefer the F103CB variant, with its 128k of flash memory. I mostly don't need the extra 64k, but better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

[@javierpallalorden]

Why not the 100W?

[@reps]

indeed ... maybe next 🤭

[@brucef]

Which Wattage did you get? 40W?

[@reps]

60W

[@Basement_CNC]

he says it literally in the first like 20sec of the video 😂

[@T1nCh0]

Damn son

[@lsdave]

How long till someone uses one of these on their Cybertruck???

[@ricokaboom_]

why people use 250mm^2 to say 250*250mm field? even saw 120mm^3 to represent cube of 120*120*120 volume. isn't that technically incorrect?

[@jeffreydoujon638]

Great Video and frickin laser ! What are the modular connectors you're putting in your CNC control cabinet ?

[@reps]

Those are called Keystones

[@jeffreydoujon638]

@@reps Thanks Marco, I actually meant which manufacturer ?

[@visvivacnckenya1620]

Hi Marco my laser master.. So I have this desktop marker g20 built by Hans laser.. I got it without control software or a dongle.. Am convinced they run a version of ezcad.. Hans laser has refused to assist in any way.. So am about to tear the controller and rebuild it a familiar ezcad..

[@reps]

Hans! Get ze Laserwerfer!! Good luck

[@kennarnett8220]

PCBs for electronic boards??

[@ChatNoirLe]

If you can't weld copper wire hit it! Or to be more precise flatten the copper at weld end such as through rolling it into a strip and maybe using the edge as the connection point instead of the middle.

[@JohnSmith-rt5yq]

Where do you buy materials for engraving?

[@QDStrength]

Can it do lasik?

[@Shocker99]

2:50 Complaint 1: The crimping on the neutral is dreadful. A single wire crimp used to crimp two wires, leaving exposed conductors. Modern standards treats neutral like a live wire.

[@kleinpoe]

13:56 RIP Netzhaut

[@amciaapple1654]

Why no PCB "etching" ?

[@fffmpeg]

4:28 - 250mm by 250mm is not equal to 250mm2, that would be 62500mm2

[@wktodd]

I have a 150 yag laser in the garage in need of a pump diode , anyone have one in their pocket?

[@mawoodmain]

idk, this build quality seems pretty poor for a product in the £3000+ price bracket, I know its cheap for what it is but still, the connectors and PCB adjustments to make it neat internally would cost circa £5 at most. Also that powered axis seems wobbly as hell, most £300 3D printers have more stable axis... I didn't realise that was the price until I checked the amazon links, from the video I had clearly incorrectly assumed this was a few hundred GBP not several thousand :O

[@madpete6438]

Had a moment - looking at the number and ran my finger under it to be sure. Time to learn how to make one.

[@buggi666]

Jetzt brauchst noch ein laserkonfokalmikroskop um die ablationseigenschaften zu vermessen 😂

[@reps]

Ist das nicht vorwiegend für biologische Materialien? Ein SEM wäre hier hilfreich 😏

[@faxezu]

​@@repsEs gibt auch Konfokalmikroskope für metallurgische Anwendungen, z.B. vom Hersteller nano Focus. Selbst schon genutzt um die Rauigkeit von Metallen nach verschiedenen Polituren zu messen. Ein REM wäre natürlich auch sehr lecker oder sogar AFM wobei das wahrscheinlich übertrieben ist.

[@reps]

@@faxezu Really? Interessant! Dear Santa, ... 😁

[@chatpall]

looks like everything is leading to Zaxis movement and sitering your own metal parts

[@petermuller608]

Can this machine burn PCB designs on copper FR4 laminate?

[@Krmpfpks]

Good question . I think it‘s just a question how long it would take.

[@jtstriker77]

Do you think this could mark on a pinball?

[@askjacob]

Most of them are good old carbon steel so sure. It has been done in the past, but there are challenges. You don't want to go "deep" in your marking unless you want the pinballs to sand away the playfield! Also, the nifty colour effects get worn off the balls pretty quickly and they revert to plain pinballs pretty soon.

[@Tehrasha]

Shoutout to the Blackhole pew-pew SFX. :)

[@ETILHK54]

Nice one!

[@mnamnam6061]

Hehe, got another question for you. Did you already have a dustbin fire?😉😁

[@Metaldetectiontubeworldwide]

What if you try laser engrave GOLD ? Guess silver would also be very colorfull . Grtz from the netherlands Johny geerts

[@reps]

taking notes for future videos! gold is of course supremely reluctant to form any kind of oxide layer, but nanoparticles could be fun

[@Metaldetectiontubeworldwide]

@@reps great, looking forward to it . well done !

[@KallePihlajasaari]

Perhaps the CeraMark and similar powders might be the way to go with gold. Etch to roughen the surface, and then fuse the ceramic on.

[@godfreypoon5148]

I accidentally bought the knockoff, coRNmarker. Works great on maize, though. Bunions too.