[Review] Creality CR-Laser Falcon Engraver

The 3D Printing Trade engineering workforce evaluations the Creality CR-Laser Falcon Engraver.

Creality is a china-based firm primarily concerned within the manufacturing of 3D printers. They’re well-known for the CR & Ender vary, that are very profitable printers within the desktop and prosumer market on account of their low value and general high quality.

The CR-Laser Falcon Engraver just isn’t the primary laser cutter produced by Creality as they beforehand launched a laser add-on for the Ender 3-S1 3D printer.

The corporate is hoping to achieve the laser cutter market and is aiming this product at particular person makers reasonably than industrial purchasers. The machine is manufactured in China together with Creality’s different machines and is made to the identical normal. The product ships to most of Europe and comes extraordinarily well-packaged with made-to-fit foam insulation.

The Laser Falcon was launched early this 12 months and was greeted with constructive evaluations. There are two product variations, a 10W model & a 5W model. The present value is $493(10W) and $322(5W). The model we acquired for assessment was the 10W mannequin. 

The Falcon is an efficient selection for any individual who needs to discover their creativity in a brand new medium. The laser cutter mixed with 3D printing can ship attention-grabbing and new merchandise. The machine’s value is considerably lower than these available on the market with related workspace and energy. This can be very simple to make use of, so long as you are taking care to be protected while working the machine. 

Creality CR-Laser Falcon 10W. Dymaxion Plywood Globe. Picture by 3D Printing Trade.

The machine may very well be barely harmful if misused, as when engraving stainless-steel or different shiny supplies, the laser can replicate off the floor and will enter your eyes in case you are not carrying applicable security goggles.

When shopping for the product and normal, it doesn’t include an air compressor. This may very well be an issue as a result of with out this air-assisted nozzle reducing high quality is decreased, and the smoke given off by wooden is elevated considerably. The extras you should buy for the laser are really helpful, as they are going to considerably enhance your high quality of expertise when utilizing the cutter. This stuff at present value additional and can be found on Creality’s web site. 

Our preliminary ideas have been constructive however apprehensive about how nicely this machine would carry out vs. extra highly effective laser programs. We have now examined pace, energy, and passes to observe which mixtures finest lower/engrave the fabric. Lightburn software program was used for all these checks because it was by far the most suitable choice that Creality really helpful, a number of supplies have been used to check the efficacy of the laser in numerous situations.

We’ll elaborate on the factors above on this article and provides an summary of the options of the CR-Laser Falcon. 

Creality CR-Laser Falcon 10W. Air-assisted lens & Compressor. Picture by 3D Printing Trade.

Creality CR-Laser Falcon Engraver Essential options 

The CR-Laser Falcon will be managed in two methods, both by a singular button on the machine or by way of connecting a pc and working laser software program equivalent to Lightburn. Leveling is finished manually utilizing a leveling jig in tandem with two bolts situated on the facet of the laser module. 

It is a quite simple methodology however is extraordinarily efficient at offsetting the laser the right distance from the fabric.

The laser body itself is constructed from aluminum extrusion and assembled utilizing lengthy M3 bolts. This proves a really steady construction when in use and doesn’t get affected by the inertia of the laser module in operation.

The max construct area is 400mm x 415mm, which is barely greater than a bit of A3 paper. Nevertheless, the mobile board which you must purchase as additional is just 320 x 320mm. That is inadequate if the entire workspace is required for a bit.

The laser module itself accommodates a single Class 2 10W laser with a wavelength of 455±5nm. The decision is 254 dpi and has a 0.06mm compressed engraving spot. The laser can lower as much as 18mm of sentimental wooden and might engrave to a depth of 10mm on an applicable materials. Throughout our checks, we used stainless-steel, polypropylene, rubber, ceramic, bamboo, and plywood amongst others.

Creality CR-Laser Falcon 10W. Engraving challenge examples. Picture by 3D Printing Trade.

An advantageous promoting level for this machine is that it’s simple to make use of for learners and unskilled customers. The artistic potential this offers the consumer is big, and there may be nothing blocking entry to the {hardware} like in different manufacturing areas. Creality has opened up alternatives for DIY makers and builders the place beforehand, you’d require an industrial machine and a big air flow system and workshop to function.

