If you want to test your own laser, you can get the below test file HERE. There is a power switch on the electronics enclosure. The laser was able to make a clean-through cut at 400 mm/min and 80% power. It features higher engraving speeds and lower output power for some engravings compared to the 5W laser test pattern. Machine Weight.
(Baud rate is 115200). We achieve this by progressively lowering the board by 3mm for each square, without refocusing the laser head. But more on this at some other time. These areclass 4lasers and are hazardous if properlaser safety measuresare not followed. You can use nesting software to optimize the shapes in your design and arrange it efficiently in a plane. Laser cutting of different materials will produce different levels of smoke, please place the machine in a well-ventilated area and use it under supervision. Turn off the power, insert the SD card into the motherboard card slot, and then power on the SD for about 20 seconds and then remove it. Select Front Left as your Origin X,Y and uncheck Auto Home, then press Next. Android userAndroid users can search for Mini laser engraver in Samsung App Market and Google Play or directly scan the QR code below to download. This really expands your capabilities. Tip: To watch the refresh firmware tutorial video, please visit SD Card. In addition, the open-frame design of COMGO Z1 makes it easier for you to load and unload workpieces from the work area.
In this Article we will put it through a series of tests which will show what this machine is capable of. At 9mm it becomes very large compared to similar machines. The poor performance for small text is probably due to the simpler mechanical construction. If there is the voltage at both POWER and PWM, the laser module is the problem. Compared toother laser engraversof a similar price range, Comgrow is quite feature-rich. NOTE: the focal length is the distance from the lower face of the laser module profile to the engraving plane. Unlike the 5W module, the 10W module uses two diode lasers. Click Open File to select the engraving le. I talk about CNCs and Power Tools at Mellowpine. COMGO uses a gyroscope in its controller to analyze major machine movements. Please wear appropriate protective equipment when you are operating the equipment (e.g. The machine can cut wood, especially Poplar plywood which is soft and it is the preferred wood for all laser cutters. LaserGRBL, LightBurn, Benbox, GrblController, LiteFire, Support Windows system, Support OSMAC system. It weighs around 11 lbs. If your application mostly requires engraving images, I would recommend you to use LaserGRBL, and if you are primarily working on lines for cutting applications LaserBurn is the best option. For users with older rmware versions, you need to upgrade the machine rmware to version 2.0 and above before you can use the APP function, you can check the rmware version number through LaserGRBL or Lightburn. Next, we have tested the Comgrow Comgo Z1 on a scrap piece of black anodized aluminium. Open LaserGrbl or Lightburn and type $E in the command bar to restore Settings. The same principle goes for larger distances. Subscribe to Mellowpine Lasers on YouTube for tutorials and expert information- "Subscribe to Mellowpine Lasers YouTube Channel". COMGO Z1 uses three NEMA 17 stepper motors with a holding torque of 67.97 oz-in for driving the belt drive mechanism. If you want to engrave a very large photo, prepare to wait a couple of hours , As we can see below, the Comgrow Comgo Z1 did a reasonable job. Best Nesting Software for Laser Cutting [2022], Laser Cutting and Engraving Leather- Expert Guide. Honeycomb laser beds are handy for getting smooth edges with fewer burns and help reduce the smoke damage caused underneath the laser-cut material. By scanning vertically and horizontally with different interval steps we can approximate the laser dot size. Also, the linear drives need to be tightened or greased depending on the drive mechanism used for its effective operation. I have tested COMGO Z1 by cutting and engraving some materials, and you can find thosetest results in the upcoming sectionof this article. You can use it to upgrade COMGO Z1 with an additional layer of safety, it also effectively removes the built-up smoke in the work area. The Z1 laser engraver uses rollers that move along the channels of the aluminum profile for supporting the gantry. This way, it is easy to compare results between machines. COMGO Z1 mainly has five modules: aluminum extrusions, gantry, electronic enclosure, power supply, and laser module. Comgrow Comgo Z1 was able to cut through 3mm thick black acrylic in only 4 passes which is very good. We have also noticed some smoke stains with this machine. Tried to engrave text on blackened stainless steel (sprayed with cheap acrylic spray paint) with full power and 