Laser Cutter Uk

Welcome to LaserCutz Ltd.

We are solely based in the UK but we ship worldwide (.com site is not affiliated to us).

We mainly take commissions but do stock some items so please visit our shop section where you will also find information about our soap embossing stamps

Epilog Laser engraving machines for etching, cutting, and marking systems - affordable, easy-to-use, and versatile. The laser cutter is a fantastic resource to crafters. We offer small runs or ‘one offs’ and happy to discuss projects with you. Our laser cutter/engravers take material up to 300 x 600 mm such as Acrylic, felt, card, fab foam, veneer, engraving laminate and wood. Ideal for badges, card making, jewellery making, modelling and many more crafts.

The laser cutter is a fantastic resource to crafters. We offer small runs or ‘one offs’ and happy to discuss projects with you.

Our laser cutter/engravers take material up to 300 x 600 mm such as Acrylic, felt, card, fab foam, veneer, engraving laminate and wood.

Ideal for badges, card making, jewellery making, modelling and many more crafts.

Some of the projects we have worked on are acrylic embossing stamps for soap making or pottery, laminate signs, small shop displays, component enclosures, acrylic jewellery, templates for routing or drawing with, engraving wooden box lids and lots more.

We can now offer engraving of a wider range of materials.
Our new 1064nm fibre galvo laser will engrave up to around 200x200mm and can engrave or mark a wide range of materials including some metal.
For the time being we will not engrave high value items in case of error.

Please contact us for more information.

Gallery

For a while I\'d been noticing how cheap lasercutters had become on Ebay.I\'d considered putting one on my list of \'things to look at when I next fancied a newtoy\', but was initially discouraged by some mixed opinions I\'d read. My onlyimmediate application would be for making SMD paste stencils, but I\'m sure I could findother uses..
Eventually I succumbed to temptation. Amongst the various Ebay sellers selling them, itwas obvious by looking at other items they were selling that many (especially the HongKong ones) were just box-shifters, also selling all sorts of random stuff. I ended upgoing for a Chinese supplier with good feedback, who only sold cutters, laser tubes andother related items. Model is Shenhui DC-K40, but the same unit seems to appear underdifferent names. Price was £720 delivered - took about a week by DHL - and they\'ddeclared as \'engraver parts, £50\' on the customs forms so only £12 to pay on delivery -result! Packing looked less than optimal - two double-wall cardboard boxes with a 1\'layer of polystyrene sheet between them, and more polystyrene sheet inside the inner one.However everything arrived intact, and I just had to remove some foam packing from aroundthe tube.

As expected, documentation (including video on CD supplied) was asappalling as we\'ve come to expect from Chinese suppliers. However I already knew whatneeded hooking up - water pump and reservoir, ventilation etc. so no big deal.

I was fully expecting to have to spend a lot of time fiddling with opticalalignment etc., based on experiences I\'d heard of from another user who\'d bought a largermodel from a UK reseller, however the only thing I had to actually fix was the flex cable,which had come unstuck from the bottom of the case (see pic later).

I tried a quick cut of a polyester solder paste stencil, and it came outpretty well considering the power setting was pretty arbitary - certainly useable and witha bit of tweaking probably capable of cutting for 0.5mm QFPs.

As you\'d expect from China, the software is poorly designed and somewhatflaky but just about useable. The biggest annoyance is not (AFAICS) being able toset a numeric scale factor, and not locking the aspect ratio when scaling.

The original Ebay listing stated it came with NewlyDraw software, whichdoes raster and vector cutting, but it was actually suppled with NewlySeal, which onlydoes raster and is designed for engraving. You can do cutting in raster mode, but it isvery slow, and cutting speed only goes down to 1cm/sec, which will just about do 2mmacrylic in one pass at full power. I\'ve contacted the supplier and they are promising tosend the NewlyDraw software, although they did say they didn\'t reccommend it with thismodel - I wonder if this means the primitive controller and/or hardware isn\'t up to movingboth axes simultaneously (in raster mode, only 1 axis is moving at a time). Will updatewhen I find out.

