ComMarker B60 60W JPT MOPA Fiber Laser Review and Test
A while ago, I have reviewed the standard 20W, Q-switched type of ComMarker B4 fiber laser which has proven itself to be an amazing laser engraver for the money. In this article, I will review its bigger brother, the ComMarker B4 60W JPT MOPA fiber laser engraver [Official store, Amazon, Aliexpress].
The new ComMarker 60W MOPA fiber laser machine is substantially larger, as it has three times the power of its smaller brother, the 20W ComMarker B4. Instead of using the cheaper Raycus laser source, it uses the premium laser source from JPT brand which has a much wider frequency range and provides excellent quality and stability.
This model is also a MOPA version, which stands for Master Oscillator Power Amplifier. Compared to a regular Q-switched fiber laser it has a much higher frequency range and you can also control the pulse width parameter which opens another dimension of usability as it enables you to have a much better control over the energy of the individual laser pulses.
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What Comes in the Box?
The machine is very quick to assemble as you just need to attach the Z-axis column with 4 screws.
The ComMarker B4 comes with two lenses, a 110mm and a 200mm area lens. The smaller lens is great for producing deep and detailed engravings in metal, and the larger lens is great for larger engravings on metal and plastics and producing colored engravings on stainless steel.
The ComMarker B4 60W JPT MOPA also comes with a set of standard accessories, a pair of safety glasses, a safety shield, and a bracket for hands-free operation. You also get a set of sample materials and aluminum business cards, which are much thicker than the usual paper-thin cards that come with other machines.
The included safety glasses seem to be OK, they have a protective film for infrared light, but I rather use safety glasses that also offer protection in UV spectrum as fiber lasers produce a lot of welding-like arcs. This is why I rather use these laser safety glasses which provide at least 10 times better protection for your eyes.
In the package you also get a brochure which illustrates what you can do with this machine, so you can quickly get some ideas of what is possible (a lot!).
The machine supports EZCAD software which comes included on the USB key and most importantly, this machine also supports Lightburn which is what I will be using.
I have ordered the more advanced rotary system which is supposed to be better at engraving larger cylinders compared to the rotary I got with the 20W ComMarker B4 which I have reviewed previously. I will be testing this rotary a bit later and I will post the results in this article or in a new one. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get notified when the review will be published!
With the machine you also get a datasheet of the JPT laser source installed in this machine, which tells you the basic information about this laser source and it also illustrates the pulse waveform and a cutoff frequency range so you can better understand the operating limits of the source.
Focusing and Engraving Preview
Focusing can be done manually or by using the electric lifting motor.
Each lens has its own focus distance. The smaller the lens, the shorter the focus distance. You can measure the distance with the included ruler, or you can watch until the three laser dots align on the surface. Using its red light preview, you can preview the outline or the exact vector that will be engraved. This is a very convenient way for fast and precise positioning.
High Speed Engraving Accuracy Test
For the first test, I have engraved some small text at very high speeds (200mm/s to 3000mm/s) and a simple interval test to see how it performs at high detail engravings.
Initially, at lower speeds, the engravings were perfect, but at 1000mm/s the quality started to suffer a bit, and at 3000mm/s, the smallest text was not readable anymore. At this speed, we can also see the individual pulses that laser is producing as 30kHz is a very low frequency for such high speed. Using a higher frequency setting would solve this issue.
Looking at the interval test, we can see that the edges of the lines are not perfectly aligned when filling with alternating beam direction. This shows that the laser source timings are not set correctly.
I followed an online tutorial for timing adjustment in Lightburn and ran the test again.
Here we can see that the edges are now much better aligned. At 1000mm/s, the text still engraved perfectly and at 3000mm/s, the text is still well readable. This is an amazing improvement and shows incredible engraving quality, considering the immense speed at which this was engraved. The text engraved at 3000mm/s was engraved in a blink of an eye!
And the interval test shows that the beam is approximately 50 microns thick.
Testing Different Frequency and Q-Pulse Width Settings on Mild Steel
Now its time to engrave some test patterns on mild steel to show you the effect that changing the frequency and pulse width produces.
