Laser Engraver laser engraving machine 3000mw laser class 4 Off-line Upgrade Version CNC Pro DIY Logo engraver

I've had this laser engraver for a month now and I feel like I've used it enough to know the pros and cons. I use it all the time, and sell many of the items I've engraved on it. It's a great value, and if you're anything like me, you're reading through each and every review to give yourself a reason not to buy a laser engraver from an unknown brand. Hopefully this helps:- I really wanted a Glowforge (and still do), but didn't really want to spend $4,000+, especially since this is all new to me. I found this one and at its price point, it's worth the risk to see if you enjoy this and have the time/patience for it.- This thing arrived quickly and I had it set up within an hour or so. It was super easy to set up. Make sure you have a Windows computer and DO NOT lose the flash drive that comes with this! If you don't have a Windows computer, you can make it work by using your own graphics software and saving your images as a .bmp file in a certain folder on the flash drive, and using it with the engraver. It took me some trial and error but I finally figured out exactly where to save the file. However, I don't usually use the flash drive exclusively... I have an cheap Widows PC I just connect to the engraver via USB and it works fine.- This comes with everything you need to get started, however... I would buy some better glasses. You obviously don't want to look directly into the laser and I don't really trust the glasses this comes with. Also, you'll want to buy some things to test with. There is a lot of trial and error and just figuring things out on your own. I bought some cheap bamboo cutting boards from Walmart and a few other scrap wood items to practice on.- Make sure you set this up on a flat surface in an area that can be well ventilated. Sometimes the smells can be overpowering and probably aren't that safe to breathe in an enclosed space. I use mine in the garage and crack the door, and have a fan running, and it's usually fine.- The instruction book is okay... but leaves a lot to be desired. It gets the job done I guess, but I found myself referring to the reviews here to figure some things out. If you've ever bought anything directly from China that you have to assemble, you'll understand what I mean.- Once you are set up and ready to engrave, test it out and don't be scared of the power/depth. There's really no guide or examples anywhere except here (at least that I could find). Here are some samples and hopefully they work for you (if not, feel free to suggest what you do): - Silicone Apple Watch bands: 100 power 100 depth (i bought these cheap ones from Amazon... do NOT go up this high on power for the actual Apple brand bands) - Bamboo cutting board: 45 power 25 depth - Cork coasters: 18 power 18 depth - Other wood depends on the thickness and type of wood, and how detailed you need to be.- One more negative... it can be extremely slow depending on the power and depth. The cutting boards pictured take around 2 hours or so. The cork coasters pictured take around 20-30 minutes each. The Apple Watch bands take around 30-45 minutes each. The little mini-rolling pins only took about 10 minutes each. The wooden hanging signs took around 3+ hours each.- The size you can engrave is relatively small... basically 6"x6.5" or so. Be mindful that when you engrave items larger than that (such as the larger rolling pin in my picture), you'll have to rig something to hold the item and keep it steady/lined up.- Be sure to get something with lines/measurements to put under your engraver like I did! It's the easiest way to make sure your item is straight and lined up correctly before engraving.- The software this comes with is very limited and antiquated. I design all images in another program... usually just Canva online since it's free. You could use PhotoShop or whatever you want. I then save it as a PNG, and import it into the software this comes with. It automatically converts it to a BMP file and you can resize it there and start the engraving.- Overall, I'm really pleased with the quality. You can see a few of the items I've played around with in the pictures I included. HOWEVER, this thing has made a couple of mistakes. In the last two pictures, you can see it inexplicably shifted and made one of the signs off-line, ruining the whole thing. No idea what happened. Also, I scanned in and engraved a recipe from my grandmother on a piece of thin wood and made it a magnet, and for some reason this engraver added a random line to the bottom of it. This line wasn't in the image file, and I have no idea where it came from. Not the end of the world, but annoying anyway. Out of probably 50 pieces I've done, maybe 4-5 of them have messed up due to the laser engraver doing something crazy. Not a great percentage, but I can live with it for now. I learned the hard way to never engrave something that someone currently owns... just buy and do your own stuff or run the risk of accidentally ruining their item!I would recommend this to anyone. For the most part, it works great and I have very little issues. It's great for beginners, and has helped me learn the ropes of laser engraving. I've sold several custom cutting boards and other items, and have already made my money back within a month. I ALMOST gave it 4 stars due to it randomly adding lines or doing it's own thing, but it's just such a great value and I don't want to discourage anyone from trying this. I haven't had to contact them, but I've read their customer service is great also.

