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View Full Version : Hello from STL - Epilog Mini 18 Newbie Here



Cherie Irwin
06-08-2011, 6:08 PM
Hello to all! I've been lurking here for the last day or two, as my new Epilog Mini 18 40 Watt just arrived today. I managed to score a fantastic deal on an almost new machine. The man I bought it from found that he didn't have time to do his own engraving and ended up outsourcing the work. I managed to buy it from him at nearly $4,000 below the price that my local dealer was asking. All that being said, I didn't get the free training that they offered when you purchase the machine through them. So, my new laser sits beside me, still in the box. Meanwhile, I'm panicking, wondering if I made a mistake.

I bought my air compressor and blower from Harbor Freight this afternoon. I got a airbrush compressor and the 13 Gallon Portable Dust collector. We are planning to move to a bigger home with a walkout basement when our house sells, but that may be awhile in our economic climate. Thus, I have to resort to storing the laser in the closet of my home office for now. I had a wheeled cart custom made for the laser, and we will be able to pull it out of the closet during use. We are having the ventilation installed through the wall of the closet into our garage. It will be straight vented all the way through, with no elbows or 90 degree turns. The blower will be mounted on a shelf to the wall. Then, I will open the garage door when in use, so fumes and smoke won't accumulate in there. Does this sound like a workable solution? From what I've read, I know you guys are masters at figuring this stuff out. I wanted to get an inline blower, but it looks like they have to be hardwired, and it is nearly impossible put in the wiring for that due to the construction of the house.

Sorry for the lengthy post.

Jim Beachler
06-08-2011, 6:28 PM
Welcome to the world of lasering!! There are several of us in the St Louis area.

As far as opening your garage door when venting: Is this feasible during the winter (especially like last winter with snow and cold)? What about security from someone walking into your garage and taking your lawnmower (neighbor found someone in her garage when she went outside, he said he was just looking and ran away)?

Maybe you can use an indoor filter system. There have a couple of different ones talked about here so you wouldn't have to put a hole in the house you're trying to sell. Search this forum for the info. Can't recall it right now.

Greg Bednar
06-08-2011, 6:28 PM
Welcome to the forum. You've come to the right place for all things Laser Engraved - and then some. Mounting the blower to a shelf on a wall.......hmmmm...... vibration seems to come to mind first. You might want to consider a different mounting method. I'm sure more, and in depth, suggestions will be forthcoming.

Again, welcome Cherie.

Cherie Irwin
06-08-2011, 6:59 PM
Not worried about the garage door being open. My community is super quiet, and I leave the door open all the time. With regard to the indoor filtration, as with most people, the expense of that system is the major drawback for me. Initially, I thought of just installing the machine in the garage, but it can get pretty hot out there in the summer and cold in the winter. As far as the blower, I'm sure I can come up with another solution, just going out the wall into the garage and down to the blower on the floor with 2 elbow bends, right? I suppose I need to take another look at the suggested diagrams. I'm just nervous about this whole thing.

Rodne Gold
06-08-2011, 7:14 PM
I wouldn't worry about venting right now , take a flexible hose out the garage floor or whatever temprorary solution you want , concentrate your energy and angst on using and experimenting with the machine , once you confident and setled down and shifted stuff about tomake a better working environment , then setup everying un a permanent basis.

Frank Corker
06-08-2011, 7:40 PM
Welcome to SMC Cherie. Rodney is right, don't worry too much about the venting, for the first two years of having mine, I used to throw the flexible hose pipe from the extractor out of the window, most of my neighbours thought it was a tumble dryer! The smokes and smells are nowhere near what you are expecting them to be. Read your manual over and over, get to know what is supposed to be where. Then just start experimenting. It's very straightforward with an Epilog, it's a printer - just instead of ink, it uses light. That's it in a nutshell. Don't let it frighten you, unless you take a hammer to it, the machine will perform just fine. Run it with the lid up and the laser switches itself off automatically so there is always a fail safe and that is the one.

Bruce Clumpner
06-08-2011, 7:52 PM
Welcome Cherie,

As a fairly new user, you've landed in one of the most informative forums around on lasers. I agree with Rodne, for now don't worry about any permanent installation, just make it safe and start working with your new toy. I've had my mini-18 for a little over a year and I'm still pulling my flex duct under the garage door when I run my system. Time on the machine is what will spark your creativity ( along with following folks like Dee, Rodne, Jiten and Dan). Don't be afraid to ask questions or post photos, that's how we all learn.

