Darkly Labs emblaser - affordable laser cutter - review

[JCL]

That's good to know, I don't want to downgrade!

[flubrush]

I've had a chance to check the update and the Emblaser 1 is working correctly now, which is good news. I've also worked out that, currently, I can only automatically send a file to the Emblaser and have it start automatically once in a session, after that I have to press the Cut It! button on the transfer program. Now I know this is the case it's fine, so I'll just get on with it. The new lens is on the Emblaser, but, erm, I didn't take it into account and forgot to change the settings. Lets just say that it really does cut like a knife through butter for me, I'm v impressed.

 

Finally, I've been onto the Darkly Labs site, and there's a chance we might get a choice of software to use on the Emblaser 1 as they are looking to make it compatible with Laserweb by the end of the year. Just need to read up on Laserweb now and see what it's all about.

 

I'm now back to working properly - only on the original lens so far.  When I garner up the enthusiasm to do another focus setup I'll check out my G7 one. :-)   But I found that the factor that was causing me all my problem was that the new version of Cut2DLaser was changing properties of a toolpath when I called it up with the Edit facility to view it.   In some cases it set the power to 100% with files I had generated on the original Cut2D version.  In other cases it set the number of cuts to 1 in toolpaths I had generated on the updated Cut2D.    I haven't done exhaustive tests to check out every possibility,  but I've now had enough experience to know what to watch out for.   My updated version will generate the correct toolpath .NC file with all the values I have set,  but close the toolpath and re-open it with the Edit facility and it's almost certain that something will have changed.

 

My Cut2D has also stopped sending data direct to Emblaser via VTransfer   VTransfer seems to work OK on its own and it will send .NC files to the Emblaser with no problems.  But I'm now saving every toolpath to .NC file so that I can check that the speed and power settings are what they should be then sending these files to the Emblaser using VTransfer or UGS.

 

I'm surprised that I'm getting problems with Vectric software since I've used the Cut2D Desktop with my CNC mill for the past seven years with no problems at all.

 

Jim.

[JCL]

Hi Jim

 

I know I was chuntering before, but I'm not into seemingly random problems; especially dealing with things that did work but now don't. Now that I've worked out the problems aren't random (except for the blue screen), I've a new process and I'm happier with the software than I was. This means that I'm getting back up to speed.

 

One thing I did do while testing was to redraw a GNR G1 chassis. I've got the chassis on Shapeways, but wondered about recreating it in 1.5mm MDF using tab and slot.

 

On the lens, my holder has a narrow band of screw, then a break, then a wider band. I put the focus ring on the narrow band, unscrewed the old one, picked the spring up off the floor then screwed it in and spent 1/2 an hour focusing it. I know I can do a better job on that, so that's to come. One thing I did do was wear disposable rubber gloves while changing lenses as I really didn't want to somehow get grease on the lens itself.

 

cheers

 

Jason

 

 

cheers

 

Jason

Edited November 21, 2017 by JCL

[Greengiant]

Yesterday I ran tests on 2mm MDF with my Emblaser 2, eventually getting it to cut right through with 3 passes at 100%, 0.15mm beam and 150mm/min.

This morning even 4 passes will not cut through.

Tried another run slowing it down to 120mm/min to see if that would work, part way through the first cut the laser light switched off but the machine kept on tracking.

Restarted the Emblaser 2 and Laserweb but now the enable button does not work!

It will run the job but without the laser.

I have put in a support ticket with Darkly, hopefully they can come up with a solution.

Finding this very frustrating, I have a number of buildings to cut out, at this rate I will need to go back to a scalpel and plasticard.

 

Martin

[monkeysarefun]

I

 

Yesterday I ran tests on 2mm MDF with my Emblaser 2, eventually getting it to cut right through with 3 passes at 100%, 0.15mm beam and 150mm/min.

This morning even 4 passes will not cut through.

Tried another run slowing it down to 120mm/min to see if that would work, part way through the first cut the laser light switched off but the machine kept on tracking.

Restarted the Emblaser 2 and Laserweb but now the enable button does not work!

It will run the job but without the laser.

I have put in a support ticket with Darkly, hopefully they can come up with a solution.

Finding this very frustrating, I have a number of buildings to cut out, at this rate I will need to go back to a scalpel and plasticard.

