What is the most practical laser to put on a lr3

I only have personal experience with my NEJE 40640, but I tend to read and watch videos about all the new modules being released. When the XTool 20W module hit the market, it made a big splash, and it performed as well or better than the few other 20W modules released the same season (based on head-to-head comparisons on YouTube). My one big concern with this module is the connection. Here is a screen shot from the instillation video for the 20W module:

There are twelve wires in the two connectors. I donā€™t know how many of them run to the control board, nor what they all do. I would be concerned driving this laser might require multiple PWM pins and specialized firmware. I also see a 3.3V label, which might indicate that a separate 3.3V line needs to be run to the engraver. I donā€™t know anything for certain, just guesses based on a frame from a video. In all the literature Iā€™ve read about XTool modules, they always focus on upgrading their machines, not selling their modules for other machines.

There is limited technical information on the XTool module, so it is difficult to compare to the NEJE. The one thing I did spot is that the focus size on the NEJE is smaller (0.06mm x 0.06mm vs. 0.08mm x 0.1mm for the XTool). Smaller focus size potentially means you can engrave at a higher resolution, and perhaps cut faster.

@robertbu , Thanks for the awesome analysis!!

What, you trademarked soon? That is hillarious!!

It is a special case for the word, unlike the usual meaningā€¦

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