 If you watch my video review on YouTube, you can hear that the larger Q-pulse values are removing more material.
As we can see, we can produce completely different looking results by changing these parameters. Listening to the sound, we can hear that as you increase either the frequency or the pulse width the engravings sound louder (deeper engraving). Lower Q-pulse widths are producing a polishing effect. The lower frequencies have produced very shallow engravings and at high frequencies, the engravings are much deeper as more pulses were generated.
Using the Commarker B4 MOPA Fiber Laser for Removing Rust and Grime
I used the settings that produced polishing effect on the steel plate for cleaning rust and grime from the steel plate that I usually use as a bed for working with my blue diode lasers and it gets rusty and dirty pretty quickly.
And I have to say, cleaning rusty and dirty stuff with a fiber laser works like a charm! This is a quick way for cleaning the surface as the 60W ComMarker B4 MOPA fiber laser has a lot of power on disposal. The surface looks brand new! You can use this feature also for cleaning coins and removing rust from intricate parts.
Engraving Various Stuff
Speaking of intricate parts, you can use this machine for engraving with high precision on very small stuff like a tip of this ball point pen.
You can use it for engraving on painted surfaces too. Engravings on this coke can are indistinguishable from the rest of the design. I didn’t even use a rotary for such a small design and it came out great!
Fiber laser is also very good at engraving very high details with lightning speed on anodized aluminum. Every time I get blown away by the quality of engravings that this machine can produce.
You Can Engrave Different Colors on Anodized Aluminum With ComMarker B4 MOPA Fiber Laser
MOPA fiber laser enables you to precisely adjust the energy of the laser pulse, which allows you to produce white, black, or grey engravings on anodized aluminum. Darker colors take more time to engrave, as this process is slowly heating the oxide layer which turns it dark.
Dark engravings are smooth because the surface does not get ablated. White engravings on the other hand, remove the oxide layer, producing a deep engraving. It is amazing that we can produce different colors on the same material. Darker colors are smooth and shiny, while white has some texture to it.
The settings I used for this test:
You can download Lightburn project files for these projects HERE.
Gray color: 1500mm/s, 50% power, 260kHz, 7ns Q-pulse 0.001mm line interval
Black color: 1500mm/s, 50% power, 260kHz, 4ns Q-pulse 0.001mm line interval
White color: 1000mm/s, 20% power, 60kHz, 100ns Q-pulse 0.03mm line interval
You can also download ALL the test files I used for other types of machines (including more tests for fiber lasers) if you subscribe to our newsletter.
Can you make dark engravings on raw aluminum too?
It is important to mention that producing black engravings on raw aluminum is much more difficult without applying certain chemicals or coatings. Engravings appear black only at certain angles.
Engraving on Black Acrylic and Common White Plastic With MOPA Fiber Laser
Using a MOPA fiber laser you can produce very nice-looking engravings on some plastics, since lowering the Q-pulse will prevent the surface from melting too much like it is often the case with normal fiber lasers. Interestingly, if you use the same settings on black acrylic, it results in white engraving.
The settings:
2000mm/s, 30% power, 43kHz, 100ns Q-pulse 0.03mm line interval
I could have reduced the Q-pulse even more.
Engraving Faux and Real Leather with MOPA fiber laser
I have done a more practical test case by engraving on a notebook, which is wrapped in faux leather looking material. I engraved a newspaper style front page which I have made with Kittl designer.Â
The text is engraved with a low power crosshatch fill pattern. If you watch my review video, you will see a trick for engraving photos. First, you trace the image to create a shape which is filled with high speed and low power in order to provide a uniform background. Then you engrave an image on top of it which results in perfect result each time. The outcome looks great and it makes for a great personalized gift.
When engraving plastic materials, fume extraction is very important as the fumes can be toxic.
You can download Lightburn project files for these projects HERE.
You can also download ALL the test files I used for other types of machines (including more tests for fiber lasers) if you subscribe to our newsletter.
Fiber laser also works well on leather. You can produce light or dark engravings, depending on the settings and the type of leather.
