Chinese lasers - they're here !!!

[Craig Matheny]

Hope you have a large tree

[Rich Harman]

I'm seriously considering using my crate to build a storage shed.

[Martin Coetzee]

Hi Rodney,

Am I right in assuming the machines are on castor wheels ?

[Rodne Gold]

Castors and it also comes with adjustable feet/pads, you can use the castors to wheel it around and then level it up 100% on the pads/feet.

[Dan Ashlin]

Hey Rodne,
How thick of a piece of acrylic can your 80w handle? Mine was advertised as being able to go through an inch thick piece, but I find that highly unlikely.

[Rodne Gold]

Practically with the 40mm lens I use , 8- 10mm, with the 50mm lens 12-15mm *1/2"* , it might go thru 1" with the right lens... who knows? I haven't tried....

[Dan Hintz]

Hey Rodne,
How thick of a piece of acrylic can your 80w handle? Mine was advertised as being able to go through an inch thick piece, but I find that highly unlikely.

It's doable... you may not like the edge quality, but you have to remember that clear acrylic acts like a waveguide, so you can cut thicker pieces than other substrates. With a bit of searching here, you'll find pics of 1" pieces being cut with a 45W system.... very, very slowly.

[John Flathers]

Rodney,
I am new to this board and to laser machines in general. We are looking at purchasing a Chinese laser and have been reluctant to trust the companies on Alibaba. Thanks for all the great info and pictures. You have really gone above and beyond the call with the amount of information you have provided in your post. This has certainly helped us a lot in deciding on which Chinese company to do business with.
We are just starting out and intend to mostly engrave and cut smaller items so we may not go with a machine as large as yours. Do you recommend any of their smaller machines?
Thank you again for sharing your knowledge with us.
John

[Rodne Gold]

Well, I actually recommend a large machine as you can get more potent tubes in them , the powerful tubes are longer and can pysically fit. Apart from that , the difference in price from a small machine to a big one are not that much. However you must also work out whether you have space for a big machine and can actually GET it into your premises. I would not get a smaller machine than my 900 x 600 x 60w unless space was a major concern.

Just be aware, Despite my "glowing" reports , George perzel that recently got his machine from Shenui had some bits he ordered missing *notably a spare tube* , he dealt with a different person at shenui that I did, they have indicated they would send it on ,but none the less, it's irritiating.
So I suggest , if you do buy from them to write down all the bits you want with NO chance of mistakes and actually ask them or send them a check list for packing and ask for pictures of all the items prior to them sending the machine. Just check and double check and then check again.

Not sure exactly how to make the chinese comply to the more formalised western way of doing business, I have found this with other items I have bought from china
When it comes to one item or just a few , things go well , when it comes to more complex items and multiples of different things , you really need to check
I actually flew over to check on a 40ft container of trophies, crystals and medals i had ordered.
There were 176 different items in various quantities . My suppliers were ok , my Agents were a little lax in terms of responses , shipping and most certalnly didnt fully live up to and speedily do the services they advertised as in sending inspectors to the factories, quality control , funds disbursement to supplier , placing the correct order, warehousing facilities, container packing and so on. you have to be on their backs all the time.

It seems to have all turned out right , my goods were all there , quality was acceptable and they on their way to me and I paid for em. Was my first time dealing with both supplier and agent so I was , understandably , a little antsy albiet I had only paid 25% up front and my agents only wanted the balance when the goods were actually on the water , I still didnt trust them fully on this order

[Martin Coetzee]

Hi Rodney,

What is your experience with Shenhui.............do they install all the upgrades and "nice to have" as standard on new machines as I am ordering today/tomorrow and do not want to have to retro fit stuff afterwards ?

[Martin Coetzee]

Hi Rodney,

What is your experience with Shenhui.............do they install all the upgrades and "nice to have" as standard on new machines as I am ordering today/tomorrow and do not want to have to retro fit stuff afterwards ?

Further..........I guess there is no way I can get a 1200 x 800 machine through a normal house door !!!!!

