Micro-Mark MicroLux LaserKnife 2525 – A Review

[Tom Piccirillo]

". . . why Mr. Frisoli responded in the manner that he did?"

 

 

You mean like a mama bear protecting its cub?

 

 

Tom

[mtaylor]

Hi Tom,

 

Thanks for the feedback.. and no hard-hat needed.   We're a pretty friendly bunch.  If you not familiar with this hobby, we do use a lot of exotic hardwoods and do some things maybe differently than say the RR hobby.  Part of what made me look into this was the woods and thicknesses listed that you tested.   If all it had said was "basswood" or "nothing more than 1/8" thick;", I wouldn't have bothered.  

 

Anyway.. 30 day trial period is a fair testing time.  And the customer service problem is understandable.  I just felt abandoned on my questions. 

 

I'm happy you're updating the manual.  I'd be happy to take a look at it if you'd like.  I spent the first 25 years of my working life as tech writer for various companies.  I hope there's a better explanation of how to align the mirrors.  That was a tough one....

 

At this point, the machine is doing what I ask of it... I've listed my parameters elsewhere about wood thickness and what woods work and don't work. My initial testing was truly a "let's wring this thing out and see what it will do"...  along with "what did I learn today?". 

 

Anyway, I do have a fairly complete list of the quality issues (I understand... first batch) and also a couple of improvements.

 

1)  The honeycomb bed wasn't level.  The spacers that hold it up, on two of them, the screws were stripped.  Also, they were not evenly countersunk so until I re-did the countersink, the bed wouldn't fit level.

 

2) The bed was a tighter fit at the one end than the other in the machine due to the pop rivets being different heights from the frame.  Relieving this also helped it sit level to the lens mechanism.

 

3) The lens issues.  The tube when extended out for thin cardstock or woods canted because of the play between the tube and holder.  My suggestion is either move the securing screw down about 1/4" or increase the height of the spacers between 1/4" and 1/2" inch.  This will improve the performance and repeatability of cuts if that play can be minimized.  I'll flip the lens back and re-test based on your input. 

 

The flipping might be a good point to put in the manual as the etching I think we would do, is mostly very fine, a light surface burn to highlight or in my case to mark the wood for carving. 

 

Right now, I'm still fiddling and testing various power levels and speeds on given thicknesses and wood types.   I'm also sorting out accounting for the kerf thickness on drawings I'm making.

[Tom Piccirillo]

Mark,

 

 

Thanks for your input. We're aware of what you mentioned and have already these issues up with the factory. Hopefully, the batch that's on the water will be improved, but sometimes the language barrier is a bit strong to overcome right away. We take shots at them, but we need to remember that their English is usually a lot better than our Chinese.

 

The lens holder will cant if you lay thin stock directly on the honeycomb platen. The thumb screw runs off the top of the tube. You can indeed raise the tube a bit without affecting the cutting/engraving much, or put a sheetwood spacer under the workpiece to raise it up a bit if you're concerned with focus.

 

The manuals are in a constant state of update. You'll see enhanced mirror alignment instructions already present on our web site.

 

 

Tom

[DJones]

Hi Tom, I agree- no hard hat needed. They are a friendly and fair-minded group here with a lot of diverse experience in many fields. As a newbie to their forum they have made me feel quite welcome, even in a largely male-oriented hobby. (I have actually built a couple model ships with a bit of help from my husband, but I'm definitely a newbie!)

 

I am happy to see that you responded to the issues openly.  We experienced decent and timely communication with your techs and were pleasantly surprised they were willing to work with us even outside the initial return policy period.

 

We did go through some very frustrating times trying to get the machine to work properly, even on basswood and cardstock, so something obviously was not quite right. Even the initial "Sea Shanty" tutorial failed to cut properly on the 1/64th chipboard which was one of the materials you provided for testing. That was the first out of box test we tried after the initial setup. You can read elsewhere on this thread about some of what we went through.

