My Experiences Importing a Chinese Laser

[Doane Buksar]

The thing I like about this forum and its community is the willingness to share. My Modus operandi is generally to soak up all my information by lurking and usually refrain from posting. This forum’s altruism is what inspired me to share my experience. I especially would like to thank Rodney Gold for his extensive reviews and George Perzal for taking the time to chat over the phone.

After much research, my wife and I decided to go the import route for a laser engraver and will use this machine to support our fledging business.

I ordered the RECI 80W, SH-G1280 from Shenhui in mid November of last year. Other items included the honeycomb and aluminum knife work table, imported lenses, through the lens red dot, and the CW5000 chiller. I made sure to order all imaginable spares including tube, tube PS, control panel & control board, main board, steppers and drivers, mirrors, lenses, and belts.

I found the sales rep, Pascal to be polite and very responsive to questions. I did have trouble initially understanding why the line items on the invoices were shifting and line items/costs moving randomly.

Upon George’s advice, I made Pascal promise to personally verify the presence of all parts prior to shipment.

I contracted with a broker out of New York but, in hindsight, should have chosen an outfit on the West Coast since the time difference made communication difficult.

US Customs was a breeze, but the FDA…not so much. Because I had never imported anything, my shipment was flagged for physical inspection. My broker had no clue what Accession Numbers were so there was additional legwork and an education for me. I requested and finally received the additional documents from Pascal to prove the machine was compliant. The delay resulted in additional warehouse charges that accrued on a daily basis. We were relieved when the FDA finally let the shipment go. They never did do the inspection. The severe winter weather in Seattle that week had them so backed up that they simply waived the inspection requirement. Who knows how long that would have taken otherwise?

I finally took receipt of the machine this week, and here are my initial thoughts:

The shear size of the machine is hard to imagine. I wasn’t really expecting it to consume so much space.

The shipment was missing the spare Z-stepper and Z-stepper diver and BOTH the honeycomb and aluminum knife tables. I contacted Pascal right away and was told that his co-worker must have “forgot” to include them. Oh well, I’ll just have to cobble up some sort of temporary work support until the tables arrive in several months. The spare Z stepper probably isn’t a biggie either since the table appears easily modified with a crank for manual lift if needed.

I noticed that the Z-safety cut-off switch was left off when my machine was constructed. If I figure out where its supposed to plug in, I’ll probably install one myself.

The spare mirrors appear scratched and of poor quality. Pascal advised that it was no problem and to clean them with acetone. I’ll give that a try.

One of the leveling leg nuts was only tack-welded to the frame and this nut snapped off during shipment. I was able to weld the nut onto a scrap plate and rivet it to the underside of the support structure. The other nuts have full weld fillets around their perimeters so I’m not worried about them.

I don’t like the autofocus arrangement. I’ll probably remove it and use a manual focus using the supplied gage block.

The provision for the ground spike does not appear to be present on this machine. There are two computer-style 120VAC plugs that have hot, neutral, and grounds present. Each connection is fused and run through Mickey-mouse mushroom plugs on the front and routed to either side of the machine. I wonder if the factory determined that the plug grounds are adequate in lieu of the ground spike...

I have not yet fired the tube, but I did verify the controller boots up and the x-y axis appears to acquire the home position. I was able to shuttle the head assembly as well.

It’s almost time to fire this puppy up!

Although it’s unfortunate about the missing parts, especially since I made such an effort to prevent that, I’m looking forward to get my feet wet and further sharing my experience.

I can’t imagine I would have ever taken a plunge like this without access to the information contained within this particular forum. Thanks again everyone.

[Khalid Nazim]

Congratulations. I am sure you will enjoy having a laser at your disposal. It seems that quite a few of us now have a Shenhui lasers. This forum is fantastic with all the support that is so readily available.

Regards
Khalid

[john banks]

We received our 1280 a few days ago. Overall I am very pleased, but there are problems that I'm working through, and I was well prepared to accept this and more which is the reality it seems of Chinese quality control and international delivery.

Fixed:

Setup as 1290 not 1280 so the head could crash into the cover at the front (vendor settings rd8888 password, change 900 to 800mm for y-axis)
Loose cable from motherboard to control panel has nicked insulation from catching the fan or door
High voltage cables adrift near the (moving) z axis jack
Poor routing of ground to tube where it could kink up into the laser beam
Nicked insulation on the Z axis limit sensor wiring
Table is tilted 1.5mm back to front
Loose wheel mount

To be fixed:

Leaking water flow sensor hose barb (waiting for the item to be available at local supplier)
Air assist trunking catches the top of the machine every time it is turned on (tricky)
No slots covers front and rear which is unsafe and not what was agreed
Laser fires even with the lid open
No 100mm lens despite one being ordered, alternative duplicate sent without discussion
Internal damage from knife blades moving during shipping
Technical support is poor, suggests continuing to put our hand into the machine at startup to stop it catching at the back, suggests washer to level the table rather than better suggestion from users on here which is to loosen z belt and rotate to raise the front, the odd missing item being offered to be sent "with our next order". Your technical support is yourself and this forum is a godsend.