Safety & quality issues

There are a number of issues, and there\'s no doubt whatsoever that theproduct does not comply with all the required standards, or even the ones it claimsto, but that\'s nothing new.
No cover interlock - you can just lift the lid and stick your hand in the (invisible)beam. Ouch! OK if there had been one I\'d have bypassed it, but it means this machine isn\'tsuitable for unskilled users, or where there may be kids or Health and Safety inspectorsabout.From the Ebay listing : \'Built the micro-active switch to enable themachine do not light when canopy is open which enhance security\' Er, Nope.
No beam-on indicator, no key lock, no emergency stop button, no laser class sticker.That\'s at least five non-compliances with laser product safety standards.

No water flow or temperature cutout to protect the tube. Nothing to turnoff the tube if the motors stop, increasing possible fire hazard.
Mains and LV cabling bundled together. Tube current meter wired in series with tube, so ifa ground wire comes off or the ballast resistor goes open circuit, the front panel meterhas 20kV on it. Nice!

Neither the water pump nor extrator fan are CE marked. both comewith suspiciously thin mains cable and puny 2-pin flat US style plugs.

Controller uses socketed ICs - really bad idea for a machine thatvibrates, especilly with cheap sockets. I had a couple of \'hanging with the beam still on\'issues that seem to have gone away after reseating the chips in their sockets.
Standard pitch screws and locknut arrangement on mirror adjusters look like they would behard work to adjust accurately.
No end-limit switches - set a size too big and it\'ll send the carriage crashing into theendstop, although motors probably aren\'t powerful enough to cause damage.
However none of the above were much of a surprise, and the bottom line is it doesactually work, and performance so far is surprisingly good.
For example it will cut 0.5mm slivers consistently in 1.5mm thick acrylic. Themechanics look reasonably OK.

How well it will last, only time will tell.. I\'ve seen lifetimesquoted of 1000 hours for the tube and 25 hours for optics, so as with many things there isa tradeoff between running costs and purchase costs. You can buy a lot of spare tubes andoptics for the difference in price between this and the cheapest Epilog!

Conclusions(so far..)

If you want a cheap cutter/engraver for hobby or non-critical use,and the choice is between this or nothing, I\'d say go for it.
Just be aware of the possible need to spend some time tweaking, and adding some safetyfeatures if used by unskilled people or when kids are around - this could easily slice afinger off (but at least would probably cauterise it in the process!).
A water flow alarm and temperature monitor would also be a good idea. The water pump isvery quiet and you can\'t tell if it is running even by looking at the pipe withoutlifiting it out of the water. Even the very cheap looking extractor is reasonably quiet.

However if you\'re thinking of starting an engraving business, orlasercutting is a critical part of your business I\'d suggest looking at better madeproducts, or at the very least buying two cheap units so you have a backup.

For the money though it\'s hard to complain too much, and performanceis surprisingly good.

Of course I may have been lucky and YMMV..!

When searching on ebay, search for laser cutting as well as laser cutter. CO2Laser (cutter,cutting) -tube is a good search.

There is another possibly newer model, HX-40A, typically£100 more, from fewer sellers, which appears basically similar but addressessome of the safety issues, having keyswitch and cover interlock. It also has mains outletson the rear for the pump and extractor, an internal lamp, the PC connector on the rearinstead of the side, and a multiturn dial pot for current adjustment. It looks like it mayalso have an adjustable-height bed. Here\'s a video showinginstallation and maintainance of this model. If I were starting over, I\'d probablygo for this model instead. Update - I think this one probably also doesn\'t sufferfrom the lack of speed control - see speed control hackbelow

Cute ribbon transit-lock.!

Bed has a spring-loaded object holder aimed more at engraving than cutting.For cutting I put a sheet of large-aperture steel mesh over the top. Although working areais nominally A4, the extraction duct (white, at rear) isn\'t full-width, which may limitmaterials that can be used further away from it due to smoke.

Flex cable stitting on mains terminal block - nice!

HR end of the tube, HV wire soldered and siliconed.

OC end of tube, with first mirror. Mirror screws are not fine pitch, andlocked with nuts so adjustment is likely to be somewhat fiddly.

Flex to carriage stuck down with thindouble-sided tape - this had come unstuck.& needed repositioning

Overview of electroinics. Laser PSU in centre, 50K ballast resistor on right.