 

We're confident that Micro-Mark will send us a replacement machine that works properly.  We just hope the carriers pay attention to the box markings for "Fragile" and "This side up". 

 

I had sent a link to one of your techs for a company that sells those shipping handling indicators that will change color if a box is miss-handled in transit. I realize that adds a bit of cost to the product, but it's probably cheaper than replacing machines damaged in transit & fighting with the carriers for insurance claims.  It really gives the customer a little peace of mind that they can accept or reject a box knowing if it was handled properly. 

 

Thanks for addressing some of the issues and concerns.  We are looking forward to getting our replacement and having a much better experience. And of course we will be happy to post a positive result when that happens.  

 

I'm really surprised we have not run into more mention of the product online, given the huge number of hobby forums out there. We saw a lot of initial "buzz" about it, but nothing from anyone who had actually bought one, until we ran across Mark's post here.  I would think that some of the other initial 22 purchasers would have something to say about their experience one way or the other, as early adopters of the Micro-Mark version of the machine like Mark and we were. Perhaps we're just more "vocal"?

 

-- Debbie and Charles Jones

[DJones]

Tom, one more comment about the focal point for thin stock...your tech did mention that to us but we were warned by someone else never to put solid stock under whatever we were cutting or block the airflow with the honeycomb bed, because it could cause a fire. I hope I'm describing this correctly, but my husband built a simple jig sort of like an empty, thin picture frame to set on top of the honeycomb bed and lift up thinner product to get it closer to the lens. That way the airflow is not hindered..

 

I hope that tip will be helpful to others cutting thin stock.

 

-- Debbie & Charles Jones

[Chuck]

Just a quick note from admin...

 

What Mr Frisoli did was grounds for being banned from this site.  You cant pretend to be someone else and play games like that on this forum.   So a quick warning to Tom....dont  get cute.   He knew what he was doing.   I personally think the laser cutter is well overpriced for what it is.  You can alter  it and work for days adding new parts like Mark did on any Chinese machine bought on Ebay for $750.   When you spend $2000 for one that performs the same way and needs just as much attention there is definitely an issue.  But I will give you the benefit of the doubt so you can try and help these good folks who read on your site that they just needed to "plug it in and start cutting".  

 

That is clearly not the case....and it still says this on your site.  I find that very misleading since you just admitted as much and so did old Mama bear 

 

"But, as with using any delicate instrument, and as Mr. Taylor pointed out, a bit of technical savvy goes a long way toward achieving early success.

 

Now . . . I'll kid you not. To develop use of the machine to its full potential, you're going to have to spend some time with it, and learn the various techniques and tips and tricks"

 

Tom, if you are serious about being fair and straight with your customers,  I would expect you state the same on your website and in your catalog.  But I am not holding my breath.  So please be respectful to our members unlike Mr Frisoli.  I own a much better machine which actually did work straight out of the box with no replacement parts and in one hour I was cutting parts.....and I will recommend to all folks that they should consider another machine.  It might cost you more but they are proven machines....also wait for more reviews of this MicroMark Laser knife machine and tales of success or hardship before you dive in.  The research is key here.

 

Chuck

MSW Papa bear

[mtaylor]

Tom,

 

Checked out the new manual.  Maybe I read it wrong... the new units have a 110V Power Supply.   Is this a 110V input as I think it is?   The setup and much of the rest of the manual tell the user to plug it into a 220V source which would not be a good thing.  I stopped reading at that point and thought I'd better ask.

[GLakie]

Doesn't sound right to me Mark. A 110 volt is a common plug and wall outlet like in your living room. A 220 volt os something like you'd find for your electric dryer, or an arc welder.  Does this machine have a plug like this on it?

 

 

A 220 volt plug.

[mtaylor]

No, it's not the American 220VAC, George.  It has the, I believe it is, the European style plug with round posts.  I've run into these on cruise ships and some other places and it's what's on my cutter..  err.. LaserKnife. 

