Falcon A1 10w feeling a bit ripped off

Creality Falcon Creality Falcon
1

So, I got the Falcon A1 10w a few months before they released the A1 Pro.

I do love the A1 and think it looks like a genuinely nice machine and the 10w laser is all I really need. But it looks like they noticed the issues with it and fixed it on the A1 pro but have not made any addons or fixes for the standard A1.

here are some issues they need to fix for the A1

  • There is not enough room to do engravings that are a few centimetres high as the cables and tubes for the laser module go out the top you lose a bit of clearance which they fixed on the A1 pro. You lose more clearance if you want to use a honeycomb panel so then you can only engrave thin items. correct me if I am wrong but it looks like they have also fixed this on the A1 Pro with a deeper bed to accommodate higher items and using a honeycomb panel.

  • The bottom panel is removable and I can’t see why they cannot bring out a new panel that’s deeper as most of the items I want to engrave I need only and extra centimetre so I have to remove the bottom panel which seems like it defeats the purpose of it being in a nice enclosure. And the fan is so weak once you remove the bottom panel nothing goes out the exhaust and just fills up the room.

  • They also need to add a function in the Falcon design app to allow you to keep the exhaust fan running for longer as it turns off pretty quick when the print finishes and most times there are still fumes in the chamber that don’t get pulled out.

I am really loving this unit, but it could be a lot better with just some minor addons and software fixes.

2

I might not understand the issue but can’t you purchase leg extension to raise the machine for doing taller objects? Remove the bottom place, install riser legs and now you can do taller objects. That is what I do.

As far as the fan, there is a setting for how long you want the fan to keep running after a job. In the Falcon Design Space program, on the right side, under LASER, click on the Setting and you can make that adjustment.

3

I know you can remove the bottom for doing bigger items but once you add the honeycomb plate in it has very limited space requiring me to always remove the bottom panel even to engrave on a book when I’m not using the honeycomb. it just seems like they only made the encloser to engrave and cut thin items when using the honeycomb and if you want to do anything taller than 5mm you must remove the bottom or the honeycomb which I find is not ideal if you want to do cutting. to me it makes the nice enclosure useless in my opinion even though it’s not fully airtight its better than my older CR-falcon. using the rotary device I obviously must remove the bottom but do wish the extraction fan was stronger.

with the fan has that option always been in Design space? I looked everywhere when I got the engraver but never saw the option so if it’s a new addition I haven’t looked in a while so didn’t notice ill have to check it out unless I just completely missed it, but I thought I clicked on every setting option in the program.

4

I have my unit in a spare bedroom. I had to purchase the YW200 Air Purifier which was expensive but ended up being the right idea. It was also recommended by Support. It is expensive and actually cost more the the machine. If you believe you will be lasering a lot, I would look into the YW200. I keep the bottom plate removed because I have the Honeycomb installed. I have very small risers installed and I purchased a metal plate that goes under the honeycomb unit which I purchased from Amazon. With the YW200, I have no smoke in the house and sometime a light odor.

I tried to use the honeycomb with the bottom plate installed. I did find that if you loosen the top screw on the laser head almost to the point of fallen off, you can move the head up more, but in the end I found it easier to just remove the bottom plate when using the honeycomb along with the metal plate. You need something under that honeycomb. Someone in this forum said she used a 24” Ceramic floor tile, good idea.

Like I said, with the YW200, I don’t have any real issues but I will be looking into making a skirt of some type to go around the bottom when I am using the rotary kit or just having the unit raised for larger parts. I don’t really need the skirt but just something I want to look into.

The Falcon A1 10W is a fantastic product and I love working with it and it is very well priced, under 500

5

I did find a skirt for the A1 on Creality cloud if you have a 3d printer to print out. im thinking of printing it but it takes a bit of filament.

im enjoying the A1 too other than the few issues ive run into. im down in australia and the A1 cost me $950 so it was a bit of an invesment and just seeing all these issues fixed on the A1 pro just kinda ticked me off a bit because i did have to pay a fair bit for it.

6

I’ve got the Pro variant and to be fair the issue with the bottom tray and engraving depth is still very much there. A dropped tray like you’ve suggested sounds like a great idea, especially when using the rotary kit or working on cumbersome pieces.

One of the follow-up purchases I made was for the YW45 purifier. Space is a factor so I figured I’d go for the small purifier option but it does what I need and it helps suck up the fumes even with the bottom tray removed.

The included smartscreen and the autofocus are the only two significant differences aside from the laser: smartscreen is a nice feature; autofocus is currently receiving a bit of love from the people at Creality to get it working :grin: