New Endurance lasers

In this article, I would like to tell some interesting things about Endurance Lasers. Over the past 4 years, we have sold more than 2000 units worldwide, and our Facebook community is growing rapidly. I’ve started calling it the “Endurance family.”

When we started this business back in 2015 I did not expect that it would become so successful. Back then we only offered 2.1 watt lasers. Many of our customers wanted more capable and powerful lasers. So the business was developing pretty slowly. People wanted to cut thicker materials and engrave firmer surfaces, metals for instance. That moved us towards higher power laser modules. Since then we have developed many laser add-ons: 2.1 watt, 3.5 watt, 5.6 watt, 8 watt, 8.5 watt, 10 watt, 10 watt+ and 20 watt double beam lasers to give people more power and capabilities.

10 watt laser with a laser control board

We have achieved a lot: our 10/10+/20 watt lasers cut 3-4 mm of plywood and wood quite easily and can engrave on many surfaces: steel, stainless steel, copper, brass, stone, glass, etc. But that did not stop us from advancing further with new technologies. Right now we keep on testing more powerful diodes and laser tools to build more powerful units for our customers. Our latest improvements make our lasers more efficient.

Our 10/10+/20 watt lasers have undergone many improvements over the years. Working with 445 nm NICHIA laser diodes, we seem to have hit their physical limits. We simply could not increase the beam power any further. Now we are exploring new optics opportunities including fiber coupling and laser beam combinations. Soon we plan to announce a triple-beam laser with 30 watt optical power output.

10 watt+ Laser Attachment

We have added some useful features to a 10 watt+ laser as well: such as an air assist, a bigger focusing ring and a laser box to measure the temperature, voltage and current while the laser is working. I’m proud to say that at the moment that our 10 watt+ is one of the most advanced laser attachments on the market today, suitable for any 3D printer or CNC machine. A bigger focus ring lets us keep the laser focused all the time as opposed to many Chinese analogs which can not do this. Our next step is to make a more powerful unit.

Research on the Nescel + FAP800 by Coherent

Trying to build more powerful units, we redirected our attention to some modules by Nescel and Coherent. Nescel offers a 10 watt 520 nm laser model while Coherent offers a FAP800 with 15 / 25 / 30 / 45 watt laser modules with a NIR wavelength of 808 nm. The difficulty in operating these lasers is related to the specific voltage and current setting. Thus, a FAP800 Coherent requires 2V and 40A which is not typical, and to find affordable AC DC or DC DC converters is a challenge. That is why we have developed our own AC DC with an adjustable voltage of 1.5-3V with stabilized and adjustable current settings. Now this AC DC converter is available for you.

Our first launch of the FAP800 25 watt laser module brought us a good measure of optimism. Though there are still some issues to be resolved such as the: cooling of the laser module and the optics on the fiber and laser driver module in order for it to be fully compatible with all CNC machines and 3D printers. However, testing and running of the Nescel 520 nm 10 watt AVG did not satisfy us and we decided to leave that technology for a while.

Community and support

I personally believe that a good, friendly and supportive community is very important to a company or a business, especially to a startup. It is generally acknowledged that if you run your own business you must forget about days off and holidays. And I can say it is very true, as I am writing this article on a train taking me to the mountains. I am lucky that our Facebook community unites a lot of knowledgeable, supportive and interesting people. When my customers find drawbacks in our products they do not get angry, they very often help us improve them. There is always room for improvement. Our community members care about our product and are always eager to help. I’m so grateful to all of them for their kind words and assistance. This is very inspiring.

Another thing that I actually find very important is support. I do not understand why many businesses do not really care about their customers’ opinions. Look around, all robotic answering machines, no option to call or talk to a real person, no option to leave feedback or make a suggestion. That places me as a consumer in a strange position: I pay for the product, but what about support and service? Most businesses selling their products on Ebay or Amazon just leave you on your own.

Upgrade your current laser

This Upgrade plan came to my mind once we started to release more and more powerful units. Some of our customers feel upset when we begin to sell brand new products soon after they have made a purchase. That is why we offer buyback and upgrade options. A customer can exchange an older version of the item for a newer one with a little extra payment. We like that. This works even for a customer who has already has a laser from another manufacturer. It is quite simple with our upgrade kit to get a double beam laser(one US farming companies took advantage of this offer and cuts tape now with their new upgraded lasers).

Different applications

We are exploring new ways of using diode lasers in daily life and helping CNC users and enthusiasts to try them in action. The most popular way of using them today is in laser marking (etching) on metallic surfaces and laser cutting of acrylic, wood and plywood. For example our customer Florian Kelsch opened a new business with our 10-watt laser, and he is a real master of laser cutting and laser engraving on metallic surfaces.

Giveaway & Contests

To inspire people to do something with their own hands we run photo contests and giveaways from time to time. Our last giveaway just ended a week ago as well as a photo contest. Our last giveaway attracted almost 1000 participants and we got over 60 nice pictures for our photo contest. If you want to stay updated please subscribe to our Youtube channel, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

A recent contest entry by Ayesha.

Contribution to colleges

I believe that supporting academics, students is a key point out of our social mission. Most research plans look quite promising and some have a lot of practical value. I wish we could donate more lasers in future. I am sure that there are so many different ways to use diode lasers in pharma, microbiology, medicine, quantum physics, classical physics, chemistry, etc. I am deeply concerned that use of powerful laser modules are still very limited. By inspiring educators and academics to play with them we hope to change this in the future. We usually donate older lasers free of charge to educators. We also like to send free lasers to academics and STEM centers worldwide, this February 2019 we sent 9 units to educators.

Learn more about us and see our products here.