 

[Sjors]

That's correct Mark,

 

We are using those plugs for 220 V 

The other one without the pins are be used for the PC to give him power or another machine like the router that I have 

 

Sjors

[Tom Piccirillo]

The machine uses an external 110v to 220v power converter (a black box that sits on your workbench) so you can simply power up from your wall outlet.

 

Prior to June 9, 2015, we offered the converter for sale separately. As of June 9, 2015, we include it at no extra charge.

 

The converter plugs into the wall; the machine then plugs into the converter. All the plugs and sockets work together.

 

If you desire to eliminate the converter, you may plug the 220v machine cord directly into a mating 220v outlet (an adapter for the standard European two-pin plug we provided may be required). All the pumps and fans are powered though the machine, so you're all set.

[mtaylor]

Ok.. that works.   I wasn't sure since the 220V power supply in the unit is also available as a 110V power supply.

[Tom Piccirillo]

Every 110v internal power supply we tried burned out after a few hours of use.

 

I then switched to the high wattage external voltage converter and all those problems went away.

 

 

Tom

[DJones]

The Jones' Micro-Mark Laserknife 2525 update: 6 months later…

 

I apologize in advance for the extreme length of this post, but it’s hard to condense 6 months of quite varied experiences with a complex product into a few lines.

 

What a roller-coaster journey, but a good outcome. I promised several people I would update my experience with the Laserknife 2525 from Micro-Mark, so here I am.  (You can read about some of our earlier trials and tribulations in above postings, but there’s a happy ending finally.)

 

First, I am happy to report that we finally have a smoothly-operating laser cutter that is able to cut and engrave nicely on a variety of materials, as advertised. I found that their tech support staff was wonderful and responsive, but they- and we- had a bit of a learning curve along the way as very unexpected issues arose.

 

We have learned a lot, both from trying to troubleshoot different things with Micro-Mark’s tech support guys, and our own online research. They have since updated and enhanced their user manual, based on experiences and input from both Charles and I, Mark Taylor, and possibly other buyers. 

 

We still cannot find any other reviews online from people who have actually bought them other than Mark Taylor or us. This is puzzling considering the size of the online model shipbuilding and model railroading communities worldwide who would be a natural customer base for the product.

 

There’s a huge laser-cutting & engraving forum of nearly 3,000 members on Facebook and as far as we know, we are the only ones with the Micro-Mark Laserknife machine. The vast majority have the generic K-40’s (50’s, 60’s, and wattages upward) purchased directly from China, eBay, etc.-- and the forum abounds with nightmarish horror stories of dangerous flaws, fires, unuseable Moshi-Draw software that crashes or refuses to load, missing or bent parts, etc. There’s also some amazing and creative things being done with these laser cutters, despite the apparent lack of quality control at the factories.

 

Although we did pay more through Micro-Mark, there’s a lot to be said for having an American-based company to buy from.  We had a lot more recourse when issues arose and their customer service was good. 

 

It’s true that the machine is a basic “K-40” Chinese machine, but Micro-Mark did add some improvements and safety features and a much better software interface to Corel Draw, and some quality upgrades to the machine.

 

I would recommend this machine as a hobby laser cutter with a few caveats.

 

It is most definitely not a toy, and requires a bit of online research and familiarization beyond the user manual. You may need to be willing to tinker with it a bit to get the results you want. You need to be very aware of safety issues and NEVER bypass the safety switch and operate it with the door open! (You’ll see why in a few paragraphs, below.)

 

You must educate yourself on what materials you should or should not attempt to cut with the machine.  For example, PVC or Vinyl can cause a reaction that produces Chlorine gas in the cutting chamber. That can be pretty lethal for you or your laser cutter!

 

You might need to exercise loads of patience to get the mirrors aligned precisely, and check alignment and clean them (and the lens) frequently, depending on the materials you are cutting.  This can be a tedious but necessary process to ensure good results. That is not limited to this brand of machine, but just in general with smaller laser cutters.

