Our newest laser system to hit the market, the LC-60A, has just been released for orders and we wanted to take some time to help everyone understand what set's these two products apart.
To start, let's compare the raw specifications:
| LE5040 | LC-60A | |
| Price | $349 | $499 ($450 during Early Bird Sale) |
| Work Area | 500 x 400 mm | 600 x 600 mm |
| Laser Type | 5.5w Variable Focus | 5.5w Fixed Focus |
| Max Travel Speed | 10000mm/min | 10000mm/min |
| Easy Assembly | No | Yes |
| Adjustable Z-Axis | No | Yes |
| Built-in Air Assist | No | Yes |
| Offline Controller Compatible | Yes | Yes |
| Emergency Stop Button | No | Yes |
| Limit Switches | No | Yes |
We got a lot of feedback on the LE5040 from our amazing community and we tried our best to implement as much of the features as possible in the LC-60A, and even some features that no one expected! Let's take a look at some of the features in more detail:
5.5w Fixed Focus Laser Module
Starting it's life as a laser module for the 3018 PROVer CNC, the fixed focused laser module brought a truckload of improvements over it's now-retired variable focus counterpart, drastically increasing reliability and even squeezing more cutting power out of the 5.5w output that both laser modules use.
With all of our products using a fixed-focused laser module, a 20mm focusing tool is included. All you need to do is lower the laser until it touches the tool for a perfect engraving every time!
Easy Assembly
One of the most common bits of feedback that we got back from the community was about how difficulty it could be to assemble the LE5040, since the frame needed to be squared with care and the belts needed to both be installed and tensioned; for some it would take multiple attempts to assemble it correctly.
In response to this we designed the LC-60A from the ground-up with ease of assembly as a priority and it comes partially pre-assembled right out of the box, with the ever so tricky belts installed and pre-tensioned. It's truly as different as night and day!
Adjustable Z-Axis
Despite the LE5040 having a variable focus lens, we also got a lot of requests for this feature as customers were finding that they needed to prop the legs of the 4030 up on other objects to raise the LE5040 higher up into the air because the focus range of the lens was so minimal.
With the LC-60A we not only added legs to lift it further into the air, but also added a manual z-axis onto the machine with a 50 mm range of movement. With this setup you can engrave both thick and thin materials with minimal effort.
Limit Switches & Emergency Stop Button
The LC-60A comes with 3 limit switches, one for each axis, to allow for the laser to home for users to be able to quickly repeat the same job for production purposes, and an emergency stop button to protect both yourself and your machine whenever something goes wrong.
Built-In Air Assist
The real star of the show here, the LC-60A is our first to offer this feature and we are very excited about it.
In many ways adding compressed air to a laser cutter is similar to turbocharging a car, each facilitating the movement of more air over a shorter period of time to get more work out of your machine. When it comes to cars, this adds up to additional horsepower, but with laser cutters it results in being able to cut deeper, faster and cleaner. Take a look at the difference between having air assist and not:
In this comparison with air assist, the laser cut through this plywood in one pass, and did so with a cleaner more defined cut. Without air assist you could possibly cut through a number of continual passes, but the edges would still be burnt and require significantly more work to clean up afterwards.
That's why the LC-60A has the LC designation, as it is our first true Laser Cutter, compared to the LE5040 which is a Laser Engraver first and foremost.
Conclusion
While the LE5040 is and always has been a great laser engraver for its value, the LC-60A has really been designed to improve things on all fronts, from ease of use, quick assembly, enhanced cutting power and even a larger, deeper work area that will fit more of your projects!
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