Ever wanted to put your name or picture on every single one of your belongings?
This review/tutorial is geared toward introducing and explaining a particular piece of state of the art consumer grade laser engraving technology!
Meet The Laser Pecker
The Laser Pecker is a portable laser engraver that can be used to personalize, stylize or brand your goods and belongings, create cool trinkets for special occasions, art or even start a small business.
boasting a wide variety of materials that you can engrave on (pretty much anything short of rock and metal), built in safety measures, supreme portability and overall designed for anybody to use, anywhere. With THAT level of supposed convenience and potential, I had to try it out for myself and spread the word.
Unboxing
I have to say, this packaging is amazing. When you open it up, You can almost feel the quality emanating from it already.
It’s efficiently compact and cushioned to the point of no rattling. It’s easy to tell that somebody took their time and put a lot of thought into the packaging alone. Very professional.
Inside you’ll find the instructions, the laser, a ruler for adjusting your distance, a tripod to place the laser, a very well made braided fabric usb type-c power supply wire with an outlet adaptor to match, stylish protective eyewear and some sample sheets of paper to practice on.
Very impressive how small this thing really is. It can fit into a small bag and feels less than 5 pounds.
Operational Setup
Putting the laser together is pretty straightforward with one thing to keep an eye out for: The distance from the laser to its target.
The laser MUST be at a minimum distance of 200mm(8inches) from its target for an efficient operation.
Use the length of the included ruler to help you find the perfect distance. Also, be sure the laser itself is parallel (not tilted) to the ground to avoid any quality discrepancies.
Power supply
One of the many appeals of this laser is that it runs perfectly with most decent portable power banks such as the Anker Power Core 5000 (which, by the way, is the most reliable charger I’ve ever had. Charges quick and i bought mine 3 years ago with no sign of degradation in quality)
This feature Not only emphasizes the designers forethought, but also the Laser Peckers portability and convenience. Love it!
Laser Pecker App
This thing is designed with self sufficiency in mind. With no need for a computer to function, you simply download the Iphone/Android compatible app and your ready to go.
The downsides to me are the app permissions they ask of you. the app NEEDS to know your location in order to run for some reason. Not really crazy about that :/
Also while the app is pretty stable most of the time and doesn’t really make mistakes or give you any trouble, sometimes it’ll have small hiccups that can throw you off a little. It’s a very small problem that can probably be fixed in one update.
But again, the laser itself is so well built that I’ve even been disconnected from the device and the laser will STILL complete the engraving. So even if the software has a glitch, the laser still knows what to do and will complete the job anyway.
Other than that, the app feels nice, efficient and user friendly. Once downloaded, it will ask you to make an account. Once confirmed, you’re all set.
Getting to Know the App in 3 Easy Steps
The Laser Pecker app’s got a few nifty features that allow you to jump right into the fun stuff without any headaches with its very simple yet versatile interface.
There are only 3 simple steps to start engraving with this thing. No crazy software or crazy computer science. Its almost as easy to use as a microwave.
Step 1: Pick an Idea
The app has 3 light weight, yet powerful methods of engraving. While not exactly as heavy duty as photoshop, the app features all the standard editing tools one would expect from a software like this.
-You can engrave text. A nice little text option to engrave words with. The options are a bit limited but the fonts it does have all look pretty nice.
-You can draw an engraving Free Hand. The app allows you to draw engravings free hand using your finger or stylus.
-But really its most powerful feature is the ability to upload any picture from your phone or tablets gallery. Its got simple filter functions that allow you change the style of the engraving to Gcode, silhouette, sketch or photo. With all the basic editing tools for you to erase, crop, rotate etc.
Step 2: Setting the Area
After selecting the kind of project you want, you then pick a size and press the “Start Preview” button.
Preview mode allows you to see how big and where your print will be and helps to adjust the position and size of your engraving.
Step 3: Select Material
After your satisfied with the size and position, you now select the material your engraving.
The 12 pre programmed materials have their own presets so you dont need to do much except maybe adjust the “depth” to control how deep and dark the print will be.
I was really expecting (half hoping) a zap or buzzing sound while this thing ran lol but very impressed to find that it’s totally silent. Not only that, but it engraves pretty quickly, actually. In about half the time i was expecting. Not bad at all 🙂
Another plus is that it works great in the background! Meaning you can watch youtube or something while your engraving gets done and not have to worry about a disconnect.
Trying Different Materials
Paper’s cool but when you buy something like a laser engraver, you really want to try it out on like wood or… anything that’s not paper! The Laser Pecker has 12 easy- to-engrave, built in materials with the option of saving new ones. So far, besides the included test paper:
I’ve Tried Wood
These small wooden slices are not only a good test bed, but they make for excellent trinkets.
Great for practicing Portraits and other photo realistic images.
I’ve Tried Bamboo
So far, Bamboo turned out to be the easiest to work with. Don’t often get any ugly prints and i love the more glossy quality it brings out in both pictures and text.
And I’ve Tried Leather
And finally, i tried out an old leather wallet and was rather pleased with results.
Nice line work. One thing to note about black leather is that sometimes it hard to gauge the quality as the laser leaves a black trail over its work and is more apparent after its been wiped down a bit.
Still haven’t tried out the rest of the potential materials. Like cloth or jeans. But what I’m REALLY interested in, is glass or aluminum which isn’t officially supported but there seems to be some cool tricks to get it to work. 😉
Laser Pecked Coca Cola Can:
Pros and Cons
Before i give you my final verdict, id like to break down the pros and cons of The Portable Laser Pecker to further explain my rating.
Upsides:
-Totally Quiet
-Supremely Portable. It can fit in a small bag that’s a little larger than your pocket.
– Portable charger Functionality. I love that the laser is not limited to an outlet or specific power supply to be able to use.
-Rather Decent Engraving space. this thing can engrave up to about the size of a polaroid picture. Making it highly practical and versatile.
-Incredibly fast. Most print jobs take as long as a short conversation to complete and even faster whe engraving text.
– Runs Well in the Background. Very handy when multitasking as there is no need to devote your entire device to an engraving projects runtime.
– Ridiculously Low Learning Curve. Wholeheartedly built with the average person in mind. Easy enough for your grandmother to operate.
– Professionally designed and well thought out with built in safety features and fail safes, consistent functionality and a long life span boasting to run at 9 hours a day for 3 years before finally giving out.
Downsides:
-Needs your location at all times of operation and I’m not too crazy about being monitored.
– Software not as powerful as it could be. The app is not quite as solid as the laser itself and could probably use 1 or 2 extra features like more font choices. But I’m pretty much satisfied with it.
Final Verdict
All in all, The Laser Pecker is worth every penny. It’s exactly what it says it is: a portable, general purpose laser engraver built for mostly anyone with its highly considerate design. I give it a 9/10.
Thank you
That’s all for now. As usual, stay tuned for updates, keep in touch and I’d like to thank all my contributors for helping to make this post possible.
Please consider showing your support with a donation. Your gratitude aids and abets my obsession and helps me get more gadgets to research so i can share more knowledge with the world and hopefully expand on what people think is conveniently possible. Thank you for finding me.
Cheers! 🙂