LaserPro Engraver FAQ's
What comes standard that others charge for?
Does the LaserPro use proprietary software?
What software can be used with the LaserPro?
What is the maximum engraving speed of LaserPro?
What is the life cycle of the LaserPro laser source?
Can the laser tube be refilled/recharged?
What memory configurations are available on the LaserPro?
Is the motion system linear controlled?
What other components are required to operate a LaserPro?
LaserPro Engraving FAQ's
Can all LaserPro models engrave and vector cut?
Can all LaserPro models do 3-D and rubber stamp engraving?
Can LaserPro engrave or cut unprocessed (non-anodized) metal?
What materials can be processed by CO2 laser?
What is the max. acrylic thickness than can be cut through?
Can the LaserPro laser ADA/Braille signage/letters?
LaserPro Features FAQ's
What resolution (dpi) is the LaserPro capable of?
From desktop to flagship to industrial, is the software different?
What is the main purpose of air assist & air compressor?
What does cutting table do?
What is Rotary Attachment’s working boundary?
LaserPro Requirements FAQ's
What type of computer system is recommended?
Additional components required to operate the LaserPro?
Recommended software for best results?
What is recommended for maintaining the LaserPro?
LaserPro Support FAQ's
What warranty comes with LaserPro?
Compare the LaserPro warranty to another model!
What type of support comes with the LaserPro?
Can users upgrade the LaserPro themselves?
How do I register my LaserPro Machine (Click her for Registration Form)?
LaserPro Misc. FAQ's
What's the difference between stepper motors and servo control?
What safety compliance is the LaserPro under?
What is the minimum precaution of operating the LaserPro?
What is the requirement of exhaustion system for air filter?
What is the minimum requirement of a cooling system for 50W laser?
Can the LaserPro be used under Windows 3.x?
Can the LaserPro be used under the Windows 2000/XP?
Can the LaserPro be used under the Macintosh?
What is the difference between Raster and Vector?
Can you clarify some of the acronyms found in the laser industry?
What comes standard that others charge for?
The most complete family of laser engravers on the market and the most powerful software driver available. Standard and/or Unique features include: Auto Focus, Air Assist, Pass-thru Ability, True 3D Engraving, Automatic Vector Sorting, Intelligent Rubber Stamp Engraving, Multiple or single job selection, Linear Motion DC servo Control System, Upgradeable Laser Tubes, Thickest Cutting in a Single Pass and the Industry's Longest Warranty,. NOTE: These are features that the others MAY HAVE but at a price, ours is included at no charge! Find out why LaserPro can confidently and boldly stated.
NO. We use a driver written by our software engineers to simulate a printer driver. Your computer will not know the difference between your inkjet printer, laserjet printer or LaserPro Engraver. As far as your computer is concerned you are simply printing your graphic image/document. Your computer has no idea it is powering a state of the art, highly technoligically advanced laser engraver.
Compatible with most Windows-based software. Because we have written our own "print" driver you can use virtually any software application you so desire. Although the Windows PC world has standardized on CorelDRAW as the graphics application of choice, you can use virtually any software program you like. We highly recommend an application that is vector based to take full advantage of our Laser Engraver and all the features it offers. These applications can include; CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, Deneba Canvas, Micrografx Designer, and of course you can also utilize various CAD programs that have 100% compatibility with the industry standard AutoCAD, such as, DesignCAD, TuboCAD, etc.
Over 80 inches/second, depending on model. The Explorer is adjustable from 0.1% to 100% speed of 80 inches/second. The Mercury series is adjustable from 0.1% to 100% speed of 42 inches/second, soon to be upgraded to 60 inches/second. The Jupiter is adjustable from 0.02% to 100% speed of 42 inches/second. The Venus is adjustable from 0.02% to 100% speed of 20 inches/second and the Neptune is adustable from 0.1% to 100% of 23.6 inches/second.
