CO2 Laser That Just WORKS! AtomStack Hurricane Review and Test

I am going to review a completely new laser cutter from Atomstack – the Atomstack Hurricane. It is a 55W CO2 laser cutter that is a direct competitor to Glowforge, GweikeCloud and the xTool P2, which I have tested previously. In this article I will put the Atomstack Hurricane to the test to see how well it performs in a series of practical tests, engraving and laser cutting various materials ranging from wood, plastic to aluminum, and compare the results to its competitors that I tested previously.

Atomstack Hurricane Review

The AtomStack Hurricane is the first CO2 laser engraver from Atomstack. The company has matured and has stepped up from diode laser engravers like the ones we have tested previously. It is a 55W CO2 laser cutter that features auto-focusing, camera positioning, red dot preview and precise mechanics. It also supports a lot of upgrades and accessories like the air purifier that extracts all the fumes, Atomstack R1 Pro rotary attachment for engraving cylinders, automatic fire extinguishing system for automatic fire suppression, slat bed upgrade (default bed is honeycomb), machine risers for engraving taller objects and you can even upgrade the Hurricane with the conveyor feeder system, that expands the stock working area of 500*300mm (19.7″*11.8″) to a whopping 500*800mm(19.7″*31.5″)!

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The Atomstack Hurricane features a similar design to the xTool P2 which I tested a while ago. It has plastic enclosure, and the status of the machine can be observed by different colors of the LED lights. This machine also features a keylock which prevents unauthorized people from using the machine.  The top panel has a power button, an autofocus button and three LED indicators. Note that the production version will have a nicer-looking sticker than this one.

At the back, there is a port for connecting the fire extinguishing system which will trigger in case of a fire and extinguish the flames.

The Atomstack Hurricane has a working area of 500×300 millimeters and the same 55W power output as the xTool P2, although the P2 has a larger working are a of 600x305mm, we will still be able to directly compare the performance between these two machines.

Inside we find a large honeycomb for the working surface (upgradable to slat bed if you prefer). The laser head is protected in a metal enclosure. On the top there is a manual focusing knob which can be used to manually raise the nozzle and focus the machine. The machine also has an autofocus feature which I will show later in the article.

Inside, all cables and air assist hoses are neatly packed in cable chains and the mechanical gantry is simple and well built. Inside there is also a connection for connecting the accessories like the rotary attachment and conveyor feeder. The lid is supported by two gas struts, which work very well and the lid can be opened with one hand only.

A cleaning brush, fire extinguishing hose, camera calibration pattern, fume extraction hose and a spare lens are also included.

At the back, there is a water-cooled CO2 laser tube. Before use, you need to add distilled water into the cooling system and attach the fume extraction hose which is nice and long. The first thing I did was to align the mirrors using the Atomstack video tutorial as aligning the beam makes a big improvement in engraving performance.

Disclaimer

My machine here is a pre-production unit which I received before the official release. The production unit will be better than my sample unit.

The production version will have an additional USB port on the side panel, the gaps on the machine enclosure will be improved and the production version will have an enhanced LED illumination, which will improve the visibility to the inside.

Software

Atomstack Hurricane can be controlled using the brand-new software called Atomstack Studio. It is easy and free to use. It is similar to the xTool Creative Space software, and it is great for performing all the tasks needed to operate the machine.

But if you are an advanced user, you can control the Hurricane with Lightburn. It is an amazing software, which is not free, but it offers a one-month free trial so you can try it out. The Atomstack Hurricane needs the cheapest GRBL license which is a great advantage as CO2 lasers usually require a more expensive DSP license.

Focusing the Atomstack Hurricane

Atomstack Hurricane also features a positioning camera, which is located on the lid. It is meant to be used when the lid is open, and it is helpful for rough positioning of the engraving jobs.

For more precise positioning, the Atomstack Hurricane shines a red light through the lens, allowing you to frame the design with high precision like on blue diode machines. Otherwise, CO2 lasers have invisible laser beam, and it is impossible to frame the design without this feature.

You can manually focus the head by rotating the focusing knob on the top of the head. The machine is in focus when the air assist nozzle touches the top of the 8mm thick focus block. The second way of focusing is by pressing the autofocus button which lowers the head until the focusing sensor stick touches the material surface. After that, the machine sets itself in perfect focus.

I also did the camera alignment procedure in Lightburn to see how well it works. This camera is mounted on the lid, and it is supposed to be used with the lid open.

I covered the honeycomb with black paper, so the camera detected the test pattern with higher accuracy. The procedure is quick and easy to do as the test pattern and the cardboard material come included in the package.