 

Martin

 

MDF really clouds the lens up on the Emblaser 2 in a way it never does on the Emblaser 1 due to that machines open work area. You need to give the lens a good wipe clean after every cutting job.

 

I have banished MDF to the Emblaser 1 - especially now it has the G7 lens and bigger fan upgrades, its performance is not much less than the EB2 and the lens doesn't get cloudy (but you DO need to wear silly glassses, so theres that...)

 

AS to the laser not enabling - this problem is 99% going to be the contacts inside the front corners of the lid. I've had this problem and found it caused at different times by:

 

A) The Emblaser sitting on a stand (my parrots bird cage stand while he was outside) which must have a slight twist on it, enough to affect the contacts touching the lid. This took ages to diagnose, the Emblaser would work fine when on the floor, but would intermittently not enable whenever it was on the stand.

 

B) Dirty contacts (that MDF again!) give the contact points a wipe with the lens cleaner wipe and try again.

 

C) Slightly warped lid - press the Enable button while pressing down on both front corners of the lid (helps to have 3 hands here...) to see if it comes on.

Edited November 22, 2017 by monkeysarefun

[Greengiant]

I

 

 

MDF really clouds the lens up on the Emblaser 2 in a way it never does on the Emblaser 1 due to that machines open work area. You need to give the lens a good wipe clean after every cutting job.

 

I have banished MDF to the Emblaser 1 - especially now it has the G7 lens and bigger fan upgrades, its performance is not much less than the EB2 and the lens doesn't get cloudy (but you DO need to wear silly glassses, so theres that...)

 

AS to the laser not enabling - this problem is 99% going to be the contacts inside the front corners of the lid. I've had this problem and found it caused at different times by:

 

A) The Emblaser sitting on a stand (my parrots bird cage stand while he was outside) which must have a slight twist on it, enough to affect the contacts touching the lid. This took ages to diagnose, the Emblaser would work fine when on the floor, but would intermittently not enable whenever it was on the stand.

 

B) Dirty contacts (that MDF again!) give the contact points a wipe with the lens cleaner wipe and try again.

 

C) Slightly warped lid - press the Enable button while pressing down on both front corners of the lid (helps to have 3 hands here...) to see if it comes on.

 

Tried again this morning and it is definitely a problem with the lid contacts, wiped them, blew them out, pushed and prodded and eventually got the laser to enable.

Managed a few cuts but on some the lid contacts failed and switched off the laser mid run.

Those that I did get at last gave me a full depth cut through the 2mm MDF, but it is so unreliable at the moment that for time being will leave it alone which is frustrating because I have a number of projects i need to get going with.

Not had a response yet from Darkly to my request ticket, but I have updated it with my findings this morning.

They have responded to some of my Laserweb queries on the forum which has given me useful information.

 

Martin

[flubrush]

I've just had a day or two doing a bit more messing around on the Emblaser 1.   I now find that VTransfer is not perfect.  With more complex toolpaths it is now pausing before fast moves - the G0 command in the GCode file - when using it to send .NC files to the Emblaser.    I'm now using Universal GCode Sender to do teh job and that seems to be working well so far.  I've seen some reports that UGS tends to choke with very large files but I haven't hit that problem yet,  but I'll investigate other methods of sending  Gcode just in case it does happen.

 

I also took the opportunity to try out the G7 lens and the results were a bit underwhelming - a bit like Nick Bastable reported a while ago.   I got it focussed down to a 0.2mm kerf and couldn't get it any smaller.  At this setting it took 5 cuts to get through 2mm MDF (nominal - actually about 1.75mm actual).   The original lens took one more cut to do the same job.   The laser settings were 16mm/sec,  80% power.   I actually ran a second test after cleaning the lenses just in case there was a problem with dirt,  but the result was the same.   I'm not too worried.  I dare say the manufactuiing tolerance is quite wide on a cheap lens and I've got one at the poorer end. :-)   As an aside is it possible for others to quote their full laser settings when stating what thickness they have cut in a certain number of passes.  Power and feed are also important factors. :-)

 

I also remember someone - Giles I think - talking about moving the laser closer to the material.   In all my messing around with the laser diode over the past month,  I've found that it's quite easy to alter the height of the laser diode within the housing.  There's  grub screw at the back of the bottom of the alloy case for the diode which performs two tasks.  It provides a stop to prevent the diode assembly being pulled off the carriage but it also locks the diode in place in the alloy housing.  Loosening this screw and carefully pushing or pulling the diode can alter the height.  Use the lens to to the pushing or pulling.  I might experiment with moving it closer to the bed to see if I get any improvement.    It also means that I can keep using the focus tool as supplied.

