Hansmaker F1 Pro 20W Fiber Laser Marking Machine Test and Review

Introduction

The Hansmaker F1 Pro 20W Fiber Laser Marking Machine is a sub-branded product from Hanslaser aimed at the desktop fiber laser marking market. Hanslaser is an experienced laser company with strong R&D and is already a leader in industrial-grade laser engraving machines.

The Hansmaker F1 Pro 20W fiber laser marking machine is a strong new competitor for desktop laser marking, which is designed to fit the user’s desktop, small workshop, or even home use. The Hansmaker F1 Pro is compact, designed with a home aesthetic, and weighs only 7.5 kilograms. With a fastest engraving speed of 10,000 mm/s, I’ve been fascinated by its performance in real-world use.

I’m sharing my experience in this article to help you make an informed purchase.

Unboxing and setup

I received the Hansmaker F1 Pro 20W with only these items, including the laser head, laser stand, magnetic protective cover, goggles, power supply, USB cables, instruction manual, and product parameter card. The lens size of my fiber marking machine is 110 x 100 mm, which means that the maximum marking area is only 110 x 110 mm. Of course, they also offer a 175 x 175 mm lens version, which is an option if you want a larger laser marking area. Its assembly is very easy and can be put together in a minute with no learning curve.

The design of the Hansmaker F1 Pro

The Hansmkaer F1 Pro features yellow as the main brand color, as well as a modular design for the body. I must admit it has fashionable attributes, and it gets away from the industrial design style of other industrial-grade laser marking machines. That’s what I want! I wouldn’t say no to an elegant product with home aesthetic attributes. When it sits on my studio desktop, I am very proud of it!

The Hansmaker F1 Pro has large cooling vents on the left and right sides of the laser head to ensure that it cools down efficiently as it works.

The power on/off button is located on the top of the laser head’s handlebar. The Hansmaker F1 Pro utilizes manual focusing, or to be more precise, semi-automatic focusing. As you can see in the picture below, the laser head is designed with a touch button to control the up and down movement of the laser head, and the focusing is done with the help of two red dots for precise focusing.

The Hansmaker F1 Pro also has a port for a rotary module to meet the user’s need for fast laser marking of cylindrical objects.

Preparation before using the Hansmaker F1 Pro

The Hansmaker F1 Pro is perfectly compatible with LightBurn. Since Hansmaker F1 Pro is a galvo laser type, you need to purchase LightBurn Pro. Please download and install the Cypress USB-Serial Driver before connecting to LightBurn so that clicking the “Find my laser” function on LightBurn to search for the Hansmaker F1 Pro automatically.

After LightBurn successfully connects to the Hansmaker F1 Pro, there is one more important step: click on LightBurn’s Setup button to set up the Galvo parameters, as shown in the following image. These parameters are recorded on the black card included in the packing list. Just follow the parameters on the card exactly to set the Galvo 1 and Galvo 2.

It is also necessary to select Galvo 2 as the x-axis and reverse the direction for Galvo 1 and Galvo 2. If you don’t do this, the pattern you engrave will be mirrored, so to avoid the hassle, set them up together here.

Engraving speed test: 10000 mm/s reachable

The fastest speed of the Hansmaker F1 Pro fiber laser marking machine is 10000 mm/s, which I have verified on 3 materials. I set the constant parameters: interval 0.1 mm, 20 kHz pulse frequency, pass 1, and tested the laser marking speed on black acrylic, black business cards, and aluminum.

The following image is the result of engraving on black acrylic. When the laser power is 55%, at this time, the engraving speed of 10,000 mm/s can leave a clear pattern on the acrylic. However, due to the high speed and the fact that it was engraved in only one pass, the rectangle does not appear to be adequately filled. Therefore, if you want to engrave a pattern on black acrylic in one pass, a speed of less than 4,000 mm/s is recommended.

Similarly, on a black card, an engraving speed of 10,000 mm/s will allow engraving, but I don’t think it will give perfect results with engraving only 1 pass. Therefore, I recommend a speed of less than 2,000 mm/s for one-time engraving on black card.

The same is true for marking speeds on aluminum. At 80% of power, 10000 mm/s can successfully engrave square patterns. However, I recommend a laser marking speed of less than 1000 mm/s for better one-time marking results.

Image laser engraving test

The Hansmaker F1 Pro 20W fiber laser engraver has an engraving accuracy of 0.001 mm, with a laser spot size of only 0.045 mm, which is excellent for engraving photos! Trust me, with the right parameter settings, it will give you crisp and clear images.

Image engraving on black business cards

As an example, I explored the quality of a photo engraved on black card with different interval values (0.1 mm, 0.08 mm, 0.05 mm, 0.03 mm), keeping the Stucki image mode, engraving speed of 1,000 mm/s, and laser power at 80%.

As you can see below, I preferred the Stucki, 0.05 mm interval, for the engraving results. It maintains a high level of image definition and shows all the details of the original photo!

