What is a Galvo Fiber Laser? The Tech Behind 10,000 mm/s Metal Etching

You’ve seen industrial fiber lasers—bulky, $10,000 machines that carve deep into blocks of steel. Then, you see desktop machines like the Genmitsu Z5-1, which also claim to be “fiber lasers,” for a fraction of the price.

This leads to a crucial, confusing question: What’s the catch?

The confusion is valid, and it’s cleared up by understanding three pieces of technology: the Wavelength (the key), the Power (the force), and the Galvo (the hand).

This isn’t a simple review. It’s a deep dive into the technology that separates a $1,000 desktop etching tool from a $10,000 industrial engraving machine.

Part 1: The “Metal Key” - Why 1064nm Wavelength Matters

Not all light is created equal. The most significant difference between laser types is their wavelength, which determines what materials they can “see” and interact with.

• CO2 Lasers (~10,600 nm): This long-wavelength infrared light is the workhorse for organic materials. It’s perfectly absorbed by wood, acrylic, glass, and leather, causing them to vaporize (cut) or char (engrave). Point it at bare metal, and the light simply reflects off, doing almost nothing.
• Diode Lasers (~455 nm): This is the blue light common in hobbyist engravers. It’s a jack-of-all-trades for soft materials (wood, paper, leather) but struggles with most metals unless they are coated (like anodized aluminum or painted metal).
• Fiber Lasers (1064 nm): This is the “metal key.” The 1064 nm wavelength is produced by “doping” a fiber optic cable with a rare-earth element, typically Ytterbium. This specific wavelength is almost perfectly absorbed by the surface electrons of most metals (from tin to titanium) and many hard plastics.

This specific wavelength is the first, and most important, piece of the puzzle. It’s what allows a machine like the Z5-1 to permanently mark raw stainless steel, brass, and titanium, a feat that most CO2 and diode lasers simply cannot achieve.

Part 2: The “Ghost” in the Machine: How Galvos Enable 10,000 mm/s Speed

Here is the second, most dramatic difference: how the laser beam moves.

Your typical hobby laser (CO2 or diode) uses a gantry system. The laser head is mounted on a set of belts and rails, moving back and forth in an X-Y pattern, like a desktop 3D printer. Its speed is limited by the physical inertia of the gantry, topping out at a few hundred millimeters per second.

A fiber laser like the Z5-1 doesn’t move its head at all. Instead, it uses a Galvanometer (“Galvo”) system.

This technology is a direct descendant of the 19th-century “galvanometer” used to measure faint electric currents (famously studied by Luigi Galvani and his twitching frog legs). A galvo is essentially a tiny motor with a mirror attached.

Inside the Z5-1’s laser head, a stationary laser beam is fired onto two of these tiny, lightning-fast mirrors. One mirror controls the X-axis, the other controls the Y-axis. By deflecting the beam with microscopic, precise angles, this system can “steer” the laser point anywhere in the 70x70mm work area.

The result? Instead of dragging a heavy gantry, it’s just moving two nearly weightless mirrors. This allows for an incredible marking speed—up to 10,000 mm/s. It doesn’t “scan” line-by-line like a gantry laser; it “draws” the design almost instantaneously, like a pen.

Part 3: The Core Conflict: Etching vs. Engraving

We’ve established that the 1064nm wavelength is the right key for metal and the Galvo is the hand that moves it with incredible speed. Now we must address the force—the power.

This is the source of all confusion.

User reviews for low-power fiber lasers are often contradictory. Some say, “It’s an amazing introductory fiber laser,” while others claim, “It doesn’t engrave metal.” Both are correct. They are just using the wrong words.

The Genmitsu Z5-1 is specified as a ≥ 2W (2-watt) laser. Industrial machines that deeply engrave (vaporize) metal start at 20W and go up to 100W or more.

A 2W, 1064nm laser does not have the raw power to vaporize metal. It is not an engraver. It is a high-precision etching and marking machine.

• Engraving (Ablation): This is a high-power process. The laser’s energy is so intense that it vaporizes the material, creating a mark with physical, measurable depth. This is what 50W industrial machines do.
• Etching (Marking/Annealing): This is a low-power process. The 2W laser beam heats the metal’s surface in a highly localized, controlled way. This heat causes a chemical change, like oxidation (a permanent, high-contrast black “rust”) or annealing. The mark is permanent and durable, but it has almost no physical depth.

This is not a limitation; it is its purpose. The Z5-1 is designed for high-speed, high-resolution surface marking—adding logos to knives, serial numbers to aluminum parts, or designs on jewelry. It creates a crisp, professional, permanent mark without damaging the structural integrity of the material.

Part 4: The Desktop Form Factor: Usability and Software

Understanding the technology (1064nm Galvo + 2W Power) makes the design features of a machine like the Z5-1 make perfect sense.

Motorized Focus with Dual Red Dots

A laser’s power is only effective when it’s perfectly focused. The “focal point” is where the beam is at its thinnest and the energy density is at its absolute maximum. Being even a millimeter off can diffuse the beam and ruin the mark.

Instead of a manual, hand-cranked focus, the Z5-1 uses a motorized Z-axis. You press “Up” or “Down” buttons for fine-tuned adjustments. To make this foolproof, it uses a dual red-dot visual guide. Two harmless red laser pointers are mounted at an angle. When you adjust the height, you see two red dots on your material. When the height is perfect, the two dots converge into one. This simple system removes all the guesswork from focusing.

The Software “Walled Garden”

Many users note that this machine doesn’t work with popular gantry-based software like LightBurn. This isn’t an oversight; it’s a fundamental difference in technology.

• LightBurn is designed to generate G-code, which is a list of X-Y coordinates for a gantry to move to (e.g., “move to X=10, Y=25”).
• Galvo software (like the included SeaCAD) doesn’t think in G-code. It’s designed to send vector angles and timing instructions to the mirrors.

The proprietary software is purpose-built to control the Galvo system, allowing it to “draw” vectors and text at speeds G-code could never manage. While it may have a learning curve, it is the correct tool for the hardware.

Desktop and Handheld Flexibility

The system is designed in two parts: the base with the motorized stand, and the laser head itself. For 99% of jobs (like marking business cards or jewelry), you use the stand.

But the laser head can also be detached and placed in a handheld shield. This allows you to mark things that would never fit on the stand—for example, a logo on a large, pre-assembled metal enclosure or a serial number on a piece of machinery.

Part 5: The Unseen Danger: A Class 4 Tool

This accessibility comes with a critical, non-negotiable responsibility. The Genmitsu Z5-1 is a Laser Class 4 device, the highest and most hazardous classification.

The 1064nm light from a fiber laser is completely invisible to the human eye.

You will not see the beam. You will not have time to blink. A direct or even reflected glance from this invisible beam can cause instant, permanent, and catastrophic retinal damage.

The included safety goggles are not optional. They are not the same as the colored glasses that come with blue diode lasers. They must be specifically rated to block the 1064nm wavelength. Operating this tool demands a controlled environment, an awareness of all reflective surfaces (even the metal you’re marking), and a profound respect for the power you are wielding.

The New Class of Tool

The desktop fiber laser is not a “weak” version of an industrial machine. It is a different category of tool altogether.

By combining the 1064nm “metal key” with a high-speed Galvo system, it democratizes precision, permanent marking for small businesses, knifemakers, jewelers, and advanced hobbyists. Understanding that its job is to etch with precision and speed, not to engrave with brute force, is the key to unlocking its true potential.