* IntroductionAs of January 2021, this engraver has apps for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows, and Android that all let you engrave over Wi-Fi without using any cables. Yes, this engraver connects to Wi-Fi. It's very convenient having such widespread coverage across platforms, completely wireless and without having to use the USB cable, the USB stick port, or even the screen on the device.Software/firmware folder, used below: <link redacted>---Outline:* Introduction* Outline* Connecting to Wi-Fi* How to install the apps** iPhone/iPad** Mac** Windows** Android** Linux* How to use the apps (common features)** Connecting** Carving vs. Cutting** Interface** Laser settings* How to use the apps (specific features)** Mobile (iPhone, iPad, Android)*** Functionality differences*** Interface differences** Desktop (Mac, Windows, Linux)*** Functionality differences*** Interface differences*** Changelog* Future of the software---* Connecting to Wi-FiBefore you can engrave over Wi-Fi, you need to update the firmware on the laser engraver to support it. I got this from support. In the Dropbox, it's the Firmware ZIP file. There is a video the manufacturer made on YouTube that gives you instructions on how to update this (<link redacted>), but I'll also give them here: It requires a Windows machine and the USB cable to update the firmware. Unzip the ZIP file. Connect your engraver to the Windows machine using the USB port. Now, with the engraver off, touch middle of the screen with your finger and turn the machine on while holding your finger there. The screen will come up white, and you can let go. Now, in the unzipped folder, run "update.exe" and click "Start upgrading" when the button becomes available after a little while. There will be a progress bar and the "Start upgrading" button will become grayed out. When it's done, the progress bar will disappear and the button will become available again. At this point, it's done. Turn off the engraver and turn it back on again, and it'll make you recalibrate the screen using the touch pen. Do that, and we're done. You now need to use a mobile app to set it up for the first time to connect to Wi-Fi, after which you can control from mobile and desktop wirelessly; see below instructions for iPhone/iPad.Next, you need a mobile device to get the engraver connected to your Wi-Fi network for the first time. First, install the iPhone/iPad app (search "Wainlux" on the App Store) or the Android app. Second, turn on your device's personal hotspot and set the password to "aaabbb". Third, turn on the engraver after you've done this. It will search for different networks and try to connect to them using the password "aaabbb". Wait until it is connected to your hotspot (you can tell on iOS when you see the top system status bar turn blue and say that 1 person is connected). Fourth, open the app and wait until the top bar says "Connected". Fifth, hit the Settings button (the gear icon) on the bottom bar and scroll down until you see Wi-Fi settings, and enter your home network's name and password, and then either tap away or hit Modify. This will save the settings and connect the engraver to your home network so you won't have to do this again unless your Wi-Fi name/password changes.---* How to install the apps:** iPhone/iPad:Go to the App Store and search for "Wainlux". (Previously called "Ace engraving".) Install it.** Mac:To get the latest desktop software for Mac (v1.1.4 as of April 2021, but I recommend v1.1.2 for now), there are a couple of ways. The easiest is simply to use the classic .app file I have packaged, the "Software vX.X.X (Mac).dmg" from the Dropbox. Open it and move the .app inside to your Applications folder. I packaged this by simply bundling the installed files from the Windows app along with internal Java so you don't have to install Java on your Mac, making it a completely native app.However, in its infinite wisdom and on its slow-but-steady road towards turning your Mac into a toy, Apple now requires all apps to be signed and notarized (but I'm not paying them annually for that). So if you simply try to run it, it will say "xxx can't be opened. You should move it to the Trash." which is false. You have to tell your Mac to bypass this by giving it an exemption: open Terminal, and run "xattr -cr /Applications/Laser\ Engraver.app". Now right click the app in the Applications folder, and click Open. It should open without an issue now.If you want to repeat my steps to make your own .app, or you just want to run the Java .jar program without the nice Mac coating, you can do so by downloading the Windows app per the instructions below. Extract the .zip file, and then extract the "install_64_vX.X.X" file (I used The Unarchiver app from the Mac App Store). Go into that folder, and then open the "bin" folder. Copy the "diao.jar" file and the "lib" folder. If you have Java installed, you can simply run this "diao.jar" file and get the app working that way. To bundle it into a nice and typical Mac application, you can use Java's "jpackage" utility to convert a .jar program into a .dmg containing an .app program that also bundles a Java Runtime Environment into the app for seamlessness. Let me know if you need help with that. Or just use my ready .app.