Advice on a backup cutter/engraver for my Epilog 24

[ruvane bernstein]

Hi All,

I've been running the Epilog and CorelDraw for a number of years and I'd like to get a cheap backup engraver with a glass tube. Obviously there will be serious differences of quality and so on, but I'm prepared to treat the new machine as almost disposable, particularly the tube. What I do want is something that's as easy to run and control from software as it is now with CD and the Epilog.

Are there any decent Chinese manufacturers that you can recommend where I don't have to use some awful clunky software and which will accept vector files?

Thanks for all input.

[Kev Williams]

The awful clunky software is just part of the deal with glass lasers. The trick is to simply consider the clunky software as nothing more than the machine's print driver. Do ALL graphic work in Corel, do NONE of that with the Chinese software. Sometimes I make small adjustments to the artwork's location, and that's it. Any other editing I do in Corel, and send as a new job.

ANY laser print driver has a learning curve, these aren't so different...

That said, any of the familiar Chinese laser manufacturers will furnish a reasonably solid machine. My big Triumph was just a test to see how much laser I could get for the least amount of money, and I also considered it 'disposable'. It'll be 5 years old next month, and save for a broken wire to the X stepper in the drag chain and a few tweaks, it's paid for itself many times over and still runs like new.

If you don't mind paying more for the always-available help you'll get, buy a Rabbit...

[Steve Utick]

Hi All,

I've been running the Epilog and CorelDraw for a number of years and I'd like to get a cheap backup engraver with a glass tube. Obviously there will be serious differences of quality and so on, but I'm prepared to treat the new machine as almost disposable, particularly the tube. What I do want is something that's as easy to run and control from software as it is now with CD and the Epilog.

Are there any decent Chinese manufacturers that you can recommend where I don't have to use some awful clunky software and which will accept vector files?

Thanks for all input.

Don't worry about the clunky software. Get something that has a Ruida controller in it and pick up a copy of LightBurn. It's light years ahead of any of the Chinese software, and very affordable. Developers are including tons of cool features in every new release which is done frequently.

[ruvane bernstein]

Thanks for the feedback