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Test: Atomstack A10 S10 Pro X7 Pro – Superior Features – Best In Its Class?
In this article we will review and test the engraving and cutting performance of the Atomstack A10 Pro laser engraver. This engraver is basically the same as the Atomstack X7 Pro and features the10W dual-beam M50 laser module. We will test it with our standardized range of tests plus some extra stuff. We have also added some more challenging cutting tests to see how well the machine cuts thicker stuff. This article will help you decide if this machine is the best for you.
Atomstack A10 Pro/X7 Pro – a Flagship BEAST!
Contents of This Review
- What is the Atomstack A10 Pro?
- Specifications
- Laser Diode
- Special Features
- Software
Our test results:
- Wood engraving
- Anodized Aluminum engraving
- Laser Focus Distance Test
- Acrylic Cutting and Engraving
- Plywood cutting
- Hardwood Cutting
- Engraving Stainless Steel
- Conclusion
What is the Atomstack A10 Pro (X7 Pro)?
The Atomstack A10 Pro is the same machine as the Atomstack X7 Pro and the Atomstack S10 Pro. It features the same dual beam laser module and mechanical parts. We think that the only difference is that the A10 Pro does not have wireless connectivity.
The Atomstack A10 Pro should be a very capable laser engraving machine due to its dual beam laser module and an improved mechanical construction compared to the previous model – the Atomstack A5 Pro.
In this article, we will put it through a series of tests which will show what this machine is capable of.
The Atomstack A10 Pro has a rectangular engraving area of 410*400mm and it features a very premium control panel with display and quality buttons. It also has an offline controller, so the laser can be operated only by its touch screen. The computer is not needed.
The assembly of the machine is easy and it takes less than half an hour to assemble it thanks to a good manual.
Specifications
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
Engraving Size | 410*400mm |
Engraving Materials | Wood, Bamboo, Cardboard, Plastic, Leather, PCB Board, Aluminum Oxide, Non-reflective, Electroplating Layer and Paint Surface Layer Metal, 304 Mirror Stainless Steel, Glass, Ceramics, Cotton Cloth, Slate; |
Laser Output Optical Power | 10-11W |
Laser Wavelength | 445±5nm |
Focusing Method | Fixed focus laser |
Operating Software | LaserGRBL, LightBurn, Benbox, GrblController, LiteFire, Support Windows system, Support OSMAC system. Supported file formats NC, BMP, JPG, PNG, DXF and other image formats. |
Input voltage | AC100-240V, 50/60Hz |
Weight | 3kg |
Warranty | One Year |
Laser Diode
The Atomstack A10 Pro (X7 Pro) features the flagship M40 laser module which outputs 10W of power into a very compressed spot. Sintering temperatures are advertized to reach up to 1200°C which should allow us to engrave a lot more materials and metals.
The machine has a 32-bit controller board with a touch screen offline controller.
I would also recommend getting more quality protection googles with OD6+ protection. You only have one pair of eyes. Protect them! These lasers work in visible light spectrum and even reflections can be very harmful for your eyes!
Focusing procedure
The focusing procedure is the same as with the Atomstack A5 Pro we tested previously. For optimal cutting, the head needs to be 2mm above the engraving surface. Focusing is done by putting an acrylic sheet/shim under the laser head and lowering the head on the shim. The shim is 2mm thick and after tightening the z axis screw, the head stays 2mm above the surface.
Special Features
Atomstack A10 Pro (X7 Pro) also has some special features worth mentioning:
Offline Controller
This machine has a cool offline controller which allows us to use the machine without the computer. It is very handy for field work and projects that require a lot of the same cut jobs. You set your design as you normally would in Lightburn or LaserGRBL but then, instead of starting the engraving, you export it as the gcode to the included SD card with the included SD card reader and with the touchreeen you can then select the file, fine tune the parameters and proceed to engrave your design without using the computer.
We engraved this with the offline controller. Check out the YouTube video below to see how to operate the offline controller.
Emergency Stop Button
It has a solid metal mushroom style emergency knob which comes in handy when you need to turn off the machine in a hurry.
Limit Switches
This is probably one of the best features which I hope that all lasers would have someday. Limit switches enable you to home the machine automatically so that it always starts from the same spot. This way, if you stop the engraving or add another layer of work (or if the machine has crashed mid-work), you can be sure that the machine will start working at exactly the same spot that you want. They decided to use the cheap tactile switches instead of proper limit switches, but they work alright.
Cutting and Engraving Different Materials
Engrave: Wood, Bamboo, Cardboard, Plastic, Leather, PCB Board, Aluminum Oxide, Non-reflective, Electroplating Layer and Paint Surface Layer Metal, 304 Mirror Stainless Steel, Glass, Ceramics, Cotton Cloth, Slate
The Atomstack A10 Pro/X7 pro is also a very capable cutter.
Cut: Cardboard, Non-woven Fabric, Wood Board, Acrylic, Some Thin Plastic Board, Sponge;cardboard…
You can cut more than 10mm thick stuff with this laser engraver. The machine can cut wood, especially Poplar plywood which is soft and it is the preferred wood for all laser cutters.