Went into it with eyes open and expected all this and would highly recommend to anyone with the appropriate bravery/skill/determination to fix. Still a brilliant purchase, but could be so much more with some attention to detail from the supplier at little extra cost. At the moment it is a bit like following the dodgy plumber I got in to do a bathroom, each night after he left I would be fixing his leaks... and the dodgy furnace/boiler wiring when I moved to this house I had to fix. A general level of transferable PC/electronics/plumbing/metalworking experience is necessary to take on a machine like this, but I expect that familiarity with it from day 1 will make it easier to repair/keep running and I certainly won't be scared of getting stuck into it.

Please keep us updated.

[Ross Moshinsky]

Sounds like their quality control and customer support system is getting worse rather than better. What a shame, I was really really tempted to buy one of these machines.

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Doane;
Totally unacceptable-demand that Pascal air freight the missing parts-including the tables-to you immediately. It will cost them big bucks but that seems to be the only way to get these guys to realize that doing it over is much more expensive than doing it right. I will also talk to Pascal-not sure when-as his Skype indicates he is out of the office.
John is right-it helps to be a bit handy in a number of disciplines when buying a Chinese laser. Its a bunch of little things-never quite right when shipped, easy to fix, but annoying. I believe each of these machines are built by one guy and checked by no one. The welding guy did the three legs and then it was lunchtime-started on a new machine after lunch. I cannot imagine how they could forget the Z-axis limit switch-thats supposed to be part of the final machine run test. I repeat, do not adopt an "Oh, well" attitude-demand that they make it right-NOW!
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Doane Buksar]

"A general level of transferable PC/electronics/plumbing/metalworking experience is necessary to take on a machine like this." That is absolutely true and I would not recommend one to the feint of heart. However, we could never afford one of the mainstream machines, and my view is that this is still a bargain.

One the other hand, I'm baffled as to why Shenhi does not place a little more emphasis on QC at the front end. Easy stuff too! It certainly will not be cheap shipping one of those knife tables separately.

You’re right George, I’ll ping Pascal again tonight. I'm confident though that they will make it right in the end. Even though it will be expensive for them.

[John Edgerton]

Thank you for these posts. I'm sure different people will come away with different conclusions but your details will insure their conclusions are informed.

John

[Andrei Georgescu]

Last week I have received my SH-1290 laser. It came in a big wooden box which looked quite solid. We had bit of an argument with it because it was quite heavy to push on the lift of the transporting vehicle but finally we got it down safely. After I opened the crate, inside was the machine covered in plastic foil and underneath were the laser tubes and spare parts. Underneath the foil it was sweaty. The honeycomb table was on the work surface. I figured out the best way to get it into the shop was to get it as light as possible, lift it and then roll it through the door. So I removed the honeycomb and the metal sheet underneath it. Then we lift it. You need about six men - three on each side - to carefully lift the machine and land it safely on the ground. Then rolling it on it's own wheels was a piece of cake. I've left it in the shop at room temperature for a day to be sure all the sweat has evaporated.

One of the laser tubes looked used and had no cap - inside the glass tube there were small particles. I contacted Shenhui about this issue and they said it was used in testing the machine.
I moved the laser head manually on the rails to see how it went and from time to time it stumbled, had no idea why and was a bit annoyed. Then on a closer look the rails still had metal splinters - they were not cleaned properly so I started cleaning them with isopropyl alcohol and grease it with motor oil. It still stumbled from time to time. I repeated the cleaning and greasing process a few times with little effect. I sprayed the chain belt for the lift table with the spray vaseline used for motorcycle chains.

The hood of the machine has two sheets of acrylic for windows. Those are fixed with screws that are welded on the hood. One of them was missing and after I screwed another one tightly enough I found out why: you cannot make a good weld on such a thin piece of metal plate. If you tighten the screws too much the welding will fail. This will not be an issue for me by the way, I will take off the hood and mount an exhaust hood of my own - I'm expecting it will be more efficient than the standard Shenhui exhaust system.

