Michael Simpson Virgina
08-11-2009, 11:55 AM
My laser at 5 months
OK I have had my laser for nearly 1/2 of a year and thought I would follow up my previous posts with my trials and tribulations.
Well to be honest most of my experiences have been very positive. I have, however come to some conclusions. Lasers are slow, very slow, slow… slow….slow.
When I first got into this laser thing I had many ideas of how to utilize the laser. I wanted to use it with both my robotics company as well as my photography company. I also wanted to use the laser to help me prototype various products I would offer in the future. For production work IE cutting thin materials the laser is just too slow for anything other than very low scale production. I found that I can keep up with demand as long as I only have a handful of sales per day (laser related)
On the photography side its even slower to create various projects but the payout can yield much more profit. I have had a couple pieces take me several hours to complete and assemble and made enough money to almost warrant the effort. I thought I could use the laser as an extension of my inner artist but it just does not happen that way. The laser portions of the projects just becomes a very tedious amount of effort that in my opinion barley pays for my time.
All that said the prototyping aspect of owning my own laser makes the purchase well worth the effort. I have completed several large prototype projects and am looking into gaining patents for them.
On the fun side here is a prototype of a walker robot I created that I will be using for an educational workshop in the future.
http://www.vimeo.com/6051517
On a closing note I would like all the prospective buyers to be aware of the somewhat hidden costs of owning a laser.
First you have the blower and compressor. You will have to purchase and install these devices. I knew I had to do this up front but the thing I never realized was the cost of electricity to run the laser.
My electric bill has doubled since I got the laser. This is primarily due to the fact that you have to run a rather substantial blower when the laser is cutting or engraving.
OK I have had my laser for nearly 1/2 of a year and thought I would follow up my previous posts with my trials and tribulations.
Well to be honest most of my experiences have been very positive. I have, however come to some conclusions. Lasers are slow, very slow, slow… slow….slow.
When I first got into this laser thing I had many ideas of how to utilize the laser. I wanted to use it with both my robotics company as well as my photography company. I also wanted to use the laser to help me prototype various products I would offer in the future. For production work IE cutting thin materials the laser is just too slow for anything other than very low scale production. I found that I can keep up with demand as long as I only have a handful of sales per day (laser related)
On the photography side its even slower to create various projects but the payout can yield much more profit. I have had a couple pieces take me several hours to complete and assemble and made enough money to almost warrant the effort. I thought I could use the laser as an extension of my inner artist but it just does not happen that way. The laser portions of the projects just becomes a very tedious amount of effort that in my opinion barley pays for my time.
All that said the prototyping aspect of owning my own laser makes the purchase well worth the effort. I have completed several large prototype projects and am looking into gaining patents for them.
On the fun side here is a prototype of a walker robot I created that I will be using for an educational workshop in the future.
http://www.vimeo.com/6051517
On a closing note I would like all the prospective buyers to be aware of the somewhat hidden costs of owning a laser.
First you have the blower and compressor. You will have to purchase and install these devices. I knew I had to do this up front but the thing I never realized was the cost of electricity to run the laser.
My electric bill has doubled since I got the laser. This is primarily due to the fact that you have to run a rather substantial blower when the laser is cutting or engraving.