Monport Reno65 Pro 65W CO2 Laser Engraver and Cutter Test and Review

Introduction

The Monport Reno65 Pro 65W CO2 laser engraver can be considered a professional desktop laser engraver for DIY makers. During my testing and use, I was very impressed with its professional performance. It seems to bring the industrial level of technology to the desktop level. It’s a good thing that it’s available at a fairly affordable price, which compares to CO2 laser engravers and cutters with the same level of laser power. I can’t wait to share this professional desktop CO2 laser engraver with you. Based on my experience, I think it is a professional production tool for DIY makers and small business owners.

Unboxing

The Monport Reno65 Pro has a very professional and solid package. If you purchase it, you will receive a large wooden crate! The wooden box protects my CO2 laser engraver very well. The Monport Reno65 Pro comes in a wooden box package with dimensions of 1130 x 810 x 375 mm, so if you have limited space in your workshop, please reserve space for it in advance. The machine weighs around 40 kg, and if you count the wooden box, the honeycomb panel, the pump, and other accessories, the total weight of the package is about 50 kg. So you’d better ask another person to help you when you plan to move the machine to your desktop.

The design of Monport Reno65 Pro CO2 Laser Engraver

The size of the Monport Reno65 Pro will require plenty of space in your workshop because the machine measures 1000 x 690 x 285 mm and weighs 40 kg. It has an almost metal body design, which looks very solid. The Monport Reno65 Pro has a maximum working area of 600 x 400 mm and 65 W CO2 laser power, making it ideal for larger-sized and professional DIY crafts production. It can be one of the professional laser engravers for small businesses.

What’s interesting to me is that the Monport Reno65 Pro‘s workbench can be raised and lowered by twisting the structure in the lower left corner of the machine with the wrench (you will get the wrench set when you purchase the product). Thanks to the height adjustment, the Monport Reno65 Pro can engrave objects up to 100 mm.

Inside the Monport Reno65 Pro CO2 laser engraver, the wires are well managed, and the inner chamber looks clean. It is designed with a limit switch for each of the X and Y axes to protect the laser head from hitting the edges of the machine during movement. The protective cover also has a trigger switch that triggers an alarm and stops the laser whenever the cover is opened. The left and right sides of the machine are fitted with light strips that are so bright that I can see the details of the inside of the machine when it comes to laser engraving.

The Monport Reno65 Pro carbon dioxide laser Engraver features a bottom drawer, which is very user-friendly as it is very convenient for the user to clean up the leftover trimmings from the laser cut.

The Monport Reno65 Pro uses semi-automatic focusing, as shown in the photo below, with a red physical distance probe next to the laser head. Before the laser focuses, the probe needs to be manually pulled down, and then a wrench is used to adjust the height of the workbench. When the material on the workbench touches the probe, it will automatically spring back quickly. At this point, it means that focusing is complete and everything is easy.

Besides, if you want to cut materials thicker than 8 mm, you need to use the following gadget. You can focus the laser on different thickness ranges.

The Monport Reno65 Pro is configured with an operator panel, which is user-friendly! Users can realize many functions on the operation panel, such as moving the laser head, positioning, preview, start, pause, parameter settings, history engraving file selection, and so on. In addition to this, the device also supports WIFI connections and USB connections. It all looks very user-friendly.

The last point I would like to make is that the Monport Reno65 Pro, as a 65W power CO2 laser engraver and cutter, needs to be cooled with recycled water. Therefore, the Ren65 Pro utilizes an external water pump setup, which you will receive when you purchase it. This means that you will need to prepare a small bucket filled with water and use the pump to pump water into the machine’s cooling system to cool the CO2 laser tube. And the pump plugs directly into the back of the machine.

Isn’t it a bit unbelievable for you to see this? Because nowadays CO2 laser engravers have built-in water pumps like the xTool P2 and Atomstack Hurricane, it looks aesthetic. I admit I thought so at first. But after actually using it and thinking about it, I dismissed such thoughts. The benefit of an external water pump allows you to replace the cooling water whenever you want. Imagine you are a professional craft producer who needs to use a CO2 laser engraver for a long time every day.

As you use the laser engraving machine for a long time, the temperature of the water will become high, and then the machine with the built-in water pump will stop working due to the high temperature (in order to protect the CO2 laser tube). Because the design of the built-in water pump makes it very troublesome to replace the water. You have to stop and wait for the water to cool again, which greatly affects your productivity.

An external pump design like the Monport Reno65 Pro does not face this problem. It allows me to focus on production for a long time. I can touch the temperature of the water with my hand in real time, and if I feel the temperature increase, I can immediately replace it with cold water.