Welcome to LaserCutz Ltd.

We are solely based in the UK but we ship worldwide (.com site is not affiliated to us).

We mainly take commissions but do stock some items so please visit our shop section where you will also find information about our soap embossing stamps

Epilog Laser engraving machines for etching, cutting, and marking systems - affordable, easy-to-use, and versatile. The laser cutter is a fantastic resource to crafters. We offer small runs or ‘one offs’ and happy to discuss projects with you. Our laser cutter/engravers take material up to 300 x 600 mm such as Acrylic, felt, card, fab foam, veneer, engraving laminate and wood. Ideal for badges, card making, jewellery making, modelling and many more crafts.

The laser cutter is a fantastic resource to crafters. We offer small runs or ‘one offs’ and happy to discuss projects with you.

Our laser cutter/engravers take material up to 300 x 600 mm such as Acrylic, felt, card, fab foam, veneer, engraving laminate and wood.

Ideal for badges, card making, jewellery making, modelling and many more crafts.

Some of the projects we have worked on are acrylic embossing stamps for soap making or pottery, laminate signs, small shop displays, component enclosures, acrylic jewellery, templates for routing or drawing with, engraving wooden box lids and lots more.

We can now offer engraving of a wider range of materials.
Our new 1064nm fibre galvo laser will engrave up to around 200x200mm and can engrave or mark a wide range of materials including some metal.
For the time being we will not engrave high value items in case of error.

Please contact us for more information.

Gallery

For a while I\'d been noticing how cheap lasercutters had become on Ebay.I\'d considered putting one on my list of \'things to look at when I next fancied a newtoy\', but was initially discouraged by some mixed opinions I\'d read. My onlyimmediate application would be for making SMD paste stencils, but I\'m sure I could findother uses..
Eventually I succumbed to temptation. Amongst the various Ebay sellers selling them, itwas obvious by looking at other items they were selling that many (especially the HongKong ones) were just box-shifters, also selling all sorts of random stuff. I ended upgoing for a Chinese supplier with good feedback, who only sold cutters, laser tubes andother related items. Model is Shenhui DC-K40, but the same unit seems to appear underdifferent names. Price was £720 delivered - took about a week by DHL - and they\'ddeclared as \'engraver parts, £50\' on the customs forms so only £12 to pay on delivery -result! Packing looked less than optimal - two double-wall cardboard boxes with a 1\'layer of polystyrene sheet between them, and more polystyrene sheet inside the inner one.However everything arrived intact, and I just had to remove some foam packing from aroundthe tube.

As expected, documentation (including video on CD supplied) was asappalling as we\'ve come to expect from Chinese suppliers. However I already knew whatneeded hooking up - water pump and reservoir, ventilation etc. so no big deal.

I was fully expecting to have to spend a lot of time fiddling with opticalalignment etc., based on experiences I\'d heard of from another user who\'d bought a largermodel from a UK reseller, however the only thing I had to actually fix was the flex cable,which had come unstuck from the bottom of the case (see pic later).

I tried a quick cut of a polyester solder paste stencil, and it came outpretty well considering the power setting was pretty arbitary - certainly useable and witha bit of tweaking probably capable of cutting for 0.5mm QFPs.

As you\'d expect from China, the software is poorly designed and somewhatflaky but just about useable. The biggest annoyance is not (AFAICS) being able toset a numeric scale factor, and not locking the aspect ratio when scaling.

The original Ebay listing stated it came with NewlyDraw software, whichdoes raster and vector cutting, but it was actually suppled with NewlySeal, which onlydoes raster and is designed for engraving. You can do cutting in raster mode, but it isvery slow, and cutting speed only goes down to 1cm/sec, which will just about do 2mmacrylic in one pass at full power. I\'ve contacted the supplier and they are promising tosend the NewlyDraw software, although they did say they didn\'t reccommend it with thismodel - I wonder if this means the primitive controller and/or hardware isn\'t up to movingboth axes simultaneously (in raster mode, only 1 axis is moving at a time). Will updatewhen I find out.

