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We've recently had many enquiries as to which laser cutter customers should buy so in response to this we have put together a comparison between the Makeblock Laserbox Pro and the Emblaser 2. Laserbox VS Emblaser 2 Brief Comparison Chart   Laserbox Emblaser 2 Specifications Product Dimensions Laserbox: 95.8 x 52.8 x 26.8cm, Smoke Purifier: 52.8 x 26 x 26.8cm Emblaser: 54 x 72 x 20cm, F2000 Filtration Unit: 42.5 x 25 x 41cm Product Weight Laserbox: 43.3kg Smoke Purifier: 12.25kg Emblaser: 12.7kg F2000 Filtration Unit: 15.35kg Shipping Dimensions Laserbox: 107 x 63 x 43cm, Smoke Purifier: 63.3 x 40.4 x 33.6cm Emblaser: 77 x 65 x 24cm, F2000 Filtration Unit: 51 x 34 x 58cm Shipping Weight Laserbox: 45kg, Smoke Purifier: 15kg Emblaser: 19.60kg, F2000 Fitration Unit: 19kg Laser Type C02 5 Watt Laser Diode Material Capacity 500 x 300 x 15mm 500 x 300 x 50mm Safety Classification Class 1 (the safest laser device rating) Class 1 (the safest laser device rating) Connectivity USB Yes Yes Wifi Yes Yes Ethernet Yes No Materials Emblaser 2 Commonly Used Materials Material Thickness Engraved Cut Notes Fabric - Cotton 3mm Yes Yes   Fabric - Felt 6mm No Yes All colours except white. Leather - Brown Vegetable Tanned 4mm Yes Yes Treatment & color dependant. Air-Assist recommended. Paper/Card - Corrugated Cardboard 6mm Yes Yes   Paper/Card - Pasteboard 2.6mm Yes Yes   Paper/Card - Plain Paper 3mm Yes Yes Any Colour. Plastic - Acrylic Black 5mm Yes Yes   Plastic - Acrylic Green, Red Yellow 3mm Yes Yes   Plastic - Acrylic Translucent (tinted) - Yes No   Plastic - Acrylic Blue - Yes No   Plastic - Acrylic Transparent & White - No No Possible with coating. Plastic - Polypropylene 3mm Yes Yes Air-Assist recommended. Plastic - Styrene 1.5mm Yes Yes   Wood - Birch Plywood 6mm Yes Yes   Wood - Balsa 10mm Yes Yes   Wood - Hardwood Oak 3.8mm Yes Yes   Wood - MDF 6mm Yes Yes   Anodised Aluminium - Yes No   Slate - Yes No   Corkboard 3mm Yes Yes Air-Assist required. Rubber 2mm Yes Yes Air-Assist recommended. Laserbox Pro Commonly Used Materials Material Cut Engrave Mark Paper Yes Yes Yes Corrugated Paper Yes Yes Yes Wood Yes Yes Yes AcrylicYes Yes Yes Yes Cloth Yes Yes Yes Denim Yes Yes Yes Leather Yes Yes Yes Base Plate Yes Yes Yes ABS-based Colour Board Yes Yes Yes PET Yes Yes Yes Rubber Yes Yes Yes Veneer Yes Yes Yes Cork Yes Yes Yes Sandpaper Yes Yes Yes Food Yes Yes Yes Glass Fiber Yes Yes Yes Plastic Yes Yes Yes Delrin Yes Yes Yes Glass No Yes Yes Marble No Yes Yes Rubber Stamp No Yes Yes Stone No Yes Yes Ceramic No Yes Yes Tile No Yes Yes Anodized Aluminum No Yes Yes Corian No Yes Yes Extraction * { box-sizing: border-box; } /* Create three equal columns that floats next to each other */ .column2 { float: left; width: 50%; padding: 10px; } /* Clear floats after the columns */ .row:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } F2000 Indoor Fume Filtration Unit The F2000 Indoor Fume Filtration Unit is very quiet and uses a set of filters containing activated carbon to remove visible fumes. It is also powerful enough to support 2x Emblaser 2 machines at the same time usign a 3D printed connector. Laserbox Smoke Purifier The smoke purifier is just that, it takes the smoke particulate out of the Laserbox however it still needs to be ventilated. Software LightBurn LightBurn is a very powerful software with simple to use tools. The Beginner Mode feature simplifies the interface helping first time users to understand the basic functions without feeling overwhelmed by the various settings and advanced tools. The Emblaser 2 material library contains a varierty of different materials and their recommended cutting/engraving settings. These settings can be easily adjusted and edited to suit your specific material. Laserbox The software is very user-friendly and has a very clean/simple layout making it less overwhelming for students and teachers who are using it for the first time. The software is split into two sections; working and design. The working section contains a view of the material that is in the Laserbox (from the 5MP camera) and an overlay of what you have imported to cut or engrave. The design section contains a white canvas showing what you have imported and various settings for manipulating its orientation & size, inserting rectangular & circular shapes as well as lines and more. Once you have finished moving and editing your project you can preview the outcome and get an estimated time of finish. Our Final Thoughts They are both fantastic machines however if you are after a machine mainly for engraving we would recommend the Emblaser 2 as its engraving is more precise, has different options to find the optimal setting for your material and also comes with the Air-Assist which prevents overburn on the material. If you are after a machine for cutting multiple different materials in a short amount of time then we would recommend the Laserbox Pro as it is a more powerful machine and cuts most materials in 1 pass compared to the Emblaser where it will require multiple.

