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Thread: How are you monetizing your laser?

  1. #1

    How are you monetizing your laser?

    Just curious what most people in the forum are doing to monetize their investment. Or, if it's just a hobby, that's cool too.

  2. #2
    For my Customers I point them at the High Value Materials Database subscription and say that pays for the building, employees, and your machine. Some of my customers make 1300-2600 an hour off just that. Though, there is the other side of the equation like Aerospace that use them for very specific and important tasks like stripping PTFE wire coatings.

    It really depends, out of all the customers I've worked with so far. Every one of them paid for it in less than a year with the only exception being the dude who bought it as a toy.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Gregerson View Post
    For my Customers I point them at the High Value Materials Database subscription and say that pays for the building, employees, and your machine. Some of my customers make 1300-2600 an hour off just that. Though, there is the other side of the equation like Aerospace that use them for very specific and important tasks like stripping PTFE wire coatings.

    It really depends, out of all the customers I've worked with so far. Every one of them paid for it in less than a year with the only exception being the dude who bought it as a toy.
    What is the High Value Materials Database?

  4. #4
    Are most of you guys just doing for-hire engraving work (awards and stuff like that)?

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Jay Selway View Post
    What is the High Value Materials Database?
    It's an add on to the materials Database of Universal Lasers Systems that customers can purchase and pay a yearly subscription fee for. It's only for the VLS, PLS, and ILS, XLS models, it does not work with the older VL, V, X, M, E models. Essentially it provides you with the ball park settings for cut, mark, and kiss cut on a large number of high value materials.

    Most of the people here I've noticed are doing trophies etc.

  6. #6
    Kevin

    You neglected to mention that there are a lot of people with machines who are getting $30 an hour and can't pay the bills and a precious few who command the rate you mentioned.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Null View Post
    Kevin

    You neglected to mention that there are a lot of people with machines who are getting $30 an hour and can't pay the bills and a precious few who command the rate you mentioned.

    It's really all about materials in the higher end. A lot of those guys tend to buy bulk in a material for better pricing so they can get 40%+ on the materials + pricing machine/labor time at 30-160/hr for the customer. Pricing per hour really depends on tolerance. If it's half a thou, then you can charge a bit more as setup takes a bit more time, machine runs slower etc. If it's 30 thou well you can charge a bit less.

    You can also charge setup fee's, etc. I've seen setup/tooling fee's ranging from 20-600 dollars depending on the volumes, materials, and what you want to do with them. Ie marking, kiss cuts, full cuts, noble gas assist required.

    When the numbers add up at the end of the day it's about making employee's more productive than anything else which pays for everything.
    Last edited by Kevin Gregerson; 09-30-2014 at 12:51 PM.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Gregerson View Post
    It's really all about materials in the higher end. A lot of those guys tend to buy bulk in a material for better pricing so they can get 40%+ on the materials + pricing machine/labor time at 30-160/hr for the customer. Pricing per hour really depends on tolerance. If it's half a thou, then you can charge a bit more as setup takes a bit more time, machine runs slower etc. If it's 30 thou well you can charge a bit less.

    You can also charge setup fee's, etc. I've seen setup/tooling fee's ranging from 20-600 dollars depending on the volumes, materials, and what you want to do with them. Ie marking, kiss cuts, full cuts, noble gas assist required.

    When the numbers add up at the end of the day it's about making employee's more productive than anything else which pays for everything.
    Kevin, what kind of service are you performing with your laser? What kind of high value materials are you referring to?

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Gregerson View Post
    It's really all about materials in the higher end.
    You do realize that in order for their to be a high end, there needs to be a low end too? That's Mike's point. It's easy to say "Marking Medical Devices is Insanely Profitable! You can make $1000 per hour". Well, that's true. But it's also true that people already have existing relationships with vendors and simply buying a laser, picking the phone up, calling a medical device maker, isn't going to get you a 6 figure contract. It takes a lot of work, years to develop relationships. I've spend 3 years trying to get an opportunity to quote for one customer.

