Russian-American tech startup Endurance has become known in the maker community for its laser cutting and engraving tools which can be integrated with various 3D printers and CNC machines. The company, founded by George Fomitchev, offers a number of products, including laser kits and diode lasers ranging from 2.1 to 20 Watts. Below is a review of the Endurance 10 Watt diode laser by maker Charlie Williams:
My name is Charlie Williams and I live in Albany, NY. About two years ago, I saw an article online about a DIY laser engraver build and I had to try it. I built my first CNC laser engraver using a cheap 5W laser from China. I was using an Arduino board and a relay to control the laser. As you can guess, I was pretty limited to what I could make. I started making some basic “Crystal Grids” for my wife. My wife is a yoga instructor as well as a certified crystal healer so a bunch of her clients started asking if I could make some for them. At that point, I decided to make an Etsy page named White Lotus Wood to start selling the grids and some other basic signs. I then built a CNC router and started selling carved items on our page.
Over the first year, I started getting a lot of orders and realized my cheap laser was just too underpowered and too slow to keep up with the orders. I then started researching higher quality lasers when I found Endurance. I read reviews and watched all the videos posted on the Endurance website. I had a lot of questions and [founder] George Fomitchev was quick to answer them all for me. I felt very comfortable making my purchase of a 10 Watt Endurance Laser.
When I received the laser it was simple to set up with my current Arduino board. I built a faster and larger gantry to mount the laser to. With the higher powered laser and the TTL control board I was instantly making higher quality designs at a much faster speed. Within a few short days, I was making detailed photographs as well as cutting through ¼ inch birch plywood. If I wanted my designs any other shape than just square I would have to create another Gcode file and use my router to cut out the design. This was very time consuming since I had to line everything up perfectly to get it to cut out properly. I was constantly ruining designs and having to remake them. With the Endurance Laser I can now cut any design out without ever removing the piece of wood from the CNC laser.
Since I began using the Endurance Laser, my Etsy business more than doubled and I now have my own website that I sell my products on. Last year, when I was still using my laser from China, I took my designs to a health and wellness expo to sell them. I sold a bunch of items and people were impressed with my work. Just last weekend I went to the same expo with all of my new items since I changed to Endurance Lasers and two different people said to me “wow your designs are getting so much better and more detailed.” My response to both of them was I bought a new laser and it makes all the difference.
Another thing I love about Endurance is the community of people that use the lasers. The Endurance Facebook page has been a great resource for design inspiration as well as getting answers to all my questions. It has also been enjoyable helping others just getting into laser engraving with their own questions. I am excited and look forward to what Endurance has coming in the future.
