Laser machine, where did you buy and how much did it cost to your doorstep?

[Mark Taylor2]

Rabbit Laser is clean here... using Trend Micro and also Voodoo Shield. Most of us in IT haven't trusted Norton for quite awhile. I'm guessing it's a false positive hit.

[Jerome Stanek]

I bought mine from Automation Technologies and picked it up. They demoed it for me and gave me some training on it.

[Bill George]

Rabbit Laser is clean here... using Trend Micro and also Voodoo Shield. Most of us in IT haven't trusted Norton for quite awhile. I'm guessing it's a false positive hit.

Well by the time Malwarebytes saw my Ransom Ware and tried to stop it, was way to late. Damage done and they wanted $500 in Bit Coin no less.
I have been in the PC Rodeo so to speak since 1980 or so and that was the First virus I ever had on any of my computers! I am very careful so I will just trust Norton's. The "free" ones and I paid for Malwarebytes did not work. Until someone has lost 3 months work, they will never know.

[Glen Monaghan]

I have been in the PC Rodeo so to speak since 1980 [...] Until someone has lost 3 months work, they will never know.

So have you finally started doing daily automated backups (off host?), or are you simply trusting Norton to save you from another major loss? There are a lot more ways to lose mass storage than simply by virus activity, and Norton won't do a thing for those (head crashes, click of death, power corruption, etc.)! Plus, no AV is perfect so you are still vulnerable to that vector as well...

[Tim Bateson]

I just got a quote from Pete for a DLM FB50160 Fiber Laser 50W MAX Photonics. I'm impressed with the price. Anyone have any experience with this laser?

[Bill George]

So have you finally started doing daily automated backups (off host?), or are you simply trusting Norton to save you from another major loss? There are a lot more ways to lose mass storage than simply by virus activity, and Norton won't do a thing for those (head crashes, click of death, power corruption, etc.)! Plus, no AV is perfect so you are still vulnerable to that vector as well...

Got it covered, thanks.

[Gary Lyben]

What machine did you get? I'm considering them, it would be a day trip to Chicago for me.

I bought mine from Automation Technologies and picked it up. They demoed it for me and gave me some training on it.

[Jerome Stanek]

What machine did you get? I'm considering them, it would be a day trip to Chicago for me.

I bought a 60 watt LG 500

[Neville Stewart]

I just got a quote from Pete for a DLM FB50160 Fiber Laser 50W MAX Photonics. I'm impressed with the price. Anyone have any experience with this laser?

Get a Raycus source for certain, IPG if you could swing it.

[Michael Spencer]

Christopher, thanks for this very informative post. I'm considering my first laser purchase, have been researching the usual suspects, and have not yet looked at this supplier. Their website is pretty much useless unless you speak Chinese. It's obvious that you're happy with your laser and customer service. But may I ask, what decision making process did you follow in deciding on this particular company's product? Everyone balks at the prospect of importing a Chinese laser, but you obviously felt confident enough to pull the trigger.

[Christopher Cambridge]

Christopher, thanks for this very informative post. I'm considering my first laser purchase, have been researching the usual suspects, and have not yet looked at this supplier. Their website is pretty much useless unless you speak Chinese. It's obvious that you're happy with your laser and customer service. But may I ask, what decision making process did you follow in deciding on this particular company's product? Everyone balks at the prospect of importing a Chinese laser, but you obviously felt confident enough to pull the trigger.

The research process was rather awful and took me a couple of months. The signal to noise ratio online about chinese lasers is severe and it's tough to sort out what is and is not credible advice.

One of the main reasons I felt comfortable with a Chinese laser is that I have about 1.5 years of experience with a hobby CNC machine and 3d printer. The CNC machine I built from a box of parts and the printer I've had torn down for upgrades several times. I'm really comfortable with stepper motors, gt2 belts, and electronic controllers. This gave me the confidence that if something was wrong I'd be able to tackle it without needing a lot of support.

I ended up with G.Weike after I came to understand that they actually make many of the other brand's laser machines in their factory. They also gave me the best price and beat the ebay sellers by a couple hundred $$$. They have been in business for 15 years and sell a whole lot of other CNC equipment worth far more than what I bought. This made me feel like there was little incentive for anyone to try to cheat or scam me on the purchase as from their perspective I wasn't even a large order. These are folks who do this kind of thing every day and they have a process that works well.

Upon receiving the machine I was happy to find a bunch of indications of a robust quality control process in the factory. There are QC stickers on all the mirrors with hand initialed sign offs. They provided 3 pieces of cut and engraved acrylic that had been run on this machine in the factory as part of their quality check. The reci tube looks genuine with the appropriate QR code, serial numbers, and a chart of the power test they had run. On the top of the machine near the power meter was a label indicating I should never run above 35ma of power or it would shorten tube life. This power level seems to correspond to about 85-90% power (I stay at 80% or less) and matches my expectations. They seem to have determined this value through a test because that the 35 was hand written. When I ordered a set of extra lenses (from 1.5" all the way to 5") they hand labeled each of them and packed them well in foam.

The only problem I had was that the bed needed to be leveled when I got it. I have it to within about +/- .25mm level with the frame but really need to tram it to level with the laser head using a feeler gauge.

[Bill George]

Christopher you are the ideal person for a direct import of a Chinese laser. The big issue here is we get a lot of people who are not as talented as you importing and purchasing machines. Then after the fact they come here and that's when the fun starts.

[Christopher Cambridge]

I know right? Here I was all jazzed up to tear into a new machine and troubleshoot and fix stuff. Having the damn thing work right away was a bit anticlimactic.

[ludovic chenaux]

I bought my Epilog Mini 24 40w + filter table at a tradeshow in France last Februar and imported it in Switzerland for a total cost of just under 17000€ (~19000$)

EDIT : with 3 years warranty for all

[Greg Rodie]

I got a quote from Sinjoe that is competitive compared to other overseas manufactures...and for what I upgraded to, along with the quality (servo motors standard, when not even available from some) they can't be beat imo. Also for not much more than port shipping, they are shipping to my town. (commercial address) No broker needed (right?)

Thanks David for mentioning them in a thread!