I bought a laser engraver/cutter

I have no regrets from buying mine. I know one like Gene has would do a better etch and last longer in the long run but I am satisfied with the job mine does very easily. My main justification, in case it helps you, was because it is a multi-use tool. I mark my name on my knives, make designs or custom markings on knives, use it to cut sheaths out perfectly, I can etch the sheaths, I can computer design knife templates and cut them out of wood or plastic stuff perfectly. I save leather by test cutting cardboard (free) first and see how it fits together, then use leather. I have not even gotten into the non-knife related stuff you can do with a CNC laser too.
 
Chris Railey said:
I have no regrets from buying mine. I know one like Gene has would do a better etch and last longer in the long run but I am satisfied with the job mine does very easily. My main justification, in case it helps you, was because it is a multi-use tool. I mark my name on my knives, make designs or custom markings on knives, use it to cut sheaths out perfectly, I can etch the sheaths, I can computer design knife templates and cut them out of wood or plastic stuff perfectly. I save leather by test cutting cardboard (free) first and see how it fits together, then use leather. I have not even gotten into the non-knife related stuff you can do with a CNC laser too.
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That's my thought as well. I couldn't justify the price for just marking my name on my knives. But as you say, it's a very versatile tool. You can etch and cut many different items with it.
 
Ortur had a LM2 10 watt on sale for 329.00 which I just bought. 4 dollars more than the Personalizer Plus etcher. Down the rabbit hole I go. Should be here towards the end of next week.
 
Congrats - be sure to post some etches you do. While the OLM3 10 watt I have does pretty good marking steel, if it's painted black befor engraving the finished image really comes out nice. AND seems to hold up really good.
 
KenH said:
Congrats - be sure to post some etches you do. While the OLM3 10 watt I have does pretty good marking steel, if it's painted black befor engraving the finished image really comes out nice. AND seems to hold up really good.
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Thanks Ken. Will do
 
Good for you Sean. I used mine this weekend to prototype a new sheath/cover for a Nakiri then to cut the finished product. Made everything so much easier. If I can put the thing together a retired IT guy should have no trouble...
 
Chris Railey said:
I wanted to see if you guys are interested in me posting some knife (making) specific testing on the Laser cutter I recently acquired. It is a 10W diode laser (Ortur Laser Master 3) and I familiar enough with its operation now to do some pretty in depth testing related to knife stuff. I will post in WIP style if there is interest. The engraver is supposed to be able to engrave Stainless and HC steel with no chemicals (have not tested that yet). Post up if you want to see results.

I can already tell you that I will never cut another sheath blank by hand. I am fortunate enough to have taught myself previously how to use QCAD so I drew out a sheath blank and was able to cut it straight away. One pass and three minutes from start to finish including the laser cut welt. Glued it together and sewed it up without ANY trimming or fitting. I may cry... I have a CowBoy Outlaw machine so I did not cut stitching holes but the laser will cut 1mm (.039) holes perfectly, so no more stitching chisels. I am also going to draw out some upside down teardrop shaped leather washer files complete with tang cutout for a current project I am working on which is a Twisted Damascus KA-Bar for a retiring friend sussexlasers.co.uk.
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I’m looking at SIC and Clausing. This is for engraving part numbers and logos on stainless shafts and on the OD of steel pipe parts. SIC is recommending 20 W fiber. I’m wondering if that is enough power to efficiently engrave pipe parts. I need the ability to engrave at least .005-.01 deep for some parts. I won’t need a rotary for any of the parts. Looking for something open instead of a small enclosure.

