Wainlux K10 Mini Laser 3w Review & Demo

This is Wainlux’s latest laser engraving machine and the first thing you can probably tell is that this thing is tiny. The Wainlux K10 (aff link) is definitely the smallest engraving machine we have at this point. It’s so small, that I can hold it with one hand.

It seems to be a bit of a trend right now for these smaller, more portable machines and I personally like them a lot. 

I feel that the K10 would suit a student, teenager or a beginner just wanting to see if laser engraving is for them.

These small machines do have their drawbacks however and we will get into that a little further on, but if you’re wanting a laser engraver that is easy to move around easy to store and one that won’t break the bank then this may be the machine for you.

Where Can You Buy the Wainlux K10

• Official Website (aff link)
• Amazon (aff link)
• AliExpress

So let’s take a look at it in more detail and we’ll start with a quick look at what you get in the box.

So let’s take a look at what’s in the box

• The Wainlux K10 mini laser
• The user manual
• Power cables
• Type-C cable
• A marker Pen
• A brush
• Kraft paper x 2
• Wood board x 2
• Wrench

The machine arrived well packed with lots of firm foam to keep things from moving around and getting damaged in transit. Once we took the machine from the box we just needed to remove all the protective foam pieces. The orange safety cover had some brown craft type paper adhered to all sides which we carefully peeled off and disposed of.

Once all the protective pieces were removed we were left with the machine and two boxes that held the accessories mentioned above. So a nice compact package.

There are other optional accessories that you can purchase:

• Air Purifier
• Rotary tool
• Engraving Positioning Module

We have an air purifier that came with our Wainlux 8 so we just hooked that up to K10 and it fits and works perfectly. We also used purchased a tile from the local hardware store, to protect our work surface.

How Big is the K10 Wainlux Mini Laser

As I mentioned at the start, this is a small, portable machine. It measures:

• Width – 204 mm
• Height – 187 mm
• Depth -225 mm

So you can see it doesn’t take up much space and we found it a home on a shelf in our Ikea Kallax.

Let’s look at the Functional Spaces on the Machine

On the top we have the

• ON/OFF button
• Offline button – Which as the name suggests allows you to engrave offline – I’ll have more on that later
• Status indicator – Which provides visual cues depending on the status of the machine. So for example, when you turn on the machine, the light changes to blue which indicates that the machine is in standby mode. And when you open the shield, the light will flash. The rest of the indicators are listed in the manual.

On the back we have a

• Type-c slot
• Power supply slot
• Slot for the rotary tool which is an optional accessory
• TF card slot which has a TF inserted in it which has the driver and the CutLabX software loaded on to it and you can also use it for working offline
• Port for the air purifier which is an optional accessory

Let’s Look Inside the Machine

The base is open. There is an optional engraving positioning base plate available. This is really handy for when you are batch engraving so you don’t have to worry about getting your material in the exact same spot each time.

We didn’t get one unfortunately so all we have is an image from the manual to show you.

The laser module is tucked inside and it is quite small. Again there is an optional upgrade module available. You can see the difference between the two in the picture below.  We have the K10 laser version.

How to Focus the Laser

Firstly, lift up the safety shield so that it is out of the way.

• Now, rotate the laser knob to the left and the right to focus the laser light spot. You want to keep it to a small size. You will notice the difference in the light spot size as you turn the knob. The smaller the size of the light spot, the better your laser accuracy will be. The smaller spot will also give you a better effect for your engraving.
• The distance between the laser and the object to be engraved should be between 50-100mm.

• Remember to re-focus the machine when you change materials.

 Offline Engraving

Offline engraving is a handy feature if you don’t want to hook up your computer or you have the laser machine away from your computer. It works using the TF card and there are instructions in the manual for how to do this.  You save your file from Lightburn as a GCode file onto the card.

Once you have your file on the TF card you insert it back into the laser machine and do the following:

• Give the key a short press and release. This will automatically reset the machine and show a preview
• Press and hold for 3 seconds, then release. This will cause the machine to go into engraving mode.
• A short press with pause the machine
• Another short press will allow the machine to continue engraving
• Press and hold for more than 3 seconds to cancel the engraving.

Understanding the Status Indicator Light

• WiFi Connection – The status indicator flashes on for 0.2 seconds, off for 0.2 seconds.
• Warning Status – The status indicator will flash on for 50.5 seconds, off for 0.25 seconds
• Opening the Safety Shield or Tilt Protection Status – The status indicator will flash on for 0.5 seconds, off for 0.5 seconds
• Engraving Status – The status indicator will flash
• Standby Mode – The status indicator light is always on

 Safety Features

The Wainlux K10 has some nice safety features that make this suitable for a younger person to use.

• Whenever the safety shield is opened the machine will automatically stop.
• Whenever the machine is tilted more that 13 -15° the machine will stop. If this happens you will need to restart the machine to restore it to normal functionality.

Both of these are excellent safety features that help to protect you from being injured. You must be safety conscious at all times when operating a laser machine regardless of whether it’s a portable machine or not.

Compatible software

Most of you will be pleased to know that the Wainlux K10 is compatible with Lightburn software. Lightburn is our preferred software to use for our various laser machines as it’s easy to use and you can download the trial version here: https://lightburnsoftware.com/pages/download-trial

Other software the the machine is compatible with are:

• Laser GRBL – https://lasergrbl.com/download/
• CutlabX – https://www.cutlabx.com/

The CutLabX software is Wainlux’s own software. Personally, I wouldn’t use it. It doesn’t even have an UNDO button!

