With Lightburn as our software of choice, we then discovered a couple of limitations to the RAY5 worth mentioning. Firstly, the model does not include air assist likely to save on costs. Such a feature is usually absent from less powerful engravers, but it would have still been nice to see especially since Longer has doubled the power of the RAY5 laser from 5 W to 10 W. Secondly, the Homing feature is not supported which means that there there is nothing stopping the diode from moving beyond its 400 cm^2 workspace and potentially damaging itself if you’re not careful. This is easy to avoid if you’re experienced with Lightburn, but one wrong setting can potentially send the diode to a corner as expected.
As for the actual performance of the RAY5, the more powerful 10 W laser means you can cut materials in fewer passes and thus at quicker speeds than the original 5 W laser. We’re able to cut 3 mm plywood in just a single pass while 3 mm MDF takes a couple of passes. We don’t recommend going faster than 6000 mm/min or else the entire apparatus will treble when burning is in progress.
The Longer RAY5 works very well as a starter engraver because of its easy assembly and intuitive onscreen touchscreen controls. To really make the most of it, however, will require a lot more trial and error on the Lightburn front.
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