Monport has been moving fast this year, and the AutoForge is their most ambitious release yet — a laser workstation that combines dual-laser cutting, MOPA color marking, and UV crystal engraving in one machine, with an automatic loading system meant to run without someone babysitting it. Before getting into what it does, it’s worth being upfront about the part the marketing copy buries: this isn’t a machine you can buy today. It launched as a Kickstarter campaign on August 19, 2025, and that changes how I’d think about it more than any spec on the sheet.
What the AutoForge Actually Does
The headline feature is the Automatic Loading System, or ALS — a hands-free setup that loads, identifies, engraves, and unloads parts on its own, with room for up to six loading modules running multi-material batches without someone standing over the machine. If you’ve ever run a laser through a long batch job yourself, you know what that’s actually solving: not the engraving itself, but the babysitting.
It comes in three configurations depending on what you need. The dual-laser version pairs a 30W fiber with a 20W diode, which covers both metals and non-metals without swapping machines. The 60W MOPA fiber option is built for color marking — over 100 colors on stainless steel, which matters for branding and award work. And the 5W UV configuration is aimed at subsurface engraving in crystal and glass, the kind of clean, deep clarity you’d want for premium gifts. Between the three, it covers stainless steel, aluminum, copper, wood, acrylic, leather, and glass, with deep-relief engraving up to 10mm on stone and 5mm on copper — well past what most desktop lasers attempt. Monport is also advertising engraving speeds up to 10,000 mm/s with a touchscreen, autofocus, and a safety glide door with detection.
The Part That Matters More Than the Spec Sheet
Early Bird Kickstarter pricing looked attractive — the dual-laser XPro at $2,199–$2,699, and the 60W MOPA or 5W UV configurations at $3,999–$4,599, unlocked with a $10 deposit. Those numbers are genuinely good for what’s being promised. But this is crowdfunded hardware, not a shipping product with a track record, and crowdfunded hardware has a well-documented pattern: timelines slip, early units ship with rough firmware, and support infrastructure lags behind the marketing page. That’s not a knock on Monport specifically — it’s just what backing any campaign means, and it’s a very different risk profile than buying a machine that’s already in warehouses with reviews attached.
If your business depends on one machine being available every day, that risk isn’t a footnote — it’s the whole decision. A six-to-twelve week shipping delay on a backup machine is an inconvenience. The same delay on the only laser your shop runs is a real revenue problem.
Who This Actually Makes Sense For
Backing something like this makes the most sense if you already have a reliable machine running your core products and you’re treating the AutoForge as speculative upgrade capital — a bet on automation and color marking capability you don’t strictly need yet. It makes less sense if you’re choosing your first machine, or if your shop can’t absorb a few months without the equipment you’re counting on. In that case, an established, in-stock laser with a real support history is still the safer starting point. My guides on the best laser engraver for small business and CO2 vs. fiber vs. diode are both built around that kind of decision.
My honest take: the automatic loading system solves a real, specific problem for shops doing repetitive batch work, and combining fiber, diode, and UV into one modular platform is a genuinely useful idea. I just wouldn’t recommend anyone make it their only machine until it’s shipped, been reviewed by real owners, and Monport’s support has a track record to point to. Interesting to watch, not something to bet the shop on yet.
FAQ
Is the AutoForge available to buy right now?
No. It launched as a Kickstarter campaign on August 19, 2025, with Early Bird pricing for backers. It is not yet a shipping retail product.
What makes the ALS different from a normal auto-focus laser?
The Automatic Loading System handles loading, identifying, engraving, and unloading parts across up to six modules without an operator manually placing each piece — it’s built for unattended batch runs, not just single-item alignment.
Should I wait for this instead of buying a laser now?
Only if you already have working equipment and can treat this as a future add-on. If you need a machine running production today, an in-stock machine with an established track record is the lower-risk choice.