Hi there. I'm sorry to beat this dead horse, and to jump in on your forum when I am not a woodworker, but you all seem so knowledgeable. I am an artist and some of my work involves stacked paper designs...I cut out hundreds of pieces of paper with my pro blade cutter, and stack them. Anyway, I want to make the leap to laser cutting. I can't afford the big brands, but I'm wondering about Automated Technologies cutters. They seem to be so much less expensive than others, so I just worried a bit. I did look through your other forum topics and saw the discussions on AT, Chinese machines, etc. AT seems to not have offended anyone Here are my parameters:
- I have no plans to cut anything but paper for now, so I don't need overkill on the machine.
- My paper is 160 gsm...nothing fancy.
- I would like to minimize burning...although I assume that's just a matter of getting to know the machine and settings.
- I don't necessarily want to order a machine from China. I like things to be easy.
- I'm in Canada, but don't care about ordering from the US.
- I would like to keep my paper sheets similar in size to what I cut from now... 12" x 24".....just don't want to go down to 12x12 or anything.
So...assuming AT is acceptable, here are my questions:
- Would one of the machines in the $3000 range be ok, without major upkeep?
- I will be cutting from Adobe Illustrator. Do I need additional expensive software?
- Are there additional things that need to be purchased that I might not know about? I don't want this to turn into a $5,000 purchase. I can get optional stuff later.
- Is there another machine that anyone feels would be good for me? I'd be thrilled with anything less expensive, but reliable for my needs.
I would really appreciate any help at all. I knew the machines were expensive, but when I saw prices of $40,000 plus I realized I knew nothing
Thx.
Sue