Mr. Beam II

OK, let the clone wars begin.

I see on Kickstarter the Mr Beam II - The Desktop Laser Cutter and Engraver (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mrbeam/mr-beam-ii-the-desktop-laser-cutter-and-engraver/updates)

Isn’t an exact clone of the GF, but has a bunch of the same features. No mention of power, but looks like it might use one of the solid-state lasers? If so, I would guess MUCH lower power. I’m sure those much more knowledgeable than I can point out similarities and differences.

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That’s so funny I just posted a very similar post to twitter… Not the same but borrowed many ideas and I have no desire to own one… I believe that their tech specs said it was a 5w laser. So with that I got back to patiently awaiting my Glowforge.

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Obviously it’s not in the same league, but I would note that although much of the S/W is in the cloud, it has some local capability without. That’s what really avoids the “brick” end state.

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" life time: The laser has a life time of 10000 hours usage. Replacement will require advanced soldering skills and equipment. " That would leave me out in the cold right off the bat.

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Interesting. They seem to have a pretty good track record, as there is a previous “Mr. Beam” that was a kit and which finished last year (they seem to have delivered successfully) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mrbeam/mr-beam-a-portable-laser-cutter-and-engraver-kit/description.

The laser is a completely different animal of course, it is a short wavelength diode instead of a CO2 based tube and has no where near the power of a GF. Still they have a big jump on software assuming that they are using the same code base as the earlier project. It should be interesting to see what happens.

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From http://mr-beam.org :

  • Working area: 500x400mm / 20x16"
  • Maximum object height: 35mm / 1.4"
  • Powerful 5w high efficiency shortwave laser
  • Full metal safety housing closed with safety glass lid
  • Laser class I
  • Assembled and ready to use
  • Optional fume extraction
  • Camera assisted design placement, supervision and more to come
  • Wifi connected, over the air firmware updates
  • Open source software stack

I’m confused. Camera Assist? Most photos seem to chop off the supposed location of the camera, and it’s a transparent plexiglass lid not showing any wires. The few photos showing the camera are obviously placed to seem doubtful, still with no wires. So a wireless camera running on battery?

5w SW laser: Yeaaaaaah. No comment.

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Can we just talk about the name. Mr beam. It kinda sounds wimpy compared to Glowforge lol

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5W laser for over $1,300?? Pssht.

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That is EXACTLY what I was going to mention…Glowforge is a much more pleasing name than Mr. Beam! Sounds like some kind of spread for toast. Milk toast, maybe! Wimpy is a perfect description.

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Looks nifty. ~$2000 is a bit insane.

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…said no Glowforge purchaser, ever. :smile:

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Wow, for the first time I’m surprised and disappointed by how negative you guys are.

It’s a laser cutter, the original Mr Beam predates the glowforge by a long way, and because they’re both laser cutters they’re going to share a lot of the same features.
Cameras aren’t new to GF, cloud based software isn’t new to GF.
The power is low because it’s a laser diode but its a different machine, the price of the machine won’t double once the kickstarting period is over,

It’s a good little kickstarter and the more people with laser cutters the better.

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Didn’t notice a lot of negativity. Just thinking that folks are expressing that the Glowforge is a much better deal for the money. Mr Beam is less expensive but not by as much as you would expect. I was surprised by the cost vs. performance. They are marketing it the same way that Glowforge did by offering 40-50% off retail during the kickstarter.

I think that it could have been a great name if they had incorporated some retro-futuristic (i.e. the Jetsons) design into the marketing, enclosure, and logo. Missed opportunity!

It’s a good little kickstarter and the more people with laser cutters engravers the better.

FTFY.

I think most Kickstarters in recent years suffer from “over premise and under deliver” (ie-“lying through omission” of limitations to backers). The new norm.

It would make for a nice laser lightshow, though.

i considered the original Mr Beam, but after seeing that it really couldnt cut much, and couldnt really do much on the 3d engraving front, I became uninterested. The glowforge had me immediately. I wish it was shipping time already…

As an owner of the original mr. beam (well the guts of one). It was a good stepping stone for me. I used it from everything from wood engraving to PCB etching and solder mask stenciling.

I don’t understand the ‘nose-up’ attitude on this project. This is no better than the facebook group crapping on the Glowforge. I thought we were better than that.

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Maybe I’m just dense. Still don’t see the negativity. Wouldn’t mind owning one. When you bought yours it might have been the best thing out there. Just wouldn’t want to pay 3/4 of what I paid for a Glowforge to get one now. Have to ship to the states also. Price for value.

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@dan_berry You’re simply wrong.
By your definitions the glowforge is only an engraver because it doesn’t cut anywhere near as fast as my 100W laser at home. If you want to call questionable naming simply look at how many people have popped up on this forum wondering what kind of filament the glowforge uses to 3D print.

It’s proven from their previous kickstarter, it’s ready to go, the price is driven by the software and hardware which it has 90% in common with the glowforge, not by the laser power. Who cares if it has a diode instead of a tube, when the diode eventually goes, and it should last 10x longer than the GF tube, it will cost half as much to replace. swings and roundabouts.

I’m like my glowforge but there are a fair few claims made in their campaign that I don’t believe are possible and I am waiting to be surprised if they can.

@xabbess “Replacement will require advanced soldering skills and equipment.” Diodes only have 2 wires I can’t see why it wouldn’t have a connector on the diode, seems a bit odd to me.

@rpegg noticing the negativity yet?

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I personally liked the original Mr. Beam, and like I said, considered getting one.

I think the issue here at this point is the functionality is so similar to the glowforge, the price is really close, but the power output compared to the glowforge is a lot lower. For the money I think the glowforge is a way better deal, but the Mr. Beam is still pretty cool for what it does. They even have videos of working software up… so kudos to them for that!

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