We have tested the machine with engraving and cutting different materials. You will find the results of our tests few chapters lower.
Software and Supported Formats
You can use the Atomstack A10 Pro laser engraver with free LaserGRBL software which works OK, but it is a little bit clumsy to use. It is great for some tests, but I chose Lightburn instead which is much more capable software, and it is very intuitive to use. It is not free though, but the license costs 60$. But, the software offers 1 month fully functional free trial which will help you decide if it is worth it to you. For me it was definitely worth it because it saves so much time (which is 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 more formats: AI, SVG, DXF, PDF, HPGL, PLT, and RD for vector formats and PNG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, TGA, and GIF for image formats.
Vector format is preferred format for these machines because it contains the paths around the shape edges on which the laser head tracks. Engraving vector files is faster because the laser directly cuts on the path versus scanning like a printer and making dots when engraving bitmap images (photos).
You can get millions of free vector designs on the internet, or you can use free vector drawing programs 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 great laser designs on websites like Etsy. This really expands your capabilities.
The Atomstack A10 Pro/X7 Pro can also be controlled via the included offline controller.
Our Test Results
In the video below we tested the performance of the Atomstack A10 Pro and have compared some of the results with comparable 10W machines like the Neje Master 2S plus and our current favourite machine – the Sculpfun S9 (5W laser). You will find the results of the Atomstack A10 Pro in this post. For the results of the Sculpfun S9, check our other post here!
We have performed the more or less standardized test which we perform on all the laser engravers and cutters. This way, it is easy to compare results between machines. Here you have the video showing how the tests were done and below you will find detailed images of the test results together with explanation.
Wood Engraving
Our standard engrave pattern is designed to showcase the engraving capabilities at different settings, so you can see the effectiveness of the laser beam. Lets see the result in more detail in the below chapters.
If you want to test your own laser, you can get the below test file HERE.
The Atomstack A10 Pro /X7 Pro with the M50 module appears to output less power in the 10% power range. I think that this is due to the driver circuit response curve and it is not due to a weaker laser module as the higher power percentages still show very decent power output.
Power Scale
The power scale test pattern shows how the machine engraves with different power levels at different speeds.
Since this laser is twice as powerful, we have modified the pattern a little bit to better suit it to this much more powerful machine. We have omitted the 600mm/min speed in Power Scale since the machine has burned through the material with higher power. Instead, we have added a faster speed of 3000mm/min.
Power is varied from 10% to 100% in 10% increments and the speeds are 1200, 1800, 2400 and 3000mm/min. We have omitted the slow speed/high power shapes, because the beam burns too much at slow speeds. This leaves a big charred blob that gives no practical information.
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Interval Scale
The interval scale test is here to show if the laser focus spot shape is square or rectangular. The scanning interval is progressively increased from 0.1mm to 0.5mm.
For this test the power levels were also reduced to accommodate higher output power of the Atomstack M50 laser module.
In this test, the Atomstack A10 Pro appears to have a very square beam shape as the engravings in vertical and horizontal direction look quite balanced but still not perfect.
We will be able to estimate the exact spot shape later when we test the engraving on anodized aluminium.
Photo Engraving
Here is a test of engraving a small photo, 20mm in size while changing the maximum laser power.
Photos are quite slow to engrave because the laser head must scan line by line like an inkjet printer. If you want to engrave a very large photo, prepare to wait a couple of hoursÂ
As we can see below, the Atomstack A10 Pro did a good job but the photo still looks less detailed than with Sculpfun S9, which had more contrast and detail with its engraving.
This was expected. Because of the higher output power, there is less resolution for controlling the laser power. Combined with a slightly larger laser spot size, you get less detailed photo engravings.
The Atomstack A10 Pro with the M50 module appears to output less power in the 10% power range. I think that this is due to the driver circuit response curve and it is not due to a weaker laser module as the higher power percentages still show very decent power output.
Vector Image Engraving
Vector images are much faster to engrave as the laser head directly follows the lines. You can not make a greyscale image though with this technique.
Our test includes this cute photo of a Tit bird in the top right corner of the test piece. The bird engraving took only a few minutes to engrave. In the software you can set to fill the closed shapes with pattern, on this one, the shape is filled by scanning with 0.1mm step. For big engravings you could increase the step to 1mm or more, to make engraving faster. This way it would make a raster or a grid on the black areas. But more on this at some other time.
Anodized Aluminium Engraving
Next, we have tested the Atomstack 10 Pro on a scrap piece of black anodized aluminium.
Below is the engraved test pattern which is setup to evaluate the focus dot size in both directions as well to see the effects of speed. Next we will further examine the separate parts of the test pattern.
The most important part is again the interval scale. By scanning vertically and horizontally with different interval steps we can approximate the laser dot size. From the results we can see that the laser dot of the Atomstack A10 Pro /X7 Pro with the M50 laser module is more or less rectangular as the pattern looks the same when scanning in horizontal (X Axis) and vertical (Y Axis) direction.
