Trotec speedy 100 or 100 fiber

[Ron Bontz]

Well I have been researching the 100 series trotecs here. Is there any thing anyone could add to my insight on these entry level machines vs. the Epilog systems? ie: service, relative cost, reliability, etc.?Thanks in advance.:)

[Dan Hintz]

Both are quality companies, so other than personal preference I don't think you'll get much more than "I have 'X' and I recommend it."

Of course, the fiber machines will be significantly more expensive than the CO2 machines.

[matthew knott]

Im surprised that many people (maybe they havent) have purchased a fibre xy gantry type laser, i think it would be a very niche market finding work for these machines, nice you have a single large working area but a very slow machine compared to a glavo unit! does anyone have one? i phoned troctec's agent in the uk and they had sold just one, we had a job that we could not do and this would have been ideal, but jobs like this are rare. Dan is right, I work with people that have epilog & trotec and they both swear by them, probably what you get used to using is the best.

[Dan Hintz]

Im surprised that many people (maybe they havent) have purchased a fibre xy gantry type laser, i think it would be a very niche market finding work for these machines, nice you have a single large working area but a very slow machine compared to a glavo unit!
And plenty of others would say the exact opposite... look at your fast galvo that can only work on a limited area. If we could all purchase machines that were blazingly fast and could work on gigantic substrates... well, we'd all be doing the same projects! You'd have to find some other way to differentiate your business.

[matthew knott]

we have an xy table so we can handle 16' x 16' so kind of the best of both worlds but i can see the advantage of not having to join different areas up, its rare we get very large area jobs so i would recommend a bit of market research before going for the 100 fiber unless you have a specific market in mind, but its true most fibre and yag lasers are galvo and there's loads of people with them, i installed 100's in the USA in the late 90's. Does anyone here have a 100 fiber and is it a good money spinner?

[Jiten Patel]

No Fibre here but I have a CO2 Galvo which is a real money spinner. Currently looking for a more powerful machine - 100-150W to increase our productivity. Matthew, how have you found the Electrox Razer. We looked at this before getting the Speedmarker. We were impressed, but the price was a little out of our range. How do you get on with detail? The Speedmarker really lacks in this area (400mm lens with 280mm marking field).

[matthew knott]

Hi Jit, im impressed you can get any detail at all with a 400mm lens, we have a 150mm lens and a 100mm and even the 100mm is not that impresive, the xy gantry style use a much shorter focal length lens and hence a smaller spot size. I made our electrox razor buy converting and old yag laser we no longer had use for, we got a coherent tube for $800(ebay) and spent about £600 on galvo mirrors and a beam expander and £300 on a focus lens so it was a cheap machine for us but we dont use it that often. The electrox razor was just a yag laser fitted with co2 tube, a fast and easy development project and aimed at the exsisting electrox customers as there was no learning cure with the software. Thats prety much what trotec have done with the fiber 100, simply replaced the co2 tube and optics to the correct wavelength, probably hoping to pick up some extra trade from people that have a speedy or the like and understand how it all works. When i was at electrox we made two special 150 watt razors, they where used for 3 months for laser engraving the sides of hovis loafs of bread, it added a shadow to the outline of the logo baked into the bread. It took about .3 of a second to do each loaf as the flew past on a conveyor, they got moth balled and are sitting in a warehouse unwanted now, be ideal for you if you need a high power galvo machine. Not sure where they are though. FYI the uk agent for SEI is just round the corner from us, we know them really well and have worked on a few projects together, good guys! Maybe you could buy 3 cheap chinese lasers if you have the room, and that would allow you to cut lots of sheets without a big outlay !

[Jiten Patel]

Thanks for the info Matthew. SEI, they do the paper blaster. Would love to get a machine like that, but probably way out of our league price wise. Detail wise, we have compromised massively compared to the x-y, but I think we have done alright (check out my website intricatecreations dot co dot uk) for pics (sorry if that's not allowed). Chinese may be our next options. Going to look into it in the new year. Get an xy and a 2 more powerful galvos, with the hope of selling the 30w Speedmarker. Doubt I will get anywhere near what I paid for it, but if that is the case, I will keep it as a spare. The Hovis 150w sounds very very tempting and a real shame they are collecting dust somewhere. I would be happy to have to if they are not using them! Need to find them!!!