After learning that such a combination of parameters can be used to obtain high-quality photo engravings on black business cards, I engraved different photos with these parameter settings: Stucki mode, negative image, 1,000 mm/s, 80% laser power, 20 kHz, 0.05 mm interval, 1 pass.

The photo engravings are shown below, and except for the fact that the engraving results are colorless, they are rendered in almost the same detail as the original photo! I was pleasantly surprised by the high-definition engraving of the Hansmaker F1 Pro fiber laser marking machine! Photo engraving of this size (85 mm x 45 mm) can be done in high definition in just 2 minutes.

Image engraving on black acrylic

Engraving photos on black acrylic was also a jaw-dropping result! The acrylic photo engraving parameters below are Stucki mode, negative image, 1000 mm/s, 0.05 mm interval, 80% laser power, 20 kHz, and 1 pass. The Hansmaker F1 Pro fiber laser engraver reproduced the details of the original photo very well! The laser reproduction is lifelike!

Photo engraving on metal: unexpectedly high quality

To explore more possibilities of the Hansmaker F1 Pro fiber laser marking machine. I tried using it to engrave photos on metal. I was extremely thrilled with the results of the test! The high definition of the engraved photo on metal was even higher than that on a black acrylic or business card!

Engraving photos on metal tags should be a good business for small businesses. The two pictures below are the results of engraving photos on stainless steel tags. You must be as surprised as I was because the pictures are engraved in very high definition! They were obtained with the following combination of engraving parameters: Stucki mode, negative off, 0.05 mm interval, 500 mm/s speed, 80% laser power, 20 kHz frequency, and 1 pass. I hope these combinations of parameters will help you.

The reason why the F1 Pro can achieve such high-definition images on stainless steel. On the one hand, the Hansmaker F1 Pro’s 0.001mm engraving accuracy is relevant. On the other hand, stainless steel may be compared to other flammable materials, such as acrylic. Stainless steel in the laser high temperature is less likely to undergo excessive combustion and therefore can achieve a more perfect engraving effect.

As a summary, the Hansmaker F1 Pro fiber laser marking machine is excellent at image engraving, indeed! I can’t do anything to intentionally pick on it. Its fast, high-definition image engraving capabilities will make you fall in love with this laser engraving machine!

Colorful laser marking on stainless steel Test

The Hansmaker F1 Pro fiber laser engraver has a repeat frequency adjustment range of 5 to 150 kHz. By adjusting the parameters of repetition frequency, speed, and laser power, it is possible to obtain rich colors on stainless steel, but these colors are random. Why is color engraving on stainless steel random? It has to do with the type of laser used in the Hansmaker F1 Pro; the Hansmaker F1 Pro uses Q-switched lasers, which have the disadvantage of not being able to control regular engraving parameters to achieve accurate color engraving on stainless steel. In contrast, if the laser marking machine uses MOPA pulsed fiber lasers, it can accurately control the color engraving on stainless steel. However, the MOPA laser tends to be more expensive and will cost 2-3 times as much as the Hansmaker F1 Pro.

Nonetheless, when I tested the Hansmaker F1 Pro for stainless steel color engraving, I was able to achieve a very rich color rendering. I set up the test matrix with the following parameters: laser power at 20%, interval at 0.05 mm, 1 pass, speed from 10 mm/s to 100 mm/s in 10 groups, and frequency from 20 kHz to 50 kHz in 5 groups. The final matrix engraving result is shown in the picture below. You can see that each small grid corresponds to a different engraving parameter, and at the same time, each small grid shows a different color!

I also tested the effect of speed and laser power on the color of the stainless steel. The matrix test parameters were set as follows: frequency to maintain 20 kHz, interval to maintain 0.05 mm, 1 pass, engraving speed of 10 mm/s to 100 mm/s in 10 groups, and laser power from 10% to 50% in 5 groups. Test results show that with the laser power below 30%, different speed and laser power combination engraving stainless steel can still get rich colors.

So it is proven that the Hansmaker F1 Pro 20W Fiber Laser Marking Machine can mark stainless steel with rich colors. But is it possible to enter certain engraving parameters to reproduce a certain color accurately? For example, according to the matrix test, if I use 20mm/s, 20% laser power, 20 kHz frequency, 0.05 interval, and 1 pass, these combination of engraving parameters to engrave the same stainless steel material, can I get the color of yellow? I’ll show you the answer with a small project to engrave a colorful logo.

As shown in the matrix engraving test results for speed and power above, I have listed the colors corresponding to the different parameter combinations. See the table below.

I intended to color engrave the logo on the same material, stainless steel, using the engraving parameters in the table above to see if I could reproduce the corresponding colors. However, the results showed that the colors in the table above could not be accurately reproduced, even though the logo was brightly colored.

I should summarize the metal color engraving capabilities of the Hansmaker F1 Pro fiber laser marking machine. That is, the Hansmaker F1 Pro can engrave rich colors on stainless steel, but there is some randomness in the colors. This is not a matter of the quality of the product; it has to do with the type of laser technology it has. Anyway, in terms of performance, the F1 Pro has not disappointed me.

