Advice on Laser Engraver Purchase

[Alex Swanson]

Hello all, I have been reading the forums for a while as I gathered information on what people out there were using for laser cutting. I have been talking with Shenhui, Gweike, and Legacy Lasers about various models, but I wanted to get opinions from other laser owners on what might be the best laser for me based on my expected usage patterns.

1. I am looking to use the laser as a hobbyist, for my own projects, not for a cutting business. As such I will only be running the machine for a few days out of every month as I have time to do projects around my day job. Consequently, the shelf life of components is very important to me and I was considering an 80w RECI tube laser based on what I have read here. I've read that it generally has a much longer lifespan both in use and when sitting idle. Does this line of reasoning make sense?
2. My second concern is level of engraving detail. I will mostly be doing fairly small engraving (like the level of detail you might see on the face of a coin). I hear that the 80W RECI has a wider beam, so that may be a concern? I've also been told that it can still create lettering 0.2mm high, which sounds like plenty of detail, but what have people here experienced?
3. Considering the above, are there any other details of the machine that I should take into special consideration, such as the controller or stepper?
4. I will be doing cutting as well as engraving. I'd like to be able to cut up to 3/8" acrylic and wood. From what I've read the 80W laser shouldn't have a problem with this.
5. Chiller: I've read many posts on the forums saying that upgrading to the CW-5000 is always worth the upgrade, but some of the manufacturers have said that the CW-3000 is fine for an 80w laser. Opinions?
6. Having good software is important to me - especially being able to change settings based on vector color and save jobs for later repetition. What differences should I be aware of between Laser Cut 5.3 and Laserworks? Are these more or less equivalent or is one substantially more user-friendly/capable than the other? (I will be using Illustrator or Corel for creating the files.)
7. Auto-focus and Motorized table: are these worth the extra money given the expected usage patterns above?
8. Would you recommend ordering a spare tube, lenses, and mirrors with the initial laser shipment? Any other important spare parts?
9. Has anyone worked with a west coast customs broker (preferably Seattle) that they could recommend? Is working with such a service generally worth it?
10. It seems that all 3 companies (Shenhui, Gweike, and Legacy) have good reputations for quality and customer service - but I'd be happy to hear your experiences.

I think thats all of my questions for the moment.

Thanks for providing such an active and information-rich community, and thanks in advance for your advice.

[Gary Hair]

Alex,
If you are wondering why your post has so many views and only one reply, mine, it's because these questions have been asked over and over and over and over, and over again. It's typically by someone who hasn't taken the time to read the previous gazillion posts asking the same questions. Trust me, all of your questions are answered (many times) in the forum, all you have to do is read a bit. Before I bought my laser I spent about two weeks pouring over the posts here and on other engraving sites before I asked any questions. I'm not saying don't ask questions, rather, I'm just saying you need to search a bit on your own first. Please don't take offense to this reply, it's not being written in anger, and is intended to kindheartedly guide you to helping yourself.

Gary

[Rich Harman]

9. yes, in Seattle, definitely worth it.

[Lucy Lee]

1, yes ,In China,80w laser tube ,brand like reci , efr,warranty is 10 motnhs, tongli warranty12 months.
2, for samll engraving ,80w or 60w both ok.
3,DSP controller and stepper motor for hobby is ok.
4,yes,80w can cut 3/8'acrylic and plywood.
5,we will suggest cw5000, cw 3000 without colling sytem,it is just like a sealed bulk.
6,Chinese machine usally with leetro laser cut 5.3,besides this one, RADCAM,TOPWISDOM, for choice
7,yes, motorised table is worthy ,autofocus depends on yourself
8,yes ,for spare laser tube,laser power ,lens will be suggested ,cause they are consumable parts ,once broken ,you have one to instead for hurry.
9.almost evey shipping agent with seatle or Los Angles agency ,don't worry.
10,yes ,choose bigger company will be guranteed by the quality and service

Any others let me know

Best Regards

[Braden Todd]

Personally I love both of my epilogs! May be worth giving them a call too. Tell them what you're looking for and looking at and I'm sure they will help you out!

Good luck!

[Rich Harman]

9.almost evey shipping agent with seatle or Los Angles agency ,don't worry.

That is not my experience. It took a lot of searching to find a good broker.

[Rodne Gold]

Welcome
However , I echo others sentiments re reading the boards for answers to your questions ,thsi stuff and more hs been rehashed to death here..I am only answering you point for point as I have a little time on my hands......

