Newbee seeking help. Laser engraver

[chris kirylo]

Hello everyone, I am a newbee.

Planning to buy a Laser cutter/engraver. I got a quote for a DW-5030 from China reseller.

173777
I need it mostly for cutting/engraving plasticard, plexiglass or similar.
I also wanted to cut 1" to 2" foam, the one used in pellican cases for example.

Laser is 40W, it comes with a red dot positioning, motorized up and down table.
Work area is 50x30cm that is perfect for what I need. And it also comes with legs on wheels, perfect for my needs.

Any suggestions? recomendations?

[Martin Boekers]

While Chinese lasers are quite a bit cheaper than others, they are not as user friendly. So there are trade offs.

Search the forum for Chinese lasers and you'll see some of the things you may face. It's not to say these lasers
are useful and can do many things, they do take quite a bit of hands on to keep going.

Lasers in general will not be suited for foam products like you mentioned. A hot Wire Cutter may be more in line with that.
See these to get an idea.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=hot+wire+cutter&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ADBF_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=14263900911471321403&ei=HsUHTd-aD8T58Aber8AR&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCgQ8wIwAQ#

[Dan Hintz]

Make sure you have enough depth in the Z axis to cut 2" thick anything... after you subtract out 2" for lens focal length distance, you may only be left with an inch or so. Depends upon the machine.

[Barry Clark]

I'm with Martin regarding them.. Plus I have to wonder about service after the sale and tech support when things go tailside up.