Over the past 2 weeks we've been given the opportunity to test out the Makeblock Laserbox, a new laser cutter & engraver. Here's our first impressions on it. It's a very large machine compared to other laser cutters and engravers such as the Emblaser 2, and a lot heavier making it more difficult to move around. Aside from its size and weight we were very impressed with it. It cut and engraved quickly with clean results and the software was just so simple to use making it a fun and enjoyable experience. Pros It's easy to set up The Laserbox comes packed as two boxes; the Laserbox, cables, exhaust pipes & manual and the Smoke Purifier. The manual is easy to understand and has diagrams showing how to connect the Laserbox and Smoke Purifier together. It's relatively quiet When the Laserbox is running a cut or engraving an image it is very quick and doesn't emit a lot of noise, this is perfect for a class environment where you may have more than one going in the background while doing other activities.   Software The software is very user-friendly and has a clean/simple layout making it less overwhelming for students and teachers who are using it for the first time. The software is split into two sections; working and design.   Working This section contains a view of the material that is in the Laserbox (from the 5MP camera) and an overlay of what you have imported to cut or engrave.   Design This section contains a white canvas showing what you have imported and various settings for manipulating its orientation & size, inserting rectangular & circular shapes as well as lines and more. Once you have finished moving and editing your project you can preview the outcome and get an estimated time of finish.   Sketch & Cut Feature This is by far our favourite feature of the Laserbox. With the sketch and cut feature you can sketch on a piece of white paper or their official materials in red or black pen, place it inside the laser box and the 5MP camera will scan the sketch and cut or engrave it with the press of a button. There's no computer needed.   Cons Size & Weight The Laserbox is quite heavy weighing 40kg, a two person machine to move. It's also large taking up a our whole workbench.   Smoke Purifier The smoke purifier is just that, it takes the smoke particulate out of the Laserbox however it still needs to be ventilated. You can use 3rd party filtration units such as the F2000 Filtration Unit which we used. No Air-Assist The Laserbox does not have an air-assist and you can really see the difference not having one makes when cutting and engraving matreials such as 3mm MDF which we used in the pictures below. The picture on the left is from the Makeblock Laserbox, as you can see there is a lot of overburn due to the lack of an air-assist. On the right is the Emblaser 2 which does have an air-assist. You can definitely see the difference it makes.

The super-smart Emblaser Laser Cutter team are just about to take the lid off a very cool feature. You can sketch a drawing on paper, then simply put it inside the Emblaser 2 and the camera will scan & trace your drawing, then you can simply engrave your design onto glass, metal, acrylic, wood or fabric. Even though the workspace camera software is not quite ready, the emblaser team just couldn't hold back from showing us the amazing progress the LightBurn team has been making. The left side image below shows the view from the workspace camera mounted in your Emblaser 2. The one on the right shows the result of lens distortion removed. The following image on the right shows simulating the camera looking straight down onto the workspace. Ultimately, this 'top-down' view will be displayed in the LightBurn workspace, allowing you to position your material or artwork together. Free Trial

Announcing new software for the Emblaser: LightBurn The next generation of software for the entire range of Emblaser machines. LightBurn is a simple to use, yet powerful multi-platform program for controlling your Emblaser 1 & 2. You can install the product on up to two machines at a time, so people with Mac/PC setups, or a PC in the house and one in the shop will be covered. Licenses can be transferred between machines if you get a new PC. | Free Trial   Update LightBurn Software Activations Each LightBurn license included with a new machine purchase will now contain 10 activations. This will allow you to install the software onto 10 different computers. For additional licence options please email info@cdsoft.com.au.   Full Emblaser 1 & 2 support. Fully Mac & Windows compatible. Simple to use and learn. Lightning fast tool-path generation. Advanced photo engraving features. Built in drawing tools. Image to Vector tracing. Support for dxf, svg, ai, pdf, jpg, bmp, png, gif, tga. Dedicated development team.