What should we pay attention to before buying a laser marking machine?

Today, we will introduce the points you need pay attention to when you want to buy a laser marking machine.

According to the laser source types, laser marking machines are divided into fiber laser, CO2 Galvo laser, UV laser, and green laser, etc. If you don’t want to read this blog, then simply check the conclusion first: If you just want to start a new business and want to make many kinds of materials(metal and non metal material) or buying a laser machine as a hobby, then you can directly choose a 50W fiber laser marking machine. If you have a limited budget, then choose a 30W fiber marking machine. You may want to know the reasons? Compare to other type laser machine, fiber laser marking machines are the most mature, have the longest lifetime, are the easiest to maintain, and have the widest range of applications on the market. The only difference between 30W and 50W is the speed, so if the budget is sufficient, choose 50W, and if the budget is limited, choose 30W. If you are a customer with clear needs, then you need to read the long text version below.

 

Before choosing a suitable machine, you must first clarify your needs and what problems you want to solve. Let’s start with the principle of laser. The principle of laser is the process of removing surface materials through heat treatment or cold processing(UV laser). So any material with coating is easy to mark or engrave whatever it is fiber laser or CO2 laser or UV laser.

 

The following is a summary of the different laser types used for different materials.

 

Materials that can be marked by optical fiber laser: all metals, some plastics, such as ABS, PVC, PU, PP, Slate, leatherette, some stones, etc. Plastics are more complex and sensitive, and generally require testing to determine whether they can be marked.

 

Materials that optical fiber laser cannot mark: transparent glass and origin wood(without coating). Applicable industry: gun/firearm engraving, jewelry engraving and cutting, keyboard marking industry, mold engraving, ear tag marking, fiber laser is the best choice. If you want to know more about fiber laser machine, you can click this link. If you want to know the difference between 2D, 2.5D and 3D laser, you can click it.

 

CO2 laser is a supplement to fiber laser. CO2 is mainly used for non-metallic materials, such as wood, leather, acrylic, and glass. It can also cut acrylic below 5mm. CO2 is relatively rough when marking glass, so it can be selected only when your requirements are not high. If you have a high precision requirements for glass engraving, then UV laser is the best choice. CO2 laser cannot mark metals.

 

Applicable industry, CO2 galvo laser is the best choice for tumblers engraving, wood engraving and cutting, acrylic engraving and cutting, jeans engraving industry. For more information of Co2 galvo laser, pls kindly click it.

 

In theory, UV laser can do metal and non-metal. The advantage is glass marking. Since UV can do everything, why did we recommend fiber laser at the beginning instead of UV laser? This is mainly because the power of UV is low and the lifetime is much shorter than fiber laser. UV laser power range is 3W, 5W, 10W, 15W, 20W. Fiber laser min. Power is 20W and max. Power is 500w. If your main material is metal, UV laser is expensive than fiber laser, short lifetime, and weak in power, so the cost performance is too low. The advantage of UV is the engraving of glass cups and some 3C electronic devices. For more information of UV laser, pls kindly click here.

After knowing what type of laser machine to choose, the next step we will start to compare the components of laser machine. Today we talk about fiber laser first.

 

In the market, there are several very famous laser source manufacturers, such as IPG in Germany, Raycus, JPT, and Max in China. IPG is a German brand with good quality, but the price is also very high, almost 3-4 times than China lasers. Those who insist on believing German quality can choose IPG. So how about Raycus, Max and JPT? Which one should we choose?

 

In China, Raycus is the earliest brand. And quality is very stable. Later, someone resigned from Raycus and founded Max. So in the first few years of Max’s establishment, the quality was unstable and the reputation was poor. After Raycus went public and was affected by the epidemic. Max seized the opportunity and reversed some market situations. There are already two giants in the market. JPT entered the market and divided the Mopa field. With the rapid development of laser technology, Raycus and Max have focused on high-power continuous lasers. JPT is becoming more and more famous in the pulse industry. After more than ten years’ development, if I were to choose a laser source for laser marking machine, I would first choose JPT, then Raycus, and finally Max.

 

Each company has its own advantageous products. Raycus and Max are mainly for high power CW market and JPT’s advantageous product happens to be the pulsed Mopa laser, so their product quality, as long as it is original, the failure rate must be low. Secondly, JPT lasers all have internal control lines, which means that if there is a problem with the laser source, we can check it through the monitoring software, while some systems of other brands do not have this function.

 

Now we talk about Galvo head. After more than ten years of development, many galvanometer manufacturers have been eliminated. Now Sino has the largest market share in China, so for ordinary 2D machines, we can choose Sino brand. However, Sino has many series from low-end to high-end. Be sure to check the model and pay attention to distinguish. The low end model is RC1001. If your work requires a 3D galvanometer, then Feeltek is a better choice. Generally speaking, 3D galva head and software are matched, so that the machine compatibility will be better. To learn more knowledge about Feeltek and Sino, pls click here.

 

The next one is F-theta lens. The best brand is OPEX. There are many types of field mirrors, which are divided into 50, 70, 100, 150, 175, 200, 250, 300, and 500 according to the engraving range. The larger the field mirror, the weaker of laser beam at the same power, so the largest is not the best. The commonly used T-theta lens is 100, and you can choose 200 or 300 as a backup. It is very simple to replace the F-theta lens by yourself. Just talk to your supplier and save all lens calibration files in the computer or in USB drive.

 

Choice of board. Ezcad has a monopoly in the marking machine. Because the simplified version is available, the price has dropped, so there are fewer pirated copies on the market. But you still have to choose the genuine one. At the same time, Ezcad2 is now compatible with Lightburn, and you can switch software, which is very convenient. Ezcad3 is popular too, but Ezcad3 is not compatible with lightburn. If you want to know more about Ezcad2 and Ezcad3, pls click here.

 

Fiber laser only has 4 main parts, the rest are details, such as power supply, red light, etc. It is best to check the internal cabinet of the machine and choose a clean and tidy one.

 

 

After choosing the machine model, we have to look at the company’s services and added value. When we choose a machine to start a business, it is definitely better to learn how to operate it as soon as possible. So before making a decision, confirm with the supplier whether there are tutorials, parameter tables, and other accessories that can help us start a business quickly. If they are all available and can be displayed, it proves that the supplier has very rich experience in this industry.

 

Regarding warranty, some manufacturers have a three-year warranty and a five-year warranty. When we see that this is better than the average warranty time in the market, we must be vigilant. This company is either a new company, or attract people’s eyes, or there is a problem with the specific warranty policy. Some manufacturers do not bear the round-trip freight for repairs during the warranty period, in this condition, even if they mark a 10-year warranty, and it does not work for us. Some manufacturers initially promised a three-year warranty, and when a real problem occurs, they will say that they can no longer cover it. So be sure to confirm carefully.

 

Finally, check whether the payment method is safe, whether the company is reputable and ensure that the money we pay is safe. Hope this article can help you more or less.