It's June, which in NZ means two things: it's cold, and smart small business owners are starting to think about Christmas stock. Yeah, I know - feels early. But if you're making personalised products or custom gifts, you genuinely need the lead time.
We've been having a lot of conversations lately with customers who've picked up the FLUX Beambox II and turned it into a proper little income stream. One person's running a gift business out of their garage - custom wooden ornaments, engraved chopping boards, personalised wedding keepsakes. Another's doing corporate gifts for businesses in their region. It's one of those machines where the use cases just kind of multiply once you've got it.
So what can you actually make with it?
Heaps. Seriously, here's a quick rundown of what people are producing on the Beambox II right now:
Personalised timber products - chopping boards, serving platters, wooden signs, photo frames. These sell really well at markets and on Trade Me. The Beambox II cuts softwood up to about 18mm thick, which covers most timber you'd use for gift products.
Acrylic work - keyrings, plaques, custom signage, awards and trophies, fridge magnets. The machine cuts acrylic up to around 20mm thick and the edge quality is clean enough to sell without any finishing work needed. Great margin products if you're buying acrylic sheet in bulk.
Custom fabric and leather - the 55W CO2 laser handles natural materials well. People are doing custom leather patches, fabric labels for clothing and bags, decorative laser-cut panels.
Paper and card - wedding stationery, gift tags, intricate paper art, packaging inserts. Fast and precise at this kind of delicate work.
What makes the Beambox II good to work with?
The big one is the built-in camera. You place your material, click preview in the software, and you can see exactly where your design is going to land before you cut anything. No test runs on scrap material, no guessing. This is a proper time-saver when you're doing batch production.
Autofocus is another thing you appreciate quickly - especially if you're switching between material thicknesses. The machine reads the height automatically and adjusts the focal point. No messing around with manual spacers or test cuts to find your focus point.
It runs on LightBurn, which is the industry standard software for laser cutters and genuinely good to use. If you've used any other laser before, you'll be up and running in a day. If you're brand new to lasers, LightBurn has solid tutorials and a big community - you won't be stuck for long.
Work area is 600 x 375mm - enough for most products you'd want to make. You can fit a standard chopping board in there, or run a batch of 20 keyrings at once.
What's the investment?
The FLUX Beambox II 55W is $6,335 inc GST. It's in stock at our local NZ warehouse, so no overseas shipping wait - usually ships within a day.
We also have the Exclusive Maker's Bundle at $6,799 - that's the machine plus the Extension Pocket add-on (which handles thicker materials and supports rotary engraving) and the Chuck Rotary attachment for doing cylindrical items like cups and bottles.
If you're thinking about buying one for your business, have a chat with us. We're happy to talk through what you're wanting to make and whether the Beambox II is the right fit - or if something like the smaller beamo might actually suit your setup better.
Check out the full FLUX range on our FLUX Machines page, or give us a call.