Need a laser for cutting wood

[Craig Matheny]

I am looking to by a new laser currently own a 45 watt Epilog love the machiine and the support. With that said I am looking for a machine that will cut alot faster currently I cut 1/8" Baltic Birch plywood 100% power 15% speed. Any one have a sujestion on size of unit or manufacture the unit does need to be a closed top no open format.

Thanks

[Joe Kace]

HI Craig,
I have a 40w Epilog and I cut 1/8 Baltic Birch 100% Power 29 Speed and it cuts right thru it every time. How old is your tube?

[Tim Bateson]

... a 45 watt Epilog love the machiine and the support. With that said I am looking for a machine that will cut alot faster currently I cut 1/8" Baltic Birch plywood 100% power 15% speed....

I'm using 35watt & cut 100/18. However my suggestion for a faster cut would be to buy a 60 watt... However they are not cheap and unless you have a lot of paying work, it may never pay for it's self. That is large repeat industrial clients.

On second thought - 60 watt isn't that much faster... at least not fast enough to spend big bucks $$$.

[Craig Matheny]

When you say you cut Baltic Birch is it straight lines or curves?

THe tube is new the lens is new I did notice some light scratches on the mirror on the head.

With that said I can cut at 30 speed and 100 power straight all day long but my peices are all curved and odd shapes so I am down to 15% na ideas to try would be great.

[Tim Bateson]

For a lot of curves my 35 watt is set to 100/17. For crappy ply I will lower it to 100/10

[Craig Matheny]

see this is where I get confussed I have a 45 watt unit and my best is 13% 100% power 500f for clean drop out pieces anything faster I have to back cut. I need to get to 30-35% speed due to volume or buy a second machine instead of trade in this one and buy a faster one.

[Rodne Gold]

You need another machine, buy a 100-150w glass tubed model , 1300x900 will cost about $5-6000
Get one with a Reci tube that has an 8000 hr lifespan.probably will triple current production with that machine alone , use your expensive one for delicate and less messy work

[Craig Matheny]

You need another machine, buy a 100-150w glass tubed model , 1300x900 will cost about $5-6000
Get one with a Reci tube that has an 8000 hr lifespan.probably will triple current production with that machine alone , use your expensive one for delicate and less messy work

What brand name you sujesting?

[Larry Bratton]

What brand name you sujesting?

(shhhhhh it's Chinese) but for 5-6k and all that power but you should be able to recoup investment in short order if your thinking you have it justified now.

[Ross Moshinsky]

(shhhhhh it's Chinese) but for 5-6k and all that power but you should be able to recoup investment in short order if your thinking you have it justified now.

That's assuming the machine actually works.

If I had to suggest something to anyone it would be this: Buy with a credit card from a US distributor. Why? Legal recourse. Fact is, some of these machines are lemons and getting the once prompt responding representative to give you customer support to fix the machine can be a big issue. Call up Visa and they will put the charge immediately into contention. When buying directly from China it will be a battle to win that dispute.

Otherwise, I agree. A Chinese 100W laser is the way to go if you just want to use it to cut.

[Larry Bratton]

Ross:
Right. I was kinda going off what Rodne said. He has been doing a lot of research lately and believe has just recently or is just before buying a machine from China.

[Peter Odell]

There are a few goo Chinese machine here like Rabbit USA and Turnkey lasers they have great cust service and suppoet I have a 80 watt and have had no problems with it

[Kimmy Armstrong]

You may want to check out the turbo accelerator from Fact Engineering for Epilog. It works great & easy to install.

[Craig Matheny]

You may want to check out the turbo accelerator from Fact Engineering for Epilog. It works great & easy to install.


I looked at the page does it truely work is the question any feed back

[Joe Kace]

When I have alot of curves I go down to 25 speed.

[Ron Chapellaz]

I wrote this on another recent thread that is dealing with the same issues...
Are you able to cut faster through a straight line? I had once vector cut an item that had a lot of nodes after I had done a trace of it and the laser took forever to cut, but that was due to a high node count. Maybe that is the problem that you guys are facing?