100mm/min. Note: Computer RAM needs to be 8GB or more. However, the process of laser cutting or engraving is highly rewarding once you cross that roadblock. Which Diode Laser Engraver is THE MOST POWERFUL? But all 10W laser engravers have larger focus spots in general and do a bit worse at photo engravings than 5W machines. STEP3.Use 2 M5*8 screws to x the motherboard cover to the front of the gantry. It is a three-axis controller and has a WiFi port where you can install a WiFi module. Hey I'm John. Select the engraving material and engraving mode and click Sent. Both machines are 10W. The laser modules used in Z1 have a lifetime of more than 10,000 hours, and replacement modules from Comgrow are available on their official website and on Amazon. The Y-axis is driven using a dual drive to prevent racking, and it helps achieve higher engraving or cutting accuracy. We can see that the laser spot size of the Comgrow Comgo Z1 increases significantly with distance. Click Preview to preview the engraving range, and click Start to start engraving after the preview is completed. Comgrow sells an enclosure, a honeycomb laser bed, and a rotary roller for COMGO Z1. COMGO Z1 comes with limit switches on the X and Y axes. If the power terminal is well wired, please measure the voltage at the output of the power adapter. Thefollowing will focus on the installation and use of LaserGRBL software. We Put It to the TEST! Reach me at john@mellowpine.com, 5 Best Laser Cutters [2022]- Cutting and Engraving. In the video below we tested the performance of the Comgrow Comgo Z1 10W and have compared some of the results with other 10W laser engravers, like the Atomstack A10 Pro (x7 Pro), Neje Master 2S Plus and the xTool D1 and a bunch of the 5W laser engravers like our favourite Sculpfun S9 (5W laser). You only have one pair of eyes. Copy the firmware named firmware to the SD card. If you are using it for the first time, you need to perform steps 1-10 to set up the operation.Open the SD card, select Driver Files, and install the driver according to your computer system. The 5W and 10W diode laser modules are not powerful enough to cut through metals. Or check the COUPON PAGE. The maximum speed I could achieve on Z1 while engraving was around 196 ipm (5,000 mm/min). The Comgrow Comgo Z1 should be a very capable cutter. Take out all four proles and use four M5*25 screws for xing to complete the gantry installation.Frame Assembly Pt.2, STEP2.Take out the X-axis assembly and embed it into the prole V-groove from the rear in the Y-axis direction.Frame Assembly Pt.3. Unfortunately, it doesn't have an emergency switch, but you can use the power switch to halt the machine's operation in case of an emergency. Cutting thick boards can reduce the focal length appropriately. Bottom line is, that were here to make 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC milling magic happen.Contact us. Home COMGROW Comgrow COMGO Z1 Laser Engraver User Manual. With LaserGRBL you can import vector files (NC, BMP, JPG, PNG, DXF) and bitmap image files (bmp, jpg, png and gif).
Take out the WIFI module and install it to the WIFI interface on the motherboard. I ran two passes to get a dark contrast. 5. Here is a comparison table between the Comgrow Comgo Z1 and the Atomstack A10 Pro. Don't forget to choose the 10W version! EngravingThe following is an example of the Material library carving operation. For half the power it performs very well and has the smallest laser spot by far! With its large work area, multiple laser power options, and upgrades, Z1 is a versatile laser machine. It is compatible with the COMGO Z1 laser machine and most other similar-sized diode or CO2 laser engravers. Our test includes this cute photo of a Tit bird in the top right corner of the test piece. Eject the LightBurn disk image, or drag it to the trash bin. When MacOS asks if it should open the program, say yes, and it will be listed as an exception in your launcher. The maintenance requirements of laser engravers mainly include keeping the transmission in a proper working condition and clearing the optics, air filter, and exhaust fan. The COMGO Z1 Laser Engraver has an open workarea of 400 x 400 mm (15.7 x 15.7in). Click install to install the software. I tested this laser on several materials like wood, glass, and jeans as a part of this review. APP cannot recognize the machine.1. (It is recommended that you select the horizontal engraving mode). This will void the warranty. And if you use our coupon code "JTMakesIt", you can get additional 30$ off the Comgrow Comgo Z1 as a thank you for reading this article! This way, if you stop the engraving or add another layer of work (or if the machine has crashed mid-work), you can be sure that the machine will start working at exactly the same spot that you want.
It then combines the laser beams and gives out a higher power.