5-7 years or 35,000 hours. LaserPro uses the industry standard, proven and reliable Laser Tubes from Synrad, Rofin and Deos. We have rated our laser tubes to operate somewhere around 35,000 hours. In addition to our trust and faith in the reliablity of the tubes we utilize in our LaserPro line of laser engravers/cutters we also offer the industry's longest warranty: A full two (2) years on the laser tube.
YES. Once the laser has reached the end of its useful life, a simple and inexpensive gas refill will restore the laser to full power.
16MB Standard Using standard SIMM modules the LaserPro series of laser engravers/cutters can utilize 4M, 16M & 64M (32x2) SIMM modules and is upgradeable to 64 megabytes. Multiple file mode saves up to 100 files.
YES The LaserPro line of laser engravers/cutters uses a highly rigid linear motion system that provides unparalleled strength and durability, with outstanding letter quality, and best of all... very little maintenance. A software comparison would be AutoCAD (linear) vs CorelDRAW (steps) in creating a "True" circle or "Simulated" circle.
Although not much is needed to operate the laser the following four (4) items are a necessity. Also keep in mind you may already have the necessary components in place.
LaserPro Engraving FAQ's
YES! From our smallest laser to our largest laser and all the models in between. We have designed our LaserPro engravers to utilize the same driver so all the capabilities you find in the software for our flagship Explorer and Mercury are utilized in the Venus up to the Neptune. From Rubber stamp/seal engraving, to 3D engraving, to raster engraving, to vector cutting.
YES! See above. We have written our software driver to drive all of our LaserPro family of laser engravers the same, from Rubber stamp/seal engraving, to True 3D engraving, to raster engraving, to vector cutting. Don't think that buying the desktop model limits your capabilities other than power and size. Software wise you can do the same as the Mercury or even the Neptune.
NO. Unfortunately no CO2 laser will engrave or cut into this type of metal. CO2 lasers use a wave frequency that allows the lasering of virtually any material (see below) with the exception of raw metals. Only anodized or coated metal can be engraved by CO2 lasers. Although, recently a company based in Cleveland, OH developed a solution that when used according to the manufacturer guidelines generates a chemical reaction that creates solid black engraving on uncoated metals. This procedure when done correctly is extremely durable and under testing has withstood military lubricants, salt water spray, high heat and abrasion tests.
Virtually any materials except unprocessed metals (see above) and substances that are too heat sensitive, such as foam. Other than that the materials the LaserPro laser engraver/cutter can etch into and/or vector cut are nearly limitless.
Depending on model up to 1" With 50 engineers we have developed the most efficient control of a motion assembly in the entire laser industry. A 30 watt tube is still a 30 watt tube regardless of whose machine it is installed in. Yet we are the only laser engraver/cutter that can control the motion to a point that allows us to cut thicker materials than anyone elses comparable laser tube wattage. Following are examples of what our various wattage lasers can cut through in a single pass successfully.
- Mercury L15 ... 1/4" (quarter inch) thick acrylic
- Mercury L30 ... 1/2" (half inch) thick acrylic
- Mercury L50 ... 3/4" (three quarter inch) thick acrylic
- Mercury L100 ... 1" (one inch) thick acrylic
Depending on the manufactured process of the acrylic these numbers can actually grow in thickness.
LaserPro Features FAQ's
200 - 1000 dpi. The Explorer is configured for 250, 380, 500, 750 and 1000 dpi, while the Venus/Jupiter/Ruby/Mercury LaserPro models are all built with resolution capabilities of 200, 250, 300, 500, 600 and 1000 dpi. The Neptune is configured for 381, 508, 762, 1016 dpi resolution. Although high resolution may be great for printing on a laser or inkjet it is very different on a laser engraver. You must always factor in the material being used, the time increase to engrave at 500 dpi (default) as opposed to 1000 dpi. This increase in resolution will significantly increase your ingraving time by more than a factor of 2 and may not be visibly noticeable on most materials. Trial and error are the only way to determine the lowest resolution to produce the most acceptable results at the fastest speed. Just remember, "Time is Money" so the faster you finish a project the more you make per project.