Laser Cutting Stainless Steel With ComMarker B4 60W JPT MOPA Fiber Laser
Next, I went to see how well the ComMarker B4 60W JPT MOPA fiber laser is at cutting thin stainless steel sheets. I tried to cut a 0.1mm (0.004″) thick stainless steel sheet which is normally used for making PCB stencils.
The biggest problem when cutting thin sheets at full power is that the metal warps significantly with each pass. To compensate a bit, I have added a small delay in the form of adding one more layer with slow speed and 0% power which gives the metal some time to cool down. But it still warps when cutting with high power. The cutout is done nicely, but I was not impressed with the result as there is a lot of discoloration due to the excessive heat.
I have set up another test, this time trying to engrave a very small text(subscribe) into this stainless sheet. This time I have used the fill pattern, since the text is very small. I used medium speed, low power, and high frequency with a very short Q-pulse and 120 passes. I have also added a zero-power sub-layer to create a small delay between each pass.
Cutting using this method, the material is not heating up as much as before and the engraving stays clear. The results look pretty nice considering its tiny size! Looking at it through a microscope reveals an amazing level of detail. You can see a tip of a ball point pen for comparison. This experiment proves that the ComMarker B4 JPT MOPA fiber laser is a very versatile machine, you just need to find the correct settings for the job.
Can You Cut Aluminum With ComMarker B4 60W JPT MOPA?
Next, I tried to cut some 0.4mm thick (0.016″) aluminum business cards. First, I engraved the vector image and then proceeded to cut it out.
When cutting thicker materials, it is very important to add some wobble. Wobble adds small loops to regular lines (like drawing a spring), effectively making the cut wider. Without it, the cuts are too thin, and the channel gets clogged and cutting progress is significantly reduced in subsequent layers.
Aluminum does not get discolored due to the heat and the end product looks amazing.
You can download Lightburn project files for these projects HERE.
You can also download ALL the test files I used for other types of machines (including more tests for fiber lasers) if you subscribe to our newsletter.
If you don’t fully cut out the shapes, you can use the remaining card as a stand. This is one of my favorite things to make with aluminum business cards!
Laser Cutting THICK Brass! (Explaining Wobble Parameter)
Now it’s time to try to engrave and cut some 0.8mm (0.032″) thick brass!
I engraved of the most intricate designs I have. I engraved using fill mode and four crosshatch passes at 40kHz, with a cleaning pass in between each engraving pass. The cutting was done using fast speed and 100 passes with added wobble. It cut through sooner than that
The cut produced dark edges which could be cleaned by running one more cleaning pass on the finished coin.
Looking at it under the microscope, we can see that the engraving is quite deep, considering that I used a small number of passes. But the surface has some pitting and doesn’t look as detailed as I would want.
I engraved it again using higher frequency and more dense infill. I didn’t bother cutting it out, so I can easily differentiate the two. Just by looking at them, we can see that the newer settings have resulted in more contrast.
Looking under the microscope we can see that the newer settings have produced smoother engravings with incredible level of detail and even deeper engraving. If the settings were tweaked further, you could produce even better results.
You can download Lightburn project files for these projects HERE.
You can also download ALL the test files I used for other types of machines (including more tests for fiber lasers) if you subscribe to our newsletter.
3D Engraving Test
After seeing how well the ComMarker B4 60W JPT MOPA fiber laser engraved that coin, I was curious to see how deep you can really engrave with this machine. As I wanted to try out the 3D engraving feature, I have converted a 3D model of a pig into a grayscale image using this online converter.
3D engraving works in a way that the darker the shade, the more passes it will run for that part and the deeper it will be engraved. When setting up the 3D engraving, you should always set up 256 passes as this is how many shades of grey the grayscale image contains and will produce the smoothest results. If you want to engrave deeper, you should increase the number of passes by 256 each time. I have also added a cleanup pass after every 10 cutting passes to clean up the surface. I chose aggressive cutting settings which remove a lot of material and produce a lot of interesting noises.
The engraving process took around half an hour to complete and the engraving is approximately 1.5mm deep (0.06″). I manually added an additional cleaning pass across the entire surface to clean up everything.