** Windows:To get the latest desktop software for Windows (v1.1.4 as of January 2021, but I recommend v1.1.2 for now), simply download the "Software vX.X.X (Windows).zip" from the Dropbox. Extract the .exe file and open it to install. It will put an icon on your desktop with a Chinese name. That's the software. Just open it.** Android:The "Wainlux" app should be available on the Play Store as well.** Linux:Since the desktop apps use Java, the app should run on Linux without any changes. You can run the JAR by using the same method as Mac above to grab the "diao.jar" and "lib" from the Windows installation. However, I have not tried it.---* How to use the apps (common features):All of the apps across desktop and mobile have a similar design and are mostly interchangeable, with some differences. These are the shared concepts. There is a lack of documentation for all this, but here's what I've figured out through trial and error so far.** Connecting:The application will automatically establish a connection with the laser engraver. If not, then close the application, turn off the engraver, and then turn on the engraver first and only then start the application.** Carving vs. Cutting:The engraver has two different ways of marking: carving vs. cutting. Carving mode is for images and rasterized text, where the engraver goes left to right like an ink printer. It's slower. Cutting mode is for vectors: shapes, lines, vector text, and drawings, where everything is made up of single-thickness lines. It's faster and supports multiple runs.** Interface:- You can move, pan, and zoom around a document. Once an engraver is connected, the document size changes to fit the limits of the engraver that is connected, the numbers on the axes representing centimeters, I believe.- You can import images (PNG, JPEG, BMP) using the photo frame icon.- You can use the Text Editor using the black "A" icon.- You can insert various shapes to be cut, e.g. using the circle icon.- You can preview where the engraving will appear on the surface by using the turquoise target icon, which move the laser head to draw a square around the maximum limits of the engraving (whether carving or cutting) without actually engraving anything. Hit the icon again to stop the preview. Very useful.- You can start, pause, and stop a job using: (for the desktop) the play button to start/pause and the stop button to stop, (for mobile) the black laser button for everything.- For an object on the document, you can use the red X icon on the top left to delete it.- For an object on the document, you can use the blue rotate icon on the top right to rotate it.- For an object on the document, you can use the pink lock icon on the bottom left to unlock the aspect ratio for the image.- For an object on the document, you can use the blue size icon on the bottom right to resize the image (and if the aspect ratio lock is unlocked, change its aspect ratio).- For an object on the document, you can use the yin/yang icon to invert the object's "colors".- The apps will show a completed percentage and an elapsed time during the engraving.** Laser settings:- You can adjust the power of the preview laser strength (10% should be optimal, I don't see any reason whatsoever for changing this).- You can adjust the engraving power and depth.- You can adjust the cutting power and depth.- You can adjust the number of times/count of how many times you want the laser to go over a vector design (only works for cutting, ignored for engraving).- You can adjust the "Accuracy" of the laser, though I don't know why you'd choose anything but "High".---* How to use the apps (specific features):** Mobile (iPhone, iPad, Android):*** Functionality differences:- The mobile apps have two more preset shapes you can insert: a hexagon and a line.- the mobile apps allows you to insert a vectorized drawing for cutting (Circle icon → Pencil).- The mobile apps allow you to change the Wi-Fi network name and password the engraver connects to.- Bug: Imported images and drawings often have their aspect ratios messed up, but can be fixed using the pink lock icon on the bottom left of the image to unlock aspect ratio and then using the size icon on the bottom right of the image to manipulate the size and aspect ratio.- Bug: Using the Preview button with drawings on the document causes app to crash.The mobile apps support drawing mode. You can draw something inside the app, and it will be used as a vector in the app, meaning the engraver will cut it instead of engraving/carving (much faster).*** Interface differences:The mobile apps call "Carving power" and "Carving depth" simply "Power" and "Depth", but still call "Cutting power" and "Cutting depth" their usual names. Instead of using "Number of times" for however many times you want the app to go over your vector cutting, it uses "Count".