 

Jim.

[nick_bastable]

 

 

I also took the opportunity to try out the G7 lens and the results were a bit underwhelming - a bit like Nick Bastable reported a while ago.   I got it focussed down to a 0.2mm kerf and couldn't get it any smaller.  At this setting it took 5 cuts to get through 2mm MDF (nominal - actually about 1.75mm actual).   The original lens took one more cut to do the same job.   The laser settings were 16mm/sec,  80% power.   I actually ran a second test after cleaning the lenses just in case there was a problem with dirt,  but the result was the same.   I'm not too worried.  I dare say the manufactuiing tolerance is quite wide on a cheap lens and I've got one at the poorer end. :-)   As an aside is it possible for others to quote their full laser settings when stating what thickness they have cut in a certain number of passes.  Power and feed are also important factors. :-)

 

 

 

Jim.

My initial results with a G7 lens are as reported however based on others experience I bit the bullet for the price of a couple of pints and ordered another,  the results with this where a revelation cutting faster cleaner and better , leading me to suspect the quality control or method of shipping is less than ideal hence the duds you and I have experianced

 

Nick

[flubrush]

My initial results with a G7 lens are as reported however based on others experience I bit the bullet for the price of a couple of pints and ordered another,  the results with this where a revelation cutting faster cleaner and better , leading me to suspect the quality control or method of shipping is less than ideal hence the duds you and I have experianced

 

Nick

 

Nick,

 

I've just sent off for another one to try my luck again. :-)   I see the price is now getting close to three pints. :-)

 

Jim.

[nick_bastable]

Nick,

 

I've just sent off for another one to try my luck again. :-)   I see the price is now getting close to three pints. :-)

 

Jim.

Jim

 

hopefully like me your get a good un  next time,  beer south Watford alas  is always expensive 

 

Nick

[Giles]

I tend to cut 2mm MDF at about 6mm/sec and 100% and get nicely through in two passes.

 

When I talked about lowering the laser, I meant by using a 0.8mm gauge, rather than the 1.2mm metal gauge supplied - not by adjusting the the actual laser on its mount.

It's true you can successfully do what you are doing, but I suspect you don't need to. I simply use a square of my ply.

 

It's worth mentioning that different suppliers have different quality materials. I get my MDF from Hobarts.

 

I bought some 1mm MDF from the hobby shop, and have yet to cut through it!

Edited November 24, 2017 by Giles

[flubrush]

I tend to cut 2mm MDF at about 6mm/sec and 100% and get nicely through in two passes.

 

When I talked about lowering the laser, I meant by using a 0.8mm gauge, rather than the 1.2mm metal gauge supplied - not by adjusting the the actual laser on its mount.

It's true you can successfully do what you are doing, but I suspect you don't need to. I simply use a square of my ply.

 

It's worth mentioning that different suppliers have different quality materials. I get my MDF from Hobarts.

 

I bought some 1mm MDF from the hobby shop, and have yet to cut through it!

 

Giles,

 

Thanks for the speed and power information.   Maybe I'm trying to cut too fast but I tend to start at 1000mm/min or about 16mm/sec on MDF and go upwards for card - about 1500mm/min.   I think I started this to do more passes at higher speed to minimise charring.  I did wonder if I was working a lot faster speeds than other people when I saw someone quoting 150mm/min in a Darkly forum and I thought he might have mistyped 15mm/sec. :-)   I tend to work at 80% with a thought to laser life which may be unnecessary.

 

I'm just about to try dropping the diode to see what advantages it might have.

 

I get my MDF from Maple Street

 

http://maplestreet.co.uk/hobbys-catalogue-items-board-wood-p-4764.html

 

and that seems to etch and cut well with no problems.

 

Jim.

[flubrush]

I had a run with the diode dropped in the head casing.