Engraving speed test: Unbelievable 800 mm/s of desktop CO2 laser engraver

The Monport Reno65 Pro is the fastest CO2 laser engraver I have ever seen, with an incredible 800 mm/s engraving speed. This is the absolute leader in desktop CO2 laser engravers! As you can see in the picture below, I tested the Monport Reno65 Pro on plywood at different engraving speeds and laser powers. At 10% laser power, 800 mm/s can achieve effective laser engraving! At 40% laser power, even at 800 mm/s, the plywood was engraved to a very noticeable depth! I really appreciate this engraving efficiency! This is truly a machine that will increase the productivity of small business owners.

65W C02 Laser cutting test: professional production tool

How fast is 65 W of CO2 in terms of cutting efficiency? My experiments with cutting 3mm plywood can tell you. As you can see in the picture below, the Monport Reno65 Pro can make the fastest cut of 40 mm/s with 1 pass, which is a very high cutting efficiency. With this cutting speed, large plywood DIY projects can be completed in minutes.

According to the official information, the Monport Reno65 Pro 65W CO2 laser engraver and cutter can cut 20 mm acrylic, 18 mm plywood, 20 mm foam, and 7 mm rubber at one time. Since I didn’t have the materials mentioned above, I used the Monport Reno65 Pro to cut 10mm pine to evaluate its cutting ability. As you can see in the image below, it cuts very powerfully. At a cutting speed of 3 mm/s and 100% laser power, it can easily cut 10 mm of pine. A word of caution: as pine is a very flammable wood, cutting it at low speeds can lead to excessive burning, which affects the quality of the surface. If you want to get a better cutting result, I recommend increasing the cutting speed and making several passes.

Moving accuracy test: the best I have ever seen

Laser engraving machines require synergistic movement of the X and Y axes for precise engraving. The accuracy of the movement has a critical impact on the quality of the engraving or cutting. Even if the machine can achieve high-speed movement, if the accuracy of the movement is low, this high-speed movement can’t be utilized for actual engraving (if you want to get guaranteed engraving or cutting quality). We have tested the Monport Reno65 Pro at a maximum engraving speed of 800 mm/s. Next, I will test the accuracy of its movements to assess whether 800 mm/s is a good enough speed for practical use.

I first tested the accuracy at the usual 400 mm/s engraving speed. I did this by engraving circles and rectangles of different sizes on a plywood sheet at 400 mm/s, with the edges of the circles and rectangles being tangent to each other. As you can see in the picture below, the 400 mm/s travel speed had absolutely no adverse effect on the accuracy of the Monport Reno65 Pro’s movement. It very accurately draws circles and rectangles on the plywood, and their edges are perfectly tangent. And the arcs are perfectly formed.

Next, to explore the effect of different engraving speeds on the Monport Reno65 Pro’s movement accuracy, I completed engraving tests ranging from 300 mm/s to 800 mm/s. The methodology was the same as above, engraving circles and rectangles equally. The results showed perfect X, Y-axis motion synergy at every speed! Circles and rectangles were perfectly tangent to each other, and circles were perfectly formed. The Monport Reno65 Pro’s high engraving speed of 800 mm/s proved to be practical!

You may be puzzled and unable to understand the effect of motion speed on engraving quality. Therefore, I give you the results of the previous tests I did to review the ACMER P3 laser engraver, as shown in the picture on the right below. During the motion accuracy test, the ACMER P3 started to distort the circle at a motion speed of 100 mm/s (6000 mm/min). When the engraving speed reaches 150 mm/s (9000 mm/min), the circle is already severely deformed.

Nevertheless, the ACMER P3 is a desktop diode laser engraver aimed at DIY enthusiasts, and such performance is in line with expectations. But this comparison is enough to explain the professionalism of the Monport Reno65 Pro! It is indeed a professional desk CO2 laser engraver, and I highly recommend it as your handmade production equipment.

High-efficiency production experience: DIY craft for layered wall art

After a series of performance tests, the Monport Reno65 Pro 65W CO2 laser engraver and cutter fully meets my expectations for professional desktop CO2 laser engraving. I am confident that it will provide efficient and professional handmade production for the Pro DIY makers! Indeed, I completely dived into it and I used it to produce a colorful layered wall art that amazed me!

For this layered wall art, it was necessary to cut a total of 6 sheets of 3mm plywood measuring 260 x 292 mm. In fact, the Monport Reno65 Pro has a working area of 600 x 400 mm, so for a cut of this size, it would be possible to place two sheets of plywood measuring 300 x 300 mm to be cut at the same time. But I didn’t do that this time because it is also very efficient to cut each 3mm plywood separately.

