Somewhat self purging, but you have to coax the bubbles out by tipping it a bit. Either way it’s getting a bit annoying to use. I’m going to have to make some more mods to it soon because even with the fan and the lid closed it completely filled my office full of MDF smoke/formaldehyde. I had to vent the whole room and wear a mask to even be in there. Bad news
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Universal Lasers has a two-laser machine. It lets them engrave two lines at a time instead of just one. Seems like an OK idea as long as the two lasers either put out the same amount of power or can be adjusted easily enough. Alignment would be a lot more difficult, I would imagine.
Here’s a video about it…
I think the comparison shown is BS. The laser on the left doesn’t look like it’s moving twice as fast to me. It seems like what they’re really showing is “look how much faster engraving goes if you reduce the resolution!”.
Its not supposed to move twice as fast…it uses two lasers to do two lines on one pass instead on just one…the entire video explains it pretty well…
And as far as alignment…its factory set…its only the cheap chinese lasers that have constant aligment issues.
Ive moved one of my Universal lasers 6 times…in the back of a pickup for most of them…and never had to realign…
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Um… yeah, I got that.
The problem is the ULS is only making 1/4 the number of passes. In other words it’s engraving at half the resolution. You can count the passes both machine make. By the time the ULS gets to the point at the top of the “A” I count about 80 passes. The Trotec makes about 320.
If alignment isn’t an issue with non-Chinese lasers, I wonder why they all have those little alignment screws… Hmmm…
The only time Ive ever had to realign my mirror ( and theres only one that can be adjusted) was when I installed a new laser cartridge…after 8+ years of owning it.
My 13 year old laser has never needed adjustments.
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It just seems like trying to make the focal points of two invisible lasers land perfectly aligned in the Y axis with a perfect distance between them would be difficult, especially considering all the alignment of the second laser would need to be done with a single mirror (mirror #1) as adjusting any of the mirrors further down the line would alter both beams.
I was surprised my non-Chinese laser didn’t need to be aligned when I received it. It was shipped freight and there was nothing other than gravity holding it on the pallet. No straps, no bolts, not even a piece of tape. And there was no packing material on the sides or top. Just the laser sitting on top of two pieces of ~2" foam that were glued to the pallet. There wasn’t even anything preventing the gantry or head from moving. Truth be told, I think the guy who shipped it to me (I bought it used) dropped the ball. It arrived safely as far as I can tell though.
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I wouldn’t say maintenance free. So far we know the filter will need to be replaced eventually depending mostly on what you cut and how often. The mirrors/windows will likely need an occasional lint free wipe. And the laser tube itself while user replaceable is not user serviceable so will need to be replaced.
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Another thing I notice is the right hand laser seems to always move as wide as the widest part of the A but the left seems to be making shorter strokes at the top.
Actually just ran it slow, the left seems very accurate in its positioning and the right seems to over shoot in both directions a lot.
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Nice find on that…yes, that would make a big difference in time.
Universal lasers have been around along time…always improving.
Mine still smellls a lot evn with the “vent”. With the open bottom may need a stronger fan. Is your air assist installed yet? (Will try my new head/air assist sometime this weekend).
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No I actually just picked up a tube today, and I’m gonna be trying a new method for smoke removal, I’m gonna attach some vacuum hoses to the gantry to pull it directly instead of having it pull all the way from the back with that giant hole
Oh, sorry. I guess I didn’t understand the way it was set up. I was thinking that forum members could ‘drop by’ during the show.
We tried that in the beginning. Too many people showed up and Google Hangouts has a 10 seat limit. Of the people that did show up 80% of them had their mic’s muted and did not say a word thru out the show. Then I was getting angry IM’s (via the forums, Hangouts and emails) & from the comment section on the youtube relay from the folks that were not able to join in due to the 10 seat limit. Not understanding that the youtube relay is one-way. It was mass confusion and aggravation on all counts
At that point I changed it to have a regular cast. Pre-recorded the show. Publish after Google/YouTube is done with the encoding (which is usually 2hrs after we do the show. I know I could publish immediately, But it takes Google/Youtube time to get the HD resolutions encoded. If I hadn’t waited- It would like the shows were recorded with a potato.)
Sorry for the lengthy explanation, but I just want to convey the reasoning why we are doing what we are doing.
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Finally got a chance to watch the whole show. You all did a great job with the presentations and the demo pics. Keep up the good work.
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I appreciate your explanation and it makes perfect sense. That’s probably when I got the idea that I could just ‘drop in’… from the very beginning when it really WAS possible to do that. Thanks
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If, as @smcgathyfay has found with her lasers, the tube will need replacing in 8 to 13+ years I’m pretty sure I’d be happy to call that the life of the machine.
Agreed, replacing the filter counts as maintenance, I had neglected that in my thinking. ATM, I wouldn’t really count wiping the mirrors as maintenance, depends how difficult it is.
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That’s for Universal lasers…the Glowforge has a different type of laser tube…more like 1-2 years life. span…
Aha. You learn something new every day. Serves me right for not paying more attention to the details.
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Looks to me like you found an excellent compromise. That is a very well-rounded group and I always learn something from each show. Too bad you can’t bring Josh in, but that probably wouldn’t be fair to Josh - he’d be inundated with questions he couldn’t answer…
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