To test the accuracy, I drew a dot on the cardboard and went to engrave a cross in the center of it using the camera for positioning and the result was excellent. But you need to watch out as the camera doesn’t correct for the thickness of the material. If you place thicker material inside, the alignment will be slightly off. But this is not an issue, as camera is used for rough alignment and the actual positioning is done by the red dot preview.

Atomstack Air Purifier

One last thing I had to do before engraving was to connect the Atomstack air purifier system.

In my workshop, I don’t have the machine near the window and this purifier is a life saver as it filters out almost all the smoke and smell and the air can be released inside my workshop without filling it with smoke and harmful fumes.

The air purifier has three filtering stages. The first stage is a coarse filter that removes the big particles, the second filter filters out the sub-micron sized particles and the third filter is a heavy beast, full of active carbon which filters out the smell and harmful gases. The air purifier has an adjustable fan speed. It can be quiet at low speed for light engraving or can generate a ton of airflow at full speed for maximum filtering when cutting demanding materials.

The air purifier seems expensive at first, but it is a great investment in your health and the health of people around you.

Plywood Engraving Test Pattern

Next, I went to engrave my standard plywood engraving test pattern so we will be able to compare the results to other CO2 laser cutters I have tested so far.

The pattern consists of the power scale test, which tests the engraving performance at different speeds, the interval test which gives a hint of the laser spot size and shape and the photo engraving test which will show us the machines photo engraving performance.

You can download these test patterns HERE if you want to test your machine with them.

Looking at the results we can see that the Atomstack Hurricane did exceptionally well. It produced clear engravings with very little smoke stains.

Looking at the power scale test, we see that it produces very dark and deep engraving which burned through the 3mm thick plywood board that I used for this test. At higher speeds, a very nice progression from brown to black color can be achieved.

The interval test shows us that the engraving performance is similar in both directions with vertical orientation showing a bit wider laser beam.

And the photo engraving test shows that this machine is very good at being able to engrave fine details. I am very impressed with this machine.

By comparing the results with the xTool P2 which I have tested previously, we can see that the machines performed similarly. Atomstack pproduced a bit less smoke stains in photo engraving test, but take a note that with the xTool P2, this pattern was engraved before I calibrated the laser beam, and more smoke stains were present because of that. After calibration, the xTool P2 was producing less smoke stains. Atomstack also performed better than the GweikeCloud Pro, but that machine is in a much lower price range.

Plywood Cutting Test

Then I went to do the plywood cutting test on 3mm and 6mm thick Poplar plywood. The Atomstack Hurricane performed very well. Compared to the xTool P2, it produced much less smoke stains. However, it’s important to note that the xTool P2 was tested before I adjusted the beam alignment, which likely caused the increased smoke stains. After calibration, the beam was narrower and the xTool performed better when cutting with less smoke stains.

We see that the xTool has performed better with the thicker plywood, which suggests that it is better than Hurricane at retaining focus at larger distances. (we will test this lower down in this article) If we also look at the cheaper GweikeCloud Pro, we see that it also performed a bit better at thicker plywood, but it performed much worse at the thinner one.

You can download these test patterns HERE if you want to test your machine with them.

Acrylic Cutting Test

I also did the cutting test on 3mm thick (1/8″) acrylic. I used transparent acrylic since CO2 lasers can cut transparent acrylic just as well as black one which sets them apart from blue diode lasers. The Atomstack Hurricane did very good in this test. It is able to cut 3mm thick acrylic at higher speed than the Gweike Cloud Pro and the xTool P2.

You can download these test patterns HERE if you want to test your machine with them.

Anodized Aluminum - Mechanical Stability and Precision Test

Next, I went to engrave some anodized aluminum. I used a camera for rough positioning and then I verified the position with the red dot framing function.

This test is used to evaluate small text engraving capability to see how the machine performs at detailed engravings. And the mechanical stability is tested by engraving squares at different speeds to see if there are any mechanical vibrations present at higher speeds. And the most important part is the interval test which is used to measure its laser spot size and shape.

You can download these test patterns HERE if you want to test your machine with them.

Looking under a microscope, we can see that the Hurricane did an excellent job at engraving very small text. Even the smallest text is perfect.

The squares were engraved at speeds ranging from 100 to10000mm/min and they all look perfect. This is very impressive.

And the interval test shows that the laser spot size is approximately 0.2mm in both directions which is normal for CO2 lasers.

Focus Distance Test

Then I did the focus distance test where I engrave squares at different distances from the optimal focus. This test was easy to do with the Atomstack Hurricane thanks to its ability to dynamically correct the focus height in real time. This test is a good indicator of the machines’ ability to cut thick materials.