Safety & quality issues

There are a number of issues, and there\'s no doubt whatsoever that theproduct does not comply with all the required standards, or even the ones it claimsto, but that\'s nothing new.
No cover interlock - you can just lift the lid and stick your hand in the (invisible)beam. Ouch! OK if there had been one I\'d have bypassed it, but it means this machine isn\'tsuitable for unskilled users, or where there may be kids or Health and Safety inspectorsabout.From the Ebay listing : \'Built the micro-active switch to enable themachine do not light when canopy is open which enhance security\' Er, Nope.
No beam-on indicator, no key lock, no emergency stop button, no laser class sticker.That\'s at least five non-compliances with laser product safety standards.

No water flow or temperature cutout to protect the tube. Nothing to turnoff the tube if the motors stop, increasing possible fire hazard.
Mains and LV cabling bundled together. Tube current meter wired in series with tube, so ifa ground wire comes off or the ballast resistor goes open circuit, the front panel meterhas 20kV on it. Nice!

Neither the water pump nor extrator fan are CE marked. both comewith suspiciously thin mains cable and puny 2-pin flat US style plugs.

Controller uses socketed ICs - really bad idea for a machine thatvibrates, especilly with cheap sockets. I had a couple of \'hanging with the beam still on\'issues that seem to have gone away after reseating the chips in their sockets.
Standard pitch screws and locknut arrangement on mirror adjusters look like they would behard work to adjust accurately.
No end-limit switches - set a size too big and it\'ll send the carriage crashing into theendstop, although motors probably aren\'t powerful enough to cause damage.
However none of the above were much of a surprise, and the bottom line is it doesactually work, and performance so far is surprisingly good.
For example it will cut 0.5mm slivers consistently in 1.5mm thick acrylic. Themechanics look reasonably OK.

How well it will last, only time will tell.. I\'ve seen lifetimesquoted of 1000 hours for the tube and 25 hours for optics, so as with many things there isa tradeoff between running costs and purchase costs. You can buy a lot of spare tubes andoptics for the difference in price between this and the cheapest Epilog!

Conclusions(so far..)

If you want a cheap cutter/engraver for hobby or non-critical use,and the choice is between this or nothing, I\'d say go for it.
Just be aware of the possible need to spend some time tweaking, and adding some safetyfeatures if used by unskilled people or when kids are around - this could easily slice afinger off (but at least would probably cauterise it in the process!).
A water flow alarm and temperature monitor would also be a good idea. The water pump isvery quiet and you can\'t tell if it is running even by looking at the pipe withoutlifiting it out of the water. Even the very cheap looking extractor is reasonably quiet.

However if you\'re thinking of starting an engraving business, orlasercutting is a critical part of your business I\'d suggest looking at better madeproducts, or at the very least buying two cheap units so you have a backup.

For the money though it\'s hard to complain too much, and performanceis surprisingly good.

Of course I may have been lucky and YMMV..!

When searching on ebay, search for laser cutting as well as laser cutter. CO2Laser (cutter,cutting) -tube is a good search.

There is another possibly newer model, HX-40A, typically£100 more, from fewer sellers, which appears basically similar but addressessome of the safety issues, having keyswitch and cover interlock. It also has mains outletson the rear for the pump and extractor, an internal lamp, the PC connector on the rearinstead of the side, and a multiturn dial pot for current adjustment. It looks like it mayalso have an adjustable-height bed. Here\'s a video showinginstallation and maintainance of this model. If I were starting over, I\'d probablygo for this model instead. Update - I think this one probably also doesn\'t sufferfrom the lack of speed control - see speed control hackbelow

Cute ribbon transit-lock.!

Bed has a spring-loaded object holder aimed more at engraving than cutting.For cutting I put a sheet of large-aperture steel mesh over the top. Although working areais nominally A4, the extraction duct (white, at rear) isn\'t full-width, which may limitmaterials that can be used further away from it due to smoke.

Flex cable stitting on mains terminal block - nice!

HR end of the tube, HV wire soldered and siliconed.

OC end of tube, with first mirror. Mirror screws are not fine pitch, andlocked with nuts so adjustment is likely to be somewhat fiddly.

Flex to carriage stuck down with thindouble-sided tape - this had come unstuck.& needed repositioning

Overview of electroinics. Laser PSU in centre, 50K ballast resistor on right.