 

The optics supplied with the Laserknife are sufficient for most hobby needs, and we have personally attained some pretty decent results, but the more expensive American-made laser cutters have much finer cutting lines or kerfs and much less edge char is formed.  They also have much more automated features.

 

Of course those machines cost 5x more than this one. Again…it’s ok for hobby use, or the limited uses I do for producing prototypes and small batches of laser-cut/engraved dollhouse accessory kits for my online business.

 

We had to go through one original and two replacement machines until we got one that worked properly.  

 

I will say that whether or not you are a fan of them, Micro-Mark as a company worked with us every step of the way, and this was at a pretty hefty expense to them to not only replace the machines but for covering shipping back and forth. It would have probably been far cheaper for them to just refund our money and send us on our way but they did stand behind their product.  This started back in April when we initially purchased the machine and continued up to late September.

 

These machines sometimes do not do well with the rigors of shipping via ground carriers such as UPS or Fed-Ex & the like. They apparently are prone to rough handling along the way Because of their awkward bulky shipping size & weight.

 

Micro-Mark did make some significant design changes to their packaging to help, but the first machine had the laser tube jolted so badly out of alignment we could not get it to work properly, despite hours of adjustments. We opted to return the machine for replacement.  When that machine arrived back at the factory the heavy metal case and box were bashed in as if it had been hit with a fork lift somewhere in transit! So much for “fragile” stickers.

 

The second machine arrived here with one of the belts hanging loose and its holding bracket and attachment bolts ended up rattling around and hiding in the power supply casing!  Good thing we didn’t turn it on without a thorough inspection.  That could have resulted in a nasty surprise had it shorted out.  

 

This was probably caused in transit.  We know for sure that the machine did not ship from Micro-Mark’s warehouse that way because we worked with one of their techs prior to him shipping it and he provided us video of the same machine cutting properly on our materials using the files we supplied.

 

He was absolutely meticulous in packing the machine carefully for shipment.  We were so stunned after carefully unpacking all the padding to see one of the driver belts hanging loose in the cutting chamber. Again…the rigors of shipping across country are apparently difficult for these sensitive machines.

 

The design from the Chinese factory was such that it was impossible to re-attach the driver belt without cutting a slot in the back of the metal case to try to slip a screwdriver in to reattach the belt pulley. It would have been a very delicate 2-person job because the laser tube was in the way.

 

Tom Piccarillo (President of Micro-Mark and a forum member here) told me that they have changed the design for better access to that for the next batch they order from the factory. That makes sense because belts do break, loosen, or wear out over time.

 

We opted not to repair the belt assembly ourselves even though their tech was willing to send tools and instructions overnight to us. After a lot of soul-searching and weighing of the pros and cons of a refund versus a yet another replacement, we returned the second machine and got our third (ahd hopefully final!) one.  

 

We didn’t want yet another learning curve with another brand of machine costing a lot more, nor did we want to save money but sacrifice customer service by trying to deal directly with China or eBay sellers.

 

The 3^rd one came from a second batch of machines from China and it did have visible improvements. The honeycomb bed was flat, square, and level- not warped- and did not require shimming as the prior ones did.

 

The gantry arm was level, unlike the first machine which we noticed was slightly off kilter and required us to level it manually.  Also the mirror assembly had some minor improvements that allowed for easier alignment. We noticed the lens seemed to be a slightly better quality and there was a minor change in color to the lens nozzle assembly.  

 

Unfortunately, the lens is an odd size so upgrading to better quality optics if desired can be tricky. Mark Taylor learned this when he upgraded his lens assembly. There are aftermarket upgrades, but you may sacrifice the ability to easily adjust focal length and may have to use positioning jigs, depending on what you are cutting. 

 

Once we got the 3^rd machine we were able to cut various thicknesses of Basswood, Maple and Walnut, as well as Acrylic, and cardstock.  We made a “cheat sheet” of speed and power settings that produced the best results with the various materials and thicknesses.  We refer to it often.