I set the cutting parameters conservatively, with a cutting speed of 30 mm/s, 60% laser power, with one pass. The cutting time for each sheet of plywood varied from 2 to 10 minutes, depending on the complexity of the pattern. For example, the pattern below took about 7 minutes to cut accurately. If two sheets of plywood are placed at the same time, the length of the entire cutting project can be cut in half!

Well, it only took about 30 minutes total to cut or engrave the 6 sheets of plywood, which is very efficient, and if I cut two sheets together at the same time, then the total time should be about 15 minutes. You should realize that if you were to use a lower power laser engraver, such as a 20W, cutting 6 sheets of 3mm plywood would take you from 1 hour to 2 hours.

To make this layered wall art project colorful, I colored it myself using acrylic paint. Below is a picture of the finished project that I am very proud of! SVG cutting files I use: mandala wall decor laser cut file

Overall, in this layered wall art production project, I deeply appreciate the benefits of a professional laser engraver and cutter. The Monport Reno65 Pro 65W CO2 laser engraver and cutter allows me to do the handmade work very efficiently and accurately. I believe that the Monport Reno65 Pro would be very beneficial to the professional DIY creator or small business owner.

Image engraving test on plywood

I enjoyed testing the engraving quality of the laser by engraving images on different materials. If it’s a regular vector format engraving file, I think any laser engraver can easily do a high-quality engraving (as long as the parameters are set properly). But engraving an image/grayscale image is a test for the laser engraver. If you want to engrave an image with high quality, on the one hand, the laser spot size is relevant; on the other hand, it is also a test of the machine’s ability to control the continuity of the laser power changes.

The picture below shows an eagle engraving on plywood. The combination of engraving parameters I used was Stucki mode, 0.08 mm interval, 600 mm/s, 5% min power, 15% max power, and 1 pass. The 295 x 295 mm size took a total of only about 25 minutes to engrave. This is very efficient compared to other laser engraving machines. I can’t fault the professionalism of this laser engraver for being able to produce such detailed work at such a high speed of 600 mm/s.

Well, I randomly changed the engraving speed and laser power to see what it could do. When I changed the engraving speed to 400 mm/s and the maximum laser power to 60% (other conditions remain unchanged), the engraving effect is shown in the picture below. I like this engraving better than the one above because it burns the plywood deeper and gives it a 3D engraving or embossed look. The eagle looks more sculptured this time, and the eagle’s eyes become deeper, but the overall detail is not obviously lost.

Image engraving test on black acrylic

Engraving parameter combination test

Engraving photos on black acrylic is also a fun process. First, you have to invert the original image, which can be done by turning on “negative image” in LightBurn. It is very important to test a reliable combination of engraving parameters before engraving each piece. If you’ve had a bad time engraving on acrylic with a Monport Reno65 Pro 65W CO2 laser engraver, trust me, you didn’t set up a reliable combination of engraving parameters for your photo.

My suggestion is that when engraving an image, it’s a good idea to test the preset parameter combinations to see if you get a satisfactory engraving result (at least on black acrylic). Since black acrylic is a dark material, it is very sensitive to the contrast and line interval settings of the image, and a poorly set image parameter will result in a poor engraving experience.

In my case, I have tested the combination of preset engraving parameters for each image in advance before engraving in black acrylic to try to find a satisfactory result. As you can see below, this is my parameter adjustment test for different photos. The parameters involved are line interval, picture brightness, laser power, and engraving speed.

High-quality black acrylic work obtained

Luckily, the Monport Reno65 Pro is very easy to get good engraving results. The engraving of a wolf pack howling in the moonlight, as seen in the picture below, has a combination of the following engraving parameters: Stucki, Negative image, 0.06 mm line interval,-15 Brightness, 400 mm/s, 15% max laser power, 5 % min laser power, and the other parameters are default settings on LightBurn.

I am very happy with the engraving result! The wolf’s fur is very detailed and lifelike!

In the same way, I continued to engrave “Girl in the Moonlight” using the above combination of parameters. The results are stunning! The smoke on the ground looks like the real thing. The Monport Reno65 Pro is really a professional CO2 laser engraver!

The black acrylic laser-engraved piece below is the Black Myth WuKong. Since the original image tone itself is much darker, based on the parameters above, I only adjusted the image brightness to 20. So the parameter combination on LightBurn is: Stucki, Negative image, 0.06 mm line interval, 20 Brightness, 400 mm/s, 15% max laser power, 5 % min laser power, and the rest are default settings.

To summarize, the Monport Reno65 Pro’s ability to engrave on black acrylic completely exceeded my expectations, as it easily allowed me to get a grayscale image full of detail. So far, I’m very happy with it!

Clear acrylic project: the uniqueness of the CO2 laser engraver

Well, it’s time for the most fascinating part of the CO2 laser engraving machine, the Monport Reno65 Pro, a CO2 laser engraver that can engrave or cut transparent materials without pre-treatment!

