IF you ever plan on upgrading your laser to the 22 Watt, it IS NOT compatible with the LC-50 Plus. You will need to purchase the Falcon 2 Laser Machine. I just discovered that the hard way.
I have the LC 40 and I just got the rotary and they are telling me I have to change boards each time to use the rotary and then back to the regular Lazer have you tried the rotary on the 10 watt
That is interesting. I did a video where I put the rotary roller into the LC-50 Plus without issue. I was able to unplug the Y axis and plug the rotary roller in. Check out this video: ruclips.net/video/ESGpV_T0oaI/видео.html where I did that. On my Atomstack P7, I have to use another port for the rotary roller and unplug the Y axis stepper as well. Here is a video on that: ruclips.net/video/sa_fK-V8RSc/видео.html. I do have a playlist for the rotary roller that might be of help: ruclips.net/p/PL-AIAHSnA1P09pXG-Z2CWGIja3zJUebYH I hope you are able to find what you need.
Did SainSmart get back to you regarding LB and the Air Assist pump? Mine does exactly the same - it doesn’t read the switching on or off on different LB layers. They telling me it’s a warranty issue (I don’t think they fully understand what the issue is tbh!).
Great questions. They have not gotten back with me on this. I have asked a couple times and not gotten an answer to this issue. I have recently converted the 12VCD from the controller to be the signal to a relay that turns on and off my 120VAC pump for air assist. I have done a bunch of testing and found that any time the laser is fired from software, the air assist will come on. The only time it doesn't is when I press the test button on the unit itself. There are times when I do not want the air assist on such as when I etch on MDF. I will have to remember to manually disconnect it when etching and then re-connect it when cutting. I will continue to try finding out from SainSmart about this issue.
@@CNCATHome That’s great - thanks. Yeah, I found etching on MDF is far better without air assist. Loving the LC-50P though - great machine! Not having much luck successfully cutting through 6mm MDF though - have you tried that?
@@CitizenChaz - I have not tried 6mm MDF. I would think it could cut through it. I would focus lower than the top surface to help a little with the cut.
How do you use the rotary and then fo back to the lazer can you make a video for doing that showing the steps you use to get it to work and back to the lazer
@@CNCATHome To my knowledge the LC-40 and LC-50 are the only diode lasers on the market to have linear rails on all axis. I was really looking forward to this due to the higher level of accuracy they provide over say rollers that introduce micro jitters in finer details. Other than maybe a 20 watt laser, what else do you want this to do? Cheers, Greg
@@GregAllen2 - Right before I tested the LC-50 +, I tested a 5.5 watt laser with a .02 X .02 laser dot. The LC-50 + has a .08 X .05 which is 10 times the area of the .02 square dot. If they could get the laser dot down to the .02 square, it could blast through all sorts of stuff. That being said, even at 1% power on the LC-50, it etched through the coating on some black dog tags I purchased. The frame setting was set to 1% and I could see that on the dog tag after wards. I do like the LC-50 + and will likely use this as my main laser for a while.
@@CNCATHome Wow, that tight of a laser spot would be nice. I spent the other night looking at all the major manufactures that produce laser engravers offering a 10w laser. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find one with that tight of a laser dot for the 10w variants. So, based on the frame's construction, the customer support I've already had with them (inquiring about cnc parts) and it's overall performance I'm planning to get this one. I can always purchase a different laser down the road... Another question for you. Does adding a laser to a tabletop cnc machine yield the same performance as a stand alone laser? I know the speeds are much slower. Thanks for producing these informative videos!
@@GregAllen2 - With my little CNC router, it wouldn't have had the same speed as the stand alone laser machine. I looked in to doing that and the big thing was having to swap out the spindle motor for the laser emitter and then back to do routing. It made more sense to keep the CNC router as that and get a stand alone laser for doing lasering.
Thanks for the review. I'm thinking of getting this machine. I want to use a rotary at some time. Can you give more detail on the rotary part number and how you wired it? (Sainsmart CS told me only their new Jinsoku will work but your video seems to show the older model which I like better because it is adjustable).
Great question. To get the rotary roller to work, I just raised up the LC-50 a bit higher than the extension legs go, unplugged the Y axis stepper and plugged in the rotary roller to the Y output on the controller. I had to make some parameter changes to insure the movement was correct for the roller. The other option would have been to use the roller option within LightBurn and it would figure out the movment stuff. :-) I hope that helps. Oh! And wen the machine does its homing cycle, I had to manually press the Y limit switch to trick the machine into think it was zeroed. The other option would be to turn off the auto homing.
