Sarah,
Answers to your questions:
The Zing 16/24 & FiberMark laser systems utilizes an Air Curtain vs. Air assist (avaiable on the Mini 18/24, Helix and Legend EXT):
*The curtain is just that, a curtain or steady stream of air that blows over the entire width of marking area (table width). Similar to the old school lawn sprinkler that has many nozzles, shoots up, moves in the direction of a rainbow except our air-curtain moves in the direction of the y-axis.
The air-curtain requires a low pressure, high volume pump for maximum performance. We offer one or you can source one yourself.
*The air-assist on the Elite series lasers is a single metal nozzle of air that blows right over the area which is being cut. On the Mini 24, Helix & Legend EXT, we have a solenoid that is controllable for raster/vector or both. The Mini 18 does not come equipped with the solenoid.
The air-assist requires a high pressure, low volume, zero back pressure pump. We offer one or you can source one yourself.
The Zing16/24 does not come equipped with the vector grid. It is optional.
The Mini18/24, Helix, Legend EXT comes standard with the vector grid and many other features.
The Zing 16 and Mini 18 does not come equipped with our High Radiance Optics. The Zing 24, Mini 24, Helix and Legend EXT comes equipped with such.
The Zing 24/Mini 24, FiberMark, Helix have a front drop down door for easy loading of parts.
Quoting Mike Christen " must say that the cut quality of zing and helix were about the same with the exception that the zing took 3 times longer to cut the same object. Seemed strange being that the settings were identical with respect to power and speed and they were both 60 watt machines."
Mike-Difference being is steppers vs. servos, different maximum speeds, different math algorithms that control vector speed.
For cutting 1/4" regularly, I'd recommend 40Watts. You can cut 1/4" on a 30W but it'll be on slow side. Based on your notes, I'd recommend the Zing24 or Mini24 in either a 30W or 40W configuration. Go with the larger bed as you'll quickly learn the extra 6-8" in the x-axis will come in very handy. The front drop down door is very useful and the High Radiance Optics is a great feature.
Hope that helps and feel free to PM or email me w/ any questions.
Peck Sidara
Epilog Laser
888.437.4564 ext. 236