Cubiio Laser Engraver Review
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- čas přidán 5. 05. 2019
- Cubiio is a small laser engraver you can control with your smartphone, but is it any good? Watch to find out!
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Vector is like the Vase Mode for laser engravers
It really is lol
The anodized aluminum is blue, which should completely reflect the blue laser away. Try a red or black coated piece, for it should absorb the energy from the laser.
Considering that they initially intended to ship the device without any shield and even now it's only an option, I wouldn't say this was designed with safety in mind.
Also, I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that IR lasers are generally safer because even transparent plexiglass will block the scattered laser light (that's why you can cut it: it absorbs that wavelength).
zmast333 you are correct, IR laser is much safer than blue laser. Stray IR laser light (should you be dumb enough to operate an IR laser without the cover) will be absorbed by the aqueous layer of your eye. Stray blue laser light, will punch straight through, hit your retina and you will be blind.
I own a 100w IR laser, I would never own/use a 405/450 nm laser. Every blue laser engraver I’ve seen is flat out unsafe.
Not only is it optional, it's expensive as hell for what you get. It's made out of extremely cheap thin orange and black plexi that looks like it was cut by a rusty beaver. You could make that enclosure better for about $20. $650 for the package is an absolute joke. You can pick up a decent sized industrial 40w IR machine for less.
Jake J you can get a k40 for less money yes, but you still need a chiller, air pump, exhaust fan. But most of the k40s out there are complete crap.
@@danmorphis7759 the air pump and chiller aren't necessary, and the exhaust fan comes with them.
@@ThePretendgineer Cutting without air assist is very annoying, and makes things a lot more complicated. The lens gets dirty quickly, thicker materials don't cut and acrylic ends up with melted cuts instead of clean sharp cuts.
Amazing review Angus, love your attention to safety, lasers are extremely dangerous, especially at the power that allows engraving.
Also really worthwhile mentioning the dangers of etching certain materials - the mdf/formaldehyde wouldn't have crossed my mind, and I knew burning pvc was bad, but not specifically why (although now I have a solution if I need acid...)
I feel like people will be having industrial type accidents at home with all these capabilities we have now. I'm sticking to PLA for printing and no laser etching lol. But what happens when a study comes out in 10 years and they find PLA fumes are more harmful than we thought? That's what I'm worried about.
@@practicalguy973 Depending on what printer you have, if you have concerns, create an enclosure, with an extractor fan that vents outside. I do agree with you but everyday, "they" say something is bad for us that was good for us, or good for us that was bad for us, so best to live our lives day by day and do what we can to mitigate the effects of possible harmful environments.
@@FusionSource That's always the case. There will be facts until another study comes out that proves those facts wrong. So we can never know what's safe. Seems that there is enough info out there claiming that some pla would be bad to breath the VOC's anyway. I guess additives to make color, strength and other characteristics that make a "good" pla vs a bad pla means there is different chemical makeup in many brands of pla anyway so we never know what we are breathing unless it was pure polylactic acid with nothing else. That's a good idea to use an enclosure and vent it. My printing so far I just open a couple windows so I don't have to smell that faint sweet pla smell anyway. But venting it all outside is a better idea.
Thank you for this video. I just backed the SnapMaker 2 and am waiting on it to arrive sometime in February. I have been watching lots of your videos just to get acquainted with some of the things I will be dealing with. I had not considered the materials and what they may or may not release when burnt\engraved. You have probably saved me from some serious mistakes. Again, thank you!
A previous co-worker of mine had incidents with high power lasers. She now has dead spots in her vision. Its like dead pixels... in your eyes. Which can't be fixed.
Angus is spot on here. These are NOT a toy. Use the safety features and wear your damn glasses!
First time I see this sort of considerations in a video of review and I love to see it and see that cubiio goes through all of this considerations. Great job, I already want one.
It is refreshing indeed to see a review focussing on the dangers of these LASERs and I would expect nothing less in a review from you Angus.
However, I am concerned that even with the glasses and the enclosure, there is still a small potential for harm in certain circumstances and this is why.
As an engineer...I asked myself some basic questions on safety and did some research. When I built my LASER using a 445NM diode LASER I realised that the attenuation characteristics of the cheaper Asian goggles were far from adequate and some sold separately had virtually no attenuation of harmful radiation at that wavelength.
Indeed...I specifically paid over £200 for a pair of goggles and acrylic filter panel specifically made for my wavelength just to be sure!
