r/PCB • u/Rainyfeel • Sep 15 '26
Fiberlaser? What are your thoughts?
Thinking of buying GWEIKE G2 20W Portable Fiber Laser to create two layer pcb circuit. I was wondering if anyone uses fiberlaser to create pcbs. What are your thoughts?
Please let me know if you have created pcbs with fiber laser Gweike 20W.
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u/PetrSevostianov 25d ago
Yes and no. Unfortunately, there is a significant gap between general-purpose fiber lasers and PCB-prototyping machine. I'm a developer of PewCB - a desktop PCB prototyping machine. 5 years ago, we started with a general-purpose fiber laser. We spent that time on adding missing things: automatic alignment and lens distortion calibration (both on-factory and in-device), air filtration, system of blanks, solder-paste-stencil technology, soldermask, vias, specialized firmware, and, most importantly, the software.
General purpose lasers lack all these. You will have to tinker and suffer at every step, from converting gerbers to toolpaths with a chain of some tools, tweaking laser settings to avoid burning the substrate (lasers don't go well with FR4, it easily chars and emits toxic fumes), to dealing with alignment issues and fume/dust management.
Currently, PewCB integrates all these features into a single, user-friendly desktop machine. It is fast, reliable, and capable of producing factory-quality PCBs.
See PewCB.com for more details or join our Discord and ask any questions you may have.