Install the Driver & the Software

The Wainlux driver can be installed on a PC, Mac using the TF Card that is provided with the machine.

Once you have installed the driver, install the CutlabX software. The software is also available on the TF card.

If you really feel the need to use CutLabX here are two methods to download and install the software:

• Method 1: Go to CutLabX for the APP download
• Method 2: Scan the QR code provided in the manual.

Follow the prompts to complete the installation.

Engraving Area

The engraving area of the Wainlux K10 is 80mm x 80mm.

You can engrave on larger projects by setting the machine on top of the material or object. The engraving will still be within the parameters of the engraving area but it does mean that you can engrave on an item that is larger than the machine size. This is handy if you want to engrave a logo or name on a suitcase or box etc.

As you see in the photo below, the piece of wood is larger than the machine. By placing the machine on top of the wood we can engrave on it.

You can’t lay the material on top of the base when it is larger than the machine because the safety cover won’t close properly and this will stop the machine from engraving. And that’s a good thing.

The Materials We Engraved

Once the machine was all set up we set about engraving various types of material and here is a list of what we tested and the settings we found worked for us.

• MDF -coaster
• Cardstock
• Kraft paper
• Wood – popsicle sticks, coaster
• Slate
• Coloured aluminium plates

Projects

We used Lightburn software for our projects.

NOTE: Always do a test on the material you are using before committing to the main project. All lasers are different and even the atmospheric conditions can affect your results.

1. MDF Coaster

For this project we used a lion svg (aff link) from Creative Fabrica

Settings Used

• Speed – 3000
• Power – 100%
• Fill

This took approximately 10 minutes to engrave.

2. Wood Coaster

For this project we used a shark SVG (aff link) from Creative Fabrica

Settings Used

• Speed – 2000
• Power – 100%
• Fill

This took approximately 34 mins to engrave

3. Cardstock

For the first test with cardstock we selected this gorgeous butterfly file (aff link) from Creative Fabrica

We decided that this design was best used to engrave on the card stock.

Settings Used

• Speed – 2500
• Power – 100%
• FILL

This one took approx. 9 mins to engrave. We were really pleased with the result.

For the second test with cardstock we selected another lovely butterfly SVG (aff link) from Creative Fabrica.

• Speed – 250
• Power – 100%
• Line

These butterflies will make a lovely addition to a card.

4. Aluminium Plate (Red)

For this project we used one of our tried and true designs. This is the ” design  from Love SVG.

Settings Used

• Speed – 500
• Power – 100%
• Fill

The time take to engrave this design was 1 hour 26 mins. So quite a long time for this one.

5. Aluminium Dog Tags

Dog tags took a lot less time than the previous aluminium card. We used the same butterfly (aff link) on one of the tags and a German Shepherd dog SVG (aff link) on the other.

Settings Used

• Speed – 300
• Power -100%
• Fill

These tags took approx. 5 mins.

6. Popsicle Sticks

Next we tried some popsicle sticks. These make ideal plant labels and Paula was in need of some new ones for some herbs she is planting.

The sticks were too long to place horizontally on the base so we turned them vertically and that worked a treat.

Settings Used

• Speed – 3000
• Power – 100%
• Fill
• Font – Arial Black

The time taken for each label was approx. 3 minutes.

6. Slate Coaster

We had a little bit of a problem with engraving on the slate coaster at the start and got some inconsistent results, but eventually it worked out well, and you can see that it has done a nice job of engraving the design. This is the same design we used on the cardstock.

You will notice a number of little test squares on the coaster. It was our last slate coaster and those are a test setting runs.

Settings Used

• Speed – 500
• Power – 100%
• Fill

This took approx. 29 mins to engrave.

7. Glass

We tried all the suggestions for engraving on glass, but it’s not something we have managed to master. So our test here wasn’t a success but that was not the fault of the machine. We haven’t tried all of our lasers with glass, but the ones we have tried haven’t been successful.

Any suggestions for how to do this would be appreciated. I would love to engrave on champagne flutes etc. We have tried black, water based paint, black acrylic paint, a sharpie and placing black cardstock inside the glass, all to no avail. Once we rub off the paint we are just left with the clear glass. So I haven’t included a photo for this test.

8. Wooden Tags

These little wooden tags are so handy for scrapbooking and journals.

For this test we engraved ”Handmade with Love” (aff link) on the tag. This design is from Creative Fabrica.

Settings Used

• Speed – 2000
• Power – 100%
• Fill

It took approx. 4mins 30secs for the small image and approx. 6 mins for the larger image. 

Pros

• The Wainlux K10 is compact, lightweight and easy to use
• It takes up little room in the craft room and can be easily stored
• Set up is quick and easy
• It works with Lightburn
• Ideal for engraving smaller items
• Cuts out a very fine, detailed design on card stock. Ideal for card makers and paper crafters.
• It has an offline function for when you aren’t near your computer
• It is an ideal machine for beginners 
• You can hook it up to an air filter

Cons

• Doesn’t engrave on stainless steel, gold or silver.
• Being a smaller machine means that you cannot engrave on larger items and although you can place the machine on top of larger items to engrave on them you still have a small engraving area.
• It does cut but only thin materials (unless you do a lot of passes) so it is primarily used for engraving, although you can engrave on aluminium, coloured cards.
• It can be difficult to frame certain items as the safety shield needs to be closed whilst doing so.

Final Thoughts

This machine is small, and lightweight, It is only a 3 watt machine, and this may be all you need for your particular needs.

We think it would be ideal for students and beginners.

The machine cuts cardstock, and engraves on wood and MDF very well.

All in all it’s a machine that a beginner will have a lot of fun with.