What are you guys using and who do you recommend? Thanks
 
All righty, I'm back. Since the heat treat oven has proven it's worth I'm back at the laser thing. I'm very seriously looking and have contacted a few manufactures. But they all say there product will do what I'm asking. I'd like to get opinions from guy who have nothing to gain but are willing to share what they have learned. I've watched so many videos it's not funny. What I'd like the laser to do is make my makers mark on a hardened blade, deep enough that you can feel it and it won't wear off. Be able to cut handle scales just over 1/4" thick. Burn or etch into wood or leather names or designs and possible cut leather. I know I'm asking a lot but I'm sure many of you were looking to do the same thing. Not nearly as important but if I could connect with a rotary to do tumblers it would be something else to put on the table at shows and possibly make a few $$$. Thank in advance for your help. I'd like to stay under 2k for this toy/tool.
 
Tooln said:
All righty, I'm back. Since the heat treat oven has proven it's worth I'm back at the laser thing. I'm very seriously looking and have contacted a few manufactures. But they all say there product will do what I'm asking. I'd like to get opinions from guy who have nothing to gain but are willing to share what they have learned. I've watched so many videos it's not funny. What I'd like the laser to do is make my makers mark on a hardened blade, deep enough that you can feel it and it won't wear off. Be able to cut handle scales just over 1/4" thick. Burn or etch into wood or leather names or designs and possible cut leather. I know I'm asking a lot but I'm sure many of you were looking to do the same thing from HANTENCNC. Not nearly as important but if I could connect with a rotary to do tumblers it would be something else to put on the table at shows and possibly make a few $$$. Thank in advance for your help. I'd like to stay under 2k for this toy/tool.
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thank you so much for your suggestion and welcome back
 
Tooln said:
All righty, I'm back. Since the heat treat oven has proven it's worth I'm back at the laser thing. I'm very seriously looking and have contacted a few manufactures. But they all say there product will do what I'm asking. I'd like to get opinions from guy who have nothing to gain but are willing to share what they have learned. I've watched so many videos it's not funny. What I'd like the laser to do is make my makers mark on a hardened blade, deep enough that you can feel it and it won't wear off. Be able to cut handle scales just over 1/4" thick. Burn or etch into wood or leather names or designs and possible cut leather. I know I'm asking a lot but I'm sure many of you were looking to do the same thing. Not nearly as important but if I could connect with a rotary to do tumblers it would be something else to put on the table at shows and possibly make a few $$$. Thank in advance for your help. I'd like to stay under 2k for this toy/tool.
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You might join this forum https://lahobbyguy.com/bb/ and ask there. Those folks are more info lasers than most of us are. I use a 10 watt diode laser for engraving my finished blades. The mark is pretty good, and takes a bit of grinding to remove if I decide to change the mark, but it's nowhere near .005" deep. A .001" to .002" deep actual engrave should do a good job of making a good maker's mark.

The 10 watt diode laser does a good job of cutting and engraving leather. I've got an Ortur OLM3 laser and am pretty happy with it. It doesn't do much for cutting 1/4" scales :(
 
I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on a laserpecker lp5. From everything I've researched it should be able to do everything I want. Anyone have any more knowledge they can share for laderpecker?
 
Well I don't get here very often so I apologize for that. Well I did order a Laserpecker LP5. I've had it for about a month and started messing with it this past week. It took me about an hour and a dozen etches to come up with setting I was happy with. Here are 3 stainless blade that have been hardened and tempered. With my logo and customers request. I also did a test image on some leather. I'll need to do some fine tuning on the leather settings but so far so good. I'm very happy with the laser so far and can see lots of uses. The 3 blades took me about 20 minutes to do. So much faster then my old way of making a vinyl stencil, weeding it, putting it on the blade and taping everything off and then the actual etching.
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That LP5 is an impressive 20 watt fiber laser from the small amount of reading I did. Those blades look really good - that's with the fiber? Did I read it's got a diode laser also? Did you use the diode for the leather?

You gonna LOVE it.
 
KenH said:
That LP5 is an impressive 20 watt fiber laser from the small amount of reading I did. Those blades look really good - that's with the fiber? Did I read it's got a diode laser also? Did you use the diode for the leather?

You gonna LOVE it.
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I used the fiber on the blades and the diode on the leather. Haven't messed with any wood yet but plan to.
 
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