[QUOTE=Alex Swanson;2120624]Hello all, I have been reading the forums for a while as I gathered information on what people out there were using for laser cutting. I have been talking with Shenhui, Gweike, and Legacy Lasers about various models, but I wanted to get opinions from other laser owners on what might be the best laser for me based on my expected usage patterns.

1. I am looking to use the laser as a hobbyist, for my own projects, not for a cutting business. As such I will only be running the machine for a few days out of every month as I have time to do projects around my day job. Consequently, the shelf life of components is very important to me and I was considering an 80w RECI tube laser based on what I have read here. I've read that it generally has a much longer lifespan both in use and when sitting idle. Does this line of reasoning make sense?

All glass tubes will deteriorate over age , tho in 2 years we have had spares , they all work as new when testing them, the reci tube will last long IF you do NOT run it at full rated power but at 10-15% less..so an 80w will run at 70w for a long time..the reason for keeping a spare is to avoid extreme costs of flying one in (tho you can most likely find a local supplier) and to avoid downtime..You can buy a cheaper 60/80w glass tube and use it for backup if the cost of an extra reci or EFR is too much for you

1. My second concern is level of engraving detail. I will mostly be doing fairly small engraving (like the level of detail you might see on the face of a coin). I hear that the 80W RECI has a wider beam, so that may be a concern? I've also been told that it can still create lettering 0.2mm high, which sounds like plenty of detail, but what have people here experienced?

If you want the nth degree of detail , you will need to get the best optics..they more than the beam , are responsible for how detailed you can go , chinese optics are pretty good and cheap , but you might have to buy a much better US made lens at 5x the price for lettering as small as on coins...you would also have to order short focal lengths like 38mm for a smaller spot size to do extreme detail

1. Considering the above, are there any other details of the machine that I should take into special consideration, such as the controller or stepper?

The steppers and motion system of the chinese machines are not bad at all and the latest batch of controllers are as well , they will only work effectively if the construction of the motion system is accurate , the bigger chinese co's do check things , the "made in a garden shed" co's are more likely to be careless

1. I will be doing cutting as well as engraving. I'd like to be able to cut up to 3/8" acrylic and wood. From what I've read the 80W laser shouldn't have a problem with this.

80w will cut 3/8 acrylic easily and well , it is unfortunately the wrong tool for wood , but will cut thin stuff ok..if you like blackened edges..1/4" is probably the max you can cut well IRO wood , a cncn router will do a much better job tho..

1. Chiller: I've read many posts on the forums saying that upgrading to the CW-5000 is always worth the upgrade, but some of the manufacturers have said that the CW-3000 is fine for an 80w laser. Opinions?

3000 is utter junk , aquarium pump and a bucket is just as good..yes , it will probably cope with an 80w tube ..but its at it's limits , bite the bullet and get the 5000 which is a TRUE chiller

1. Having good software is important to me - especially being able to change settings based on vector color and save jobs for later repetition. What differences should I be aware of between Laser Cut 5.3 and Laserworks? Are these more or less equivalent or is one substantially more user-friendly/capable than the other? (I will be using Illustrator or Corel for creating the files.)

Either software is ok , they are better drivers of the machine than most mainstream drivers in that they offer a lot more fine tuning and setting and options..unfortunately the chinese have yet to realise that the manual is more important than the software and they still have rubbish chinglese type manuals which make understanding the driver/software a major mission and a STEEP learning curve for both newbies and experienced guys ..WRITE A FRIGGEN DECENT MANUAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Auto-focus and Motorized table: are these worth the extra money given the expected usage patterns above?

Motorised table is good ..AF you can delete...can be more trouble than it's worth..easy and probably more accurate to focus the machines manually

1. Would you recommend ordering a spare tube, lenses, and mirrors with the initial laser shipment? Any other important spare parts?

Spare tube , spare tube power supply , spare set of mirrors , 2 or 3 spare lenses, spare stepper motor and a spare set of belts ..all are quite "cheap" and are good "insurance"

1. Has anyone worked with a west coast customs broker (preferably Seattle) that they could recommend? Is working with such a service generally worth it?

Cant answer that

1. It seems that all 3 companies (Shenhui, Gweike, and Legacy) have good reputations for quality and customer service - but I'd be happy to hear your experiences.

Never heard of legacy ...the other 2 are big players..I like Shenui..seen their factory , got their products had exceptional service , other report the same with G Weike ..

[Jerome Stanek]

I would not get the spare tube as it will be out of warranty the same time as the one in the machine and may not work when installed. I talked to Carole at Rabbit laser and she said that they had everything in stock.