[Rodne Gold]

There are no sort of "upgrades" and nice to haves they will leave off unless you specify , their stock machine is good enough, you should get the latest of parts they use.
However , when I bought my machines, after a month or 2 after they sent them , they started to use a new motherboard which supported a newer version of the software and they sent me 3 new boards with the accompanying lcd panels , (2 lasers and one spare set) and all I had to do was send the old boards and stuff back. Did it SA post office expedited service , R580 vs the cheapest courier cost of R2500 (R7 to the $) and I thought it pretty decent of em, the new mainboards and lcd panels would have cost me $1000 had I bought them. When I bought , they had a shipping cost of $110 added to the bill which I had already paid , I used my own shippers and got a credit for that and eventually they were owing my $56 odd , they went to great pains to try refund me , I told em not to hassle about it , Even on my 2nd trip to china this yr , they wanted to send the money to my hotel about 2500km from em ...
There are "upgrades" you must have , and some which are more trouble than they are worth. You must upgrade to a Reci tube and power supply and you must upgrade to the Cw 5000 chiller , you can upgrade at much higher pricing to a lower power sealed RF metal tube , which is not worth it.
You can order "imported" lenses , I didnt and am quite happy , but its a cheap u/g so you might as well. I ordered 20mm diameter lenses vs 18mm , dunno why I did , but IMO its not an essential u/g. I also ordered a red dot pointer coincident with the beam , good for the odd alignment but it also places another power sapping 1/2 silvered mirror optic in the beam path - we have removed the optic and now just do without a red dot pointer , it's really not neccesary , you can go for the cheap red dot pointer assembly which hangs off the lens assembly's nozzle.

The laser WILL fit thru a door , BUT you will have to tell them to do you a custom build and NOT to weld the stand/wheels etc on the body , you could then turn the whole laser carcass etc sideways and get it thru an 800 wide door and then ask em to weld plates on the stand so you can rebolt it to the stand.
Just send me a copy of the PI you get and I will tell you if you got anything wrong or have left out something essential

[Dan Hintz]

I also ordered a red dot pointer coincident with the beam , good for the odd alignment but it also places another power sapping 1/2 silvered mirror optic in the beam path - we have removed the optic and now just do without a red dot pointer , it's really not neccesary , you can go for the cheap red dot pointer assembly which hangs off the lens assembly's nozzle.

Rodney,

You should be losing a negligible amount of power with that optic... certainly lower than anything you could hope to measure outside of the laboratory. If the optic's coating is intact, you should lose way less than 1% of your beam strength. They're pretty darn efficient transmitters at that wavelength. If you ever decide to put it back in, you can rest easily that you won't lose any cutting capability.

[Rodne Gold]

We actually had an issue with the red dot diode in that it seemed to be overheating or something was splattering on the lens of the diode and thus the red beam was becoming shattered , it happened 2x with new diodes , so that was the main reason for removing it in the first place. I reconed it was something to do with the combiner system , not sure 100% what tho
We gained about a 15-20% speed increase when removing that 1/2 silvered mirror thing
The laser actually fires thru it like this <----\<---- (thats the laser path) and the red beam shoots from the bottom of the \ and is reflected 45 degrees <---\ , it really doesnt look like a quality piece to me? At any rate , it takes 2 small screws to remove it and it's easily replaceable with no disturbance of alignment for either laser or red dot , bearing in mind the red dot is nor really a precsion positioning device and due to nozzle exit , I can see where the laser will be firing , whether i have one or not is no biggie.

[Martin Coetzee]

I used my own shippers and got a credit for that and eventually they were owing my $56 odd , they went to great pains to try refund me , I told em not to hassle about it , Even on my 2nd trip to china this yr , they wanted to send the money to my hotel about 2500km from em ...
There are "upgrades" you must have , and some which are more trouble than they are worth.

The laser WILL fit thru a door , BUT you will have to tell them to do you a custom build and NOT to weld the stand/wheels etc on the body , you could then turn the whole laser carcass etc sideways and get it thru an 800 wide door and then ask em to weld plates on the stand so you can rebolt it to the stand.
Just send me a copy of the PI you get and I will tell you if you got anything wrong or have left out something essential

Pretty decent of them to go to such trouble to get a few $'s to you.
Turning the machine on its side will not damage the insides ????