There are many different aspects between CO2 laser engraving machine (SL-3020 SL-460) and desktop CNC router (CNC 3040, CNC 6090) such as working speed, engraving materials, and working principle diagram.
1. The biggest difference between them is that laser can only make flat carving but desktop CNC router can make not only flat carving but also embossment.
2. The working speed of laser engraving is faster than desktop CNC router machine
3. Talking about working principle diagram, laser engraving machine carves materials through laser high temperature vaporization while mini CNC router engraves objects by cutter.
4. As for engraving materials, laser engraving machine is usually used to carve non-metallic materials like acryl, timber, leather, plastic, glass and jade etc. On the contrary, desktop cnc router can carve metallic materials and some non-metallic materials such as acryl, PCB and bakelite.
5. Besides working principle and carving materials, the total power of these two machines is different. The total power of XL-460 CO2 laser engraving machine is 300w while our CNC 6040 is 1850w.
6. We know that both laser engraving machine and desktop CNC router produce waste while working, which the former is smoke and the latter is dust.
These are some general points about the differences between CO2 laser engraving machine and desktop CNC router, These two kinds of
engraving machines have their own advantages and disadvantages. How to
pick them depends on what kinds of materials.