Cherie Irwin
06-08-2011, 7:54 PM
Thanks Rodne & Frank. That takes my worry away. I can handle printing. I was up researching what to buy all night last night. My plan is to laser cut paper and card stock, and maybe offer some wood invites. I'm still trying to find out where to get the wood to do that. I could get lost in these threads, but I want to spend more time making stuff than reading about.

Duncan Crawford
06-08-2011, 8:17 PM
Hello to all! I've been lurking here for the last day or two, as my new Epilog Mini 18 40 Watt just arrived today. I managed to score a fantastic deal on an almost new machine. The man I bought it from found that he didn't have time to do his own engraving and ended up outsourcing the work. I managed to buy it from him at nearly $4,000 below the price that my local dealer was asking. All that being said, I didn't get the free training that they offered when you purchase the machine through them. So, my new laser sits beside me, still in the box. Meanwhile, I'm panicking, wondering if I made a mistake.

I bought my air compressor and blower from Harbor Freight this afternoon. I got a airbrush compressor and the 13 Gallon Portable Dust collector. We are planning to move to a bigger home with a walkout basement when our house sells, but that may be awhile in our economic climate. Thus, I have to resort to storing the laser in the closet of my home office for now. I had a wheeled cart custom made for the laser, and we will be able to pull it out of the closet during use. We are having the ventilation installed through the wall of the closet into our garage. It will be straight vented all the way through, with no elbows or 90 degree turns. The blower will be mounted on a shelf to the wall. Then, I will open the garage door when in use, so fumes and smoke won't accumulate in there. Does this sound like a workable solution? From what I've read, I know you guys are masters at figuring this stuff out. I wanted to get an inline blower, but it looks like they have to be hardwired, and it is nearly impossible put in the wiring for that due to the construction of the house.

Sorry for the lengthy post.

Cherie,

Greetings from another newbie who has the same laser-- got mine a year ago, used model from Epilog, and set it up in one corner of the basement on what used to be a reloading bench. I've an attached garage, so the exhaust duct just goes thru the wall to the blower, which is mounted to the cement wall of the garage (ropes are a last-ditch-if-all-bolts-fail safety measure :-). The blower exhausts directly outside through the wall of the garage-- metal dryer vent as the outlet. Pictures attached. There's a storage drawer under the laser for the rotary attachment, table that's not in use, other supplies, etc. The compressor is an airbrush model which so far has held up well. The blower is an 850 cfm unit from Penn State Industries. The ducting came from the local orange and blues box stores and a plumbing supplier. Laser needs 650 cfm, so I compensated for the bends and flex ducting with higher capacity. As I recall about two days to get things set up, then a fair bit of time with the manual to get started.

I like to do pictures on wood, and make things like boxes, puzzles, baskets and whatever. The 0.190 in maple/birch plywood from Lowes is inexpensive wood for practice with all of that-- around here a 4x8 sheet goes for about $25 and cuts on your machine with a setting of 10s/100p/500. Properly prepared photos do well with a starting point of 30/60 at 600 dpi and Stucki dither. The maple side gives nice contrast for photos, and boxes and such look pretty good with a clear waterproof/waterbased finish like those from General Finishes. A Maloof-style oil finish works well for coasters and similar-- see for example the wooden coasters in the Epilog 'sample club' examples. My originals were oil finished.

The machine we have is a real hoot to use-- I'd encourage you to do what it takes to get it running and then just hit the manual using inexpensive materials from the local stores. Mess with the settings, see what happens-- if you see an effect you like you can always move up to better materials as you gain experience :-)

duncan

Cherie Irwin
06-08-2011, 9:26 PM
Thank you so much guys! I am so excited. You might be surprised, that as a photographer, I didn't even really occur to me that I might want to laser photos. I'm in love with printed photos with lots of color. It's funny how that's what a lot of you guys are using it for. I'm just enamored with all of the things that these little machines can do. My main niche, if I can get good at it will be wedding invitations made from laser cut paper, wood and bamboo. When we eventually move, I will be getting my hands on a vintage Chandler & Price letterpress to print my invites. The best part about the laser is that I will be able to manufacture my own wood cut printing plates. Now that is COOL!

