Laser Engraver - How much power do I need?

[Kyle Crawford]

Hi Everyone,

I am very new to the laser engraving business. I am in the process of researching different engraving machines.

I am in the crmation business, and would like to offer personalization to many of my urns, jewellery, etc. Would also like to expand my product line to include granite markers, glass etching, and other products.

The big question I have is; how much power would you recommend? 25 Watt? 30? 40? 50? 120?

I would also like to introduce a new product where a customer can request to have an "engraved" paw print of their pet. I was thinking possibly taking an ink print, converting to a digital image, and then engraving into wood (or glass), with the pets name underneath. It would be a nice personal product. Is something like that feasible?

Thanks for your help!

[Scott Shepherd]

In general, you get as much power as you can afford. I think 25 or 30 watts will do all you mentioned, but 60 watts will do some of it better (faster). If you get a good sales rep, and you explain what you want to do, they should be able to help you in more detail. Also, when demoing machines, take real life samples and examples of what you want to make and make them run the actual products you want to create, not the canned demo's that run for everyone.

You'll gain valuable info from those on the time it takes, the quality, etc. you can expect.

Welcome to the forum! Best of luck in your new journey with the laser.
Steve

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

One thing I would recomend is to find someone in your area who has a laser and is willing to do the work for say the first 6 months. This will let you guage if the purchase of $20000 can be justifide for the amount of items you may actualy sell.

IF after 6 months it seems lucrative enough you will have a better Idea of what size laser to get. You will also have a better idea of what your proffic margin will be.