The result looks amazing, and the engraving is much deeper than I thought it would be. Removing this much of material requires good fume extraction and produces a lot of fine dust.
Looking under the microscope, we can even distinguish the individual layers. I still can’t believe how good it looks and how deep it got engraved in so little time!
You can download Lightburn project files for these projects HERE.
You can also download ALL the test files I used for other types of machines (including more tests for fiber lasers) if you subscribe to our newsletter.
Colored Engravings On Stainless Steel? Possible Only With MOPA Fiber Laser!
Now it’s time for the fun part. Using the material test generator, I ran a few different settings on stainless steel to see what colors I could get.
I tried altering various parameters to see how they affect the outcome. First, I tried varying power and speed parameters which produces a wide pallet of colors. Then I experimented more by varying interval and Q-pulse at low values which produced a discrete set of colors. Lastly, I tried varying power and Q-pulse which gave me even more colors.
Some colors can be seen only from certain angles, while others are less dependent on the viewing angle. The pictures don’t do them justice. In reality, the colors are much more vivid.
Using different settings, you can get colors ranging from solid colors, pastel colors to neon colors. If you look at my YouTube video, you will be able to better see the available colors.
Then I engraved this surfer dude to see if it is possible to repeat these colors. The result came out exactly as it should, and I am very happy with it. Engraving colors with a MOPA fiber laser is not fast and it also takes a lot of experimentation, but the results can be very rewarding.
You can download Lightburn project files for these projects HERE.
You can also download ALL the test files I used for other types of machines (including more tests for fiber lasers) if you subscribe to our newsletter.
Fits a very specific purpose
Is 60W ComMarker B4 JPT MOPA Fiber Laser Worth Buying?
In conclusion, I can say that the 60W ComMarker B4 JPT MOPA fiber laser is an incredibly capable machine which offers a ton of adjustability and tweaking to allow you to get the desired engraving effect.
It is astonishingly fast and powerful as it can dig deep into the material with ease. But it can also be very delicate and precise if needed. It offers so much adjustability that you will keep discovering new capabilities every day. It is a very powerful and versatile tool to have at disposal!
If you decide to buy, you can get the ComMarker B4 JPT MOPA fiber laser engraver in the following stores: [Official store, Amazon, Aliexpress].
You can use my coupon code "jtmakesit" for additional 2% off on official site! Buying through these affiliate links will support this site at no extra cost to you which I will be very thankful for and will be able to provide more reviews in the future!
Buy ComMarker B4 in the official storeBuy it on AmazonBe sure to also check out my reviews of newer laser engravers HERE!
This post was written by JT Makes It.
JT Makes It is an engineer, hobbyist, and DIY-er armed with a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and over a decade of professional experience in the industry. From an early age, JT Makes It was pushed by an insatiable curiosity, spending countless hours disassembling, understanding, improving, and creating various gadgets and products. This lifelong passion led to a broad spectrum of technical expertise ranging from electronics, woodworking, metalworking, and CNC machinery, with a particular focus on laser engravers.
For the past 9 years, he has shared his expertise through engaging videos on his YouTube channel. With the last three years dedicated to scrutinizing and testing laser engravers, he also created this website and emerged as a recognized authority in the field. His expertise extends across the spectrum of laser technologies, ranging from diode lasers, CO2 lasers, and fiber lasers, paying attention to details and providing practical insights.
With JT Makes It, expect a blend of technical expertise, backed with hands-on experience, and a genuine passion for innovation and creation, making him a trusted source in the realm of DIY and laser engraving enthusiasts alike.
How thick of stainless steel can it cut?
Thank you
In a range of 1mm.
Is the color engraving the only plus of the B4 60W Mopa over the standard B4 60W? If you only had to cut 1mm sheets of metal and do standard engravins would the B4 60W already be ok for that or the MOPA has a total game changer in comparison?
For deep engraving there is not so much difference. With MOPA you are able to engrave more delicate materials and produce different surface finishes, preventing melting of surfaces or discoloring due to the heat.