If this manual does not effectively solve your problem, please contact our support team. I currently also work as a consultant for business owners and hobbyists setting up their own CNCs. Combined with a slightly larger laser spot size, you get less detailed photo engravings. How to get great results when cutting fabric! iPhone userssearch for Mini Laser Engraver in App Store. You can use the Comgrow Comgo Z1 laser engraver with free LaserGRBL software which works OK, but it is a little bit clumsy to use. In the software you can set to fill the closed shapes with pattern, on this one, the shape is filled by scanning with 0.1mm step. Like other engravers in this range, it can be assembled in less than 30 minutes. In addition, the conguration of the computer can affect the speed and even the quality of the engraving. When both lasers are operated at full power, the 10W laser can cut a 0.15" thick wood board at a speed of ~7.8 ipm. This is a very affordable option if you want to dive into the higher powered lasers with dual beam, 10W optical output power. Next was testing with different text sizes. I used the 10W version of the Comgrow COMGO Z1 on several commonly used materials and the laser performed well. All the results that I got are presented raw in this review. For big engravings you could increase the step to 1mm or more, to make engraving faster. After hours of operation, the generated fumes leave the optics (mirror and lens) clouded with fume stains, reducing the laser intensity, so it needs to be cleaned. The stepper motors controlling it has a step angle of 1.8, and the whole rotary module weighs around 1.1 lbs. The power scale test pattern shows how the machine engraves with different power levels at different speeds. Loosen the xing screws on both sides of the laser module to focus the height of the laser module. Because of the affordable price range that Comgrow offers, their products have a large user base. It can also engrave stainless steel, glass, and transparent acrylic when they are coated. CONGO Z1 Laser Engraver supports the most popular engraving software LaserGRBL.LaserGRBL is an open-source, easy to use, and powerful software, but LaserGRBL only supports Windows (Win XP/Win 7/ Win 8/XP/ Win 10).For Mac users, you can choose LightBurn, which is also an excellent engraving software, butthis costs $40 (with a free one-month trial for the rst installation) and this software alsosupports Windows systems.The COMGO Z1 Laser Engraver receives mobile commands from the computer in real-time, and the engraver needs to stay connected to the computer and cannot close the engravingsoftware (LaserGRBL or LightBurn) during the engraving process. The laser modules in COMGO Z1 use FAC (Fast Axis Collimating) lenses, which allow a laser focus spot of 0.08 x 0.08 mm. The machine gyroscope trigger phenomenon is Laser GRBL lower right corner of the Cooling prompt, the machine shipped gyroscope default sensitivity is $140 = 8 Please enter $140=sensitivity in the command bar to increase the sensitivity of the gyroscope. Select Laser Power and Material according to the power of the machine, then click SAVE. You may be able to cut 0.63 mils thin metal foils, but nothing more than that. Comment document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute("id","a581420fc35f77c50bb38ee1e3146e66");document.getElementById("afe6277d1c").setAttribute("id","comment"); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Note: The gyro sensitivity range is 0-16, the smaller the number, the higher the sensitivity. But the machine does not come with a focusing block, so we had to use a scrap piece of 7mm thick acrylic as a spacer for focusing. Connect the cables of the laser module and the Y-axis limit switch, then attach the xing mount to the right front support feet and x the cables.Frame Assembly Pt.9STEP9. STEP7. Your email address will not be published. It takes around 10 to 15 minutes to assemble the whole machine. For someone who's looking to do both cutting and engraving operations, LaserBurn is the best bet. Select Start From as Current Location on the right, and then adjust Job Origin to the bottom left corner. For transparent surface need to be painted black. Lets Find Out by Measuring Optical Power! https://acc-huahui.oss-cn-shenzhen.aliyuncs.com/grave/LaserEngrave-V1.0.8_release_200713.apk. With lower speed the accuracy increases as we will see later. Notice that the Sculpfun is the only machine with 5W optical output power that we tested, that can engrave stainless steel. It is great for some tests, but I chose Lightburn instead which is much more capable software, and it is very intuitive to use. These lasers work in visible light spectrum and even reflections can be very harmful for your eyes! But farther away we go, the dot starts to increase significantly. If the wire connection is correct, but still no light. If discount coupon is available, it will be listed there. other machines using the same settings, we can clearly see that the Comgrow Comgo Z1 can definitely engrave stainless steel! If not, you can contact Comgrow directly. But, the software offers 1 month fully functional free trial which will help you decide if it is worth it to you. Check if the driver is already installed on the computer, if not, please click Tools-Install CH340 Driver to install it. Tip: Installation on MAC requires adding trust, as follows. In this test, the Comgo Z1 shows the properties of an square-ish beam shape as the engravings in vertical and horizontal direction look quite balanced but still not perfect. We also tried cutting 5mm thick Oak wood and Neje did it in only 5 passes. After importing the file, you can modify the engraving size on the top of the interface. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. Cut: wood, paper, tape, cloth, acrylic, cardboard. LaserGRBL cannot be used for making designs. laser protection glasses, etc.). I used 60% power at 3,000 mm/min and the results were clean. The photo looks less detailed than with Sculpfun S9, which had more contrast and detail with its engraving. Comgrow has provided laser settings for different materials on Z1's product page on their website. Select COMGO Z1 Laser Engraver and click OK. It is not free though, but the license costs 60$.