 

 

This shows the diode case extending ~4mm below the bottom of the head casing.   I re-focussed and got a smaller diameter laser spot - approximately 0.15mm.   I'm using the original Emblaser lens.   To re-focus I had to unscrew the lens and I was aware that the original lens isn't held on by many threads and I half expected it to drop out. :-)

 

On another cut test I found that I could cut through 2mm MDF in 5 cuts at 80% power and 16mm/sec speed,  so an improvement,  probably due to the smaller and more intense laser spot.   I also did a test using Giles' setting - 100% at 6mm/sec and that cut through the 2mm MDF in two passes

 

 

The 80%:16mm/sec test is the top line and the 100%:6mm/sec test is the bottom line.  Excuse the previously etched material - a scrapped floor for a 32nd scale wagon whcih is still good enough for testing. :-)

 

I'll leave the diode in this setting to see how it gets on and I could have my second G7 lens in a week or two which I will try at that setting as well.   The main improvement to me is the smaller laser spot size.

 

Jim.

 

PS.  I had to cut a small part out of an internal wall in the hood to clear the lens - not too difficult a job with the 3D printed material used.

Edited November 24, 2017 by flubrush

[JCL]

Thanks Jim, that was really timely, and has definitely given me something to aim for. Using the G2 lens, I've some 1, 1.5 and 2mm thick MDF from 4D Modelshop in London, and it's taking me 4 passes @ 100%, 8mm/sec to cut the 1.5mm mdf. I'll be fine-tuning it I think later in the week to see if I can get this down. If not, I'll go back to the original for now.

 

I'm getting back into the swing of things and the software has certainly settled down now. I've only 2 problems left, and I've sent an email to the support address. I remember they were good at coming back to me when I had a question back when I first got the unit. 

Edited November 27, 2017 by JCL

[Giles]

Be warned.... I bought some 1mm MDF from the 4D Model shop, and I still haven't managed to cut through it - though I can breeze through my 2mm from Hobarts!

[JCL]

Hi Giles - by the sounds of it, I'm doing ok then. My problem is that I've not found any thin Mdf anywhere locally i.e. West coast of Canada, so I buy it on the way back to Heathrow.

 

On the Cut2D laser, I've just been talking to Vectric, and it seems the pressing the Cut IT! button is the way to go. It looks like there were connection reliability problems when sending a job straight through from Cut2D to the Emblaser. It's not going to kill me to press one more button

 

Edited to add...

 

You might remember that I've had a problem with the Cut2D 8.5 tool database. I've followed the instructions from Vectric and it's working again, so I thought I'd write the info below in case it happens to someone else.

 

The problem was that I couldn't add, edit or delete the entries in the database and every time I tried, I got an undefined error message. The solution was very simple. To reset everything, I had to open the tools database window from the Toolpaths menu option, and not using the Select button on the Toolpaths settings panel on the right hand side of the screen. Although it's opening the same window, there's something that has been known to cause a problem when opening it using that Select button. I was able to then make and apply the changes without any problems. 

 

After making the changes I did test the Select button again, and it worked properly too, so whatever it was, it seems to have completely righted itself.

 

cheers

 

Jason

Edited November 28, 2017 by JCL

[Greengiant]

It has been a love hate relationship so far with Embalmer 2 but hopefully, fingers crossed, we are getting somewhere.

Had a couple of issues now, first is struggling to get good, consistent cuts, the second is the laser turning off mid cut.

 

Eventually sorted the cutting problem by doing a deep lens clean, once I had found the manual to do this, although the outside surface was not the issue, I had kept that clean by light cleaning. The problem turned out to be a small rectangle of fogging, although it looked like it was on the lens, it was in fact on one face of a prism, where they face each other. Not easy to clean, but managed it using the small tapered offcut we had to remove from the air assist hose, this I wrapped with some lens wipe and it was just flexible and soft enough to get between the prisms after a couple of goes.

 

Very hard to see in this photo but the red arrow points to were it shows, but it actually located between the prisms, accessed by the gap to the left of the arrow line.

 

 

The switching off laser has been traced to a temperamental lid safety switch, have been in contact with Darkly and it appears I am not the only one with the issue, their suggestion was to gently twist the lid sideways left, which did work for while, but then stopped again mid job! My work around so far has to to put a 2kg weight on the corner of the lid with the troublesome switch, not ideal, but it has at least enabled me to progress with cutting today.

 

So far a factory side wall has been cut out consisting of three laminations.

 

 

This is them clamped together, one of the window apertures is filled in with breeze blocks, at least that was what I was trying to achieve.