 

However…that was not also without incident  After we had been successfully cutting a fairly simple project, about mid-way through the operation, Charles suddenly noticed that the plastic chain that protected the L.E.D. (red pointer light) wires was glowing hot! 

 

Something had caused the laser tube to suddenly go out of alignment and split the beam. Part of it continued to cut ok, while the other park split and ricocheted back onto the chain & fried it. THIS IS WHY YOU DO NOT BYPASS SAFETY SWITCHES AND OPERATE IT WITH THE DOOR OPEN.  Fortunately, we knew better than to ever bypass the safety switch and Charles quickly shut off the machine but it was a real wake-up call and safety reminder.

 

After some digging into the problem we realized replacing the chain would be a pain. It would require cutting the L.E.D. wires, threading them into a new chain, soldering them and applying a heat shrink tube over the solder point.  Instead of all that hassle, their tech support provided us with a section of specially-modified chain that had the bottom cut out, so it could fit easily over the wires without cutting them. The links just popped into place after we removed the melted ones.  It’s worked fine ever since. 

 

We were quite perplexed as to what could suddenly cause it to go off kilter.  We noticed that the carriage tube assembly was not level but slanted slightly forward. It was just enough to make the tube split the beam.

 

The problem was we didn’t see any way to really level it or how it could have suddenly become un-level when it was cutting along just fine. We had been sending photos to their tech support guys and one of them noticed that our rollers sat a little differently on the guide rail than ones at their warehouse. He made a little instructional video and had us apply a bit of force and snap them back into position and that did the trick.

 

I would recommend this for it’s intended use- as a hobby machine.  You can spend a lot more (Upwads of $8k-$10k) for an American-manufactured machine with better quality optics, movable bed, auto-focus, extremely fine resolution and minimal char for cutting and engraving, etc. but for the price (and even this is a splurge), this seems to do what most hobbyists would need.

 

A couple of other things to note:  The cutting area is fairly small on this machine, but if you are willing to break projects down into smaller parts, it’s not an issue.

 

Also, if you live in an extremely hot climate such as we do (Phoenix, Arizona), the basic bucket water cooling system will not be sufficient to operate it in a garage in Summer! The laser tube requires a very constant operating temperature within a small range.

 

We tried adding frozen water bottles & gel packs and an aquarium temperature sensor alarm to the bucket, but the ambient room temperature in our garage can exceed 100 degrees in Summer and they just melted too quickly.

 

We ended up purchasing a CW5000 water chiller unit that cost ½ the price of the laser cutter (not cheap!) from an online source. The CW3000 model was just a cooler and not sufficient for our needs.  The chiller works great even in our blistering Summer heat.

 

Next purchase will be for a portable swamp cooler to keep the laser cutter operator himself more comfortable working out there in the Summer. (He’s a native Arizonan and claims the heat doesn’t bother him, but I am a wimp!)

 

I’m going to attach a photo of an engraved 1:12 scale decorative tray for a dollhouse. You can see how finely the engraving renders. The little “uncut” places are just bridges we put in the design so they stay attached to the background wood until released with a craft knife. We can even do the engraving finer than that, but I was going to paint the tray so wanted the engraving a little deeper to stand out in relief as you can see on the second tray sample. (It’s just got a rough top coat of craft paint on it. I plan to do a shabby chic, weathered finish.) The penny in the photo is approximately ¾” diameter for size reference.

 

Thanks for reading this wordy tome, and I hope this will not discourage anyone from giving the fascinating world of laser cutting & engraving a try. It has fabulous uses in the model shipyard and I’m sure Charles will post his own uses for it in his model building.

 

See y'all around the forums!

Debbie (and Charles) Jones

[mtaylor]

Excellent feedback and news, Debbie.  I'm tickled that the second generation is working for you.  I know it's been a hair-puller for you and Charles on this.

