Going to turn my Primo into a dedicated laser machine. When i look up lasers the options seem endless. What’s everyone’s opinion on a good option for use on the Primo? Looking to be able to engrave in wood. Cut small plywood. Anything else possibly lol. Mostly looking for any and all opinions on what options are good. Thanks in advance!
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I suggest that you:
- Stick to name-brand modules
- Buy from the manufacturer or a reputable dealer
- Do comparisons based on optical power
- Watch at least one comparison YouTube video on the module you are considering. If there are no YouTube videos, then it is not a name-brand module
When I researched my module, I was blown away with the amount of misrepresentation, lies, and bait-and-switch tactics associated with laser modules. IMHO, it is really easy to get scammed buying these modules.
It seems to be that the price/performance is similar across name brand modules, so your next choice will be power and perhaps dot size. While there is not a perfect correlation, some of the smaller optical power modules might be better for engraving. You may have to make some compromise between how fine you want to be able to engrave vs. how well you want to cut.
Finally, you want to look at the tech specs and make sure it will work with your machine. There is less issue in this area than in the past, but you want to make sure that the module can be driven by the PWM signal from your Primo control board.
My personal laser module is a NEJE 40640. I’ve been happy with its price vs performance. For engraving, I get decent results up to 300 lines per inch, and I’ve cut a lot of 5mm plywood with it. This module was plug-and-play with my Rambo board, and it has been plug-and-play for others using the SKR Pro board.
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This right right is exactly why i posted this question lol. Thank you so much for your response. All very good things to consider. I do feel like we would do a lot more engraving than actual cutting. But there will be the need for it to do both. I will most definitely watch some YouTube videos and check out your current laser. I also plan to run lightburn for it. Everyone here seems to rave about it. Also I am running the SKR Pro on the Primo so its good that it works with it. I guess ill have to get with @vicious1 about his GBRL firmware he was telling me about just the other day. Funny thing is that’s what sparked my wife and I talking about it LOL.
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Here is the last time I dug into it much, 2022 laser Revisit - #10 by vicious1 That whole thread is pretty solid and uCNC seems to have progressed as well so if you are adventurous that might be fun to try.
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Well, I certainly can’t claim to have done any extensive testing or reviewing. But I’ve generally been pleased with the capabilities of my Ortur LU2-10A 24V and Lightburn. I’ve crashed it into workholding clamps a couple of times and it still performs. I don’t have extensive expertise, but as a starter laser it’s been good. Easy wiring, since I run my machine off 24V. Cutting is slow, but it’s probably more of an engraving laser anyway.
With my limited experience, my main concern at this point is using my laptop with Lightburn to drive the process directly. It prevents me from working on my next design while burning one. I’ve had a few times the SKR Pro has missed instructions and the laser wanders off and starts burning stuff that wasn’t intended (always watch the thing.) I’ve been a bit reluctant to turn it into gcode. I like being able to stop lightburn, find the proper place in the burn and restart it with new settings. (i.e. I am still at the point that I may adjust the power or speed on a particular font to get the look I want.) I suppose once they are locked in for a particular project, I could go to gcode at that point.
Apologies to non-Christians out there in the world, but this was an Easter gift for a few relatives cut on that laser (BB ply with some aniline wood dyes applied):
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No need to apologize! We all have different tastes and beliefs, and I think that most showcases that are shared are enjoyed on basis of the technique - not the content itself. (personally I’m not a big fan of flags and guns, but I can still admire great craftmanship!)
In terms of lasers, I have the same NEJE 40640. It’s quite capable and easy to use, but keep in mind that if you only want engraving - you don’t need as much wattage. According to @dkj4linux , the 5W types are better at engraving that this NEJE one…
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That’s exactly what I want to do when I’m grown up. 
Christianity was a fundamental theme for a huge amount of the artwork of the renaissance period, Indeed through much of the past 2 milenia, and you do not need to be a Christian to appreciate the level of mastery of the artists.
Similarly, I believe that this piece can be appreciated for the technical details of alignment and layering with the differences in material taken into account to give colour and texture.
Great job!
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ABSOLUTLY no need to apologize in any way for that!!! And that piece is AMAZING!!! i would LOVE to be able to produce something half as good as that!
Thank you for the info! We have been talking more about it today and turns out we might be doing more cutting than I originally thought. She finds all kinds of small things on etsy that she wants but knows the bits I have for the CNC are too big to cut it. I like the fact a few people on here have the same laser and all seem happy with it. Plus that makes troubleshooting much easier when im not the lone wolf LOL.
Thank you for that and i will for sure check out that thread. Seems I have a lot to learn since I have never even heard of uCNC lol. Good thing is I do have a desktop computer that is not currently in use that I plan to park right next to the primo. So having to be hooked up headless/USB wont be an issue at all.
Never grow up. its a TRAP!!! My daughter just turned 18 and is about to graduate highschool… She is excited to be grown up until I start reminding her what its actually means to be grown up. See come graduation me paying for all her gas, her insurance, her cellphone…All becomes her responsibility. I think she thinks I’m bluffing lol. I already called USAA and found out taking her off my insurance policy and putting her on her own will save me $255 a month!!! Insurance for a Teen when you have a Dually truck and an Avalanche as mine and my wife’s vehicle’s gets VERY costly. Ok getting off the soap box lol
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Actually, the dual-diode, square-spot, Neje A40640 was the first higher-powered laser I ever had that “broke” my general impression that “lesser-powered lasers were better engravers than higher-powered lasers.” All my diode lasers at the time – ranging from 2.3W to 5W – were single-diode lasers with rectangular dies/spots that got larger and more asymmetric with the power they had to handle… and thus led to my general impression that lesser-powered ones were generally better engravers.