Granted...the filter enclosure and goggles that demonstrate will reduce the danger somewhat, I would be extremely cautious of relying on them to prevent eye damage entirely.
And it's not just a case of the source pointing directly into the eye that is of concern. Users can unknowingly experience powerful reflections from any reflective object such as metal plated surfaces...anodized cases etc.
It is my firm belief that if you are not fully aware of the potential dangers of these LASER devices then you should not use them and the vast majority of users are not. These are far from the toys they appear to be and there is no second chance where eyesight is concerned.
Thank you for your review...
Great video
Also luv the shout out to Naomi in the background
Thank you for a responsible review! seen so many other that were far from that up to even dangerous, this is refreshing!
Thanks again for always being honest and up front. I also appreciate a good safety lesson as well. See you next time!
Thanks for the great review! It is a nice little starting point and I do agree with you on the safety aspects. I too like my eyesight very much. Have a great day .
Angus, thanks for the very responsible way of presenting this technology!!!
Years ago I dared to buy a small laser engraver (NOT this product, just some generic engraver). While it looked built ok, I finally did not thrust the googles and there was no other safety measure. In the end I never turned it on - yes, I did work with lasers in my education and know a bit what they are, hence my hesitation...
Yeah, I got sent one of those open-air XY gantry style engravers, and I keep that thing in another room where I know no one will touch it. I think the XY gantry ones are a bit more useful (resolution, power, working area), but definitely need an enclosure.
As to Leather, you can only do undyed vegetable tanned leather. Most other leathers are tanned using Chromium salts.... Not good to burn either.
And some of them STINK.. So much STINK... Depending on the tanning methods, everything from just normal combustion to the smell of burnt hair..
And make sure it's something you can wash afterwards to get rid of that smell..
It is fair to say that nearly all tanned leather these days are using chromium process. Veg tanned is another category altogether IMO.
It is a nice reivew presenting from various perspectives and I do agree about the safety.
A word about safety: Without the enclosure this is a class 4 laser, which means that EVEN LOOKING INDIRECTLY (eg. looking at the spot being engraved or some random reflection) WILL PERMANENTLY BLIND YOU BEFORE YOU BLINK. I would only use it like that with proper glasses (not from ebay!) and in a locked room (to make absolutely sure nobody walks in).
Sebastian Jezierski this just isn’t true. I’ve got. 30w laser, nearly 20 times more powerful than this, and I do use safety precautions bit I’ve seen the engraved surface many times with the naked eye by mistake and it’s fine. Lots of people don’t even bother with safety glasses and they aren’t blind. Class 4 isn’t just code for “it’ll blind you”
@@PetesShredder Yes it is.
The definition of class 4 is that even diffuse or scattered reflections are harmful (as opposed to class 3b where only direct exposure is dangerous). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety#Class_4
You probably have a CO2 laser (like most laser cutters) which generates infrared light, outside of the visible spectrum, which gets partially blocked by your eye before it reaches the retina.
Visible light on the other hand is quite good at travelling through your eye (otherwise it wouldn't be visible), which makes cubio much more likely to blind you than your cutter.
Hey Angus I'm pretty new to 3d printing and just got a flashforge finder. I've found that there is very little information available past general setup and bed leveling. I thought it would be a good video and would add quite a bit to the community knowledge base. Keep making!
against the smell you would require an active charcoal filter, which e.g. the Mr Beam provides as an optional addition.- which is basically a filter for soldering stations.
Angus, completely understand you want to keep your eyesight. Do what you feel is safe ( you know more about this than 90% of your subs ) keep up the great work
Good! Welldone for the seriousness of the safety!
I missed a William Osman style laser time intro
this thing is not worthy
Thanks for the thorough, knowledgable review! Again! Did CUBIO give you the unit?
In order to line up the object, they could make the bed move via knobs so you can manually just twist the dial and line it up.
about the trouble with lining up engraves: you can try hand cutting a piece of paper into a square that fits perfectly into the work area, measuring the two longest axes of the object you're engraving, then using the laser to cut out a rectangle from the paper that will fit the object. You can then line up the object with the edges of the rectangle
Can you do a vid on the cheap neje one
Angus, I believe that inability to etch that anodized aluminium casing might (at least in part) be caused by color of it. Blue laser would be reflected by blue surfaces, not absorbed. I believe that it would be fair to test once again, using pieces of different color. Also I am curious whether different blue materials would get etched properly.
The thing I love about this channel is the simple honesty.
Here’s why you can trust me. Here’s the facts. Here’s my opinion. Here’s the price. Here’s the disclaimers.
