Chinese Laser Success

[pete hagan]

Success in getting my HX6090SE operational to a testing point last night. Funny how those little door switches turn off the laser when open...duh...It's not like I don't have real cncs that do the very same thing but did I think about safety switches at 11pm...nooooo...
So after calling China and speaking with Vicky at the factory who spoke very good engrish I was instructed to send my questions in an email to the company's US rep Frank. Well how about just asking the engineer my question and translating it over the phone while I have you on the line??? It's our USA vs China idea of customer service which is just different. Vicky was very nice but my question wasn't answered so I took a coffee break and sat looking at the machine, from a seated position......Hey what's the cherry switch by the door hinge??? (in the voice of Homer Simpson) DOH
Close door, push button, burn marks with laser.....gee how simple was that??
Today is getting computer happy with machine and start engraving. So far I think I'm pleased and I'll keep the word on the street flowing.
Pete
Cheers

[Bob Keyes]

That's great news Pete. I was hoping I had not steered you wrong. Sounds like things are going OK at this point. If I can help let me know.

[pete hagan]

Seems like everything I do requires a learning curve close to my increasing age. You'd think I'd learn by now! Had a dxf file to work from that had 40K plus data points and everything didn't like it. It would have been much easier if it had been a cnc machine as the software I use handles big files very easily. I finally dropped it into Corel X3 and hand traced all the major details needed which after stripping out the cad portion made it about 2,000 data points. Went from 2 hrs to 8 minutes per piece which is more to my liking. So far I am very impressed with the build quality of the Rabbit laser 6090SE. Cabinet is industrial with minor fit / finish issues. All the electronics are off the shelf step-servo (Chinese) with standard style rails. There are little "fixes" that if you are at all electronic / mechanical minded are no big deal. I'll wait and see how the spare laser tube that came busted plays out or how long this one that is working will last before greatly reduced power.
I'll be running it pretty much 12 hrs day for the next week getting a job finished but it will get a rest after that. It will be a good workout for it.
Bob, thanks for the advise and certainly you were correct on many issues. For those of you looking at Chinese laser units I would suggest going with someone who is either a US based rep or a company who is in the US and redistributing them. Also buy a spare tube now instead of when you must have it.
For now a thumbs up on the Rabbit Laser company.

Pete cheap sunglasses suggested!

[Michael Vaughn]

...staying tuned in for performance updates....

[pete hagan]

Rabbit Laser
I just completed a project with the Rabbit HX6090SE where we ran about 300 11.5 X 9.5 (inch) ACRYLITE FF (CORRECTED PROUCT NAME) panels used for table centerpiece decorations. The image was the local university's new hospital building and logo in 3/16 acrylic. Each table had three panels on a triangular base with LED edgle lighting and a center cylinder vase of orchids with LED lighting below. It looked phenominal and I am happy to say the client was very pleased. As the event producer I typically farm a lot of these elements out however all my vendors who attempted this job could not deliver at this level or at the price point.

Frank has delivered to a good level on this machine and I would rate the experience an 80 out of 100. I am use to production level equipment that is made to run 24X7. This machine is not that level but I also didn't pay for that level. The software is a bit dodgey but with patience even the lasercut50 software I had to use was workable. The current drivers do not support CorelX3 period. I only have X3 and Corel 10 so I had to use the enclosed software which is easy to use but relies on Illustrator 7 file formats (for my job) It will import AI 8.0 but complains to do so. It does NOT import text in Illustrator so that is a real pain. I hope CorelX3 support is forthcoming soon. Bob indicated that I should save to PLT format and it works better importing into lasercut.

Overall the sales support is great and Frank certainly is here to make a reputation for himself and the company. THANKS FRANK!

Software support really isn't there and even though Frank will address these questions to the engineers in China there is a giant gap in support at that level. If you are running a shop that requires telephone / email technical support then you are better off buying American products and getting a maintenance contract. If you are like me with even a modest level of computer experience and can patiently debug the machine over time then you can't go wrong with the company based on the single machine I have purchased. I am happy and I'll keep posting experiences as we go along.