The image below is engraved on transparent acrylic with the following combination of engraving parameters: Stucki, 0.06 mm interval, 400 mm/s, 15% max laser power, 5% min laser power, 1 pass, and other LightBurn default settings. I am very happy with the engraving results, which are as good as the quality of engraving on black acrylic. The squirrel’s fur is clear and realistic.

3D engraving on pine wood

The Monport Reno65 Pro 65W CO2 laser engraver has awesome engraving and cutting capabilities! It can easily help you to finish the 3D effect or embossing effect engraving on wood. For example, for the following 3D effect engraving on pine, I simply set up the LightBurn with the following combination of parameters: Stucki, 400 mm/s, 60% max laser power, 5% min laser power, 0.1 mm interval, 1 pass.

Look at the image below, the pattern is as three-dimensional as a sculpture. This was achieved with only 1 pass of engraving, and the pattern is quite clean with no smoke residue or burnout.

Engraving test on various materials

The Monport Reno Pro 65W CO2 laser engraver and cutter is compatible with a wide range of materials, such as wood, glass, acrylic in all colors, fabric, paper, bamboo, and more. Regarding metal, if coated or anodized, it can also be engraved perfectly.

The Monport Reno65 Pro is also very interesting for engraving images on stone because it is surprisingly easy to try out detailed image engraving on stone! For example, for the stone coaster below, I set the engraving speed to 500 mm/s at 35% of the maximum laser power and got an engraved area of 90×90 mm in just 4 minutes, which is very efficient!

You can also use this machine to make creative bamboo bookmarks, which can be produced with laser engraving in 2 minutes.

The Monport Reno65 Pro can even handle thin paper!

Working noise test

The Monport Reno65 Pro is the quietest machine I’ve ever tested, and that’s what makes them so professional. I tested the noise level in my workshop using a decibel meter at a distance of 30 cm from the machine. The data showed a noise level of only 56.6 decibels! This noise level is equivalent to an everyday office environment and is quite quiet. Other gantry laser engravers I have tested in the past have had noise levels of 65-70 dB. In comparison, the Monport Reno65 Pro looks more user-friendly and professional.

Indoor air quality test

When using a laser engraver indoors, especially in small spaces where I am concerned about indoor air quality, the Monport Reno65 Pro can be connected to an air hose to exhaust the fumes out the window. It is a completely enclosed laser engraver, which prevents the fumes from escaping.

But even though it is a completely enclosed laser engraver, smoke emissions are inevitable in the room. In my case, I open the lid when the engraving job is completed before the smoke inside the machine has had a chance to fully vent out the window. This inevitably releases residual fumes into the room.

The image below shows the indoor air quality I tested after an hour of using the Monport Reno65 Pro. The data shows that the air quality is medium. The TVOC level is zero, the formaldehyde concentration is 0.041 mg/m³, and the PM2.5 concentration is 31 μg/m³.

This is a good level of air quality control, which indicates that the Monport Reno65 Pro is relatively well enclosed and efficient at exhausting smoke. However, to improve indoor air quality, when completing an engraving or cutting task, it is recommended to wait until the remaining smoke inside the machine has been completely exhausted out of the window, and then open the lid.

Features I like

• 800mm/s high speed engraving, the leading speed of the same type of products.
• With 65W of powerful CO2 laser power and a 600 x 400 mm working area, it’s perfect for efficient DIY handmade customization.
• The quality of the laser engraving is excellent, perfect for engraving grayscale images on a variety of materials.
• Very professional X, Y-axis movement accuracy, even at engraving speeds of 800 mm/s.
• The working bench can be raised and lowered to engrave objects up to 10 cm in height.
• The working noise is low level, and the smoke is very well insulated, making it suitable for indoor use.
• The machine comes with a control panel with good user interactivity, which makes it easy to control laser head movement, view engraving files, and preview engraving progress.
• The body is mostly metal construction and looks very solid and enclosed.
• High Safety, and it is very easy to use, and the external water pump allows me to change the water whenever I want.

Room for improvement

• It would be nice if it could be equipped with a high-definition camera for precise positioning. This would allow for more accurate positioning of the engraving and also be convenient for small batch engraving production.
• If the semi-automatic focus function is upgraded to full-automatic focus, it will be a perfect product!

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Monport Reno65 Pro 65W CO2 laser engraver is a very professional machine. It seems to apply industrial-grade technology to the desktop laser engraver. If you are a professional small business producing handmade products or a professional DIY maker, the Monport Reno65 Pro is definitely a professional production tool for you. If you are interested in this product, please click the button below the picture to learn more.