We can see that at higher speed there is slightly more wobbling present (mechanical) but the speed shows to have no effect on brightness of the engraved pattern. You will find the results of our tests few chapters lower. Select the engraving mode and click Next. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Check the mainboard and the laser module on the power and signal cable connection is loose. Take out the 4 prole covers and install them on the prole end faces at the front and rear ends of the gantry.Frame Assembly Pt.7. We have used the modified test pattern that we use for testing the 10W machines. Here is a test of engraving a small photo, 20mm in size while changing the maximum laser power.Photos are quite slow to engrave because the laser head must scan line by line like an inkjet printer. Always remember to wear laser safety glasseswhen working with laser machines. COMGO Z1 is driven using belt drives along the X and Y-axis. You can cut up to 10mm thick stuff with this laser engraver. This is an in-depth review of the COMGO Z1 laser engraver. Laser Safety-Risks, Hazards and Control Measures, Laser Engraving Knives for Personalization [2022], For getting great DIY projects in your mail, Testing Comgrow COMGO Z1 on different materials, Subscribe to Mellowpine Lasers YouTube Channel. Windows10. They have a Z1 guide pageon their website that explains the assembly process, software setup, and troubleshooting of the laser machine. We need to take in the effect that the speed is also quite high for this test (600mm/min). The machine moves normally, but the laser head does not light. You can use the thickening effect to your advantage in cases when you want to engrave bigger stuff with low detail.
This can be easily avoided by reducing the acceleration and speed in the settings. Similarly, the 5W laser can cut a 0.15" thick wood board at ~3.5 ipm.
Comgrow offers a one-year warranty for COMGO Z1 and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Also, I have a YouTube video explaining the step-by-step assembly process, which you can refer to. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); In this article we will review and test the Comgrow Comgo Z1 laser engraver! However, the rollers are smaller compared to most similar laser machines but do not compromise the quality of the engraving. Drag the LightBurn application into your applications folder. You cannot use a laser to cut transparent materials; for engraving of transparent materials, such as glass, transparent acrylic, etc., you can use a whiteboard pen to blacken the surface of the material or directly put a layer of engraving color paper on the surface of the material before engraving. Yes, you can work on metals with COMGO Z1, but only for engraving painted, electroplated, or anodized metals. Select carving parameters (M3 for constant power carving, M4 for variable power). Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the users authority to operate the equipment. COMGO Z1 is a good beginner and affordable laser engraver machine. The Z-axis is not motorized, so for setting up the laser focus you'll have to adjust the laser mount by manually moving it up or down depending on the material thickness. Comgrow has an active community onFacebookwhere discussions are happening around its products and related projects. Engrave: wood, leather, cotton (clothing), rubber, paper, fruit, foam, acrylic, black anodized aluminium, blackened metal, stone, ceramic, EVA foam, stainless steel. Windows7. Please place the machine in a horizontal position before use. This helps the machine halt its operation when it tips over a certain angle. This article will help you decide if this machine is the best for your needs! This is a very good performance! The further down in the material the dot stays focused, the thicker material you will be able to cut. Install the motherboard cover in an original way. They decided to use the proper limit switches for both axis, which work very well. LightBurn isCAD,CAM, andcontrolcompatible. COMGO Z1 can work on several materials with both the 5W and 10W laser modules, but with the 10W module, you can engrave at almost double the speed of the 5W module. Below is the engraving of two sets of squares on the right side, one inside the other. It can not only engrave but can also cut fabrics, wood, cardboard, paper, and more. Test was made at three different speeds with 3mm, 6mm and 10mm thick Poplar plywood being cut.The test was performed in both scanning directions horizontal X axis (left-right) and vertical Y axis (back to front) as the cutting performance is different in each direction because the dot has rectangular shape. Interface IntroductionThere are six engraving modules available in APP, namely: Photo album, Material Library, Whiteboard, Photograph, QR Code, and Bar Code.Photo album: you can access the photo album through this module and select the pictures in the album for engravingMaterial library: here will come with some random engraving and cutting images to choose from, the material images will be updated from time to time.Whiteboard: you can input text for engraving through this module, you can change the text size and font.Photograph: you can take pictures through the cell phone camera and then engrave them, note that the pixel of the pictures taken will affect the quality of the engraving.QR Code: you can input text to generate a QR code for engraving, and you can scan it for recognition after engraving.Bar Code: can be engraved by entering the text to generate a bar code, which can be scanned andidentified after engraving.5.