Zero bullshit.
Nice!
I particularly appreciate your explaining the risks of materials. I consider myself chemically literate. But I had little knowledge about what common polymers become after incineration; more importantly, I wouldn't ordinarily think of laser engraving as incineration. (And yes, I purchased the laser engraving option for a multi-functional 3D machine from an earlier crowd-funding campaign. That machine came with no enclosure, just a pair of safety glasses. Although I am very pleased with its 3D printing quality, I never get to test the engraver because of weak - read nonexistent software support.)
Ok, so the product is nothing like the video promotions, pretty expensive (esp. compared to china-cutters/engravers that can do way more for less), and more of a toy overall (without enclosure it's probably illegal to operate in most countries).
Yes, I disagree strongly with the videos showing it used out in the open. Lasers are dangerous and need enclosures
Great review... Any word on the Cubiio 2 (currently on Kickstarter)? Seems they tried to address many of the issues you brought up, would love to hear your opinion
I engraved a photo of my brother into the icing on his birthday cake with my cheap Chinese 2.5W engraver. It gave it a slightly burnt sugar taste, but looked pretty cool (you have to watch out for darker areas though as the icing will melt as well as burn).
Mine cost significantly less than this, and is A3 size. The open design is both a positive and negative. Obviously no shield means I have to run it locked away from anyone else. But it also means I'm not confined to specific size or shape objects.
Ahh You are over reacting Angus, I'm off to the shop......where has that bloody guide dog gone now.
Please inform about engraving time? Could i engrave personel pictures which has 8x8 area with in 3 or 5 minutes?
AvE did a video on their Kickstarter almost 2 years ago, and points out all the safety pitfalls with the stand alone module, as well as some other problems with the design, and it doesn't seem to have changed much since then, at least in physical appearance.
Do you see laser cutters / engravers like the glowforge or others coming down in price similar to 3d printers or is 3k to 4k going to remain standard for awhile.
I wonder whether the Class 1 Laser label would be allowed in the EU since you can switch off so many safety featueres in the software.
looks like a good product, might need to get tweaked with the accuracy and the way you preview your engravings as if you made something that you spend hours on making you do not want it to misalign at the finishing steps. do look forward to seeing more of their products or improvements of the existing one.
great video! can you review one of the PYOT LABS 3D-Printers?
can you engrave PLA or other 3d printed materials? It would be nice for people selling 3d printed parts to brand them or even printing material and texturing them.
Safety warning: If you install an exhaust fan in your workshop, and have gas fired appliances in your home, you can draw a fatal amount of carbon monoxide back through the exhaust. Always open a window somewhere else for make up air. A couple in California and their cats died for this reason while running a laser cutter.
As usual Angus, a very pro video 💝
Nice, ive been wondering if you were going to do a review after they offered to send you one after the warnings of fake products around xmas time.
I have a cheapo version of that! Boa Semana, Angus! :)
Cool, I may think about also getting an engraver. Not sure if this or the new snapmaker 2 which I can also use as a 3d printer
U can attach a laser to a cr 10 aswell
I was an NBS Laboratory Technician. An associate of mine is now legally blind because he was exposed to an unanticipated reflection from a glass cabinet door while working in the lab. Angus' warnings about the dangers of lasers can not be ignored. The dangers are VERY real.
Chances are you can save yourself a ton of money here and find a local MakerSpace where you can use a far more powerful laser for free or nearly free.
There are people like me who like to have their own tools
I believe that more than 90% of Earth's population lives far from a MakerSpace.
@@CassioRogerioEskelsenI think 90% might be a stretch. makerspaces.make.co show locations all over the world including south america, africa, china, australia an many more places. Might want to check that out.
While great and HiGHLY recommended anyway, as they also know what their machines can do, what products cut and what settings to use:
The problem with the bigger machines is fitting a chair or other large objects inside. The cubiio in 'dangerous will blind you' mode is where this thing does something that very few if any other products can.. Markings things that you simply can't fit in a 'real' laser cutter..
Engraving a logo or graphic onto a door, onto the back of a TV, some shelves or other things..
But yes, with the obvious and clear safety risks s a trade off.
Why are the safety glasses green? The safety cover is the correct orange color.
Absolutely! This is they type of eyewear that blocks the wavelength down to "safe eye levels":
uk.rs-online.com/web/p/safety-glasses/6973525/
Rad. What’s that black (plastic?) material/piece you’ve etched the QR code onto (@ 5:29)? Appears to reveal a white substrate, looks nice.
