Laser Engraving Machine

Going to purchase a Laser Engraving Machine for our Business to engrave Cartridge information on Barrels and Custom Designs on metal/wood/Polymere.
Looking for some advice from other Gun Smiths that have purchased Laser Machines. Looking to order one in the next few days. It will be the last part of the puzzle (equipment) for our Shop Re-opening. Just want to "Buy Once Cry Once" On the Laser Machine.
Also have a new State of the Art Cerakote Oven ordered and on the way.
Can't keep waiting on Nervo Spinal Cord Implants & Neuro Surgeons to fix my spinal cord. I need to start build rifles again.
Thanks
Len & Jill

You need 2 lasers to do everything you're talking about. You need a fiber laser to engrave metal and most polymer and a CO2 laser to engrave wood. You can't engrave metal with a CO2 laser, and CO2 tends to melt polymers rather than engraving cleanly. Fiber lasers do a poor job at engraving on wood. Some coated metals can be marked using a CO2 laser, but it's not a true engraving and doesn't meet the .003" requirement for marking firearms.

I'd go for a galvo style fiber laser in the 50 watt range and the largest CO2 laser you can afford/have space for. Ventilation is also very important, so keep that in mind when you're working out a budget. A fiber laser will probably be in the $4-5k range. A decent CO2 laser will start in the $2000 range and go up into the $15000 range depending on size and power.

Boss, OMTech, and Thunder all make good machines. I've used some of Full Spectrum and Rabbit's older machines, but don't have any experience with their new products. Their old stuff is solid, so I'd assume the new stuff is too. You can find very similar machines on eBay straight from China. They're generally good machines and are often identical to those you can buy from US based companies. You pay less, but you get no support from the seller. If you're completely new to the laser world I'd recommend paying a bit more to get something with support.

Stay far, far away from Trotec. I replaced the laser source in one 4 or 5 times over a 4 year period. They're $5000 after the 1 year warranty expires and it's a huge pain to get them to replace parts under warranty. I know 2 other people who worked with them that have similar stories, and have read about similar experiences online. They're great when they work but are a pain to keep running.

There's also diode lasers, which are just about anything in the sub- $500 range. They're very low power, slow machines that really don't have a place in anything but a hobby shop. Their abilities are often way oversold, so don't put too much weight in what you read on the product page.

biednick said:

You need 2 lasers to do everything you're talking about. You need a fiber laser to engrave metal and most polymer and a CO2 laser to engrave wood. You can't engrave metal with a CO2 laser, and CO2 tends to melt polymers rather than engraving cleanly. Fiber lasers do a poor job at engraving on wood. Some coated metals can be marked using a CO2 laser, but it's not a true engraving and doesn't meet the .003" requirement for marking firearms.

I'd go for a galvo style fiber laser in the 50 watt range and the largest CO2 laser you can afford/have space for. Ventilation is also very important, so keep that in mind when you're working out a budget. A fiber laser will probably be in the $4-5k range. A decent CO2 laser will start in the $2000 range and go up into the $15000 range depending on size and power.

Boss, OMTech, and Thunder all make good machines. I've used some of Full Spectrum and Rabbit's older machines, but don't have any experience with their new products. Their old stuff is solid.

Stay far, far away from Trotec. I replaced the laser source in one 4 or 5 times over a 4 year period. They're $5000 after the 1 year warranty expires and it's a huge pain to get them to replace parts under warranty. I know 2 other people who worked with them that have similar stories, and have read about similar experiences online. They're great when they work but are a pain to keep running.

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Thank you so much.
Was looking at a 50Watt. Received some information from Laser Manufactures on the Newest Lasers for 2023. Really need one to do it all. Burn into Barrels and also delicate enough to do fine art. Will be seriously contacting Manufactures all next week.
Just wanted to see if some other GS were using a GOOD machine. Trying to stay $3-5K. The machine has to be compliant for Barrel engraving. Just looking to see an extra revenue avenue to do some really nice Laser engraving Logos ect. if purchasing a machine for $$$$$
Thanks
Len & Jill

Coyote Shadow Tracker said:

Thank you so much.
Was looking at a 50Watt. Received some information from Laser Manufactures on the Newest Lasers for 2023. Really need one to do it all. Burn into Barrels and also delicate enough to do fine art. Will be seriously contacting Manufactures all next week.
Just wanted to see if some other GS were using a GOOD machine. Trying to stay $3-5K. The machine has to be compliant for Barrel engraving. Just looking to see an extra revenue avenue to do some really nice Laser engraving Logos ect. if purchasing a machine for $$$$$
Thanks
Len & Jill

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I'd say you're on the right track. Pretty much any 50 watt fiber laser will check all your boxes except wood engraving. You won't have any problems doing fine decorative engravings on polymer and metal and barrel markings with one machine. I run an OMTech and have no complaints.

biednick said:

I'd say you're on the right track. Pretty much any 50 watt fiber laser will check all your boxes except wood engraving. You won't have any problems doing fine decorative engravings on polymer and metal and barrel markings with one machine. I run an OMTech and have no complaints.

