2 minutes of prep work, 11 minute burn…
-e
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Hi, some of you may have seen me making chessboards on the laser at the shop before. I engrave wood veneers and marble.
With the shop being closed, I needed a new laser and the SDFWA email came to my help with this Ortur machine 
My wooden boards are 15x15 and marbles are 18x18 so this 160x150mm version is a little small for me. There’s a Ortur Master 2 version with a 400x430mm work area.
I thought wood veneers would be ok but I didn’t know if I could engrave marble with this machine. I reached out to Travis and he was kind enough to let me test these materials on his machine. I’m happy to say that it can engrave marble! Even with %100 power not as deep as the CO2 laser of course but still. I tried to upload some sample photos but I can’t because I’m a new member on the forum. I’ll try to add it later.
I’m pretty happy with the veneers but it’d be great if the marble engraving was a little bit deeper. So my question is should I get the 20W one? It’s $70 more, which is not that much but will I see a big difference? Anyone with a 20W machine, I’d love to get your opinions!
Thanks,
Sait
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Welcome Sait!
I have a 20W Ortur. Some of the things I’ve cut have made me think that it was worth it. I figured if I was going to get one I might as well go the extra.
Private message me if you would like to send me a small piece of marble and a grbl file to do a test.
-e
For those with a Mac and wanting to update the firmware without borking the bootloader, you can use the mcopy command in the mtools package. http://macappstore.org/mtools/
Just get the Ortur Laser drive mounted and then use the “mcopy -D mM” command and switch to copy the BIN files. Run it twice for each file just to make sure it copies to each VFAT directory name(primary and secondary), on the 2nd time you’ll be prompted to overwrite so just say ‘y’ and reset and do it again for the 134 BIN file.
Worked for me repeatedly on Linux.
mcopy -D mM OLF_000.BIN /media/–userID–/ORTUR\ LASER/
up-arrow enter, , reset, initiate 2nd update process
mcopy -D mM OLF_134.BIN /media/–userID–/ORTUR\ LASER/
up-arrow enter, , reset
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Hi Ed,
Thanks for the offer! I went ahead and bought the 20W one today I thought that it may take a long time for it to come here and I’m pretty much happy with the results of 15W so I couldn’t wait.
Sait
Sait, I also picked up a 20w version. Based on comparing what Travis did for cutting out veneers, (speed, power, passes) the 20w is significantly more powerful for cutting veneers. One oddity I’ve not yet figured out is that when doing images it cuts better (lower power, passes, higher speed) then doing lines/cuts. But I’ve been doing tests of various veneers, and am sure I’m going to get a decent table. One thing I have found that if the veneer is not flat, then I’ve had to do extra passes, and I get a little more burn.
As you may all recall, I bricked my Ortur motherboard by trying to update the firmware from a Mac. @Justin-Ortur agreed to send me a new one, and while I was waiting, @DougL figured out how to resuscitate my failed board.
It is a good thing he did, because the board just came from Ortur, and they sent the wrong board!
The arrow points to what I needed and the exclamation points show what they sent. There is nothing on the Ortur Laser I have that comes close to the dimensions of this board.
I will get back in touch with Ortur and sort out what to do next, but fortunately I am up and running with Doug’s help. @marty.blake.jacobson, you need to contact Ortur and make sure they are sending you the right one. The right one measures about 1.25" x 4". The one they sent me is 4" x 4".
Thanks again, Doug!
-e
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Based on a few clues visible on the board it looks like they sent you the motherboard to their 3D printer. Useless to our lasers. Hassle to return too.
If you end up stuck with it I have a suggestion.
There’s only one guy I know who’s built
several 3D printers from scratch.
Doug
Maybe he could put it to use if it’s otherwise waste.
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Funny you mention that Travis, I’m currently in the process of re-braining a 3D printer. And yes, that looks like their 3D printer controller and indeed, if they don’t want it back I could find a use for it.
Xclnt! I will let you know what they say…
-e
Hi Ian, I’m glad I picked up the 20W version then With the 15W it took me 3 passes to cut a paper backed veneer. I hope it will drop down to 1-2 passes with the 20W.
A noob diode laser focusing question:
1- Let’s say I put the material at the optimum distance (55mm) and focused the lens to the smallest dot.
2- I put the material to 50mm (or 60mm) and focused the lens to the smallest dot.
The engraving/cutting power of the machine would be the same for both these situations or not? I tried to experiment this but finding the perfect smallest dot is not easy
Also, when I use the machines in the shop, while I’m scoring the lines, I move the bed in 4-5mm so it will be out of focus and scores thicker lines. I tried to do it with Ortur 15W but seems like there’s not much of a difference when the lens is out of focus (or not a small dot). Is it because the power is so low or it’s not possible with diode lasers?
Thanks,
Sait
I believe the beam of the CO2 laser is much larger than the Diode Laser so the optics are also going to be different. but because of the large beam being focused to a small dot, when you are off the focal point you are getting much wider beam.
For focus’ing at 55mm and focusing at 50 or 60mm, if you can get the same size dot then yes, the power into the cut will be the same at any of those locations. But there is some point away from 55mm where you will not get the same size dot no matter how well you try to focus.
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Hi Ed, sorry, the motherboard of Ortur4-V2 was sent to you by mistake, anyway, glad to hear that the bootloader had been installed and problem fixed.
Hope you enjoy the fun of lasing!
Wear goggles when using laser master.
Any question else, just feel free to email me at ortur@ortur3dprinter.com
LU15W, the electric power is 15W, luminous power is 4-4.5W, the best focal length is 30mm.
LU20W, the electric power is 20W, luminous power is 5-5.5W, the best focal length is 50mm.
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We’re going to release a fixed focus laser module, named as LU2-20W-F, means the second generation 20W fixed focus laser module, it could engrave the stainless steel directly, don’t need to use the marker pen to paint the surface of Stainnless steel to be black.
Also the third generation LU3-20W with a fiber on the LD to make the laser dot to be much small, it may be released in the next half of year.
And hope these two new PRO models would be ok for the high-end market.
Expected released date?
A package from Ortur arrived late yesterday via DHL (instead of via post).
Surprise! They sent the 15W laser unit, not the motherboard.
Wow, two shipping mistakes in a row.
Their customer service fulfillment department is broken.
Maybe you could barter the laser for someone’s repair service on your board?
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@marty.blake.jacobson send me a PM and we can talk about getting your current board loaded with the bootloader and firmware.