Coletech fiber laser opinions?

[Bert McMahan]

I run my CO2 laser mostly as a hobby with a little side income to help justify the cost. I've wanted to try out a fiber laser but they're generally far too expensive to get without having a good plan for a return on investment.

Recently I came across Coletech selling 20W portable fiber lasers on Ebay for around $4500 (no link, I don't want this to look like an ad) which is a good bit cheaper than what I've seen in the past. It seems that fiber lasers are really coming down in cost, but I don't know if these are even worth messing with. I've sent them an email to ask directly about pricing without going through the ebay route but haven't heard back just yet.

At $4500(ish) I can scrounge enough work to justify the cost. I know it won't be as good as a more "legit" company, but will it work reasonably well? Coletech appears to have a reasonably positive reputation but I've never dealt with them before.

I'm basically wanting to engrave anodized aluminum, titanium, steel, and stainless steel. I won't be doing any color stuff that I hear is possible with the more expensive laser types. Basically, I have a potential customer that needs parts marked without any external chemicals/coatings/etc like Cermark, and I think I could cover a couple thousand from them in the first year.

I'd love to hear experiences/opinions on this type of machine!

[Bill George]

I considered them before purchasing my Ray Fine. Big issue there is a lot of things on a fiber that really can't be serviced like the glass tube CO2 machines. I hope someone on here can help.

[John Lifer]

Bert, Bill bought his Ray Fine fiber recently, and I just received mine this week. Low end MOPA machine, I did opt for a second lens, rotary and x-y table which I probably won't use much and a pair of glasses. The base machine with no options that they offer would come in just about where you said Coletech is. I'll tell you I wouldn't drop that much on any eBay machine, zero service after the sale in most instances. Ray Fine sales folks will at least respond and at least from what my experience has been, stands behind their product. Just say'n and the price might be a few hundred more which is nothing. So a search on Ray Fine, there are at least two sales folks now working for them and you can pick your preference.

[Bert McMahan]

Thanks John, I'll get in touch with them and see what they have.

I've heard good things about the seller (Coletech) who has been around several years, so it's not a total fly-by-night eBay store. I'd probably get it outside of eBay anyway but that's where I was able to get their public pricing information without having to contact a salesperson.

I have heard their CO2 laser tubes are at least decent but I can't find anyone talking about their fiber lasers, good OR bad.

[Bill George]

I am very happy with my Ray Fine fiber. I did get two lens and rotary with mine also. A learning curve but if you know the basics from using your other laser, not that bad.

[Robert Bonenfant]

Bret, Do a quick search on google for "Coletech" a Cheap Chinese site and a Coletech Ebay Seller is about the only thing that is relevant that comes up. No Coletech USA Site and no us Office from what I can see - Meaning if you break down, parts are gonna be hard to get quickly and no customer support. Customer support is always a key thing for me - I buy CNC machines to make money and without a good solid customer support line its hard to get part and the warranty is almost impossible to uphold with a no name company. My two cents and past experience.

Now if you type "Ray Fine fiber" you get a ton of forum postings, a ok website, some youtube videos and a ton of different sellers selling this model - Good chance you would be in the clear with this machine and save some money over a US Import machine Company. Parts can be found in several different places too.

[Julian Ashcroft]

I bought a cheap 20w fiber laser, it was around £4,000.00 delivered. I originally enquired about it through an eBay listing, the seller said if I bought it direct from their website it would be cheaper which it was. Company is called Sign In China. Payment was through PayPal, so some protection there. Machine was delivered all the way from China in about ten days and set up took about half an hour. I use it on a regular basis, it mostly engraves stainless steel cutlery, but have used it on aluminium and brass. It works fine, the software is typical Chinese, but it works and I haven't played around with the settings much.

[Dave Sheldrake]

It's all in the tech specs for fibres, some of the M^2 figures are plain false.