ComMarker B4 50W review: two lenses to set up
A 50W fiber galvo that marks and deep engraves bare metal, with a 110 mm and a 200 mm field lens in the box and an electric lift for focus. It ships open frame with a Class IV source, so the enclosure, the extraction and the LightBurn Galvo license are yours to add.
- 110mm and 200mm dual lenses, with dual red dot locators
- Electric lifting through a concealed lifting motor
- Marking speed 0 to 15000mm/s, accuracy 0.01mm
- Fiber laser at 1064nm, a Class IV laser
- A distance cage in the box lets it run handheld on vertical surfaces
- LightBurn Galvo is a paid license after a one month trial
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The ComMarker B4 50W ships with two field lenses, and ComMarker's manual says only the 110mm one gets its red light correction at the factory, which can still shift in transit. Fit the 200mm lens and you refocus. Under EZCAD2 you also run a nine point calibration in a separate program, CorFile2, marking a grid on paperboard and typing in what you measured with a ruler.
Most of what this machine asks of you follows from that. The B4 is a galvo laser at 1064nm, a fiber laser engraver for metal that steers the beam with mirrors instead of carrying a head across a bed. It holds the metal slot on our laser engraver shortlist, and it is the 50W rung of a line ComMarker sells at 20W, 30W, 50W and 100W from one store page.
Read for this page: ComMarker's manual and store page, the live listing, and two hands-on reviews of the ComMarker B4, from TechRadar and Hobby Laser Cutters. Both tested the 20W, so they speak to the platform every rung shares and not to this rung's power.
No commenter in the threads we read says they own the 50W.
Work area: 110 or 200 mm, one lens each
Small lens for detail, big lens for size. Hobby Laser Cutters measured a focus spot of approximately 0.05mm on the 110mm lens and approximately 0.1mm on the 200mm one, and notes the bigger lens gives "a bit less power for engraving". That was their 20W unit, which the reviewer describes as "the pre-production prototype". Focus is a height you set by eye, pressing the lift buttons until the three red dots overlap. Hobby Laser Cutters labels the motorized lift autofocus, but its own description and the manual both have you watch the dots. The manual even leaves a blank where each unit's focal length is written in by hand, because "each device has different focal lengths due to changes in laser sources and field lenses".
What the ComMarker B4 50W marks
Bare metal, with no coating needed. Stainless steel, aluminum, bronze and brass are in the manual's own list, alongside PP, PE and ABS plastics. Hobby Laser Cutters got colored marks on titanium by defocusing the beam a few millimeters, and clean high contrast marks on black acrylic.
Wood is the catch. TechRadar found it marks wood only once the wood is painted, and Hobby Laser Cutters lists wood and glass as things no fiber laser can engrave. A walnut coaster belongs on a diode such as the xTool M2.
Cuts
No document we cached gives a cutting thickness for the 50W. ComMarker's store describes it as suited to "light metal cutting tasks" and keeps "advanced metal cutting tasks" for the 100W.
Get a figure for your own material in writing before you order.
Enclosure and fume extraction
Neither comes in the box. The manual puts the source in Class Ⅳ, recommends goggles, says never to leave it running unattended, and asks for a room kept dry and well ventilated, between 5 and 35°C, with humidity under 70%. TechRadar notes that an enclosure is available and calls it a worthwhile investment. Nothing cached states an extraction rate. Plan the duct yourself.
One line of that manual deserves a second read: use the machine "with one hand at a time", since the laser runs off a high voltage supply.
Software
EZCAD2 ships on the USB drive. The manual lists Windows 7 through 11 as the supported systems. LightBurn runs the B4 too, V1.3.01 or later by the manual, on a Mac as well, but the copy on the drive is a one month trial and the Galvo license is a separate purchase. Hobby Laser Cutters adds that lining the red preview up with the real burn in LightBurn takes some time once, then stays set.
Who should buy something else
Anyone whose laser will share a room with people not wearing goggles, unless the enclosure is on the same order. Anyone who wants the machine to find focus on its own: the Monport GA60 autofocuses and carries a MOPA source, and its review covers the question of which source actually ships. And anyone whose work is mostly wood, which no fiber laser does well.
A closer look at the ComMarker B4 50W
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