But now, there is a plethora of stacked-diode lasers – starting with that A40640 – with better optics and “spot correction” that do quite well at both engraving and cutting. So I’m no longer as adamant that “lesser is better” for general engraving.
One caveat: engraving ceramic tile and glass with the Norton White Tile method can be easily “overpowered” and my little 2.3W Banggood laser still reigns “supreme”. 
– David
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So yet another vote for the A40640. I will be watching some youtube videos on it tonight as @robertbu suggested.
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Just a bit of advice here from a more senior person if I may:
You are only young once,
But you can be immature for ever!! 
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Ok I’ve been looking when I can and watched a few YouTube videos. I find myself stuck between the A40640 and the E40. All the videos I watch made the zoom lense over the fixed lense seem like such a downside. So now I need some help. Which one and why?
This question has been asked before on the forum, but no firm answer was provided. So, I did some searching, and found this YouTube video.
My main takeaway from this video is this the E40 is a newer, and “better,” module with a tighter/smaller dot size. But it has one major drawback: a very small working distance. The E40 has about 3mm of working distance. The A40640 has about 20mm of working distance (with the lens screwed all the way in). I have my lens screwed all the way in and never touch it.
I tend to do larger projects, and therefore the stock tends to have more warping. The short 3mm working distance would not work very well with my typical stock.
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I’m doing my best to wrap my head around it all. From what I can see most purpose built laser cutters don’t really have a Z adjustment. So with the Primo being able to set Z where ever its needed it seems to me that the focus part wouldn’t really matter. Move Z down for cutting and up for engraving. Or vise versa if I’m looking at it backwards. Am I on the right track with that thinking? If so then the A40640 does seem like a much better option.
I’ve used a large co2 laser and there is a Z adjustment but it’s the material bed that goes up and down.
It is not that simple, but almost. For any given lens position, there will be a focus distance. Personally, I found it hard to determine precisely the focus distance. Once I did, I’ve never changed the lens position. So, my module is always in the “cut” position, even when I engrave. This gives me less resolution, but 300 lines per inch works fine and is plenty of resolution for me.
Since you have an active Z axis, it can pay to drop the Z a bit each cutting pass. This is a setting in Lightburn.
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There have already been several good comments, so I’ll try not to repeat. I just saw your message, so hopefully, at least some of this will still be useful.
First, I chose the Sculpfun S9 module. It’s 5W optical, and may have some advantages over some others because the depth of focus is apparently a bit more. The beam is about circular and seems to be under 0.1mm in diameter, based on measurements of the line. Working distance is actually 20mm without the air assist nozzle.
I use it for both engraving and cutting. For 3mm Baltic birch plywood, it takes about 3 passes at ~250mm/min, 85% power. I have it installed on my Burley version that has about a 24"x24" work area.
As a quick side note, one of the differences between mounting on the MPCNC and the “stock” laser frames, in addition to the z-axis, is that because the orientation of the tool holder on both the Primo and the Burley is at 45 degrees from the x and y axes, you probably won’t see the same X vs. Y asymmetry in the beam shape that the dedicated systems often do.
In my case, I started with an even lower power laser, which had 500mW, but was at 405 nm. It had absolutely excellent engraving, but was inadequate for cutting except for veneer. But, sometimes it’s worth keeping the two functions separate. That 405nm unit was from Neje, and cost about $30. At that price, you could easily have both functions available by simply swapping the power connector.
A few other observations.
Don’t even THINK about starting up without air assist. Whether you buy an entire OEM kit or design and build it yourself, you’ll need it.
Plan on building an enclosure. Both engraving and cutting generate substantial smoke, including both particulates and volatile organics. I’ve rountinely measured around 1500 micrograms/m^3 of 2.5 micron particles and as high as 60,000 ppb of VOCs while cutting. (EPA limit for daily average of 2.5 micron particulates is 35 micrograms/m^3) Engraving is better, of course. Things like painted tile, slate/stone, rubber stamp materials, leather,etc. all pose similar issues of one sort or the other.
Get yourself ASTM certified laser glasses for the wavelength you are using. These will cost you much more than the cheap crap from China, but these lasers, even the lowest power ones, are unforgiving. All it takes is to catch a specular reflection and you WILL have eye damage.
As for the controller, this has been addressed. However, something to possibly consider is that you can get the 32 bit MKS DLC32 board for under $20 and the TS35 display for around $30. This setup is GRBL based and plays nicely with both Lightburn and Lasergrbl. It can also run from an micro SD card and connect with wifi to either a phone app or a browser.
Depending on your Primo setup, you might find that keeping your existing controller intact for CNC use could make sense. In my case, for example, switching between functions literally requires swapping the stepping motor cables and connecting the laser power cable. (Tool holder is also changed, of course. ) However, if you are using dual endstops, this probably won’t work.
There may be some other issues, but these are the ones that quickly come to mind based on about 2 years of use.
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Ok I ended up buying the NEJE A40640. What are any of you using to mount it to a Primo? 3/4" EMT version to be exact. Also what do I need to do firmware wise for the SKR Pro 1.2? Thanks!