That's standard black acrylic, it etches really nicely.
Thanks for the review Angus. I have been seeing ads for this device for a while now. Its great to put a "hands on" with a device. Also, this device seems to me to want to be used in teams, maybe with some type of mesh software. Thanks again Angus!
I built an engraver from my 3d printer and a laser module, following the example of Tech2C. It only took an hour of playing with it before I set something on fire...
What did u set on fire, paper?
@@Sandwich4321 I think it was a piece of cardboard. I never got mine to cut as well as his did, despite the same laser module. Not sure why. One of these days, I'll put it all back together.
@@Sandwich4321 This was the best thing I made with it, but the smoke was so bad I had to drag the thing outside. sea-of-memes.com/misc/elephant2.jpg
@@michaelgoodfellow4992 have u tried focusing the laser
@@Sandwich4321 As you can see from the engraved image, it was burning a nice clean line. I tried cutting acrylic and plywood with it, but didn't cut through either, even with twice the number of passes Tech2C used. I tried focusing the laser at low power, but didn't seem to matter much. Maybe I got one with a bad lens?
Anyway, the smell was so overwhelming I decided I didn't really want to play with it. I tried mounting a Dremel-style tool instead of a laser, but never got anything to work well. Too much vibration from the tool and too much dust.
Really makes you appreciate 3d printing!
I really hate micro SD cards. It's kind of OK if you just put it in and you access it some other way, it's really poor design to have to handle them regularly.
Having worked with high powered lasers in lab environments (at a focused point we could turn steel to plasma), I completely back your harping on safety. Having a background in using lasers and being familiar with how to do so safely, I would be willing to use something like Cubiio in open air. However, I would ONLY do so in my shop with no one else in it with the door locked and myself taking proper safety precautions if I really wanted to do projects like engraving the back of the chair that was shown in their video. To do so with a small child right there watching, is just inviting something to go wrong from a safety perspective.
Print a little coordinate table for positioning
Hi dude i have tevo tarantula and ender 3. with this how can i earn money. can you have any suggestions for me i have been spending 9 month in it till i don't have enough order on it
well done Angus, this is something ppl really should learn before starting with theese hobbies...
But just blowing away the fumes aint enough. Should be filtered afaik
Re: laser safety admonition
Ah, so me thinking I'll wait to try the laser engraving module on my SnapMaker Original until I figure out where I put the enclosure is a really good idea then. Good to know. Also good that I'm already thinking about how to ventilate it and push the exhaust gases outside. Might be able to use the 3D printing head to make adapters between the various components once I have them figured out and together...
This is a fairly polished item, but I would still get a CO2 laser over a UV one since they are not that much more expensive. They can also mark a lot more materials and cut properly.
Free sample. No wonder this review is so nice to Cubiio.
For that price you could trick out a chinese K40 Co2 40 watt laser with a height adjustable bed, air assist, high CFM fan for exaust, and a lot of other things. Seems pricey for what it does.
I got my K40 laser CNC with everything including water pump and exhaust fan for $400 to my door. It can cut 6MM plywood and cut arcylic. I made a safety switch with a $1 endstop. Hey Cubiio you should figure out a way to make that awesome app work with the K40 theres 1000's of them out there.
anyone know what smartphone is that???
Has anyone tried reading the QR code? I've tried rotating it, inverting colors, and even increasing the contrast, all to no avail.
Taking to GCode is actually a really big deal and very fantastic to hear. Unfortunate to see the 'vector' mode still results in visible aliasing...
I wonder if this can cut 3mm thick acrylic stock
no chance lol, need a laser tube.
Nice review Angus. Would be interested in seeing you review the chinese K40 laser engravers that we see everywhere nowadays for < $400USD.
He mentioned refusing to review unsafe products. The K40 lacks many safety features you would expect in a quality machine.
I mean... you have to make a series of bad mistakes to hit your eye with a standard C02 laser. This one is kind of scary (cool) though without the enclosure.
How they do tattoos In the hood
Great Video Angus. $756 AU.... tell em their dreaming! lol
Wow. They actually made this thing. Sweet!
I wonder if David Franco with lasers could make one for less. 🤣 I forget his name. I need to go see what's up on his channel.
Edit: styropyro
I’ve run 30w fibre lasers like this, open frame with no safety boxes. Just have to use the glasses and be sensible
"...Put on your GOOGLE..." Seriously tho, I agree with your stance about only looking at this when contained as a package.