The Atomstack Hurricane did worse compared to other CO2 lasers in its class. This also explains why it was the best at cutting 3mm thick materials, but other machines were better at cutting 6mm and thicker stuff.

You can also see how CO2 lasers  compare to diode lasers in this test.

THICK Acrylic Cutting Test

I wanted to test the theory above by trying to cut my logo out of 15mm (0.6″) thick transparent acrylic. Atomstack Hurricane was able to cut it, which is impressive, but the finish was not as good as the figure on the right which was cut with the xTool P2 which is much better at retaining the focus at greater distances.

High Speed Engraving With Atomstack Hurricane

I also did the high-speed test by engraving a test pattern at 500 millimeters per second at various power levels. The Atomstack Hurricane did a great job, making very dark engravings with very little smoke stains. Compared to other machines, the Atomstacks engravings have more contrast and look great.

Machine Riser Kit

I was also able to get the machine riser kit and the conveyor feeder system. Both are made from metal and look very sturdy.

Conveyor Feeder - 3x Expanding The Working Area for The Atomstack Hurricane!

The conveyor system looks very sturdy and gives out a premium feel. The conveyor system expands the Y-axis range from 300 to 800mm which opens up a whole new dimension, allowing you to work on very large designs.

Small adjustable sliding tabs are included for clamping down large sheets of wood. If you use narrower pieces, you can use the included cross bars to hold the material.

To use the conveyor system, you need the riser base installed on your machine. It features magnetic doors on both sides which are quick to remove. The conveyor system is easy to install. First, you need to remove the tray and then the conveyor is slid inside and align it so it locks into the correct position. The laser head needs to be manually lowered so the autofocus sensor can reach the surface. The conveyor plugs in the designated port on the inside of the machine.

The tray is massive, and it extends out of the machine on both sides, so you can’t have the machine near the wall while using it.

I cut out a decoration piece from black paper which is easy to cut so I can show you how well the conveyor behaves at high speeds (watch the YouTube video to see it in action). I used cutting speed of 150mm/s and 40% power. The only downside of this conveyor system is that it extends out of the machine on both sides, so the laser can’t be located near the wall. But you can’t go around physics if you want a larger working area.

We can see that the conveyor easily follows at this speed and quickly, the job was complete. The pattern came out perfect and it looks incredible.

Making Random Cool Stuff With Atomstack Hurricane

Since a CO2 laser is great for cutting plastic materials of any color, it can be used to make cool signs out of a dual color plastic like this one which I got from Creatorally.com. (you can use coupon code “” for 10% off your order!)

The engraving process removes the white top layer and exposes the blue color substrate below. This is a cool way to make custom tags, keychains or signs.

I also made this cool looking dishwasher indicator for clean and dirty dishes. You don’t need to be an expert designer to make cool stuff with your laser. I bought the design on Etsy.com for a few dollars and it was cut in a blink of an eye using the Atomstack Hurricane!

Safety

The Atomstack Hurricane is Class 1 certified, making it very safe to use.

Versatile and easy to use CO2 laser cutter!

AtomStack Hurricane - One of the best desktop CO2 lasers!

The Atomstack Hurricane is a very versatile and easy to use CO2 laser cutter. Compared to its competitors, it performs exceptionally well at laser engraving, producing dark engravings with high contrast.  But it is no slouch at laser cutting too!

It is also very reasonably priced as it is currently selling for only 2799$ which is more than 1000$ less than the xTool P2.  It is also Class 1 certified, making it very safe to use.

The Atomstack Hurricane supports a ton of different accessories and attachments, allowing you to tailor the machine to your specific needs making it a reliable tool for your hobby or small business.

(Use code "jtmakesit" for 5% off on preorder AND final payment!)

Get your Hurricane here!
4 Comments
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  1. Nice articles. Just bought an AtomStack A70 Pro and refining a proper fume extraction system for it. Quite complicated as the needs for engraving are very different from cutting and size of the workpiece matters. It will take me a few more months to refine it. I’m yet to see a well designed laser enclosure to properly extract fumes and protect the fan/cooling/ optics. I used to run an industrial ventilation teaching and research laboratory.
    The green safety glasses supplied by AtomStack are probably sufficient, but protect less than the orange shield built into the A70 head. Fortunately the perception of brightness is reasonably good in the visible region, so getting an idea of the relative protection from blue diode lasers is actually useful. The picture is very different in the UV and IR. You could make a relative assessment of blue diode protection with a cheap lux meter.
    You may want to review your stuff of laser classification as all engraving and cutting lasers would be Class 4. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety
    (I was also a Health Physicist in a past life).
    Cheers

  2. Any idea on the price?

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