    I feel like I'm at a trade show listening to a sales pitch. Out of the 1000's of people that have been on this engraving forum over the last 7-8 years, I can count on two hands people that I think have really hit home runs and gotten to the golden goose. In reality, I agree with Mike, there's a lot more people making little to nothing than it is making the money you're talking about.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Gregerson View Post
    Most of the people here I've noticed are doing trophies etc.
    Are you sure you're on the right forum? Trophy questions almost never come up. How'd you make that leap?
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  11. #11
    Unfortunately, Kevin's comments are what you get when the responder is more interested in selling lasers and subscriptions for "ball park" settings for high value materials than answering questions. Posts of this nature are no more than advertising.
    Pete James
    Awardmasters
    40W G Weike

  12. #12
    Turning $2600 an hour in sales isn't that hard Kevin, what that leaves out is the ancillary costs. I've done marking and cutting work on sealing rings for unspecified nuclear facilities and sure they can pay $2,000 a time to have something processed but to get those kind of contracts requires far far more than a material database or a ULS laser set up in a garage.

    I'm more inclined to think that those turning $2600 an hour are doing it with a laser, the fact it's a ULS is academic at those pricing levels as the laser is just a very small cog in a very big wheel.

    Extensive, field tested material databases come with just about every industrial laser at no extra cost and are available online from them without a subscription fee. Without exception they are all successful start points and never a definitive answer to the materials question as there are quite simply too many variables involved.

    As to high value materials....gold, platinum and such like may seem like high value but when compared to some of the exotics they amount to little more than pocket change and most of those exotics are materials that NO ULS laser ever made will cope with.

    cheers

    Dave
    You did what !

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Shepherd View Post
    Are you sure you're on the right forum? Trophy questions almost never come up. How'd you make that leap?
    Just seems like it... I've seen a fair bit of MDF, small bit of metal and ceramics, and a few polyethylene postings but nothing on the higher end materials like Phenolic, fiber board, Kapton Films, etc.

    But yes, I will agree there are a number of guys out there doing smaller jobs and making a fair bit with them or just getting by. It really depends on what you want to do.

    There are a million different processes for using a Laser. By itself, I've only got about 5 clients who are successful with the machine by itself. I say successful starts at they make money on it and it pays for itself and the small shop they run plus some salary which is usually a shed or a small office somewhere. The ones that do better with this are the ones that make a patented product that they sell ontop of the job shop work they get or the ones that deal with high value materials.

    The small retail sign shop also is moving more and more towards just a small machine because paying 8-12 dollars to someone else or making it for 3 dollars is just too profitable on the retail end.

    The customers I have making that kind of money from the machine are Machine shops, Converters, retail sign shops, large volume marking, cutting, and ablating/marking operations. You need to either have some sort of in your face marketing to go with it or be well known among your clients as an expert in the field which is again sales and marketing and making sure that your client mix isn't such that 70 percent of your revenues are with one client.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Posts
    1,843
    So where we are going with this thread is if I had wanted to live life in style and retire early I should have bought a different brand of laser?

    To answer the original question and to agree somewhat with Kevin's last post.... I diversify. Some days the laser is a money printing machine (not the pie in the sky stuff like above, but $120-$300/hr). Other days it's idle. That's why I do more than use a laser. If one machine is idle, another is likely busy. Unless you are one of the lucky few with a mega contract, it's the only way to survive.

    Now specifically to "monetize" - Learn your machine, it's capabilities and just as important it's limitations (it does have limits). Also your capabilities and limitations.
    Last edited by Tim Bateson; 09-30-2014 at 3:55 PM.
    Tim
    There are Big Brain people & Small Brain people. I'm one of the Big Brains - with a lot of empty space.- me
    50W Fiber - Raycus/MaxPhotonics - It's a metal eating beast!
    Epilog Fusion M2 50/30 Co2/Fiber - 2015
    Epilog Mini 24 – 35watt - 2006 (Original Tube)
    Ricoh SG3110DN
    - Liberty Laser LLC

  15. #15
    I don't think the question should be "how do you monetize your laser?" but "do you think I can make money doing X, Y, Z?"

    The laser is a tool. You're the business.
    Equipment: IS400, IS6000, VLS 6.60, LS100, HP4550, Ricoh GX e3300n, Hotronix STX20
    Software: Adobe Suite & Gravostyle 5
    Business: Trophy, Awards and Engraving

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