 

 

A close up of the blocked in window. The apertures are designed to take Port Wynstay resin cast window frames, the cills I have yet to cut. I spent some time preparing all the template cutter guides for all of the eight types of window I have, tweaking them until the frames will stay there without glue, although I will glue them.

 

 

I also managed to cut a suggestion of the return courses on the brick edge, which just shows up in this photo. I am quite pleased how this turned out.

 

 

As others have done, spent a bit of time creating the interlocking corner cuts, which turned out to be a lot easier than I expected, chuffed they worked first time.

 

 

Gradually building up a library of elements which should speed up future building drawings, the only downside, now that I am getting there, is someone in the household has noticed so now I am cutting out bl**dy snowflakes and table placeholder names!

 

Martin

[monkeysarefun]

That looks really good especially the returns in the window openings, what scale is that?

 

Hopefully your problems are all ironed out now. Until I figured out that it was the stand I had the Emblaser 2 on causing the machine to twist slightly and break the contacts on the lid, I would tape it down with masking tape on each corner before running a job...  (the lid I mean, not the whole machine!)

 

As for the snowflakes, I have so far avoid Christmas decoration requests, but got hit up  having to do Easter bunny themed stuff earlier in the year.

 

 

 

This was on the Embaser website this morning - I assume it refers to the Emblaser 1 as well. I have no complaints with the Cut2DL software that one uses, but I'll be glad to see the back of Laserweb!

 

Although we have not made it public knowledge yet, we are shortly about to release a completely new software package for the Emblaser range of machines.

This will no longer be based around LaserWeb and will provide a much better experience with our machines.

These issues mentioned above will become a thing of the past as the process of using your Emblaser will become a whole lot easier and more intuitive. As an example, there will no longer be any need to 'Generate' gcode, this will happen in the background instantaneously. File support for .ai, .eps, .pdf, .dxf, .svg, .bmp, .jpg,. png, .gif, .tga will all work correctly. You will be able to create / edit text and shapes directly within the program, just to mention a few features.

We were hoping to release this before the end of the year as a Christmas surprise, but have decided to do some more bug testing and development. It should be announced very early in the new year.

Edited December 5, 2017 by monkeysarefun

[Greengiant]

That looks really good especially the returns in the window openings, what scale is that?

 

Scale is 7mm to the foot.

 

Interesting about Laserweb, I have got used to it but it is very laggy, which surprised me because I have it on a couple of quick Macs.

Lets hope the new software has some decent documentation, wasted a lot of time looking for information dotted all over the place. I ended up making my own manuals for reference. To be fair to the software it was designed to control a multitude of machines, having machine specific software should speed things up.

 

Martin

[Giles]

Martin - that's looking excellent - quite up to standard!

 

The visual on the lens cleaning is extremely useful as well. Thank you.....

 

Good news about the software - I wasn't looking forward to learning it. I think father Christmas has a new to arriving at the end of the month, which requires me to learn Vcarve, so im reluctant to get into too many....

Edited December 6, 2017 by Giles

[monkeysarefun]

Martin - that's looking excellent - quite up to standard!

 

The visual on the lens cleaning is extremely useful as well. Thank you.....

 

Good news about the software - I wasn't looking forward to learning it. I think father Christmas has a new to arriving at the end of the month, which requires me to learn Vcarve, so im reluctant to get into too many....

 

G'day Giles, vcarve as in Vectric vcarve I assume? I have a CNC router and am using vcarve desktop to create things for it to make.

 

. It is so similar to Vcut2DL that you'll have no problem picking it up. I think the Vectric range is the most easy to use software I've had to learn so far. I'd love to get their Aspire software and go full 3D but the price is just out of reach...

[Giles]

That's the one.... It may be driving a little Stepcraft, if I'm not getting too far ahead of myself!

[Simond]

It’s completely off topic, but we got a new toy at work last week. It uses gcode too.

 

 

12krpm, 36m/min on rapids, 30 tool magazine and full Renishaw probing. I can’t imagine that it will get used for modelling...

 

Haven’t had much time to do anything with my laser for months, and my b****y lathe needs fixing too

 

Ho hum.

Simon

[alangdance]

I am looking to get a Blaster 2 but would like to know what tax would I need to pay?

Is there anything I need to do before I buy or will the shipment company deal with all taxes?

 

Any help would be most grateful.

 

Regards

 

Alan

[Giles]

The shipment company deal with the taxes and bill you for it - about £350.