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Thanks!
Len & Jill

Coyote Shadow Tracker said:

Going to purchase a Laser Engraving Machine for our Business to engrave Cartridge information on Barrels and Custom Designs on metal/wood/Polymere.
Looking for some advice from other Gun Smiths that have purchased Laser Machines. Looking to order one in the next few days. It will be the last part of the puzzle (equipment) for our Shop Re-opening. Just want to "Buy Once Cry Once" On the Laser Machine.
Also have a new State of the Art Cerakote Oven ordered and on the way.
Can't keep waiting on Nervo Spinal Cord Implants & Neuro Surgeons to fix my spinal cord. I need to start build rifles again.
Thanks
Len & Jill

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Len,
Don't know if it will work for your application but a woodworking store I frequent has both lasers and CNC wood machines that may work for you. ROCKLER. Take a look or call them with your requirements
Mike

When you do purchase one, since 90% are Chinese based and to stay in your price range, more than likely it will be ordered from a Chinese store. You can get them on Amazon, but some of those manufacturers will not provide 24/7 lifetime support if purchased through Amazon. I purchased a Cloudray 60w MOPA JPT M7 Fiber Laser, with a 60w MOPA you can do color on stainless steel, that is the only reason I purchased the 60w MOPA. They had a black Friday special with 400.00 off the 6799.00 price, ordered it on the Cloudray website, for the USA based warehouse. I will advise you to order one based on a USA warehouse, that price you see, on Cloudray website, includes the Customs Tax and shipping. If you order off a non USA Warehouse, you will be hit with at the Customs, you will have to pay to get it out of jail and could be very expensive along with the hassle. Be prepared to using EZCAD2 lite or upgrade the controller to Lightburn, you will need to have yourself familiar with the program, I would suggest YouTube Laser Everything, Alex has a ton of tutorials on how to setup and operate a fiber laser. I have mine, have not engraved a barrel yet, but have plenty of stainless steel Milk Barn pipe to practice on, it takes a little while to understand all the different settings you will need to do for engraving, you have speed, frequency, power, hatch type fill, etc., that you will need to understand to achieve the desired output. Definitely practice a lot on scrap barrels, once you engrave a customer barrel, there is no going back. You will definitely need the ventilation, especially when burning through Cerakote or polymers, that is fairly cheap you can purchase inline fans and use drier vent ducting to move the fumes from the work table to the outside. Good luck, take a deep breath and be ready to study a lot and practice a lot to get the results you need, the first issue is understanding the software you will be using.

Oh, I forgot to mention, you have several different laser sources and it is well known in that community that JPT is the best and will cost a little more, you find some sourced by Raycus that are a little cheaper in price.

Have you decided on your Fiber laser? Have you purchased one?

Kmccord said:

Have you decided on your Fiber laser? Have you purchased one?

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Kmcord
good morning
Still looking and deciding how to get funds. Recently put up almost $3K for a new Oven and have TAXES coming up. We lost so much $$$$$$$ from our retirement IRA and 401K since brandon got in that it actually makes ill thinking about it. Need to sell a few hunting/shooting items.
Thanks for your info!
Len & Jill

ISO a good referral to a smith who deals in custom leather and/or preservation jobs for family heirloom antiquities. I have a few ideas I'd like to share, with a creative design, to pass along to the future generations.

Local to SC, preferred.

Thanks!

317-604-8442

B. Sinclair

We ended up getting a Cloud Ray 60W Fiber MOPA with (5) Lenes, Rotary, and a Fume Extractor. Works GREAT!

Coyote Shadow Tracker said:

We ended up getting a Cloud Ray 60W Fiber MOPA with (5) Lenes, Rotary, and a Fume Extractor. Works GREAT!

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MOPAs are real fun. It takes some work to get the settings dialed in, but you can do full color markings with them in addition to deep engravings. You likely won't hit the .003" depth requirement for marking firearms if you're going for color (though you may with certain materials/colors), but for decorative work it's great.

@biednick what settings are you using to achieve ATF requirements for engraving for stainless steel barrel?