Any comments on A4dable engravers

[Chuck Burke]

I'm not sure but I think the words PROFESSIONAL TOOLS should be the key. The opposite are termed CONSUMER or HOBBY. Same applies to machines.

Larry, you make a VERY valid point......Delta for example makes GREAT professional tools, but their "Workforce" line is totally inferior.

Thanks

[Bill Cunningham]

Black & Decker is another line of 'home/hobby' tools..
But, sometimes you only need a drill for a week! ..
I find most of the cheap ones are 'really' just converters...
After a shot period of use, they become very efficient at converting electricity into smoke!

[Gary Helms]

http://fishinfoolz.net/phpBB2/

[Scott Shepherd]

Sounds pretty positive? Their forum has 29 members total, with more than one member actually working for them.

I own a Chinese made plotter, and I've read through the issues with the Chinese lasers on this very forum. My advice to anyone is that if you are computer savvy and mechanically inclined, then you might do just fine. However, if you can't figure things out on your own, troubleshoot without much help, then you're probably not a good candidate.

My plotter manual, in my opinion, could be used to shim up a wobbly table. At no point did it tell me how to actually use the machine or get started. Most Chinese stuff doesn't have USB connections either, so you'll be forced to get a parallel port working or try and use a parallel to USB adapter which is an entire 'nother subject. They tend to gloss over that and make statements like USB communications. Well, no, not really. It's parallel and I need a USB adapter, which isn't always much fun to work with.

My plotter runs just fine, but I'd never recommend it to someone who can't figure computer/machine issues out on their own. You almost have to assume you have no support. Yes, the people who sell them do support them, but not the type of support you'd expect if you paid for a brand name model. Many don't publish phone numbers, so you have to deal with e-mail as a communication method. When your machine isn't running, emailing and waiting 1,2, or 3 days for a response can be very frustrating.

If you're handy and love that type of stuff, then they might be just what you were looking for. If you aren't sure which end of a screwdriver to hold, then it's probably not the best advice, in my opinion.

But, that's just my opinion.

[Gary Helms]

I know for a fact the only employee on the board is ohbouy the administrator and their phone number is 541-977-4171 as listed on their website

[Gary Helms]

Hi Ralph, the manuals were upgraded about a month ago fyi

[Scott Shepherd]

Gary, not sure what your affiliation with them is, but please look at the facts before posting that it's getting great reviews. Let's look at the site. It's up to 36 members now (it's also a forum with an address that's something about fishing), 19 of them have never posted, of those 19, more than 1/2 are spambots registering on a phpBB forum. That leaves 16, one's the owner. So we're down to 15 people who have posted. It appears you have posted a lot there as well.

The majority of those have asked questions, not giving the product great reviews. On the "Kudos" thread, 2 people responded and the first response was thanking them for the forum, and the second post was agreeing with the first post. If you're happy with your laser, then say so.

Truth in advertising, please.

[Dave Jones]

Gary, not sure what your affiliation with them is, but...

His affiliation is that he owns A4dable Woodworking.

[Ralph Lindberg]

..... It appears you have posted a lot there as well.

More telling is that I contacted all of the eBay buyers I could identify, over a several month period. Not one responded that they wouldn't buy again and over 3/4 what they were happy and two where getting ready to buy a 2nd unit.

[James MacNab]

Hi all,
If you are looking for a laser first you should go to ripoff.com to check to see if the company is listed with them. Next when you pick your company go to a number of fourms like this and ask about the service and tech support, this very inportant. Good luck
Jim

[Darren Null]

I've just bought a laser, so I've just been down that trail. The machine that I would have bought if I hadn't discovered my second-hand one is here:
http://www.laserite.com/co2-ll10060.html
...and it's still pencilled in as 1st choice for replacement/upgrade. £11,500. If you're from the States, you have more options...Machines that are cheap for you might be uneconomic for me because I still have to get it to Europe.

Anyway, these are the impressions that I've got in my travels (that may or may not be accurate- it's salesmen that have told me these things):

"Water cooled" is a bad sign. In a new machine, it could well be the old-style (and cheap) glass laser tube common in cheap chinese imports. These tubes don't last nearly as long as the metal ones and (I'm told) the power output can be "all over the place" even in a machine that is adjusted perfectly. This will give you all sorts of problems, particularly if you're engraving deeply or multiple-pass burning.

Stepper motors vs servo motors. Servo motors are better than stepper motors, but considerably more expensive. Servo motors in a machine is a good sign and if a manafacturer has coughed up for a servo system it is likely that some thought has gone into the quality of the rest of the components. Conversely, stepper motors does not necessarily mean that it's a bad machine- it just means that you have to look carefully at the rest of the specs. Some manufacturers have weighed the cost/benefit and have decided that the extra for servos just isn't worth it, but produce otherwise admirable machines. The Lotus system above uses a THK system which is somewhere between step/servo performance apparently.

The cost of the machine isn't all you'll end up paying for. Many manufacturers have extra costs for training/installation, and this will usually run you a couple of thousand extra. Air extraction system; filters for same;honeycomb table; rotary....these will add to the cost, sometimes alarmingly.

New vs second hand. If you can afford it, go new and get all the guarantees and backup that you can. I've just bought a second-hand machine and I have a lot to learn and assemble before turning it on.

On a purely personal note, measure your doorways. Your internal doorframes are not necessarily the same size as your front door, thus possibly requiring some 'fine tuning' of doorframes before your machine will go in it's intended home. DOH!