Household & Living

Review: Mr Beam 2 dreamcut: The laser cutter for home and work

Mr Beam 2 dreamcut is a laser cutter that is very efficient and useful for your home decoration or even can work commercially.

Mr Beam – an unusual name with an equally exciting product behind it. Just recently, we showed you dreamcut of the third version of the laser cutter, which Mr Beam 2 reported . Now we have the device here for testing and describe our experiences with the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut in detail. What can the cutter engrave and what are its limits? We’ll tell you.

The company of the same name has been manufacturing laser cutters and engraving devices under the name Mr Beam for several years. Among other things, the German startup carried out a crowdfunding campaign a few years ago to finance the first Mr Beam . In the meantime, some teething problems have been eliminated and the third generation of the mobile laser cutter and engraver has been brought onto the market. We have tested the latest Mr Beam 2 dreamcut including the optionally available Air Filter 2 system . If you are more interested in the pure technical data, you are welcome to read our Mr Beam 2 dreamcut article. (linked above)

Scope of delivery and first impression: A simple assembly and commissioning

We would like to start with the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut itself, we would like to address the separately available filter system later in the test. The latest Mr Beam laser cutter will be delivered to your home in a large box. The  following accessories are included in the scope of delivery :

  • Mr Beam 2 dreamcut
  • power adapter
  • Template for laser alignment
  • 2x key
  • 2x screws
  • Laser head

The optional Welcome Box contains some materials so that you can start right away.

Two funny postcards are also included in the optional welcome box

Almost everything is included in the scope of delivery so that you can get started with the device straight away . Felt is on board, the welcome box with other materials that we were sent with must be ordered as an option. The setup is relatively simple. First you remove the transport locks everywhere, then you connect the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut to the electricity. Now the LEDs on the side and the built-in interior light begin to shine. Admittedly, on the first impression the laser cutter looks like a UFO with its colorful LED animations. In any case, a very unusual, but chic design. The general feel is just as good. The lid is held by two hydraulic dampers supported, which also have a high quality.

For security reasons, the key must be on the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut

The last step is to mount the laser head. To do this, the protective sticker is removed and the laser is screwed to the rods of the Mr Beam. No tools are required for this. Then you plug the ribbon cable into the back of the laser head, done. Now the system is calibrated and you are ready to connect to the computer for the first time .

After connecting to the electricity, you can now connect the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut to your laptop . You have two options for this. Either you integrate the Mr Beam into your home network via Ethernet cable or with the help of the integrated WLAN . The laser cutter can then always be found in your home WiFi and can be controlled directly. Since we tested the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut in a workshop without internet access, we used the second option: the direct connection between the laptop and Mr Beam.

For this purpose, the laser cutter creates its own WLAN that you have to connect to. The password is “mrbeamsetup” . You can of course adjust this as you wish afterwards. If you are connected to the laser cutter network, all you have to do is visit this page in your browser : http://10.250.250.1/

Of course you can save this  page as a bookmark . All of Mr Beam’s software is web-based, so no additional programs are required. We see this as a clear advantage, as your files can also be saved in the web-based version via a cloud solution . We would recommend Google Chrome as the preferred browser, the web application works best here by far .

Performance and possibilities of the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut – an overview of the variety of functions

After you’ve set up the device , the fun can begin . In principle, the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut has two basic functions, lasing and engraving. A variety of materials with different heights are supported. In general, however, the material to be processed should not be higher than 3.8 centimeters , otherwise the laser head will not have sufficient distance to the engraving surface. You can hang the laser head in three different heights. For example, you can cut plywood and craft wood up to 4 millimeters thick, felt, cardboard or plexiglass. You can engrave the materials just mentioned and also others such as mirrors, dark anodized aluminum or slate .

The creative possibilities are really diverse. Of course, the power of the laser has its limits somewhere, so you cannot cut any thick wooden panels or engrave stainless steel. So it is best to check in advance which products you plan to work on in the future .