The text engraving is done at 600 mm/s which is quite fast for such small movements, and therefore some shaking of the laser head is visible in the corners. This can be easily avoided by reducing the acceleration and speed in the settings.
There are quite a lot of vibrations visible when engraving text. There is way more vibrations compared to the mechanically similar Atomstack A5 Pro we have tested a while ago. I don’t believe that this laser has worse mechanics. I think that the reason for this is because I didn’t adjust the X axis rollers tight enough. I am sure this problem can be solved easily, and the problem is not due to the machines mechanical design.
Let’s do some further testing with the digital microscope. Here are the pictures taken with an Andonstar AD407 digital microscope.
First thing that we see is that the Atomstack M50 laser module has a dot shape, sized approximately 0.15 times 0.15 millimetres.
Next was testing with different text sizes. We can see that with this machine – the 1mm text conditionally readable. As mentioned previously, we should tighten the axis rollers a bit more tightly as there should not be so much wobble present. The Atomstack A5 Pro we tested previously had much less wobble and the mechanics were mostly the same.
Below is the engraving of two sets of squares on the right side, one inside the other. The inner square is engraved with 1000mm/min and the inner square is at 100mm/min.
We can see that at higher speed there is more wobbling present (mechanical) but the speed shows to have no effect on brightness of the engraved pattern. There is a lot of shaking present in diagonal lines.
Laser Focus Distance Test
In this test we will see how the laser dot size increases further down into the material. The further down in the material the dot stays focused, the thicker material you will be able to cut.
We achieve this by progressively lowering the board by 3mm for each square, without refocusing the laser head.
0mm means that the focus is perfectly set (with aluminium block). The 3mm square is engraved by lowering the test piece 3mm lower than the optimal focus. The result shows how big the dot is 3mm down into the material that is being cut. The same principle goes for larger distances.
We can see that the Atomstack A10 Pro with the M50 module performed better than Neje Master 2S Plus, but still a bit worse than the Sculpfun S9, but still quite well. With greater distance the Atomstack M50 module spot size is getting bigger than with Sculpfun S9. This means what the cutting performance will decrease more rapidly with the M50. But on the other side, the M50 has double the output power.
But farther away we go, the dot starts to increase significantly. At 9mm the dot becomes quite thick compared to Sculpfun S9. But this laser has double the power and should still cut well.
You can use the thickening effect to your advantage in cases when you want to engrave bigger stuff with low detail. You set up the laser in this out of focus position. The beam will be larger and the engraving will be done faster this way as the distance between engraved lines can be bigger.
Acrylic Engraving And Cutting
Did a short test on 3mm thick black acrylic (plexi glass) at 600mm/min. The engraving and cutting came out great with a clean cut edge. Atomstack 10 Pro with M50 module was able to cut through 3mm thick black acrylic in 4 passes which is very good.
We also tried to cut the 10mm thick black acrylic. It took around 36 passes to cut through at the speed of 600mm/min. We could say that this thickness of acrylic is not as practical for cutting since it would take very long to cut through.
Plywood Cutting Test
Test was made at three different speeds with 3mm, 6mm and 10mm thick Poplar plywood being cut.
The test was performed in both scanning directions – horizontal X axis (left-right) and vertical Y axis (back to front) as the cutting performance is different in each direction because the dot has rectangular shape.
Here is a comparison table between the Atomstack A10 pro/X7 Pro with the M50 laser module and the Neje Master 2S Plus.
The Atomstack A10 Pro is a capable cutter with a quite balanced cutting performance. On the last photo above you can see the results compared to the Neje and Sculpfun S9.
Hardwood Cutting Test
This test shows how well the Atomstack A10 Pro Plus cuts harder woods at 600mm/min.
First we tried to cut 4mm pine wood which is still quite soft.
Atomstack A10 Pro has cut it in 4 passes.
Then we tried harder and denser 3mm and 5mm thick Beech wood. The Atomstack A10 Pro had no problems cutting it and did it in 3 passes for 3mm thick ans 4 passes for 5mm thick beech wood.
We also tried cutting 5mm thick Oak wood and A10 did it in 4 passes.
This is a much better performance than we saw with the Neje Master 2S Plus. But it still leaves darker edge compared to the Sculpfun S9.
Engraving Stainless Steel
Tried to engrave text on blackened stainless steel (sprayed with cheap acrylic spray paint) with full power and 200mm/min. The engraving came out quite nice. Compared to the Sculpfun S9 using the same settings, we can clearly see that the Atomstack has a larger laser spot. A very small laser spot of the Sculpfun S9 makes it a very capable cutter/engraver despite having half the power.
A good laser engraver with premium features!
Conclusion
The Atomstack A10 Pro is a premium, higher end machine with good mechanics and it has a strong 10W laser module which has a pretty long focus range which makes it a good laser cutter also for thicker stuff. The offline controller comes in very handy when engraving multiple pieces or having no computer nearby.