@@CNCATHomeThanks for the info (I just asked a similar question on your other video!). SainSmart told me neither the V1 or new V2 will work with the LC-50P yet you’ve proved it works fine so I’ll go ahead with the purchase plus the V2 rotary. From what you’ve said as long as you check the option in LightBurn for rotary the software will compensate and make the correct adjustments- as long as you either manually hit the Y axis limit switch or don’t auto home! Thank you! (Subbed!)
Nice review! Do you experience any "rolling" noises when engraving at lower speeds? I upgraded the ball bearings and cleaned and lubed everything up. Also played around with belt tension but it stays. Perhaps it's normal with these linear guide rails?
That is interesting. I have not noticed unexpected "rolling" noises. I do tend to be impatient and engrave at the higher speeds. ;-) All in all, I have been impressed with this machine's ability to move smoothly, accelerate well and reverse direction without losing position. I do limit my speed based on the size of the burn so that it can't get up to full speed before it has to start slowing down. The really faster speeds would only be used on a larger burn and slower speeds on smaller just to minimize ramping up and down the speeds. Does this seem like a physical noise from the rails or maybe from the stepper motors? Stepper motors can make some odd noises when they are moving slower.
@@CNCATHome thanks for the reply. I think it's coming from the stepper motors. Because when the gantry wasn't yet attached the linear blocks ran very smoothly and quietly.
I hear it for example while cutting MDF at 400mm/min or engraving a aluminum business card at 2000mm/min. But not when engraving a canvas at 12000mm/min
@@behavis - If they sound OK when you are running at faster speeds, it may just be they like being loud as slow speeds? Or it could be that there is an issue with the motor.
@@behavis - I should read all the comments before I respond. ;-) At 4,000 mm/min, it shouldn't be making too much grinding kind of noise. I suppose it could be a parameter setting that is off in the controller. This is how I have my machine configured: $0=10 (step pulse,usec) $1=25 (step idle delay,msec) $2=0 (stepport invert mask) $3=4 (dirport invert mask) $4=0 (stepenable invert,bool) $5=1 (lims pin invert,bool) $6=1 (probe pin invert,bool) $10=1 (status report mask) $11=0.010 (junction deviation) $12=0.002 (arc tolerance,mm) $13=0 (report inches,bool) $20=0 (soft limits,bool) $21=1 (hard limits,bool) $22=1 (home cycle,bool) $23=3 (homing dir invert mask) $24=400.000 (homing feed,mm/min) $25=3000.000 (homing seek,mm/min) $26=250 (homing debounce,msec) $27=2.000 (homing pull-off,mm) $30=1000 (maximum spindle speed,rpm) $31=0 (minimum spindle speed,rpm) $32=1 (laser mode enable,bool) $100=200.000 (x axis pulse:step/mm) $101=200.000 (y axis pulse:step/mm) $102=200.000 (z axis pulse:step/mm) $110=15200.000 (x axis max rata:mm/min) $111=15200.000 (y axis max rata:mm/min) $112=15200.000 (z axis max rata:mm/min) $120=200.000 (x axis acceleration:mm/s^2) $121=200.000 (y axis acceleration:mm/s^2) $122=200.000 (z axis acceleration:mm/s^2) $130=500.000 (x aixs max travel:mm) $131=400.000 (y aixs max travel:mm) $132=80.000 (z aixs max travel:mm)
Great question. I have found that at 80% power and doing 3 passes, 350 to 400 mm/min seems to work well. Sometimes at 400 mm/min, there are variations in the wood where it ends up not going all the way through. Slowing down or doing another pass would fix that. ;-)
I did have air assist on for this. It helps the burn and keeps the results cleaning. Not sure how deep this can do. The project I had handy was 3mm and that is what I would mainly work with. I have some 6mm out in the garage I could try. 🙂
@@CNCATHome I did find your air assist vids later. Will be add on when mine shows up. On CO2 laser polycarb yellows, wonder if air assist would fix that?
@@alwayscensored6871 - Wood also will yellow (or amber) without the air assist. I would bet air assist would clear that up when using a CO2 laser. I have seen some nice clean cuts on the clear stuff from people using CO2 so it must work/help.
IF you ever plan on upgrading your laser to the 22 Watt, it IS NOT compatible with the LC-50 Plus. You will need to purchase the Falcon 2 Laser Machine. I just discovered that the hard way.
Oh no! I don't like the sound of that. Finding out the hard way that is. Thank you for sharing this information.
