This was my first time jumping into laser engraving, so I went in as a complete noob. I have a fair bit of 3D printing and Cricut experience, so I figured laser engraving would be a snap. Turns out, it is.
The Omni X UV galvo-style laser showed up in a surprisingly hefty package – I honestly wasn't expecting it to be as big as it is. Assembly was straightforward and didn't take me very long. I asked wifey for a second set of hands when mounting the laser module, as it feels really expensive (and heavy). I mean, it is really expensive, but it also feels expensive.
Then came the first curveball: it shipped with a 240-volt power cable, set to 240-volt input – and I live in a 120-volt world. After a quick chat with ComMarker support, I learned the Omni X uses a standard PC-style PSU (power supply) located under the main deck, so I tore it all back down, flipped the voltage switch to 120 volt, rebuilt it (all by myself this time), and was finally in business – well, at least once my new power cord arrived.
ComMarker Studio was easy to use, for the most part. If you've used Design Space, LightBurn, Photoshop, GIMP (Photoshop - free edition, basically) or anything of the sort, the workflow will at least feel somewhat familiar – importing STL files for 3D glass projects, or your basic JPEGs and PNG files for flat engraving or cutting work. It's all pretty straightforward in that aspect. I had access to early release software, so some of the translations on buttons and settings were in Chinese, but that's nothing Google Lens or ChatGPT can't help you with. ComMarker has been continually updating the software and each iteration has been better than the last.
My first tests were on the included balsa wood coasters. After a couple of botched attempts, I learned how to use the preview beam that highlights the area to be marked ... then it was open season. Nothing in my house was safe – my Streamlight Strion flashlight got custom art, my tumbler isn't plain anymore, my phone case is engraved, my old iPod Touch (yes, I still have and use one), cast acrylic, my pocketknife ... even some rocks I found in the yard got engravings. Not only is it fun, it's pretty easy.
Suddenly, anything that's 150 mm x 150 mm (5.9 x 5.9 in) or smaller can get a quick personalized touch with very little effort and photo-quality results (like detailed text down to 0.3 mm). And I really do mean quick. This thing engraves super fast at 10,000 mm (394 in) per second.
I haven't used it to cut anything yet, but I've seen YouTube videos of it slicing through various thin materials (paper, wood, fabrics) like they don't even exist, making super precise cuts with little to no charring, as UV lasers don't rely heat like other laser types. I've even seen it cut through a 6-mm piece of glass, though I think he said it took 8 hours to do with his Omni 1 UV laser (the older version that uses the same 5-watt UV laser).
Stuff the UV laser sucks at:
- making you breakfast in the morning
- deep metal engraving
Stuff it rocks at:
- clear glass and crystal
- cast acrylic
- plastics like ABS, PC, PET
- anodized aluminum
- stainless steel
- gold, silver, copper
- painted or coated metals
- silicone watch straps and bands
- fabric like denim
- leather
- paper and card stock
- dried leaves and other delicate organic stuff
- plywood, balsa, basswood
- slate, stone, ceramic
The machine has four cooling fans on top and one exhaust fan in the rear – great for cooling, but it does make the Omni X loud. Like server-farm-in-your-garage loud. It also means fume extraction takes a little creativity to direct outside. The rear exhaust fan pulls air out from the bottom, but it feels like two of the four fans on top are pulling air in while two are pulling air out, somewhat defeating the purpose of the rear vent fan. Maybe two were wired backwards? The unit I received was pre-release, so it could just be a one-off error.
The company says adding a flexible extractor nozzle on the inside that sits closer to your project does help direct what little smoke it makes toward the rear fan. The enclosure serves two purposes: it keeps you from going blind and keeps debris contained, something I guess I hadn't taken into consideration before ... laser engraving is messy with certain materials! I knew about the blind part. By default, the engraver will not engrave if the enclosure is in the open position. There is a setting in the ComMarker app to turn that off, however, as it has to remain open if using the slide extension. ComMarker includes a pair of safety glasses if you need to engrave with the enclosure open.
Since cutting my teeth on the UV Omni X, I've dabbled with blue-diode and IR lasers too – and UV absolutely crushes it for detail. On glass, anodized metal and acrylic, especially, where blue and IR tend to struggle, the Omni X UV laser produces crisp, sharp results that look pro straight off the machine. Nothing engraves glass as uniformly and perfectly as UV lasers.
The Omni X also has a full suite of accessories that make it ridiculously versatile. There's a simple rotary roller for glasses, tumblers, and other cylindrical objects – just punch in the diameter, frame your design, and it spins the piece while the laser does its thing. For trickier jobs, there's a rotary chuck that can grip rings, wine glasses, and other odd shapes – it even tilts so you can engrave the inside of a ring or mug. The OMNI X comes with some tester materials – like anodized rings – so you can practice using the chuck on cheap throwaways, rather than risking a US$10,000 diamond wedding ring on your first try.
If you need a bigger workspace, the Omni X has a slide extension that more than doubles the working area and uses a ball-screw drive for precise, CNC-like side-to-side motion. It brings your working area up to about 150 mm x 400 mm (6 by 15.75 inches).
But the feature that really puts the Omni X in its own league is its ability to engrave true 3D sculptures inside glass, acrylic, or crystal. Swap out the 150-mm laser lens for the included 70-mm lens and import an STL like you would for a 3D print. The Omni X will burn thousands of tiny dots layer by layer, building up a sculpture-like image inside the material. It's a pretty cool process, and the results are amazing. Certainly something I never would have imagined being able to do in your home at your leisure.
Overall, the ComMarker Omni X is one slick beast of a UV laser engraver for professionals that run trophy or custom engraving shops down to the regular ol' Joe Schmoe who's got a few bucks to spare ($4,599 of them, to be specific) and really likes to laser-engrave things. And you're not limited to just the ComMarker software either, as it works with LightBurn, too. It has the added benefit of autofocus, and the Omni X's UV laser is detailed down to 0.0019 mm, making it one of the fastest, most detailed high-definition lasers on the market today.
So is it the best laser engraver? Well, as it turns out, there are a number of different types of laser for different purposes. There are things that UV excels at, and there are things UV lasers can't really do at all (like deep engraving into metal). Plus, I haven't used any other UV lasers besides the Omni X to compare it to. I've used IR and blue lasers, which are totally different.
I can say that it's been really easy to use but doesn't at all feel like a "Fischer Price: My First Tool Set" piece of equipment. It feels like something a professional would be happy to have in their shop because it's going to make them some serious money, and fast.
It's incredibly versatile and can mark something like 1,500+ types of material. The ComMarker software has heaps of presets for different materials in it, too, so you don't really need to know what kHz frequency, µs pulse width or dwell time works best for PU leather, wood or anodized aluminum. It does all the thinking for you. And like I mentioned before, the Omni X sets itself apart by being able to engrave photo-quality 3D models inside crystal.
I've made a bunch more stuff than what I've showed you in the gallery, but to be honest, my sense of humor is dark and crude, so I can't show you the koozy I made for the wifey, or what I did to my flashlight, or what the back of my phone case looks like now, but I can tell you they all look pretty good! Ha! If you want to see a bunch of amazing examples of what people have made with Omni UV lasers, check out ComMarker's YouTube page.
It seems like the only limit to what you can make is your imagination ... or the roughly 6 by 16-inch space you've got to work with.
Source: ComMarker OMNI X - store.commarker.com/products/omni-x-uv-laser-engraver
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