The LaserPecker 2 Portable Laser Cutter Has Reached More Than $3.5 Million in Kickstarter Funding

Laser cutters/engravers are typically very large machines, since the entire workpiece needs to be able to fit inside of the working area. Add the controller, laser tube, motors, and linear rails and you end up with a lot of bulk. The LaserPecker was an innovative laser cutter that launched through Kickstarter in late 2019. It had a number of unusual features that made the machine small, lightweight, and portable. Now the same team is back with the LaserPecker 2 laser cutter that promises even more functionality at a very reasonable price point.

The LaserPecker 2 Kickstarter campaign will still be running for another three weeks, but it has already reached well over 3.5 million dollars in funding. That makes it one of the most successful technology Kickstarter campaigns of all time. By all accounts, the original LaserPecker was a very good budget machine. The new LaserPecker 2 is more expensive, but it introduces a ton of new features that should be very useful to makers. It is fundamentally different than traditional laser cutters in that it is has an open frame to accept pieces of material much larger than itself, as opposed to containing that material within an enclosure. While this setup does present a number of potential safety issues that you should absolutely be aware of, it does result in a far more compact machine that is perfect for people without a large shop space.

The LaserPecker 2 and LaserPecker 2 Pro can be used in a variety of ways. If you have a small piece of material, you can simply rest it on the machine’s platform. Galvanometer mirrors direct the laser across the workpiece. Cylindrical objects can be placed on a clever rotating bed accessory that lets you engrave the entire curved surface. Large stationary objects can be cut by picking up the entire machine and placing it against a surface. Finally, the machine is capable of “driving” along long pieces of material with the Auxiliary Booster accessory, which gives you the ability to engrave sizes up to 100 x 2000mm. There is even a 20,000mAh battery pack available so you can use your LaserPecker 2 without a nearby electrical outlet.

Both versions of the LaserPecker 2 include a 5W 450nm NICHIA solid-state diode laser. That is relatively weak, but it is sufficient for cutting acrylic, wood, and leather. The campaign also claims that it can engrave metal. As far as I can tell, that is a very misleading statement. A laser with this power level cannot engrave metal. What it can do is engrave anodized or painted metals, which is essentially just vaporizing the coating and not actually marking the metal. That is something that all laser cutters/engravers can do, and the campaign stating that this can “engrave meta” is, frankly, a bit underhanded.

That nitpick aside, the LaserPecker 2 seems like a fantastic machine. It has some really great convenience features that make using a laser cutter a much more user friendly experience. It can, for example, project a non-cutting laser outline preview onto the surface of your material so that you know exactly where it will cut. Control is done completely through your smartphone, which keeps the size and price of the machine down. It even has motorized height-adjustment to ensure the laser is properly focused on your workpiece.

If you want the LaserPecker 2, the Kickstarter campaign will be running until January 29th. You can get the “Christmas Special” base model LaserPecker 2 machine for $599. Rewards are expected to be delivered in March of 2021.