Even slate can be engraved without any problems

The actual engraving and cutting is very simple. You open the lid of the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut and place the material to be processed. Then you can run the laser head over the material on the PC by double-clicking anywhere on the work surface. Then you take the enclosed template and adjust the laser head about one centimeter above the material. This is done using the adjusting screw on the side and takes just a few seconds. Now you create your desired engraving and the corresponding cut in the software.

For this purpose, Mr Beam offers some templates such as circles, hearts or rectangles . In addition, you can directly select or enter words and sentences from a library of fonts. You can use the file upload to add your own shapes, images, fonts and texts .

So that you can make your cuts and engravings in the right place , the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut has a camera integrated in the lid . If the lid is open you can see a live image of the interior including the material inside. With this live preview you can precisely place and scale your files, fonts and so on. If you are satisfied you close the lid and click on “Lasern”. Now comes the final step. In this intermediate menu you can now optionally adjust the intensity of the laser and select the areas to be engraved or cut.

The Mr Beam 2 dreamcut recognizes different colors. You can then use drag and drop to assign these colors to the “Cutting” or “Engraving” items. Depending on the situation, the laser cuts or engraves the object to be processed. So you can realize some creative ideas here. You can also set the material and its color in this submenu. This is important because the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut now automatically sets the correct values . If your material is not included, you can individually adjust the strength, speed and frequency of the laser for both cutting and engraving. Important: With combustible materials you should not set a speed of less than 300 mm / min when cutting , otherwise oneThere is a risk of fire .

Before you can start, the start button must be pressed.

If everything is set according to your wishes, you press the start button and the laser or engraving process begins. Depending on the material, the runtimes of the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut differ significantly. For example, a 2 × 5 centimeter engraving on wood takes less than two minutes , whereas the same text on aluminum can take 1-2 hours.

Does the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut smoke? A few words about the results and the Air Filter 2 system

The general results of the laser cutter really convinced us . The cuts are clean and the engravings look just as fine. If you search the Internet a little, you will quickly find creative ideas and templates. For example, you can search for the hashtag #madewithmrbeam on Instagram and see hundreds of private projects implemented by users. If you want to work a lot with cuts, you should create them as vector files in programs such as Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape (free alternative for Mac and Windows) . The .svg format offers the best possibility to display cutting cards or paths for the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut.

Of course, you can also have your own photos engraved from your album . For this purpose, the Mr Beam software automatically converts the photo into a black and white image. For the best possible result, however, you should pay attention to the highest possible contrast of the image.

There are hardly any limits to creative ideas.

As already described above, some materials such as wood or cardboard are flammable . Correspondingly, when engraving or cutting, there is definitely a bit of smoke and a slightly burnt smell. However, nothing gets outside through the closed lid . Nevertheless, the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut should always be used outdoors or with the optionally available Air Filter 2 system.

If you have connected this filter system, you can easily use the Mr Beam in your apartment . The minimal resulting smoke and smell is completely processed by the filter cube. You can’t smell or see anything, the performance is really impressive here. The system is connected via a larger plastic tube on the back of the Mr Beam. The filter cube draws power directly from the laser cutter using a LAN cable. We would describe the background noise during the filtering process as a low hum .

When the laser process is complete, the Air Filter 2 continues to run for a few seconds . So if you have cut or engraved a lot of wood, cardboard or felt, leave the lid closed for a few seconds so that the filter can remove the smoke and any odors.

Conclusion: Convincing functions and a great overall package for creative minds

All in all, we liked the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut. The setup as well as the use are pleasantly simple and everything is included in the scope of delivery for an immediate start. The supplied material box  (optionally available) includes, for example, wood, felt, a mirror as well as two slates and other fabrics. The results convinced us, only the price is a bit high, but fair in this class . On the manufacturer’s website you can get the Mr Beam 2 dreamcut for 2,985 euros , a proud price. But since we would strongly recommend the bundle of laser cutter and Air Filter 2 system, the total price for the set we tested is 3,599 euros .

Buy Mr. Beam 2 dreamcut

You can buy it from Amazon.