NO! From our smallest laser to our largest laser and all the models in between. We have designed our LaserPro engravers to utilize the same driver so all the capabilities you find in the software for our flagship Explorer and Mercury are utilized in the Venus up to the Neptune. From Rubber stamp/seal engraving, to 3D engraving, to raster engraving, to vector cutting.
Better engraving & cutting effect. The air assist kit is a standard component that comes with the LaserPro family of laser engravers/cutters. In conjunction with optional air compressor, the air assist can provides a much better engraving & cutting effect, as it will blow away vaporized particles and prevent fire due to overheating.
Vector cutting. The cutting table, also known as a honeycomb table, is especially useful for vector cutting applications/projects. The space between materials and working table, gapped by the cutting table, allows heat and smoke to be disbursed and vented out which may otherwise cause a bad cutting effect. It basically lifts the material being vector cut from the table so the laser beam will not reflect back into the bottom of the material off the table.
LaserPro Requirements FAQ's
Essentially any computer system purchased within the last couple of years is sufficient to operate the LaserPro. The newer, the better obviously but simply ensure that whatever your chosen operating system is that the computer can efficiently run the OS, at that point your graphic software should also run well. The following is a basic starting point but an easy rule of thumb to remember is faster and larger is always better and of course you can never have enough RAM.
The following two components are not an option but a necessity. You MUST have an exhaust/blower in order to catch the debris that the laser creates when vaporizing different materials and expel it outdoors. Because we include the Air Assist as standard on ALL our lasers you only require a compressor. It is highly recommended LaserPro owners utilize the air assist for quality and safety.
Exhaust/blower system With the addition of two (2) 4" dryer hoses, simply plug in and run your LaserPro. One hose connects to the LaserPro output to the blower input, the other to the blower output to your outdoor ventilation connection.
Mini Air Compressor If you currently own a compressor, there is no need for a mini-compressor. You can remove the LaserPro air hose connector/air flow adjustment valve and replace with a standard compressor quick connect. With this configuration you will need to adjust your air flow directly from the compressor itself.
Operation and maintenance of LaserPro engravers/cutters can be learned literally within a half-hour. Our systems are really that simple. Learning the driver will take an addition 30 minutes, so essentially you can be up and running with a LaserPro within an hour. The key to professional looking and purchase worthy final products is learning the graphics software.
Learning software can take weeks, months, even years to master so it is essential to have industry standard software where support is virtually located anywhere online or in your own backyard. So the following software is highly recommended to enable your creative juices to flow and limit the learning curve to as short as possible.
CorelDRAW! Version 9 will suffice, but version 10 is available and version 11 has recently been released (unless you desire to use EngravePro, then you MUST use CorelDRAW! v10). CorelDRAW is simple, versatile, powerful and with excellent positioning and text features. CorelDRAW is also the worldwide standard for vector graphics.
PhotoGrav If you are planning on lasering any type of digital or scanned images on any type of material this is a wise investment. The simple one-touch processing works extremely well to produce photo quality images on most materials.
EngravePro A new software package that bridges the gap between professional engravers and their professional graphics software... Effortlessly create matrixes for engraving and serialization. (NOTE: requires CDRv10)
4 items Maintaining the LaserPro is extremely simple and only takes a few minutes a day. Regular cleaning of the railings to allow rollers to move smoothly, belts to ensure no particles obstruct the belts alignment and optics (mirrors and lense) kept clean and spotless are all that is required to keep your LaserPro running at peak performance. The following is all that is necessary to maintain your LaserPro.
LaserPro Support FAQ's
Two (2) year limited warranty. The LaserPro engravers are covered with a two (2) year warranty which includes the laser tube. Also once your a customer of LaserPro, your always a customer of LaserPro and we will take care of you and do what it takes to keep you satisfied, productive and profitable. Note: Optics [mirrors and lens] are the only consumable item of the LaserPro line of engravers/cutters and as such is covered under warranty for only a 90 day period. Click here to see details.