[Rodne Gold]

I am buying mine from the Shenhui laser equipment Co.ltd
http://www.shenhuilaser.com.cn
Vincent De klerk , who is nearby me , has brought one in , see this thread
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?155522-Very-impressed-with-Chinese-laser-cutter
I have been to him and seen his machine and tested out a few of my own files. For the price , it seems exceptional value for money. It's not shoddy construction at all , its a very solid machine. There are some "shortfalls" compared to my mainstream machines , but that is to be expected at its price point , but none of them are critical
My dealing so far , have mirrored his experiences , any question , no matter how technical have been answered promptly etc.
I have ordered and paid for 2 machines , a large one primarily for cutting and a smaller lower powered one for engraving.
I will also be visiting the Factory at the end of April , as I will be in China then , so can report back in more detail re the Co itself.
I have investigated the co as much as I can , its an alibaba gold supplier for 5 yrs , seems to have good feedback on some other forums, looked at its certificates , asked my agent in china to look em up and got info from my local chinese consulate etc. Only thing that sort of bothered me was when I google earthed their address , it didn't show the factory clearly , showed some sort of complex , not sure whether the satellite takes high def pics over China . Their website shows the factory better. Their software works off Corel , it might need some workarounds to do exactly what my current exceptionally good driver for my GCC machines does , but it's no biggie. The only issue I forsee you having to deal with in regards to a big machine with a high powered glass tube is that your kerf width for the cut might be bigger but you should have far less charring and heat affected zones which might compensate, you might not get it thru your doors? The compressor supplied for air assist would need to be upgraded as you need pretty much an air "blast" to cut wood well. You will also have to have a far more hands on approach with Chinese machines in regards to setup , laignment and problem solving, , you don't have an agent at your doorstep. You would also have to factor in shipping and freight from China , you need to appoint a shipping/forwarding agent in the US and get a FOB Price..it can be a nightmare if you don't get it right..I'm not conversant with how shipping works in the US so others would have better knowledge.

Buying from existing/local Chinese machine importer is a great option if you aren't paying well above your landed cost. We have so called "importers" here who sell a machine that would cost $6000 landed at $27000+ , their tube replacement cost is $1200 and the actual tube costs $146...hence us not using em.
If you do go this route , do your homework re your supplier , google em for feedback etc , speak to folk who have used em , go see the machines and ask em to cut the wood in front of you and so forth.
In terms of a tube/power , If i were buying for your application , I would specify the Reci v6 tube , which is 120w or so (if price is an issue , a normal 120w) , the 150w tubes are actually almost double the price of a 120w and due to tube length , need to be fitted in a very big machine. Not sure if the extra 30w is worth it?
If you do go mainstream , what I would NOT do in your case is upgrade to a more powerful machine , it would be far better , imho , to get another equivalent power machine as with one machine , you have NO backup at all , with 2 , at least if one goes down , you still in business.

[Kimmy Armstrong]

I looked at the page does it truely work is the question any feed back

Yes, it made a big difference for me. We do nothing but vector cutting, and it made a very big difference. I would not buy the air package on the site- just get one yourself- much cheaper.

[Tim Baude]

Kimmy,
How much faster does it cut? Right now I am doing 1/4" wood at 100% power and 8 sp to get through.....I reallly need to be around 15 sp to be at a profit making spot with the job I am doing.
Thanks
Tim

[Neil Pabia]

I'm cutting through Baltic Birch 1/8" plywood at 100 power 50 speed and 300 freq everyday without a problem. I have a 60 watt helix.

