new member here!

[Dave Stoudt]

Hello all.

Just joined the group, hope to get a lot of info about lasers. Don't have one yet thats why I joined wanted to get info about the machines good or bad.

What I can tell so far is that I'm leaning towards the laserpro side. I like the idea of being able to insert long projects in the side of the machine. I do a lot of woodwork and was thing about doing cabinet doors and the like.

So if any one would like to post any suggestions or comments it would greatly help me in my buying a machine.

Thanks again!!!!!
Dave

[Kevin Huffman]

Welcome Dave ! ! !

[Rodne Gold]

I have 3 GCC explorers , they are great machines BUT the pass thru is of limited usage
1) You have almost NO fume extraction
2) You have to jump thru hoops to get the laser to fire with the doors open
3) If you have a continuous image it's almost impossible to line it up correctly
4) You run the lasers "open" which is not without risk

Pass thru is useful if you have an image that FITS into the working area of a bigger product.
We have used pass thru a few times , but I certainly wouldnt let that be the determinant of the laser you buy. BACKUP AND SUPPORT are essential!!! - Buy almost soley on that , all the lasers in the same price/power/size class do the same stuff. The bell's and whistles that some promote are relatively useless (like doing rubber stamps or 3d engraving)

[Kevin Huffman]

Hey Rodne,

As far as #3, have you tried putting your piece in there and use the red beam to find where the top of it needs to be?
After you engrave the first 20 in's.
If you use your arrow keys, on the display of the laser it will give you the X and Y grid cooridinate.
Just move the head to where the Y is 0.000 you can use your left and right arrow keys to keep the head moving across on that same 0.00 axsis.
All you have to do is line the bottom of your already engrave work to where the red beam walks. It should line up every single time.

Sorry for interupting your welcoming dave.

[Rodne Gold]

Yeh , we have made registration marks , jigs and all that , sometimes you get away with it , like if you are engraving discrete letters etc and can make the space between letters hit where you shift the piece along. But for a cupboard door or door where the pattern is continuous (IE a border on the whole door) i't doesnt work all that well - you can kludge it , but you never get a perfect line up - Im a bit anal about quality , so I suppose I might be a bit more sensitive to it.
Red beams arent EXACTLY aligned with the laser unless you do an alignment and zap something at least 3 m from the machine.
The biggest problem is actually moving the item 100% straight
As I say , we have managed to do really big stuff , like 3m x 1m but it's very rare that engraved image can be split etc.
The feature did influence me in choosing a laser , not that there was much choice , I think when I bought my mercuries , it was either that or a Trotec in terms of the major players here in South Africa - nowdays there are others.
Actually what REALLY swung me wasnt any of that , I went to a show and the trotec was actually doing some wonderful "wow" stuff , the GCC had had a fire and wasnt fully functional and didnt have all the bits and pieces on display like the Trotedc - but I still chose it
The CORE application quality/speed looked better and it seemed easier to use?
BUT what really did it was that I had a quote on the Laserpro the next day and got my Trotec quote 2 weeks later - I had already purchased. The other big factor was the fact that the Laserpro agents were part of a nationwide co that was , imho , stronger and a lot bigger than the Trotec guys (and they arent exactly mickey mouse.) and were a Co i deal with that gives really good service in other areas.
I very much like the laserpros and have had reasonable service - we run all our machines 7-8 hrs a day continuous.
One of my salesladies who decided to go it alone after stealing my designs and customer list , bought another nameless make with some small print in the tube warrantee and , albeit this is heresay , the other brand had some hour counter on the tube life and within a yr they had to cough up for another tube? As I say , heresay but frightening.
As a note to the original poster , if the direction you are going is doors and you do a lot of woodwork etc , an overhead router is a better route , you can slice , dice , carve 2 1/2 d and a whole lot more . However a Laser is FAR more versatile if you are jobbing and just kinda thought you might do a cupboard door or its nice to be able. If you can afford both..............

[Jerry Allen]

Rodney,
Somewhere back you mentioned something about lubrication on the rollers on the Explorer. Does that apply to Mercurys also? If so what's the procedure?

[Mark Singer]

Dave,

Great people here! Welcome ....they love to help!

[Kevin Huffman]

No Jerry,
The Explorer has metal bearings unlike the M Series. M Series requires no lubrication.

[Jerry Allen]

Thanks Kevin

[Roy Brewer]

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Hello all.



I like the idea of being able to insert long projects in the side of the machine. I do a lot of woodwork and was thing about doing cabinet doors and the like.

Dave,

I decided not to comment the first time I read your post, but after what Rodney said, I think I'll chime in. I distribute two different lasers. One has passthrough, the other has only "remove front cover and stick 1/2 way in." As almost always, I totally agree with Rodney. The continuous pass through is almost useless! Anything that big could/should be done (and almost always is) on other systems. Rodney didn't mention one other "gotcha;" that is, very often something that big is "very heavy" and "very heavy" a small format laser engraver was not designed to handle...

Now don't get me wrong, if I'm selling the system that has the continuous pass through, I make a big deal out of it. ****I'm a salesman!**** But again I agree with Rodney, your comfort level with your distributor and/or support team, should weigh very heavy in your decision.