Easily done! We are so confident with our equipment's durability and reliability that we stand behind our lasers longer than anyone in the industry. Although we have a two (2) year warranty on all of our LaserPro models, we like to think of ourselves along the same line as the venerable Maytag appliance. "It's great to have that warranty, but it's even better to never have to use it!" This is the confidence we have in our equipment.
Once a customer of LaserPro, always a customer of LaserPro. Your LaserPro sales rep provides lifetime technical support. Not only will you have access to your sales rep for quick and dirty support for your laser, but you have access to our Southern California stocked warehouse with technicians on hand and of course this website. Through LaserProUSA.com we support everyday issues, from engraving, techniques, photographs, Windows, CorelDRAW, etc.
YES Most updates/upgrades can easily be done by the customer in the field, such as, LCD upgrade, firmware upgrade, RAM upgrade, lens upgrade, etc. Laser tubes must be recharged by the manufacturer via our technical staff. When that time comes to make an upgrade either contact your sales rep, email us here support@laserprousa.com and we will guide you in the right direction and/or method in which to perform your needed upgrade.
LaserPro Misc. FAQ's
Stepper motors basically mean a motor that moves x amount of steps per inch. In other words assuming 400 steps equals an inch then the motor literally must produce 400 clicks to move an inch. So when a laser engraver that is stepper controlled is told to move down 1 inch and left 1 inch from home position it is basically going to click 400 times down and 400 times to the left from it's home location. NOTE: It must be at home position for this to happen accurately.
Servo control basically means a motor that moves to a specific coordinate. In other words when your computer tells our servo controlled LaserPro engravers/cutters to move 1 inch down and 1 inch over from home position the control unit goes exactly there based on a coordinate location, i.e., x=1000/y=1000, irregardless of where the laser engraver head is currently located.
In a nutshell if you move/bump/nudge a stepper driven laser engraver you've ruined your engraving material and must start from scratch. With our servo controlled laser engraving technology you can literally begin anywhere you want on the table, pause your current job and move the head to check your work and when you resume the laser always knows exactly where it is so it will always begin at the correct location and always knows where it was so as to continue on where it left off. A far superior technology.
LaserPro engravers/cutters are FCC (ID# LO4GRC-LASER) and CE (EMC) approved. CDRH (Center for Devices and Radiological Health) Class 3a is under way.
Our equipment is designed to be safe even with the lid open, the door open or the panel removed. Our equipment has safety switches that automatically prevent the laser tube from firing when these items are opened. In order to operate the machine with these items opened the customer must consciously defeat the switches themselves, hence preventing any type of accidents from occuring. Working glasses or goggles are recommended when maintaining the machine, but not necessary as you should never maintain the machine while on, especially while running.
The air blower’s power of exhaustion system provided by GCC is 0.75kw with airflow 13/15 CMM (50Hz/60Hz). It is recommended to pipe the exhaust end of the filter out of working room.
Heat Load (max):800W, Flow Rate:1.5GPM,
Temperature:18°~20° Centigrade/64°~68° Faranheit.
YES! LaserPro provides a Windows 3.x driver for download that also includes instructions on installation and useage.
YES! Our software engineers have been diligently working on a Windows 2000/XP compliant driver. This platform being a true 32-bit operating system with strict rules requires much programming, fine-tuning, and tweaking to get operational, stable and reliable. Our 32-bit driver is so advanced it even overshadows our existing 16-bit driver that was the best in the world available. You can be sure with 56 engineers we are continually adding new functions and features to make your lasering experience simple, profitable and fun.
NO! As of yet we don't have enough demand to write a Macintosh version of our software driver. If the market changes and the demand increases then our software engineers will seriously consider adding a Macintosh compliant driver to our choice of LaserPro drivers.
Raster images are composed of dots & Vector images are composes of lines.
Raster, or bitmapped, graphics produce images as grids of individually defined pixels
Vector graphics produce images using mathematically generated points, lines, and shapes.