[Ben Cartwright]

Now im depressed by reading this post..I purchased a ULS25E with a 60watt Synrad tube, I thought it was pretty powerful, but by your guys speed numbers I am way low on power... Im not sure about the Epilogs settings, but I have tried lots of different settings, but still at around 2-5% speed to make it all the way through a 1/8" Baltic Birch ply I got from some guy on ebay. When Im cutting 0.10 acrylic its more like 1.8%. I have a 2.0lens Im sorry to jack the thread, maybe there are some settings I can mess with? Thanks

[William Burke]

I've been watching this thread and I think the discrepancies folks are experiencing are largely in part to the possible differences in their "Baltic Birch" construction. I'm thinking that the core material may play the biggest factor in the speed of cut one can obtain. I know from experience that cutting Italian Poplar veneers that they cut amazingly fast - 50% seed 100% power with a 45 watt Epilog. I suspect that the guys that are getting really fast cut rates are using Baltic Birch with a Poplar core. Or perhaps the core is MDF?

I think the discussion and the investigation also needs to include the plywood construction details.

Thoughts?

[Dan Hintz]

William,

Difference in cutting speeds on ply is usually due to type/quality of glue, voids in the core, etc.

[Ben Cartwright]

Could someone cut out a piece and reference the power and speed, Then send it to me to try to cut? I would pay for the piece and shipping.

[Michael Hunter]

Ben

William and Dan are right - just seeing birch on the outsides does not tell the full story by any means.
Ebay is hardly a reliable/consistent source for materials and you might well have been sold exterior (waterproof) grade which is much more difficult to cut.

Your speed for acrylic does seem very low though : my 60W cuts 3mm acrylic at 35% speed 100% power and 5000 frequency.
Worth checking your frequency setting - generally it should be high for acrylic and low for wood.

[William Burke]

William,

Difference in cutting speeds on ply is usually due to type/quality of glue, voids in the core, etc.

This is the commonly referenced perception, but is it REALLY just the glue? Has anyone systematically tested and documented any of the variations?

[Kevin Groenke]

Ben,

We have 60W and 120W ULS X660's and speeds for cutting thicker materials are usually less than 10%. Epilog and ULS power and speed settings vs cut times probably have no correlation to each other.

With a fairly large sampling of users and equipment here, perhaps we could develop a useful real-world comparison of speeds, feeds and actual processing times for a variety of typical work in a sampling of common materials across the spectrum of available machines.

-kg

[Dan Hintz]

This is the commonly referenced perception, but is it REALLY just the glue? Has anyone systematically tested and documented any of the variations?
Do what I do when I question the party line... I run tests and research the tech journals. That's how I fought the party line about glass engraving being caused by heating the glass, dirty glass, etc.

[Craig Matheny]

I'm cutting through Baltic Birch 1/8" plywood at 100 power 50 speed and 300 freq everyday without a problem. I have a 60 watt helix.
do you have the newer unit mine is the older unit that does not have Epilogs own tube in it. I tested this week on the 50 watt at 35 sp 100 pwr and 500 freq. loved it so I am looking to upgrade to the 60 watt or sell mine and buy a new unit

[Craig Matheny]

William,

Difference in cutting speeds on ply is usually due to type/quality of glue, voids in the core, etc.

Dan you are 100% correct also there is such a large margin on the quality control out of Russia and Finland where interior 5 x 5 Baltic birch comes from. I had an order of BB/BB 3mm and it was so bad the core was full of knots and voids and different core wood that the yard took replaced the lift at no charge they also upgrade me to 3mm B/ BB. What I did learn is the thickness of the wood can go from .110 to .140 this is huge when you talk cutting. What we have done is made a wood gauge cut a notch in a square .122 x 1/2 deep now we check the lift of wood it has to fit or it does not go to the cutter. Also I found that the quality control is much better in the B /BB grade then the BB / BB, technically in both these woods the core should be the same BB pin size knots and football patches made of the same material the face will be the same on both sides for BB / BB but for the B / BB one side will be perfect face. I use at least a lift a month of this stuff so when we get bad wood it kills us. Also there are so many yards out there that will sell you Baltic Birch ply that going to eBay is just a bad idea when the definition of Baltic Birch is so huge and vague. Good Luck