Repair, Replace or the Chinese Option ?

[James A. Wolfe]

I'm in a quandary. I have a 14 year old VLS200 VersaLaser that I use strictly for playing. It generates no income but is an awfully fun toy. That is, it was until the laser died. My decision is now to:

A. Repair the laser for $1500 and hope that the rest of the machine holds together. (Did I mention it is 14 years old?)
B. Replace with the current model for around $12,000. Hard to justify to myself, dear wife is apoplectic.
c. Purchase a Chinese unit. Can get a much larger, much stronger unit for $4000. It's new but it is Chinese.

Any suggestions, comments or donations will be appreciated.

Jim

[lucas kreft]

I have worked with expensive epilogue, and cheap chinese machines. I ran the epilogue to the ground, took a while to find the problems.
you can get a 6x10ft chinese machine for 8k, works fine, parts need replacing a bit earlier, but I would run on 90s/90p for hours at a time. Daily cleaning.

If you go chinese, just have some extra tubes, lenses, cleaners handy

[Bert Kemp]

I'm basically the same as you , its a toy for me. I have a Rabbit 6040 that I've had for over 2 years now and very happy so far. It was a bit more then an import because I bought from Ray in Ohio but it was worth it for his support and training and its a rock solid machine .

[Keith Downing]

The only issue I have with my "Chinese" laser is the speed. Most of the time its not a huge difference. But there are days when I'm doing 6-8 hours of rastering work; and it hurts to think that with a faster laser that would probably only be 3 or 4 hours of work.

[Kev Williams]

All my machines are below in my signature below...

Of all my tool machines, only the two Gravograph IS machines were NOT built in the 80's or '90s. And my newest IS is 7 years old...
All are currently in operation--

My mid-'90's NH vinyl cutter still works fine-

Of my lasers, the Triumph is just over 3 years old, my LS900 is a 2004 model and the GCC is a 2005 model. and I'll include my old 1997 ULS that my BIL still uses every day of the week.
All work just fine, although some typical wear items are due, belt on the 900 and a bearing/rail set on the GCC. The old ULS is still on the original everything except X belt...

The fiber is only 6 months old, so it don't count

I have 15 machines, and give me minute with the calculator
--The average age of my machines, even including the reasonably new Triumph lasers, is 18.3 years.

my vote: fix the old machine

[David Somers]

Same thinking as Kev. I would fix the old if you are just playing with it. Very likely to keep working just fine. And it is a fraction of the cost of even a new Chinese machine, and you have no learning curve. I have a Chinese machine I am very happy with BTW. Keep your machine clean and lubed. Keep it cooled efficiently. Keep the power coming to it clean and protected and you should mostly be replacing the typical expendables over time.