I would hope we can all share in this forum our combined experiences. These are not servo driven high tolerance machines but for the money are worthy of looking at as additional revenue streams.

Pete

[sunil jain]

Pate :

Can you tell me how must it cost you.

Regards

[Rodne Gold]

We were considering getting a few of the larger format machines like this purely for cutting various plastics for bending and Point of sale displays , anything from .5mm styrene to 5mm perspex.
I got a price of about $5000 fopr a 1200 x 800 machine with a 80 w tube and $295 tube replacement costs. I havent done so yet , but reports here are very encouraging.
I can forsee the Chinese lasers soon getting to the established players levels at much cheaper costs.
I wonder how they are going to counter this?

[David Hirschfield]

We were considering getting a few of the larger format machines like this purely for cutting various plastics for bending and Point of sale displays , anything from .5mm styrene to 5mm perspex.
I got a price of about $5000 fopr a 1200 x 800 machine with a 80 w tube and $295 tube replacement costs. I havent done so yet , but reports here are very encouraging.
I can forsee the Chinese lasers soon getting to the established players levels at much cheaper costs.
I wonder how they are going to counter this?

Rodne, a thumbs up for the HX6090SE which we've had going for the last 5 months or so. We're based in Romania but i'm a fellow expat born in Cape Town but left years ago. These machines are quite rugged and the worst I can imagine , other than the laser tube failing or needing to replace belts, is a stepper motor or a power supply failing. Not such a big deal to replace if you know your way around a screwdriver. Granted, Chinese machines may not have the sophistication of the more expensive machines but for out purposes which are POS displays, edge lit branding and photo murals, it has worked fine so far. The software is a bit rudamentary but nothing we haven't been ab;le to work around. I've had to head scratch a bit and work out a few things myself but Rabbit has responded well to tech questions in a day or so. I attended university in the States in the early 80' and I remember anyone who drove a Honda was laughed at. Also, the early S. Korean cars like Hyndai were dismal failures at first and fell apart but now have much better service records. Atari was first into video game market but didn't last because they ignored the future direction of the industry. Hopefuly the North American pioneers can keep their competitive technological edge by pushing forward with real advances. Bells and whistles alone won't keep them ahead for long.

[Levi Chanowitz]

When I ordered my machine I wanted to order an 80 watt laser. It was very difficult to communicate with the people in China.

When I asked them if there is a downside to ordering the 80 watt as opposed to the 60 watt, at first they did not recommend it, because they seemed to say that I would have a problem with small letters.

Does any one know if this is true?

[James MacNab]

Hi All I am new to this so bare with me. I purchased a laser fro Australa/made in China. When I received it there wasen't any material setting at all. Has any one a list of setting for a 60 watt laser from China so I have some where to start lasering tile, marble and so on. I have seen a lot of good things on this form. Keep up the good work.
Regards Jim

[Bob Keyes]

Levi,

I can't see any validity to what they said. An 80 watt machine can become a 60 watt machine by limiting the power output and the mirrors and lenses are the same. I would not see it as a problem.

[Rodne Gold]

The 60 and the 80w tubes differ as far as I know , the beam quality , spot size , collimation etc might not be the same over 2 tubes.
In all likelyhood the 80w is marketed more to the cutting market??

[Levi Chanowitz]

I have my 60 watt rabbit for 2 years now and still did not replace the tube.
I run it for a few hours a week

[Tom Winters]

The 60 and the 80w tubes differ as far as I know , the beam quality , spot size , collimation etc might not be the same over 2 tubes.
In all likelyhood the 80w is marketed more to the cutting market??

The response time for the 60 watt laser tube is a little quicker than the 80 watt laser tube.

The spot size different? >> Not really, It just depends on what lens you are using.

The 80 is marketed to the cutting market more so than the 60. The cutting advantages that the 80 watt has over the 60 watt, are really not that drastic but having the higher wattage does not off a few seconds off the job clock.

[Levi Chanowitz]

The computor that controls my Rabbit Laser just crashed. I tried to install the card and the USB Dog. (Someone else installed it last time)

When I try to open LaserCut I get the following message
"Open Motion Card Error !

Can anyone help?