Recommendation for a newbie?

[Keith Winter]

Cutters are currently a 180 watt 1200 x 900 and the biggest is a 220 watt 2,500mm x 1,525mm in Chinese, Western I have 2 much smaller ULS models both with 80 watt tubes and an old Epilog that just sits there waiting to be fixed, Japanese I have a 3.2m x 2.5m 7.5kW industrial. Usual sundry 300 x 300 Galvo machines (x 2) (Chinese one Fibre,one CO2)(oh, and a broken diode fired YAG) having just gotten rid of my bigger Vytek moving bed model that never got used after it's initial job it was purchased for.

Nice stable of lasers you have there. I hadn't even considered the Chinese for Galvo, I could desperately use one but cannot afford a $40k-$50k U.S. one.

As for the OP I'd still stand by my US machine for his first given what he's engraving. I've been extremely happy with my machines and the support.

However, I think this has been a really eye opening thread. You (Dave), Kev, and George have really opened my eyes to the possibility of a Chinese laser for cutting along side my Trotecs for engraving. Thanks for that!

[Dave Sheldrake]

Hi Keith,

Chinese CO2 Galvos run about $6k for a 300 x 300 bed size.

Just going to have a look at the new Trotech cutter 3m x 2m bed flatbed but it's probably going to be in the same price range as a full spec Japanese 2.5kW flatbed. 11 of my lasers are Chinese but I tend to agree, the OP should be looking at a Trotech rather than Chinese for his first mnachine

[Keith Winter]

Dave we talking fiber Galvos for marking stainless steel?

[Dave Sheldrake]

Fibres run about $8k or so for a 30 - 50 watt I believe, few issues with some of the vendors though, if you go down that road let me know and I'll advise of some of the pitfalls you may have

[Kev Williams]

Three things, Trotec's don't cost $35,000, I doubt that it was $4,800 to your door, and where's it $5,000 to fix a Trotec

Thing one:
So what DOES an 80watt Trotec with a reasonably large table cost? I know it has to be high-20s low 30's...

Thing two:
Yes, $4800 to my door:

Triumph 1390, 80 watts, all 1112 pounds of it: $3050 (it was actually $2900, the extra was spare lens & mirrors)
Shipping from China: $520
CTL LAX brokers: $957.87
Customs fees: $135.56
Wire transfer fee: $45
Storage fee at warehouse: $20
U-haul to get it home from warehouse: $35

Grand total: $4763.43
And when I say it's paid for itself many times over, I ain't jokin'... This was also the only piece of equipment I paid cash for...

Thing 3, posted above in this very thread, see bold:

Here's the deal - USA lasers cost much more than a Chinese laser. They're better lasers! On the other hand, if that's all you want to do, a Chinese laser would do it a ton cheaper. Thing is, you'll come up with something else and a Chinese laser might not be the best. Your call indeed!

The Trotec laser at work just broke and they're talking 5K to get it fixed. BUT, it's been a good one! I paid 7K to get a Chinese laser that I had trouble getting in the house...in fact...I'm on "cold taters" for buying something that large. I've made my wife a few items but she seems unimpressed at the moment. I'm sure getting tired of cooking and eating from this card table in the kitchen. Should have measured closer....

[Scott Shepherd]

We get it, if you had to buy a laser, you'd buy a Chinese one. We get it. That doesn't make people who don't buy your strategy stupid. If we went with your strategy, and assumed you are running 1/2 the machines you say you keep busy, that would be 6 machines that you keep busy every day. You said you work 18 hour days, so 6 machines at 18 hours, that's 108 hours of billable work each day. At $60 per hour, which would be 1/2 our shop rate, that would be $6,480 per day, $32,400 per 5 day week, and $1,684,800 per year. All done by one guy keeping 6 out of 13 machines busy every day.

I have yet to met anyone in ANY manufacturing that's producing $1.6M in billable work per person.

If that was the case, I seriously doubt you'd be buying refurbished computers to run your machines off of, or looking for the cheapest "(insert tool here)" you can find.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Cost me £15,000 to replace a lens cartridge on the mitsu but I don't think I'll be trading it in to get a couple more Chinese machines any time soon

[Keith Winter]

Fibres run about $8k or so for a 30 - 50 watt I believe, few issues with some of the vendors though, if you go down that road let me know and I'll advise of some of the pitfalls you may have

Thanks Dave! I will reach out to you in a few months on this when we are ready!

[Jacob John]

Fibres run about $8k or so for a 30 - 50 watt I believe, few issues with some of the vendors though, if you go down that road let me know and I'll advise of some of the pitfalls you may have

Dave, can you list a few names of the Chinese fiber galvos that you think are worth a second look? I'm not quite there yet, but am looking toward the future (next 6 months to a year). The Trotec still has a chunk of my money tied up, but I'd definitely consider a Chinese fiber galvo. I'd like an enclosed if possible. Thanks.

[Jack Clague]

I'm not gonna debate whats better, I went Trotec and still think its the best decision i ever made, granted i'm on the other side of that large pond so my choices are not as vast as the US and my prices are higher but I still feel from the support i have gotten from Trotec with the usability and stress free use of the machine has made my venture into this business a smooth one.

Jack

[Giles Duinslaeger]

Anyone knows what the black powder would be that is mentioned in the startpost?

[Matt McCoy]

Anyone knows what the black powder would be that is mentioned in the startpost?

You might look into this:

http://www.smoke-wood.com/SM-wd-21.HTML