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Jerome;
Thanks for the tip-so they carry RECI tubes in stock? Great!!
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Alex Swanson]

Thanks very much for the detailed response, Rodne, and I apologize for rehashing old material. Just went back through your original thread about the arrival of your Shenhui systems and found a wealth of info (especially once I figured out how to switch the forum to linear view so it would stop hiding responses to long chains!)

In particular I was worried about the capabilities of the software and your detailed breakdown made me feel much more confident! Sad to hear about the manuals, though. Thankfully I'm no stranger to troubleshooting software.

Also thanks for the tip that the optics are most important for fine detail.

Also thanks to Jerome for the tip on Rabbit - I will follow up on that and perhaps save on the spare tube up front.

SMC has been an incredibly valuable resource and I certainly would never have found the courage to look into the Chinese market if not for the community's generous trove of knowledge. I will be travelling a lot in the next two weeks, but hope to have made a decision on an order by the time I get back! Very exciting.

[Donald Richard]

George,

I see that you own a Mercury. I am looking at purchasing a used Mercury I. It is about 11 years old and has about 650 hours of use. I am concerned about the laser being depleted because of age and not use. It has the coherent laser in it. We will test it on Monday to determine laser power. How long have you had your Mercury. Have you had to recharge it. I am getting some conflicting information about the coherent laser. Does it have a shelf life? I have been told that a recharge would cost between 3K and 5K. A certain rep told me that they don't recommend coherent because some companies that recharge them won't warrant them? Not sure if thats just a sales pitch. I am relatively new to this forum but have learned so much from it. I have a chinese 50 watt with glass tube, with 20 inch X 12 inch engraving area and am looking to buy something with larger area. Mercury has 25 X 18 inch which would work for me. The seller is offering it at what I would consider to be a good price, but I need a little more education on your experience with the Mercury. Thanks you for your time and consideration. If anyone else on this forum thread has any input, it is greatly appreciated.

Hi Jerome;
Thanks for the tip-so they carry RECI tubes in stock? Great!!
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Dan Hintz]

If memory serves, Coherent will only touch tubes under 10 years old... beyond that, you need to have a third party regas the tubes. That's an old tube. While some here have older tubes still going strong, you're at the wrong end of the bell curve on a tube that old, so keep that in mind when settling on a price. I don't recall pricing on regas of old Coherent tubes, but I seem to recall it being at the high end of the pricing scale.

[Scott Shepherd]

1. My second concern is level of engraving detail. I will mostly be doing fairly small engraving (like the level of detail you might see on the face of a coin). I hear that the 80W RECI has a wider beam, so that may be a concern? I've also been told that it can still create lettering 0.2mm high, which sounds like plenty of detail, but what have people here experienced?
2. Considering the above, are there any other details of the machine that I should take into special consideration, such as the controller or stepper?

Sorry, but I don't think you'll be engraving any lettering .2mm high with a Chinese machine or most mainstreams. That's a letter that's .008" of an inch tall, in the uppercase situation, meaning maybe .004"-.005" in the lower case. Not going to happen. Think about it. You beam is, at best, .003" in diameter, or at worse, .008". So if it's .003", then that gives 2 passes to make the letters. Just not going to happen.

The ONLY way you MIGHT be able to get to that detail is on a Universal Laser system that has the High Definition Options system on it, where the beam is .001" in diameter. Even then, a .008" tall letter is really really pushing the limit. That's a several thousand dollar option.

No way a Chinese machine is going to do that, despite what you read anywhere.

A 3pt font (about .030" tall) is pushing it for most lasers, and you're talking 1/4 that size. Buyer beware, that's not going to happen.

[Dave Sheldrake]

High Definition Options system on it, where the beam is .001" in diameter. Even then, a .008" tall letter is really really pushing the limit.

Or buy a 4x beam expander and a 25mm lens that does the same and costs a LOT less, even then the heat generated will make 0.2mm letters impossible, most Chinese machines run in the 0.1+mm spot size off the shelf.

Most Chinese companies say 1mm x 1mm size are the smallest characters you can engrave and even that is pushing it. I'm in full agreement with Scott, Chinese machine and finite levels of detail just aren't going to happen.

but some of the manufacturers have said that the CW-3000 is fine for an 80w laser

The CW3000 is rated for 50 watts MAX by the company that actually make it, using it on a bigger tube is a recipe for a blown tube. (not forgetting the cw3000 is generally rubbish anyways)

I don't like the 5000 as it has some design issues that make it non refillable in the event of a leak, the 5200 is great though.

cheers

Dave