Work in progress – the G9 is still in the final testing stages, these are the first impressions and results, those will be updated constantly.
LightBurn is not fully supported yet! Additionally, you need the LightBurn Pro license, the LightBurn Core license does not support galvo lasers!
Sculpfun has added a new laser to its product range. The laser sources remain diodes (10W 450 nm blue and 2W 1064 nm infrared), but the mechanics have been changed to galvo technology. The fact that only small mirrors have to be moved instead of the complete mechanics in a galvo laser means that these devices are orders of magnitude faster than classic diode lasers. The G9 promises speeds of 5000 mm/s, which corresponds to 300,000 mm/min in the classic diode laser measuring mode. However, higher speeds also mean lower energy transfer, so this does not provide an advantage with all materials (cutting is not always faster), see also the explanations on settings. However, you can still have a huge advantage over conventional mechanics when engraving.
The G9 supports both LightBurn and the in-house software SGD Laser Maker. The latter currently offers better support for the G9, LightBurn only works with the new (still beta) version 1.7 and does not yet support all the functions of the G9. I would describe this as an experimental feature at the moment. SGD supports all functions, but is itself still quite new and therefore still contains some bugs and translation errors. I think it will take a few more months before the software support can be described as complete.
Official pictures
Installation and setup
Measured current consumption of the G9:
| Off (power supply plugged in) | 11 W |
| On (standby) | 42 W |
| Blue laser 100% | 93 W |
| Red laser 100% | 77 W |
The following video shows how the laser is set up:
If you want to use a rotary, take a look here:
And, if you use the slide extension, see here:
If you are wondering what the black sheets that are supplied are for, this is calibration paper, which can be used to easily adjust the settings and distortions. The basic procedure is shown here:
Software
The latest version of the software can be downloaded here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13lOoC9zgjKCIQHU2PznEgJGnRL66qgmD. A video guide on the basic software functions has been created recently:
I would also recommend renaming the first material in the database to NONE or similar and setting it to 0 or 1% power. SGD constantly loads the first layer for new objects, and this prevents you from destroying your object with the wrong settings (the default is to laser at 60%).
LightBurn
The G9 is advertised as being LightBurn compatible. Unfortunately, this is not yet the case. The drivers are being worked on, but so far, not all functions are supported and there still seem to be a few bugs.
The laser should be configured in LightBurn with the following settings:
With these settings, the repeat button on the side of the device can be used to start the process, the door sensor works and both lasers (blue/infrared) can be used. Unfortunately, other functions such as focusing do not yet work properly.
Addons
I created a jig template that can be used to engrave pens or similar objects. You can download it here: download (LightBurn file) You can extend it easily to create holders for other objects.
Results
Here is a small collection of tests that I have carried out with the G9. You can find many more examples in the official Facebook groups for Sculpfun and the G9.