20W fiber laser metal cutting test

As a 20W fiber laser engraving machine, cutting metal or deep engraving metal is not its primary purpose, as it is mainly used for speedy laser marking, such as metal marking, jewelry personalization, leather cutting and engraving, business card personalization, and so on. But I’m happy to show you the Hansmaker F1 Pro 20W fiber laser marking machine’s ability to cut metal.

If you set the parameters to 100% laser power, 1 mm/s, and 20 kHz frequency, you can cut aluminum with a thickness of 0.2 mm in one pass. That said, its ability to cut metal is matched by its laser power.

Ultra-fine fiber laser marking on metal

Compared to diode laser engravers, fiber laser engravers can engrave all kinds of metals, and the Hansmaker F1 Pro 20W is really a good choice for marking all kinds of metals. The laser spot size is only 0.045 mm, and the engraving accuracy is as fine as 0.001 mm. As you can see in the previous engraving tests, the engraving quality is amazing.

As you can see in the picture below, I made 2 coins with the studio logo on them, one from an aluminum coin and the other from a copper coin. I did a negative engraving on them, and you can see that the engraved surface is very smooth and fine with the fiber laser treatment, and the logo and channel name are etched very finely. The original silver-white aluminum coins also turned brown after repeated laser engraving. The combination of the engraving parameters for these two coins is: 1000 mm/s speed, 100% laser power, 0.05 interval, 10 passes. The total time spent on each coin (10 passes) was about 3 minutes, which is very fast.

The Hansmaker F1 Pro 20 is capable of engraving metals up to 3mm deep, according to the official specifications, but I have tried this with other 20W fiber laser engravers before. It would take about 5 hours of repeated engraving to achieve a 3mm deep engraving of metals. I don’t see the value of such a long engraving time. If you want to engrave metals deeper than 3mm, you need a more powerful fiber laser. But as far as I am concerned, this 20W fiber laser marking machine is capable of marking metal very finely and quickly, which is more than enough.

Fast customization of small items in seconds

Hansmaker F1 Pro 20W fiber laser is not capable of engraving and cutting wood, engraving glass, or glazed ceramics. Because these materials do not absorb the energy of the fiber laser effectively, the CO2 laser is the best choice for engraving these materials. However, the Hansmaker F1 Pro is still compatible with a wide range of materials and can engrave all metals, including stone, acrylic, plastic, leather, and so on.

Its fast 20W fiber laser engraving speed allows you to engrave a variety of small items in seconds! This is great to use in your small studio or stall to get your small business done efficiently. Here are 3 small projects to show you the high-speed engraving of the Hansmaker F1 Pro. For example, you can engrave an exclusive logo on a stone coaster in 12 seconds, a personalized pattern on a headphone case in 2 seconds, and a business card in 18 seconds! If Hansmaker F1 Pro is used as a tool for small business or batch marking, it can be very efficient indeed.

Features I like

The Hansmaker F1 Pro 20W fiber laser marking machine is undoubtedly another strong competitor in the field of desktop laser engraving machines. Its ultra-fine engraving quality and fast laser marking speed impressed me. The following aspects summarize my love for it.

• It achieves very high-definition engraving results thanks to a laser spot size of 0.045 mm and an engraving accuracy of 0.001 mm.
• Engraving speeds of up to 10,000 mm/s are ideal for fast engraving.
• It is very good at engraving grayscale images. Whether it is acrylic, metal, stone, or plastic, it can achieve high-quality grayscale image engraving.
• Adopting semi-automatic laser focusing, the laser head has a touch button to control the up and down movement of the laser head, and assisted positioning by two red dots. When the two red dots overlap means that the laser focus is complete, which is very convenient.
• Compatible with all metal engraving, and can get a variety of bright colors on stainless steel.
• Hansmaker F1 Pro is one of the fiber laser engravers with an aesthetic design. Its compact, lightweight design is also perfect for a variety of DIY creations at home.

Some points you need to know

• The Hansmaker F1 Pro is a 20W fiber laser engraver with a laser wavelength of 1064 nm, which means it can’t efficiently work with materials such as wood, glass, clear acrylic, smooth ceramics, and more.
• The main target of the Hansmaker F1 Pro is, in my opinion, the fast marking of small objects. Its engraving area is only 110 mm x 110 mm or 175 mm x 175 mm, so it is not suitable for large areas of engraving or cutting.

Specifications

Conclusion

As a conclusion, I do highly recommend the Hansmaker F1 Pro if you are a small studio or small business person engaged in customization. Its excellent performance can help you accomplish your daily work efficiently. For individual users, depending on your needs, the Hansmaker F1 Pro is great for DIY marking or cutting of small objects. But I need to remind you that if you are passionate about handcrafted creations in wood, then it is not for you.

Anyway, if you want it, click the button below to go to Hansmaker’s website to find out how much it costs.