** Desktop (Mac, Windows, Linux):*** Functionality differences- The text editor gives much more control, allowing you to use any font installed on the computer.- The text editor has a "Vectorization" checkbox to optionally use the text as a vector, meaning the engraver will cut the text instead of engraving it.- The text editor has a "Vertical" checkbox to optionally put the letters vertically (though individual letters will remain horizontal).- Undo support, using Ctrl + Z (even on Mac).- Select all objects, using Ctrl + A (even on Mac).- Select some object, by dragging the mouse anywhere to draw a selection rectangle.- There is support for importing PLT files (HPGL), which are vector files. For example, CorelDRAW offers export as PLT. These will use the engraver's cutting mode. Probably need to use multiple selection, since it can insert multiple objects per file. (Note: only supports PU and PD and PA and PR commands with spaces; it also only supports commands using spaces, not commas; to make the ones with commas like "PU5112,7168;" work, just replace the commas in the PLT file with spaces like so: "PU5112 7168;".) This is very useful for making things like jigsaw puzzles, where cutting is the only way.- The app has a "check for updates" functionality on every start, and downloads specific updates for Mac and Windows separately depending on what system you're running, even though the apps are pretty interchangeable, especially for Wi-Fi engraving.- Note: The desktop apps don't allow setting or changing the Wi-Fi network name and password for the engraver.*** Interface differences- To pan around the document, right click and hold down and then drag the mouse.- To zoom into and out of the document, scroll vertically up and down.- The preset shapes have their own individual buttons on the main menu bar instead of all hiding under the Circle icon.- There is a Save button (a floppy disk icon) to allow you to save the project as an .xj file so that you can come back to it later. (The save files don't open directly in the app by double-clicking them; they must be imported like an image using the "Open picture" button). Using this button will also save a BMP version of the images into the same folder.- There is a BMP icon that will ask you to open an image, which it will then convert into a BMP and save into the same folder. Kind of a weird function, since it's standalone and doesn't have anything to do with the document.- There is an "Auxiliary positioning" button, which will reset the laser head's position.- The start/stop icons are separate; the start button can either start or pause an engraving.- There are gray USB and Wi-Fi icons on top right. The Wi-Fi icon will turn blue when an engraver is connected over Wi-Fi.- For an object on the document, there will be four pandas on its right. These are different strategies the app uses to convert an image into an engraving, and are pretty self-explanatory. The only exception is panda #3. This will turn your image into a vector, guessing where the lines are, and the engraver will cut it instead of carving it.- For an object on the document, there is a Center icon, a purple circle inside four gray corners. This will place the object in the middle of the document.- For an object on the document, there is an orange double-headed horizontal arrow. This will mirror the image horizontally.- For an object on the document, there is an orange double-headed vertical arrow. This will mirror the image vertically.- For an object on the document, there is a a grid icon. This will enable/disable vector filling. This only applies to vector objects. The app will try to guess which lines are the outer ones, and fill in the space between them. The engraver will still use its cutting mode for the edge lines, and then go over the filling as well, similar to the carving mode. This has the advantage of being able to make use of the "Number of times" setting which is not possible with carving mode.- On the right sidebar, there is a "Filling density" slider. This controls the vertical space between the filling lines for vector objects that have vector filling enabled.- On the right sidebar, there is a "Contrast ratio" slider. This will modify the behavior of the image renderer, changing the threshold where it considers a pixel to be black (vs. white). It shows the effects live as you adjust it, which is very useful.- On the bottom bar, during engraving, the job percentage will be shown, and the time elapsed will be shown on the right (10.34 = 10 minutes 30 seconds elapsed).- Note: There is no drawing mode on the desktop app.- Bug: Manually editing the X, Y, W, and H values above the selected object does really weird things.