The Laser Falcon can also be priced very fairly, contemplating the standard of the merchandise you obtain.

First Impressions and unboxing the Creality CR-Laser Falcon Engraver

The Laser Falcon shipped encased in foam protects it from any exterior injury. The laser module was very nicely protected as that is essentially the most delicate a part of the machine. The opposite contents of the field have been the bolts to assemble the falcon, the legs, and the chassis.

The non-obligatory extras have been in a separate field included within the bundle and have been additionally well-protected. This stuff have been the prolonged legs for the printer, the air compressor, and the lens fixture. The Laser Falcon was extremely simple to assemble and had a intelligent use of t-slot nuts to stress the belts. From unboxing to first use was round 5 minutes, not together with time to make a design and obtain software program.

Creality CR-Laser Falcon 10W. Unboxing of separate elements. Picture by 3D Printing Trade.

Software program choices on the CR-Laser Falcon Engraver

Software program choices for the laser are restricted. There are two major packages, these are laserGRBL & Lightburn. Creality doesn’t have possession of those packages nor its personal devoted software program. These third-party packages are fairly dissimilar. LaserGRBL is an older software program and is restricted within the choices and parameters it has out there. We used this software program throughout testing however shortly switched to Lightburn as it’s the extra superior of the 2. The Laser Falcon’s profile will be downloaded onto these packages for an correct workspace.

We selected to make use of Lightburn as you may change the pace, passes, and energy throughout the design by allocating a colour to a particular line or form. The software program could be very intuitive and straightforward to make use of for any individual with no prior laser cutter information. If the consumer doesn’t have entry t adobe illustrator or the same program Lightburn additionally has a spinoff design software throughout the program that lets you dimension and create designs utilizing compound shapes and line instruments.

It’s also possible to body the design onto your materials, that is when the laser is enabled at low energy and used to display the world it should lower/engrave. That is immensely helpful for exact designs and cuts.

Laser Benchmark testing the CR-Laser Falcon Engraver

Earlier than we lower or engraved any of the detailed items, we first ran some checks to gauge the Falcon’s capability. These fundamental checks included utilizing customized reducing and engraving parameters. 

The very first thing we examined was the engraving’s degree of element. For this, we used a easy monogram product of descending circle sizes. The cutter carried out very nicely at this and managed to provide a really high-resolution engrave.

The following checks we did have been extra attention-grabbing. 3DPI logos have been lower and engraved onto a bit of plywood. We used this as a medium as a result of it’s the most generally chosen materials for laser cutter initiatives. The outcomes have been attention-grabbing on this take a look at, and a spectrum was proven on pace vs. energy. The proper ratio of the 2 for an correct, full lower in a single move was discovered to be 3 mm/s pace, 100% energy. 

Creality CR-Laser Falcon 10W. Laser & Engraving functionality take a look at. Picture by 3D Printing Trade.

The engraving was additionally executed at totally different distances from the wooden. This was to check the focusing side of the leveling jig.

Chopping and engraving have been carried out together with utilizing the air-assisted nozzle vs. the common nozzle. The outcomes throughout reducing confirmed the optimum distance is 3mm with air help enabled to keep away from burn marks and flames. When engraving, the optimum distance can also be 3mm however to get the perfect consequence, the air must be disengaged or the usual lens fitted.

In comparison with Creality’s parameter sheet, these outcomes match up. We advocate testing your personal machine and supplies as they could behave in a different way than what we now have sourced.

We have now additionally examined the laser cutter with different supplies, and excellent outcomes have been produced in these experiments. 

Framing utilizing totally different strategies

One of many major benefits of utilizing software program reasonably than the button on the machine is the framing features that may assist place your workpiece. On Lightburn, you are able to do this in two other ways. You’ll be able to both body a sq. across the design or an summary form following the outermost edges of the piece. Velocity will be adjusted right here relying on the scale of your piece if it’s a small design, you need a gradual pace for higher visible suggestions. Energy choices for this mode needs to be round 1-3% as that is finest for visibility with out prematurely burning your materials.

