The Artisan is a great machine, however….
The Artisan is a great machine, and has been very reliable since we installed it almost 3 years ago. The Luban software for 3D printing works well, 8 out of 10. The laser portion of the software, especially for the 2W laser, relative to part referencing is not intuitive and gets a 4 out of 10 for me. The milling portion of Luban should include an option for “Z level” machining that would be very helpful for 3D shapes, and also different options for initially leading the cutting tool tip into the material such as ramping and spiraling. These functions would be very helpful and would prevent overloading the cutting tool during lead in moves. I give the milling module a 6 out of 10. In summary, the Artisan machine and hardware components are top notch and have been very, very reliable….Luban is weak in several areas and has forced me to use other software/CAM systems to generate programs….. One other suggestion…..On the machine controller, please provide a simple one touch (Work piece reference) button to return the machine back to part zero, to prepare the machine for the next part….This function would save a lot of time as I constantly run small batches h production (10-20pcs) and simple wish to re-run the same program over and over. There is currently a 1 touch button for machine reference, please provide a reference button to send the machine back to the work piece origin as well….especially useful for laser engraving. Many thanks, John Bradford