*** Changelog (desktop apps):**** v1.1.2 (late 2020):- Fixes scrolling problem on Mac- Fixes engraving for vector cutting, where only the top left corner would be engraved- Adds PLT support for importing vector files! (Works with CorelDRAW)- Filling and filling density for vectors/cutting (play around with it)- Undo support with Ctrl + Z- Vectorization checkbox for text for cutting text instead of carving it, if you like**** v1.1.3 (January 2021):- Gets rid of the separate cutting and carving power and depth, which is not a good change. Previously, you could put both an image to be engraved and a vector to be cut onto the same document, and then adjust the power/depth of each action separately. I don't know why they would remove this feature. Now the power/depth setting controls both.**** v1.1.4 (April 2021):- Adds text to the menu icons. Not sure what else.---* Future of the software:Support has indicated to me that they will be setting up a central download center where people can download this software and where updates can be provided without having to ask specifically for them, and the whole mess of links out there. The information and software I've given here are current as of January 2021.Right now, the app selection is impressive and makes controlling the engraver trivial and completely wireless. I'll try to update this review if there are any changes to above. See their YouTube channel as well, as it seems to showcase many of the new features ahead of release.

I’m still getting used to this machine but the first results were better than expected. I wish it came with a guide of what power and carving depth to use on what materials but eventually I will figure that all out through trial and error. This is my first engraving machine so that information would be very helpful because I really don’t know where to start with to figure that stuff out other than trial and error and that can get wasteful.For example the leather material is squishy so too much power was ruining it but too little power and the design wasn’t crisp. I have 2 things to adjust (laser power and carving depth) so it will be a process to figure out what % of each item gives me the result I want. Different materials are going to want different settings anyways too so there’s going to be a certain degree of trial and error in the process regardless.For the price of this machine I am very pleased at what it can do. It’s doing exactly what I had hoped it would do. The program it came with is pretty straight forward and user friendly.I have really good luck engraving on wood and seems to be more forgiving with the settings you choose for it.I’m going to try creating my own designs and engraving. Right now I am downloading them off of Etsy rather than designing myself as it’s time consuming to design.I think this engraver will come in handy for a lot of projects and I’ll get lots of use out of it. I’m happy I bought it. I had it in my cart since June thinking about it off and on and glad I finally took the chance on it.

Very happy with the unit for the price I paid. A bit slow, it takes over an hour and a half to print a logo 4X2 inches in size. Make sure you use it outside, as it produces a lot of smoke. Using the attached screen for off-line printing is very hit-and-miss, so I use it with an old laptop computer, and find the software very easy to use. Make sure you test and take lots of notes when burning through different materials, as different woods take different powers on the laser. It's a great product to add value to my woodworking projects.

If you're using this for small projects at home this is a functional, great value laser.I have had no issues with the software, but my use of it has been limited to importing ready-to-print png files.The seller was very responsive to a small issue I had with mine, very impressed with the customer service. It's worth knowing that you'll have excellent support/resolution if any problems arise.If you're new to lasers and looking for one, this is a good model to purchase due to its ease of use, after sales support, and price!

There is no setting to choose the materials so u need to play with it to find what power is better for each material and waste all your materials! No confirmed and measured surface and placement, there is a preview but not showing the starting point, it can be anywhere of it! Not working on acrylic or rubber! Says 3mm engraving depth, less than .5 mm trace on acrylic and rubber with max power achieved! This laser machine made for kids to draw a little kitty! Waste a money and super expensive!!!

This laser is much better than expected, as I just wanted one that would engrave names on small items but some experimentation proved otherwise. I've gotten very good results even on a mirror, and glass if you coat the glass first with black paint. The same for acrylic, or you can coat with masking tape and get good results. As long as the laser can see a solid surface it will penetrate the material you are using. So far it works great on paper, cardboard, wood, mirror, and glass. This is a great addition for a hobbyist. I don't think this was intended to be run for long periods in a production setting. Five Stars!!