I have the LC 40 and I just got the rotary and they are telling me I have to change boards each time to use the rotary and then back to the regular Lazer have you tried the rotary on the 10 watt
That is interesting. I did a video where I put the rotary roller into the LC-50 Plus without issue. I was able to unplug the Y axis and plug the rotary roller in. Check out this video: ruclips.net/video/ESGpV_T0oaI/видео.html where I did that. On my Atomstack P7, I have to use another port for the rotary roller and unplug the Y axis stepper as well. Here is a video on that: ruclips.net/video/sa_fK-V8RSc/видео.html. I do have a playlist for the rotary roller that might be of help: ruclips.net/p/PL-AIAHSnA1P09pXG-Z2CWGIja3zJUebYH I hope you are able to find what you need.
Did SainSmart get back to you regarding LB and the Air Assist pump? Mine does exactly the same - it doesn’t read the switching on or off on different LB layers. They telling me it’s a warranty issue (I don’t think they fully understand what the issue is tbh!).
Great questions. They have not gotten back with me on this. I have asked a couple times and not gotten an answer to this issue. I have recently converted the 12VCD from the controller to be the signal to a relay that turns on and off my 120VAC pump for air assist. I have done a bunch of testing and found that any time the laser is fired from software, the air assist will come on. The only time it doesn't is when I press the test button on the unit itself. There are times when I do not want the air assist on such as when I etch on MDF. I will have to remember to manually disconnect it when etching and then re-connect it when cutting. I will continue to try finding out from SainSmart about this issue.
@@CNCATHome That’s great - thanks. Yeah, I found etching on MDF is far better without air assist. Loving the LC-50P though - great machine! Not having much luck successfully cutting through 6mm MDF though - have you tried that?
@@CitizenChaz - I have not tried 6mm MDF. I would think it could cut through it. I would focus lower than the top surface to help a little with the cut.
How do you use the rotary and then fo back to the lazer can you make a video for doing that showing the steps you use to get it to work and back to the lazer
Thanks for the brief overview. I have this machine sitting in the shopping cart waiting to see a few more reviews of it before I purchase...
With anything, it isn't perfect and I would want it to do more. It is a nice upgrade from my LE-5040. Whatever you end up getting, have fun with it.
@@CNCATHome To my knowledge the LC-40 and LC-50 are the only diode lasers on the market to have linear rails on all axis. I was really looking forward to this due to the higher level of accuracy they provide over say rollers that introduce micro jitters in finer details. Other than maybe a 20 watt laser, what else do you want this to do?
Cheers,
Greg
@@GregAllen2 - Right before I tested the LC-50 +, I tested a 5.5 watt laser with a .02 X .02 laser dot. The LC-50 + has a .08 X .05 which is 10 times the area of the .02 square dot. If they could get the laser dot down to the .02 square, it could blast through all sorts of stuff. That being said, even at 1% power on the LC-50, it etched through the coating on some black dog tags I purchased. The frame setting was set to 1% and I could see that on the dog tag after wards. I do like the LC-50 + and will likely use this as my main laser for a while.
@@CNCATHome Wow, that tight of a laser spot would be nice. I spent the other night looking at all the major manufactures that produce laser engravers offering a 10w laser. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find one with that tight of a laser dot for the 10w variants. So, based on the frame's construction, the customer support I've already had with them (inquiring about cnc parts) and it's overall performance I'm planning to get this one. I can always purchase a different laser down the road... Another question for you. Does adding a laser to a tabletop cnc machine yield the same performance as a stand alone laser? I know the speeds are much slower. Thanks for producing these informative videos!
@@GregAllen2 - With my little CNC router, it wouldn't have had the same speed as the stand alone laser machine. I looked in to doing that and the big thing was having to swap out the spindle motor for the laser emitter and then back to do routing. It made more sense to keep the CNC router as that and get a stand alone laser for doing lasering.
Thanks for the review. I'm thinking of getting this machine. I want to use a rotary at some time. Can you give more detail on the rotary part number and how you wired it? (Sainsmart CS told me only their new Jinsoku will work but your video seems to show the older model which I like better because it is adjustable).
Great question. To get the rotary roller to work, I just raised up the LC-50 a bit higher than the extension legs go, unplugged the Y axis stepper and plugged in the rotary roller to the Y output on the controller. I had to make some parameter changes to insure the movement was correct for the roller. The other option would have been to use the roller option within LightBurn and it would figure out the movment stuff. :-) I hope that helps. Oh! And wen the machine does its homing cycle, I had to manually press the Y limit switch to trick the machine into think it was zeroed. The other option would be to turn off the auto homing.
