The Sculpfun S9 is a high-end machine that outperforms its predecessors, the Sculpfun S6 and Sculpfun S6 Pro, as well as competitors like the Atomstack A5 Pro.
Like the Sculpfun S6 Pro, the S9 Laser Engraver comes with a manual of good, easy to understand assembly instructions. The mechanical part is almost the same as the S6 series. All necessary tools are included. Screws and parts are packed in separate bags and labeled accordingly according to the necessary steps in the assembly manual. The machine can be assembled in less than 30 minutes.
The Sculpfun S9 Laser Engraver features a laser diode that puts out about 5.5W of optical power - just like the S6 Pro. But the laser head itself is much larger, and has some clever optics inside that allow the beam to be focused for a greater distance and have a higher optical density, allowing you to cut thicker materials with more efficient power. The advertised maximum cutting depth is 15mm. We will test this. The Sculpfun S9 is advertised as 90W CO2 laser equivalent power. A laser diode is a fixed focus diode, which is pretty awesome.
The focusing process is the same as the sculptfun S6 Pro and S6 30W we tested earlier. For best cutting results, the cutting head needs to be 20 mm above the engraving surface. This is achieved by focusing on the aluminum blocks. The head is then focused with the reticle positioned approximately 3 mm above the surface. But the good thing is that you can easily remove the shade if needed. This will come in handy when carving odd objects like spoons, axes, and other irregularly shaped objects. The laser head is tightened by a thumb screw, making the focusing process quick and easy.
For cutting thicker materials, it is recommended to remove the acrylic protective cover and focus the laser head a few millimeters lower than the standard. In this way, the cutting performance will be much better.
Cutting and engraving different materials
Engraving: wood, leather, cotton (clothes), rubber, paper, fruit, foam, acrylic, black anodized aluminum, black metal, stainless steel...
The Sculpfun S9 is a powerful knife.
Cutting: wood, paper, tape, fabric, acrylic, cardboard, fabric, bamboo, plastic board, KT board...
With this machine, you can cut paper, tape, and thinner cardboard in one pass, and cut wood multiple times. The machine can cut acrylic and wood, especially poplar plywood, which is soft and is the wood of choice for all laser cutters.
We have tested the machine with engraving and cutting different materials. You will find our test results in the following chapters.
Software and Supported Formats
You can use the Sculpfun laser engraver with the free LaserGRBL software, which works fine but is a bit clumsy to use. It's great for some tests, but I chose Lightburn, which is more powerful and intuitive to use. While it's not free, the license costs $60. However, the software offers a 1-month fully functional free trial, which will help you decide if it's worth it. For me, it's definitely worth it because it saves a lot of time (it's not free).
With LaserGRBL you can import vector files (NC, BMP, JPG, PNG, DXF...) and bitmap image files (bmp, jpg, png and gif),
Lightburn supports even more formats: AI, SVG, DXF, PDF, HPGL, PLT, and RD for vector formats, PNG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, TGA, and GIF for image formats.
The vector format is the preferred format for these machines because it contains the path around the edge of the shape that the laser head traces. Engraving vector files is faster because the laser cuts directly on the path instead of scanning and dotting the bitmap image (photo) as a printer does.
You can get millions of free vector designs on the Internet, or you can use a free vector drawing program like Inkscape or QCAD (for more technical drawings)
You can also import tons of vector designs and images from free vector sites, or you can buy beautiful laser designs on sites like Etsy. This really expands your capabilities.
wood carving
Our standard engraving patterns are designed to demonstrate the engraving capabilities at different settings, so you can see the effect of the laser beam.
What's immediately apparent is that the Sculpfun S9's engravings are sharper and more contrasty than other machines we've tested before. Also, the wood surface is basically free of smoke stains. That's very impressive!
The power scale test pattern shows how the machine carves at different power levels at different speeds.
Power is varied from 10% to 100% in 10% increments at speeds of 600, 1200, 1800 and 2400 mm/min. We omitted doing the low speed/high power shape with the Atomstack A5 20W because the beam burns too much at low speed. This left a large charred blob that provided no useful information.
At first glance, the Sculpfun S9 has significantly higher power output than the Sculpfun S6 Pro. We'll see if this is true in a later test.
The interval scale test here is used to show whether the laser focus shape is square or rectangular. The scanning interval gradually increases from 0.1mm to 0.5mm.
In this test, the Sculpfun S9 showed that the shape of the beam was very close to rectangular, as the vertical and horizontal sculpting was well balanced.
We will be able to estimate the exact spot shape later when we test the engraving on the anodized aluminum.
This is a test of engraving a small photo of 20mm size while varying the maximum laser power.
Engraving photos is very slow because the laser head has to scan line by line like an inkjet printer. If you want to engrave a very large photo, be prepared to wait for hours :)
As we'll see below, the Sculpfun S9 is by far the best engraver for engraving photos. Photos look very sharp, with high detail and contrast.