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Thread: What do you think about this company...

  1. #1

    What do you think about this company...

    http://www.jamiesonlaser.com/lasersys/CMA/CMA.htm

    I have "lurked" for a little while and have learned a lot from you folks. I was wondering if anyone has had any dealings with this company. I am looking the the smaller of the two listed on the page. $12,500.

    Thanks for any advise!

    j

  2. #2
    I don't know anything about them, but some of their products seem strangely familiar to the products offered by the Chinese manufacturers.

  3. #3
    yeah, I know the feeling but the warranty is for "up to 2 years".

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    The one thing I see in the specs is the 2" height dimension - you only have 2" of vertical movement? How would you engrave something relatively simple, like a wine bottle?

    Gary

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Everett White View Post
    http://www.jamiesonlaser.com/lasersys/CMA/CMA.htm

    I have "lurked" for a little while and have learned a lot from you folks. I was wondering if anyone has had any dealings with this company. I am looking the the smaller of the two listed on the page. $12,500.

    Thanks for any advise!

    j
    The fact that they are water cooled usually means a glass tube, and manufactured in China. There has been a lot for discussion on that before, though not on this particular company as far as I remember. The prices are a lot less but the quality is not really know yet, since we don't have people using them and reporting back.



    Sammamish, WA

    Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.

    "One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." G. Weilacher

    "The handyman's secret weapon - Duct Tape" R. Green

  6. #6
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    Everett:
    I looked at those machines before I bought my Epilog. One downside to these machines that I see right off is that they are driven by stepper motors, instead of servos. That's in addition to the Z height. Plus, I like to buy American products that have good support reputations. I can't imagine having to mess with something that is water cooled. Their's not any real track record on these machines ,as far as this forum goes anyway.
    Epilog Legend EXT36-40watt, Corel X4, Canon iPF8000 44" printer,Photoshop CS6, Ioline plotter, Hotronix Swinger Heat Press, Ricoh GX e3300 Sublimation

  7. #7
    Thanks for the advise. It seems I will likely turn away from this one due to the 2" depth. Also the impression of Chinese workmanship/support I get from this forum isn't really something to sing about.

    I will keep looking (and lurking) around here untill I am in a position to buy.

    This site is very helpfull and I continue to learn and enjoy it. Thanks all!!

    j

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Larry Bratton View Post
    Everett:
    I looked at those machines before I bought my Epilog. One downside to these machines that I see right off is that they are driven by stepper motors, instead of servos. That's in addition to the Z height. Plus, I like to buy American products that have good support reputations. I can't imagine having to mess with something that is water cooled. Their's not any real track record on these machines ,as far as this forum goes anyway.
    I have 2 older machines which utilize steppers exclusively and have NEVER had
    ANY problems with them. On the other hand, my servo driven TT has had lots
    of occurences trying to find "itself". Servos, for the most part, rely on peripheral input to know where they are at. Steppers work on pulses / one shots to increment. If you ever get a "fuzzball' in your encoder read head, or even a dirty encoder strip you'll quickly learn about servo's "being better" while watching your machine crashing around trying to find out where it's at! This is not to rag on anyone as both these devices are equally good and have a place in the industry. That being said I prefer the servo systems as they are much quieter, but also more finicky


    Bruce
    Epilog TT 35W, 2 LMI SE225CV's
    CorelDraw 4 through 11
    CarveWright
    paper and pencils

  9. #9
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    Everett
    I compared several of their models vrs known Chinese models, they are exactly the same.
    That being said, you would be paying for the longer warranty. http://www.jamiesonlaser.com/lasersys/HX/HX.htm is $4900, while this one http://www.a4dableww.com/40a.htm is $1880, with roughly half the warranty period, for less then half the price.

    Now, I have been visiting some of the forums (like A4dable's) and it appears that these units are (probably) worth what they are asking (in general). They are not just junk, but they probably not up to a production environment where they are expected to run all day.
    Making sawdust mostly, sometimes I get something else, but that is more by accident then design.

  10. #10
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    To each his own. That point could be argued forever I suppose. The general thinking by most manufacturer's is that servo driven system are more accurate.
    Epilog Legend EXT36-40watt, Corel X4, Canon iPF8000 44" printer,Photoshop CS6, Ioline plotter, Hotronix Swinger Heat Press, Ricoh GX e3300 Sublimation

  11. #11
    Having servo motors was a must have when we were considering brands of lasers. I've been around machine tools for a long time, actually since they were just coming out with CNC machines in the shops (well, actually NC at the time), and I've seen, ran, programmed, and fixed a lot of machines, and that experience led me to disregard any machines without servo motors.

    That was a different industry than the lasers, so it might not make a rats behind difference in the laser world, but my personal preference is always buy into technology.

    We were quoted $2500 more for a machine that was roughly the same size, but it had stepper motors. That bit lost the sale for them.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  12. #12
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    www.techno-isel.com/H840/PDF/004.pdf
    Look at the end of the article for a stepper/Servo comparison

  13. #13
    I think before you condemn machines without servo motors you should have a look at Universal.

    They're one of the most highly respected and trouble free machines on the market and at the time I bought my latest machine I'm quite sure they were offering only stepper motors.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  14. #14
    Please note I did say that it may not make a difference in lasers, but it makes a huge difference in the field from which I came, which is what my input was based on.

    Steppers might be just fine for lasers, but when someone quotes me a higher price for a lower cost drive system, then I stop considering them.

    I am sure that both systems work fine, and since the parts are all brand new, I'm sure both will do a good job. It's my personal preference to use closed loop servo systems.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  15. #15
    Wow, hehe I feel like I just pointed out the pink elephant in the corner of the room...

    I have no experience with either motor. But I am counting on and learning from the experience from everyone in the forum. I will purchase a laser in about 2 years. I know its a while out but I have to pay off some medical and other bills first. I will take the time to learn before I jump.

    Thanks all!!
    j

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