Craig Matheny
06-08-2011, 9:43 PM
Welcome and yes you are lucky to have stumbled onto this forum as I personally have gleaned allot from people here. I own an Epilog min 45 watt and have a harbor freight dust collector for the exhaust blower. However I did not buy the little red one that thing danced all around when it was plugged in I spent the cash and bought the next one up the green one 1 h/p. The thing to remember is you loose volume with each foot of hose/vent I would suggest that the line in the garage be 6" in diameter if it is real long this cuts back on the back pressure and the small red unit might not have the power/suction you need when all said and done.. One last thing did you buy the extended warranty from harbor freight cheap insurance.

Craig
LazerModels.com
Epilog min 45 watt

Cherie Irwin
06-08-2011, 9:56 PM
I got the green 1 hp blower. Not only did I get the blower for $90 on sale, they gave me the extended warranty for free. I was a little shocked, but I took it and ran. My vent, from the machine to the blower, will only be about 6 feet. Do you use the dust bag, or did you attach an additional vent hose from the blower to the outside? My blower will be out in my garage, with the door open. I had planned to just attach the dust bag to keep the dust from flying around in the garage, but I'm curious if I should add a vent hose to the other end and run it outside the garage door. My set up isn't permanent, and I will eventually vent to the outside through a dryer vent in the basement when we move to another house.

Michael Conley
06-08-2011, 11:05 PM
Welcome, Cherie. Coincidentally, I also had an Epilog Mini 18 40 watt laser delivered to my door today. I am installing software now and should be able to flip the switch when I get home from work tomorrow. This is far and away the best resource on laser engraving that I have found. You mentioned an interest in engraving photos - that was my wife and my specialty when we operated a larger Epilog about 10 years ago. Our favorite medium is maple but don't overlook marble, granite, and acrylic for photo engraving. Search this forum for colored granite photos and you will find some amazing techniques that I had never considered. Be sure to search the forum for Rodney Gold's excellent outline for photo engraving (a/k/a the "Gold Method"). Even if you decide to use PhotGrav, PhotoLaser Plus, or a Photoshop filter, Rodney does a great job of explaining each step of preparing an image for engraving. Understanding his method will give you a better understanding of what your software is doing to your photos.

As for venting, you will not want to vent into your work area without a fume extractor to handle both the smoke and fumes from the laser. The best option is to vent to the outside. The dust collection bags that come with blowers will not handle extremely fine particles, which are the most dangerous ones. Without a HEPA filter and an activated charcoal bed, venting inside is dangerous. Even though we will be using a fume extractor, we will be directing the exhaust to an open window.

We currently live in an apartment and have no choice but to use a fume extractor but I am worried about the replacement cost of the filters. However, we were also very concerned about the potential noise problems but the equipment is much quieter than I expected.

Congratulations and good luck with your new laser!

Mike Null
06-08-2011, 11:11 PM
Cherie

Let me add my welcome. Your local Epilog rep is Terry Viles, a very knowledgeable and helpful guy. I would suggest you give him a call if you haven't already done so.

There is a trade show in Indianapolis this week (see the calendar for details) and I strongly recommend you visit this show. You can get a good look at engraving materials and also printing materials. Most of the major engraving suppliers will be there.

BTW, I just engraved 125 picture frames for a golf tournament--just another way to use your engraver.

Dan Hintz
06-09-2011, 6:08 AM
With regard to the indoor filtration, as with most people, the expense of that system is the major drawback for me.
Not everything has to cost a lot of money ;) Try this:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?143725-DIY-air-filtration-unit-for-lt-200

Martin Boekers
06-09-2011, 10:13 AM
Welcome Cherie!

It seems we are building up quite a few folks from the St. Louis area.

I am a former STL photographer now transplanted as and engraver at Scott AFB.
You'll have a blast with the laser. Do what ever it takes to get to indy this week even
for a one day trip it will be worth it. The show albeit it small covers a variety of areas.

Being a photographer you'll also want to explore Dye Sublimation. For under $2000 you
can get set up nicely. (if you think about it think Ricoh printer)

It amazes me that more wedding & portrait photographers haven't investing in a small laser
and Dye Sub set up. The market is there to increase their sales.

As we recommend to all the newcomers, take time to start at posting one and read all the way through.
It's the best education tools their is and it's free!

Also start setting up a bookmark folder with resources as you start exploring!

Marty