 

I've been following along with Debbie and Charles on this journey and I will note that MM has updated their manuals which, if available, would have solved most of my issues.   The hobby market is maturing so who knows where we'll be in a few years.  After my teething problems which are normal for any early adapter, it's working as I expected.  

 

As a side note, I will more than likely upgrade to an aftermarket laser tube for more power to able to cut the wood (3/16" and 1/4" boxwood in one pass) that I'm thinking of using for my next build.  It seems doable from the research and will take some modification (can't I ever leave anything stock?  ) to fit the tube.

[gjdale]

Thanks for a very informative post Debbie. I'm so glad you had a happy ending to your journey!

[Erebus and Terror]

Thanks for the posts Debbie and Mark - I'm keeping my eye on these and maybe a fourth or fifth generation will be in my future. Until then, I'll keep visiting my local library (they make one available to the public).

[DJones]

Thanks for the posts Debbie and Mark - I'm keeping my eye on these and maybe a fourth or fifth generation will be in my future. Until then, I'll keep visiting my local library (they make one available to the public).

 

You are so fortunate to have access to a laser cutter via your local library. What model is it?  We have a "maker's space" nearby and they have 2 of the nice Epilog laser cutters (as well as CNC machines and lots of other power tools), but their membership fees were over the top. We would have spent more annually in fees than the cost of the cutter & chiller we have. The machines were also booked solid with only odd times open to use them.  We love being able to just pop out into the garage and test out a new idea whenever we want.

 

Thanks for all the comments, everyone.

Debbie (& Charles) Jones

[Landlocked123]

Hi All,

 

Greetings from the great NRG meeting in Mystic, CT..

 

I'm heading to bed and thought I would check in with MSW. I've followed Mark's trials and tribulations with this machine in the early posts and just caught up right now.

 

The big question I have is; WHY BOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seems pretty obvious that this technology is not ready for the home ship builder at this price point. Buy a top of the line scroll saw and use all the time and effort you put into this machine, tweaking and sending it back and forth across the country (and ocean) and learn to master their saw.

 

Unless you need to manufacture 100 identical parts what's the point? If you are in business and need to manufacture a 100 identical parts, step up and buy the right machine. There is a cost to being an "early adopter" and to me this much aggrivation doesn't seem worth it.

 

Best,

John

[mtaylor]

John,

 

Well someone had to be the damned fool... It was my turn I guess.  As I explained earlier, I have the scroll saw, but given some eye problems, my scroll saw skills suck.  The machine is working for what I wanted it for, now inspite of the problems (solved) and the learning curve.  It won't do everything like thicker wood yet, but it will when I finally pull the trigger for some 3rd party upgrades.   It's no worse than someone doing a CNC mill or CNC lathe.  It does shine on multiple pieces of the same part.

 

As I've said before, "is it for everyone?  NO!".  Nor will I recommend that anyone go buy tech.

[Nirvana]

Sure a laser cutting machine would be fun to have, but can I justify the cost for my hobby?

My scroll saw is still in the box, not used so far and I paid 150 dollars for it at a sale out, not the regular 210 as the price had been for the time being.

When it comes to laser cut items, I will send my DWG drawings to Chuck and pay for the extra service.

Guess I can get a lot of laser cutting for 2000 dollars plus.

[John Allen]

Mark,

 

Bad customer service, and support have put more than one business under the bus. I am sorry for the time and expense you have had to expend to get a costly piece of equipment up and running where not talking about an exacto knife. You helped a lot of folks think twice before hopping on the band wagon with all your cognizant posts and reviews and saved them a lot of frustration and expense. Kudos 10 times over.

[mtaylor]

Thanks, John.  In all fairness... this was a new product when I got mine.  Support has ramped up since then.   For what the machine was targeted (model railway mostly with thn woods) it would work fine.  I needed something more robust and with more power.  I now have it via the upgrade path.  If I were doing this over, the MM would never have been considered.  But times change and so does the market.