The clean lines and smooth curves of vector graphics make them an obvious choice for logos, drawings, and other artwork that will appear in print, particularly with lasers. Also, the use of mathematical equations enables vector graphics to be scaled and manipulated repeatedly to virtually any size without distortion.
Although there are numerous acronyms you may encounter in your laser engraver/cutter research the following are the most common. Clicking the acronym will take you to a dictionary definition.
QSM ... Quality Speed Mode (exclusive to LaserPro)
LASER ... Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
CO2 ... Carbon Dioxide
AC ... Alternating Current
DC ... Direct Current
LCD ... Liquid Crystal Display
lb ... Pound
kg ... Kilogram
LPT ... Line PrinTer
Comm ... Communications
USB ... Universal Serial Bus
AMP ... Ampere
V ... Volt
mm ... MilliMeter
SIMM ... Single In-Line Memory Modules
MB ... MegaByte
dpi ... Dots Per Inch
ppi ... Pulses Per Inch
3D ... Three Dimensional
TM ... TradeMark
© ... Copyright
back to top<<
Denatured Alcohol: To wipe down rails & belts for smooth operation
White Lithium Grease: To grease down lead screws for smooth operation
Lint Free Rags: For general cleaning of rails, belts, table, enclosure, etc.
409 or similiar: For general cleaning of rails, belts, table, enclosure, etc.
The maximum diameter and length of the to-be-engraved object is 3.6" (90mm) and 18" (450mm) respectively. Its maximum weight should not exceed 15.5lbs (7kg).
YES! It is possible to laser out ADA/Braille signage/letters. A company based out of the midwest has patented a technology that enables this process. It is quite expensive, but if you conduct quite a bit of ADA/Braille signage/letters then the investment is well worth it and greatly expands the capabilities of even our own LaserPro engravers/cutters.
Exhaust Blower ... One with sufficient CFM, at least 500 on up. The more CFM the better. This is what exhausts the vaporized material outdoors that the laser beam creates as it laser engravers/cuts.
Compressor ... Such as air-brush type to attach to the standard air assist on the LaserPro line of engravers/cutters.
Windows-based Computer ... Necessary to run your vector based application in order to send jobs to the laser engraver/cutter
CorelDRAW! v9 or better ... Although you can use most well-written applications we recommend Corel as it is easy to learn, an industry standard and relatively inexpensive.
Can you clarify some of the acronyms found in the laser industry?
What is the difference between Raster and Vector?
Can the LaserPro be used under the Macintosh?
Can the LaserPro be used under the Windows 2000/XP?
Can the LaserPro be used under Windows 3.x?
What is the minimum requirement of a cooling system for 50W laser?
What is the requirement of exhaustion system for air filter?
What is the minimum precaution of operating the LaserPro?
What safety compliance is the LaserPro under?
What's the difference between stepper motors and servo control?
Can users upgrade the LaserPro themselves?
What type of support comes with the LaserPro?
Compare the LaserPro warranty to another model!
What warranty comes with LaserPro?
What is recommended for maintaining the LaserPro?
Recommended software for best results?
Additional components required to operate the LaserPro?
What type of computer system is recommended?
What is Rotary Attachment’s working boundary?
What does cutting table do?
What is the main purpose of air assist & air compressor?
From desktop to flagship to industrial, is the software different?
What resolution (dpi) is the LaserPro capable of?
Can the LaserPro laser ADA/Braille signage/letters?
What is the max. acrylic thickness than can be cut through?
What materials can be processed by CO2 laser?
Can LaserPro engrave or cut unprocessed (non-anodized) metal?
Can all LaserPro models do 3-D and rubber stamp engraving?
Can all LaserPro models engrave and vector cut?
What other components are required to operate a LaserPro?
Is the motion system linear controlled?
What memory configurations are available on the LaserPro?
Can the laser tube be refilled/recharged?
What is the life cycle of the LaserPro laser source?
What is the maximum engraving speed of LaserPro?
What software can be used with the LaserPro?
Does the LaserPro use proprietary software?