Review on 🔥 Twotrees Totem S 5.5w Laser Engraver CNC Laser Engraving Cutting Machine - DIY Metal Marking 300x300mm (60% pre-Installed) by Denise Davis

When I saw this pop up among available Vine items I ordered it immediately. I thought about getting one and saw it as a great opportunity to explore more hobbies. MMU2S multi-material update). I print a lot of material - mostly functional parts (not necessarily "artistic" content). I have come to the conclusion that this is probably not the ideal product for a beginner. To find the best settings for different wood materials, thicknesses, etc., you have to learn something. I bought a few pieces of 1.5mm and 3.0mm plywood (and some 5.2mm plywood from a hardware store). With no mods installed (more on mods later) I found, that it will cut through 1.5mm basswood plywood very easily with minimal scorching/burning of the surfaces near the cuts. With 3.0mm material it can be cut if the laser is repeated enough, but I'm still working on the optimal settings. converted to a vector format using the program and then etched onto a 1.5mm thick sheet of plywood. I thought it turned out pretty well (photo attached). I also made some changes to it: --- Added limit switches. The control board has connectors for the limit switches, and with some wiring adjustments (the switches I ordered had to be swapped out for 5V and the signal wires in the connectors) I got it working. In the end I donated some bed space because I decided Implementing the change because I'm taking advantage of the "Aim" reticle laser and the offset required some compromises that I won't detail here. Limit switches allow the laser to be "placed" in a repeating position. --- Added digital tool "Focal Length" with a cheap plastic digital caliper. I found a 'ding' on Thingiverse that allows you to mount a modified digital caliper on the side of the laser head and then use the depth gauge pin on the end to examine the top of your work piece for optimal 20mm focus. Distance. I ordered an inexpensive plastic caliper for this purpose (plastic for weight reduction and for easier sawing of about 3 inches). from the end of the caliper to make it work with a special bracket, 3D printed). So far this works pretty well and allows me to set the focus with a thumbscrew adjustment. It's easier than using the 3D printed 20mm cube that comes with the kit. Set up Air Assist. It's a bit more complicated, but I found another nozzle design inspiration on Thingiverse to add air assist to the engraver. If you are unfamiliar with an aerator, this is just one way to blow air around the workpiece where the laser will burn through the part. The air must contain the combustion residues/soot/ash/etc. blow away. while the machine is running. I use an aquarium air pump to deliver air to a nozzle that I designed, to attach (screw) them to the bottom of the laser head. I currently have a simulated version that simply pushes into the laser head as I have yet to get the M3 taps needed to thread the grooves on the aluminum laser head. My final design will have an o-ring to prevent air from escaping through the top of the nozzle (between the nozzle and the head). Initial results have been good - the visual appearance of marks/cuts is much better (less stinging/burning) but I'm still not sure if the cut quality will suffer much. More research is needed here. I may also need to upgrade the pump to a larger capacity to get a little more airflow. I've attached a photo of the test cuts - with the air off for the bottom group and the air on for the top group. The appearance of cuts is clearly visible when the ventilation is turned on. Please note that this material was 5.2mm thick plywood which is probably thicker than this cutter can normally handle. One area for improvement is instructions. They are difficult to read/decipher due to the fine print and poor English translation. There is an additional instruction page detailing some of the changes - PLEASE NOTE - particularly when it comes to attaching the laser head to the X-carriage. Includes a new part that was not part of the original pipe wire manager guide. I also noticed that with my kit, the flash drive that came with it could not be read by any of my computers (PC or Mac). The SD card had readable content, but I had to remove a lot of Chinese characters from the folder names to be able to open some files. I'll probably come back to this review when I have more experience with it. Initial results are very good - I think $300 is great value, but you have to be willing to tinker and experiment and spend some time finding the best settings. Keep in mind that the mods I added are not required - I just chose to make them because I like this style of modding and messing around.