The Ortur Laser Master 2 is by far the simplest laser cutter we've used. Arriving in a relatively small box with a variety of pre-assembled parts, it takes between 45-60 minutes to build, and there's nothing complex or difficult in the process. The connection is easy enough, and once complete, everything starts to look very promising.
Design
You have simple, and then you have the Ortur Laser Master 2. It's essentially a square frame of bolted together extruded tube with the laser module mounted on runners on top. This enables the X and Y-axis movement of the tool head across the work area, all controlled by the computer connected 32-bit mainboard and two stepper motors.
The design is simplistic; you have the mechanical hardware and then the control board. This control board features the power socket and USB port alongside two buttons that power on or kill the power, and that's it. To control and upload files, the Ortur needs to be plugged into a computer, Mac, PC or Linux running software that's compatible with the system. As the system is designed around open source designs and code, there's a good amount of software that's compatible with it.
Features
The big feature of the Ortur Laser Master 2 is the large engraving area at 400mm x 430mm, that's quite impressive for a machine of this price.
While the design is simple, and safety might not seem like a major consideration due to the open design, the company has built-in three clever safety features.
The first is the Active Position Protection which is activated by a built-in G-Sensor. If the machine is knocked or moved then the laser automatically cuts out.
Likewise, if you disconnect the USB for any reason, the laser will stop. Finally, if you've manually switched the laser on but don't for any reason move the tool head, again the laser will cut out after a few moments of inactivity. Although simple, the Ortur benefits from a powerful 32-bit motherboard. This enables fast smooth carving, which is far superior to many 16-bit models. The spec of the motherboard is based around the STM32 MCU chipset which enables <3000mm/min engraving speed, 0-100% Laser power, 445+-5nm laser wavelength and 921600 Baud. Pixel accuracy is what defines the laser cutters quality, and here the Ortur boast a 300pixels per inch or about 0.81um, which is impressive.
Setup overview
Opening the box, which in itself is relatively small, the Ortur Laser Master 2 is carefully laid out within. If you're experienced with building such things, it will take between 10-20 minutes, if not, then even the most inexperienced should have the construction complete within 45-60 minutes. Once completed, the machine can be plugged into a computer and your choice of software loaded. In this test, I found that Lasergrbl was by far the easiest software to use.
