Yet another laser - INtroducing the LaserPecker?

Honestly, the name? But another indigogo laser. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/laserpeckerpro-the-most-advanced-portable-engraver#/ It is intriguining from a "you can carry it ot markets and stuff, but it seems just ripe for someone getting burned.

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Worst product name since my Hotpoint Refrigerator and Coldspot Stove, though selling the Chevy Nova in Mexico is on the list as well.

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So True!!!

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Let me preface this with: I like the GF, but I’m not a fanboy. Let’s assume this works. (I know GF took years longer than expected. But let’s start with this assumption.)

A lot of things bother me about this. First, the pro’s:

  • Small, portable.

  • Handles a wide range of material heights, including curvatures.

  • Auto-shutoff in case it is bumped.

  • Their store includes engraving powder for metals. (Wish GF had this.)

Now for the negatives:

  • “Engrave any pattern on any surface.” Tells me that they haven’t tested the concept. I am certain that there are some materials that it won’t work on.

  • An unenclosed laser? Hands, pets, and other items are definitely going to get hurt. I guarantee you that someone will try to use it for tattooing skin, or their own home-based tattoo removal.

  • The safety enclosure is optional and lacks a top. Goggles are separate. People will go blind due to this laser. And any reflective object will be a hazard for everyone in the room. This, by itself, is enough for me to warn everyone to stay away. (This is something GF did very right: the GF laser is completely self contained and the glass top filters out the harmful laser. You still shouldn’t look at the bright light, but it won’t immediately burn your retina.)

  • Says it engraves on plastics. Many common plastics melt into messes, release toxic gasses, and/or are flammable. At best, they are over-promising something they never tested.

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I wonder if the name Hotpoint had to do with how refrigerators worked in the 1930s. Got an “A” in Thermodynamics so I understand the math. But still have a problem intuitively understanding how our old kerosene powered refrigerator could work. You make a specific point hot with a pilot flame to start the evaporation process.

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hotpoint is an appliance brand name, so it is a lot more than refrigerators.

Hotpoint was founded in 1911. The name of the company comes from the hot point of the revolutionary first [electric iron].

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I have had several heat powered ammonia cycle refrigerators most made by Dometic and mostly used them with electrical heating of the hot area. Those used propane but I believe kerosene power is available.

Originally Hotpoint and Coldspot were Sears brands I believe but they were spun off and I now have a Hotpoint refrigerator that is old and standard compressor-style.

The original version has 19 reviews on Amazon.
Several of them use poor English, so although they say “verified purchase” I wouldn’t trust the review.

(I have an acquaintance who is in a group of people who buy something from Amazon and get reimbursed for their purchase once they have left a review, apparently it’s a common scam.)

Do not look at LaserPecker with remaining eye

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Yeah, already much fun made at the expense of this laser name on a thread a month or so ago… besides the name, can’t image the liability risk and won’t be long until lawyers put them into bankruptcy… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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There are plenty of cheap open-frame gantry-style laser cutters available on the market. Last I looked, solid state blue lasers are available for relatively cheap $ in power levels as high as 8W.

I looked at this when it was announced sometime in the recent past. It’s a 1.5W 450nm blue laser. What makes this unique is that the laser doesn’t physically move, the beam is steered by (I’m assuming) mirrors on galvanometers. So you can lay the laser head on its side and engrave something that’s positioned vertically.

Want to write something naughty on your neighbor’s house siding? This is perfect for that.

But with 1.5W focus power, it’s going to be agonizingly slow (so maybe it uses servos to steer the mirrors instead of galvos, they don’t need to move very fast I bet) on all but the most easily marked materials.

I think I remember reading that many of these higher power blue lasers are actually IR with a crystal frequency doubler to make them blue, and that you can remove that crystal and get higher output power in IR instead of UV.

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