@@CNCATHomeThanks for the info (I just asked a similar question on your other video!). SainSmart told me neither the V1 or new V2 will work with the LC-50P yet you’ve proved it works fine so I’ll go ahead with the purchase plus the V2 rotary. From what you’ve said as long as you check the option in LightBurn for rotary the software will compensate and make the correct adjustments- as long as you either manually hit the Y axis limit switch or don’t auto home! Thank you! (Subbed!)
Nice review! Do you experience any "rolling" noises when engraving at lower speeds? I upgraded the ball bearings and cleaned and lubed everything up. Also played around with belt tension but it stays. Perhaps it's normal with these linear guide rails?
That is interesting. I have not noticed unexpected "rolling" noises. I do tend to be impatient and engrave at the higher speeds. ;-) All in all, I have been impressed with this machine's ability to move smoothly, accelerate well and reverse direction without losing position. I do limit my speed based on the size of the burn so that it can't get up to full speed before it has to start slowing down. The really faster speeds would only be used on a larger burn and slower speeds on smaller just to minimize ramping up and down the speeds.
Does this seem like a physical noise from the rails or maybe from the stepper motors? Stepper motors can make some odd noises when they are moving slower.
@@CNCATHome thanks for the reply. I think it's coming from the stepper motors. Because when the gantry wasn't yet attached the linear blocks ran very smoothly and quietly.
I hear it for example while cutting MDF at 400mm/min or engraving a aluminum business card at 2000mm/min. But not when engraving a canvas at 12000mm/min
@@behavis - If they sound OK when you are running at faster speeds, it may just be they like being loud as slow speeds? Or it could be that there is an issue with the motor.
@@behavis - I should read all the comments before I respond. ;-) At 4,000 mm/min, it shouldn't be making too much grinding kind of noise. I suppose it could be a parameter setting that is off in the controller. This is how I have my machine configured:
$0=10 (step pulse,usec)
$1=25 (step idle delay,msec)
$2=0 (stepport invert mask)
$3=4 (dirport invert mask)
$4=0 (stepenable invert,bool)
$5=1 (lims pin invert,bool)
$6=1 (probe pin invert,bool)
$10=1 (status report mask)
$11=0.010 (junction deviation)
$12=0.002 (arc tolerance,mm)
$13=0 (report inches,bool)
$20=0 (soft limits,bool)
$21=1 (hard limits,bool)
$22=1 (home cycle,bool)
$23=3 (homing dir invert mask)
$24=400.000 (homing feed,mm/min)
$25=3000.000 (homing seek,mm/min)
$26=250 (homing debounce,msec)
$27=2.000 (homing pull-off,mm)
$30=1000 (maximum spindle speed,rpm)
$31=0 (minimum spindle speed,rpm)
$32=1 (laser mode enable,bool)
$100=200.000 (x axis pulse:step/mm)
$101=200.000 (y axis pulse:step/mm)
$102=200.000 (z axis pulse:step/mm)
$110=15200.000 (x axis max rata:mm/min)
$111=15200.000 (y axis max rata:mm/min)
$112=15200.000 (z axis max rata:mm/min)
$120=200.000 (x axis acceleration:mm/s^2)
$121=200.000 (y axis acceleration:mm/s^2)
$122=200.000 (z axis acceleration:mm/s^2)
$130=500.000 (x aixs max travel:mm)
$131=400.000 (y aixs max travel:mm)
$132=80.000 (z aixs max travel:mm)
What speed and power did you use for the 3mm ply. Enjoyed the video, very well done
Great question. I have found that at 80% power and doing 3 passes, 350 to 400 mm/min seems to work well. Sometimes at 400 mm/min, there are variations in the wood where it ends up not going all the way through. Slowing down or doing another pass would fix that. ;-)
@@CNCATHome thanks very much for your response.
@@billlester3088 - I forgot to mention, that is also with air assist going.
6:58 WOAH does the machine come with sound effects when cutting acrylic ❓
😂 - Not quite; but I do! Since my first laser video, I have been adding that sound effect for when I start a burn.
Seen James Dean Designs go through 18mm but air assist is needed. I suspect the air blows out the smoke n carbon allowing deeper cuts.
I did have air assist on for this. It helps the burn and keeps the results cleaning. Not sure how deep this can do. The project I had handy was 3mm and that is what I would mainly work with. I have some 6mm out in the garage I could try. 🙂
@@CNCATHome I did find your air assist vids later. Will be add on when mine shows up. On CO2 laser polycarb yellows, wonder if air assist would fix that?
@@alwayscensored6871 - Wood also will yellow (or amber) without the air assist. I would bet air assist would clear that up when using a CO2 laser. I have seen some nice clean cuts on the clear stuff from people using CO2 so it must work/help.
Oh and I just got a email from them they are telling me I have to change boards each time I use one or the other