LaserGRBL additionally has a framing perform however it’s way more spinoff than Lightburn. The UI must be up to date, and the visible show of the laser-cut file must be extra pleasing and clear. The button is simple and easy to make use of however lacks the management that Lightburn permits. On the software program, you may pause the lower or restart it with totally different settings. Utilizing the button, you would need to edit the file and reload the SD card. There are specific functions for this, equivalent to should you can’t transfer your pc to be close to the laser cutter, however these are restricted.

Lightburn is the one we advocate because it has all the required choices and options that you can require to make use of the laser cutter.

Creality CR-Laser Falcon 10W. Strategies of sending recordsdata to the machine. Picture by 3D Printing Trade.

Learn how to enhance the CR-Laser Falcon Engraver?

Consistent with any system of this nature that ships with out a protecting cowl, fumes are an enormous subject on this machine as there isn’t a offered air flow gear. This may very well be a priority when reducing supplies that produce carcinogens like MDF. Because of this, no matter you’re reducing, you need to have an efficient system in place. Creality has advised us {that a} protecting cowl to filter out soot might be made out there in 2023.

One other small however probably irritating subject with this product, once more a difficulty seen on different related programs, is the mobile board that should be purchased as additional, just isn’t sufficiently big to cowl the work space, and is lower than the scale of an A3 piece of paper. One interpretation is that this has been executed to maintain prices low and cater to customers who could have already got the required honeycomb board of their workshop. Creality explains that of their expertise, the vast majority of customers would require a working space of 300 x 300 and that by assembly these wants product and transport prices are saved down.

Remaining verdict on the CR-Laser Falcon Engraver

The Falcon is a really environment friendly machine, and construct high quality is a excessive normal equal to Creality’s different machines at present on sale. The worth level is engaging and can entice the desktop market and people with small workshops, as it is rather simple to assemble and disassemble. 

The decision of the Falcon when engraving exhausting supplies was very spectacular, and we produced some very wonderful designs utilizing stainless-steel and ceramic. One characteristic we observed was that when engraving a fabric equivalent to plywood, the outcomes are higher with out the air-assisted nozzle, we consider that is as a result of additional oxygen that this setup provides, leading to a sooner, extra tough burn than meant.

Leveling is easy to make use of. This is a bonus of this machine, as laser cutters we now have used previously have offered a extra advanced methodology to degree the pinnacle. It is very important perform this step accurately nevertheless as if the laser is incorrectly offset, then the standard of the outcomes might be closely decreased. 

This laser cutter stands out from others available on the market on account of its dimension. A lot of the different desktop DIY laser cutters have small construct volumes and compact constructions. The Creality Falcon has a big construct quantity akin to a small industrial cutter. These extra high-end cutters typically have considerably extra security measures put in, equivalent to protecting casings and fume extraction programs. This will increase the worth of the models. Creality has sacrificed a few of these security options to realize a low value for the buyer. 

When used responsibly with the precise security measures in place, this laser cutter isn’t unsafe, however a sure degree of maturity is required.

Our expectations have been met and exceeded with this laser cutter, and we’re more than happy with our outcomes. This laser cutter/engraver has spectacular decision when engraving exhausting supplies and exact reducing skills utilizing plywood. The laser guard serves its perform by blocking many of the laser rays from escaping the work space. Further warning should be taken when engraving a textured materials because the rays usually tend to be mirrored previous the guard.

Total we’re more than happy with this product and might advocate it to any hobbyists and designers on the lookout for an inexpensive choice to create detailed customized merchandise.

Creality CR-Laser Falcon 10W. Engraving & Chopping Initiatives. Picture by 3D Printing Trade.

The CR-Laser Falcon Engraver is out there direct from the corporate right here, use the code “Falcon3dp” to get $30 off. 

Creality is working a number of Black Friday affords direct to clients solely. Till thirtieth November Code-FA80 is $363.70, an $80 discount.

The CR-Laser Falcon Engraver can also be out there direct from Creality, use the code “Falcon3dp” to get $30 off. Legitimate Till thirtieth November.

Featured picture reveals the Creality CR-Laser Falcon 10W. Picture by 3D Printing Trade.