Manufacturer: Acmer Laser
Price: $389
Link: https://acmerlaser.com/products/acmer-1064nm-infrared-laser-module
This laser module is in the 1064 wavelength, meaning it can engrave on metals such as steel, gold, silver, aluminum, titanium and more. This module is directly compatible with the Acmer Laser P2 and P1 machines.
Unboxing and Installation.
There’s not a whole lot to this system. You get a box with the parts inside that you need to install it on your existing machine. I installed it on the P2 system that we have previously reviewed. It does require a wider mounting bracket which is unfortunate because it would be really cool to swap lasers for different materials.
While the box does include the cables you would need to adapt it to your P1 or P2, it does not include any eye protection. It seems unsafe to me, that they would ship a laser module for an open gantry machine without eye protection matched to the proper wavelength. I’m a messy guy, so maybe they did ship glasses in a separate box and I misplaced it before the review, but I did confirm on the module box that it does not include any eye protection.
In Use
There really is no difference whatsoever in use between this module or the existing module. No changes had to be made in software, it literally just plugs in and works. That’s great! Even though you have to change the mounting plate to swap lasers, it is only 2 allen screws, so it isn’t that much work.
The quality I got was surprisingly fantastic. You can see that the dot size is small enough that things just look solid and fantastic. Keep in mind, however, that this is a 2 Watt laser module, so if you want to carve down into the surface in a way that is tactile, be prepared for even the tiniest jobs to take forever as you go over the same design repeatedly.
Conclusion
At a glance, $400 may seem like a big amount of money. However, if you have an existing laser that this can work on, you’re effectively adding tons of capabilities for a relatively cheap price. Consider that you’d be spending well over $1000 to get a fiber laser or stand alone IR laser.
Really, the only thing I would change is to ship this with proper wavelength eye protection.
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