engraving difference between EFR80W and EFR 100W tubes

[John Noell]

I am trying to decide between getting a machine with the ZS1450 ("rated 110, max 120") and ZS1250 ("rated 90, max 100"). I would like a bit more cutting power, but I engrave a lot of detail into wood. Annyone have an idea just how much difference there is in the detail abilities? (I would pass on my 80w to my daughter's business, so this wil be my only machine.)

[Kev Williams]

Here's all I know (lol...)

My RECI 80w tube has a 'tested' rating of 110w. I read once that RECI tests their tubes at 32mV. Not sure what voltages others test at, but my 'rated' and 'max' ratings are 30w apart. So....?

And this same 80w tube hits 26mV with a 70% power setting, and that's all I ever take it to.

And finally, to engrave Rowmark black/white material, my power setting is 14%. White/black is 17%...

So, going to a 100w tube, how low would the power setting have to be to run Rowmark without burning halfway thru it? And would a 100w tube fire at those low settings?

Mine will run reliably set for 8%, and I've occasionally run at 6% with no issues... But that's my machine!

That all said, wood generally takes more power to get a good burn than any Romark ever will. By that standard alone, I think you'd be okay with a 100w machine. But you might have problems test-engraving on painters tape!

[Matt McCoy]

I cut/engrave mostly wood. An 80W EFR gets me through 1/4 hardwoods without much effort or speed penalty and still engraves small pieces well.

[John Noell]

I've been pretty happy with what I can cut, but some of the (many!) hardwoods here in Fiji are quite dense (like vesi). Cutting 1/4" means no faster than 10mm/s and 90% power (further than I like to go). And that might not go al the way thru in one pass. If I could reliably go down to 10% I might go with a 100w but that's a big "if." I am thinking 80 is the sweet spot for now.

[Bill Carruthers]

I am trying to decide between getting a machine with the ZS1450 ("rated 110, max 120") and ZS1250 ("rated 90, max 100"). I would like a bit more cutting power, but I engrave a lot of detail into wood. Annyone have an idea just how much difference there is in the detail abilities? (I would pass on my 80w to my daughter's business, so this wil be my only machine.)

Hi John - FWIW - I have an EFR 1450 100W older series (ZN1450, I think)and I can report that it will fire reliably down to 16% power and on occasion will fire down to 14% (when Jupiter aligns with Mars perhaps??).
At 16 to 18% I can scan the colour layer off a paint sample card to leave the white subsurface intact and if I want a little more or less effect I vary the speed up or down.

I also do a lot of fairly detailed wood stuff and I can detect little or no difference in the engraving detail between my 60W EFR tube and the 100W - with both machines running 50mm /2 inch lenses and at 150 mm/psec; even when I examined lettering that was too small for my tired old eyes to see except through a magnifying glass, I could not detect any appreciable difference. In short I would have no problem in saying that the average person in the real world would not notice any difference in an object engraved on "my" 2 machines, although your mileage may vary.
And of course the added cutting power and thus speed of the 100W is great to have.
Just my 2 pennies worth.
Cheers

[John Noell]

I think you just tipped the balance Bill! Vinaka! (whakawhetai koe?)