I’ll get the glowforge instead... eventually lol.
glowforge killer?
Thank you for spending so much time discussing safety. As neat as these things might be, I'm much safer with a Sharpie.
I was sorta intrigued right up to the price. Well the inability to make a circle was bad too. I'd rather less safety, I'm a cowboy, and more output quality.
With the safety focus it seems like its begging to be something to do *with* the kids. But wow, the price of the enclosure on top of it.
Angus... any laser over 5mw is considered dangerous to the human eye and appropriate Laser Safety Eyeware MUST be worn (to protect one's eyes) when operating these lasers.
Well stated laser safety comments....:thumbsup:
Wait, this looks familiar... Oh, isn't it the "kickstarter scam" (c) AvE. They certainly made it more sensible.
It's pretty much exactly what AvE said - a overpriced toy that doesn't fulfill the campaign promises.
is there any way to get the prints to not look like shit?
Unfortunately i was one of the scammed ones in 2018 - I ordered a laser engraver and received fake Raybans from an ad on FB :(
9:33 - I can’t see why the maths would be “through the roof complex”. It seems like high school trigonometry to me. Am I missing something?
Hey dude! Does it work with bread?
Let me know ok?
560 dollar while you can get these 3D printer style engravers for less than 100 dollar.
You mean the kind that might well blind people because they didn't want to pay for safety features?
@@JeffDM Lasersafe googles ... ~ 15 bucks
@@JeffDM At least they do not bullshit you with security that van be disabled, because they know the thing is worthless otherwise.
Very cool!
I would take scam links seriously and automatically do one of the below on ANY of my pages.
A. Delete the scam link
B. Block the user
C. Ban the user (If it is a $500+ scam and someone is tricked by it and/or it has existed for months with out me realizing)
D. Tell the owning companies to shut it down
I would suggest pinning this comment.
Hell, sub $1k units for the most part totally lack safety. Looks like a cute unit, but sadly out of my price bracket still
And that's why we have goggles and door locks..or we can be afraid of might happen?...you choose 🧐
You should be extremely careful when engraving some plastics like the remote as it can release cyanide when being burnt!
isn't formaldehyde in diet coke as a chemical that over 30 degrees turns into formaldehyde
Yes, but there's even more of it in Citrus & fruit drinks. Technically it breaks down to methanol, and methanol then breaks down to formaldehyde.
But our bodies are easily able to handle those small amounts, and no build up of it was seen in research.
the price is way to high. for that money you can build yourself one with way more power.
Awesome review, but this device is way overpriced for what you get. Save up and get a real laser solution for engraving/cutting. Or spend $20 and get a wood burning kit...
$645USD!!! Holy snot you'd have to be nuts to pay that much for this toy!
Isn't this the same company that got kicked off kickstarter ?
Aaaaw. I want one. I’ve got a printer and I want an engraver.
Ps I was first comment even though no one cares.
@@3dprintinglife I recognize your punctual prowess oh might Refurbisher.
Haha
@@3dprintinglife no we don't
It kinda annoys me when other people yet I do It
Again, "no money has changed hands," but do you get to keep the machine? That's an expensive machine, and if you get to keep it, you should be disclosing that to us. "No money has changed hands, but I do get to keep the machine." or "No money has changed hands, and I don't get to keep the machine."
He did say he was going to be using it in fuure to engrave his projects, so that would imply that he is keeping the machine.
Can you point out anything misleading in the video? If not then there is no problem. Jeeze its not like at least a 1/3 of the video was pointing out problems and limitations....
@@paintballthieupwns When you get to keep the machine, that's as influential as when you're paid, in my opinion. If you're going to disclose you weren't paid, you should disclose if you keep the machine.
I have no problem with his review. It's obviously not what the manufacturer hoped for, and obviously honest. But make a full disclosure, or don't make one at all.
I'm glad they're making a big deal about safety. People have literally died using laser engravers in poorly ventilated rooms.
Personally I'd stick with a 2.5w laser module i got for €60 attached to my cr 10s
Wow. Nice mod... hope you keep safe though. I got a cheapo laser etcher (gift) to work for 5 seconds before it burnt out the laser (manufaturer sent the wrong one from packing... massive fail).
The risk of blinding myself has sadly put me off. But 3D printing will be great for now. Then I'll look to mod/buy/build a drilling etcher/router instead of laser.
For that price you can buy a cheaper co2 laser that does so much more.
If you think that is scary, you better not watch William Osman and his 80W open laser. lol
RIP laser. 😓