I have expected until yesterday for a friend who uses a Chinese laser for quite a few years. He helped me (to be fair I helped him) fire up my laser and tuning it. The only tricky part was getting rid of the bubbles which is done by gripping the water hose a few times. The chiller beeps and the bubbles travel through the laser tube and disappear on the other side.

The used tube works! After we finished aligning the mirrors we tested it on various speeds from 1 mm/s to 800 mm/s and it doesn't stumble anymore! We made some test cuts and engravings on different materials and it performs flawlessly. I am a very happy customer.

[Kev Williams]

Since Adrei added to this old thead, I will too.

I ordered my Triumph 1390 strictly by email with 'Yolanda'. I got all the info I needed, I ordered what I wanted- bare bones, no frills, got an extra lens and 2 mirrors. Ordered 10-30-13 I believe... Shortly thereafter, I got an email with pics of my machine being crated for the ride here, and Yolanda verified it had been tested, all was well.

It arrived a couple of days before Thanksgiving. The place that had it didn't have a truck with a lift big enough, so I rented a U-haul trailer and picked it up the day after Thanksgiving. My kids came by for leftovers and helped with the offload...

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/lh2.jpg



http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/lh3.jpg





http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/lh5.jpg


=============

Had no surprises, no broken parts, there was a little water in the tube but I knew they'd tested it. The only thing I've had to do to it was level the table. All 4 corners are are within about .015". The middle of the table has a bit of sag, but not bad.

When I did the mirror alignment test I was pleasantly surprised. First mirror hit dead center at the top left corner, and the laser hit the same exact place at the bottom left. Second mirror, dead center in all 4 corners and the very middle. And ditto for exiting the air cone, dead to rights. I haven't found any other alignment issues, but to be honest I haven't really checked other than measuring parts that I've cut.

The only issue I have with this machine, is the laser head rails. When the head is at the full-right position, the bearing rollers have run out of rail!

Pic from the back-side, head almost at the end of travel, note the rail...

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/l6.jpg


And AT the end of travel, no rail--

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/l7.jpg


==================

I think the problem is that the home position switch is mounted too far right- when at zero-left, there's more table left over than there is at full-right. The amount off is less than 1/2", and I can move the switch easy enough, which I may do. It might be awhile before I ever need the full 51" of travel.

Aside from the short rail, I've had no issues whatsover with this machine, been very happy with it! :)

[Dave Sheldrake]

Ouch! they are still using rollers?....oooerrr

cheers

Dave

[Isaac Clarke]

Whats the norm now? Round rails would never make it that far without bowing, supported round rails would take alot of space leaving just THK?

[Dave Sheldrake]

THK's Isaac, fantastic on smaller machines (under 2m bed sizes) adjustable too if you use oversize holes to allow for parallel setting and movements. One of my smaller lasers has run 6 years on THK style bearings without any signs of accuracy problems or undue wear.

cheers

Dave

[Kev Williams]

Well gee, the rollers on my 18 year old ULS must have a million miles on them, and the machine engraves like new. So, why are they bad exactly?

[Dave Sheldrake]

Same as a 20 year old Ford not being a bad car Kev, nothing wrong per-se just an out dated way of doing things (cheaper) but outdated.

cheers

Dave

[Walt Langhans]

My 2 cents...

When I ordered my Shenhui, Rodney told me to deal only with Blanca, and not Pascal. This caused a small issue since the US is Pascal territory, but I told them no Blanca no deal. I ordered extra parts, and had my machine modified to fit an 80 watt tube. Mine also got held up by the FDA. Long story short, everything showed up as it should have and Blanca helped get me what I needed for the FDA. Perhaps it's the rep that do the final check on the laser before they go out? I don't know. But Blanca seems to be the way to go.

[Isaac Clarke]

My 2 cents...

When I ordered my Shenhui, Rodney told me to deal only with Blanca, and not Pascal. This caused a small issue since the US is Pascal territory, but I told them no Blanca no deal. I ordered extra parts, and had my machine modified to fit an 80 watt tube. Mine also got held up by the FDA. Long story short, everything showed up as it should have and Blanca helped get me what I needed for the FDA. Perhaps it's the rep that do the final check on the laser before they go out? I don't know. But Blanca seems to be the way to go.

Maybe now Pascal will see he misses out on commissions unless he bucks up his ideas!

[John Frazee]

I ordered my Chinese laser from Jim Olsen- Bright Star Lasers. He stocks the lasers and extra parts right here in the US and knows enough about lasers to do his own repairs if needed. I cannot imagine having to wait a few months for any parts!

[Ross Moshinsky]

I ordered my Chinese laser from Jim Olsen- Bright Star Lasers. He stocks the lasers and extra parts right here in the US and knows enough about lasers to do his own repairs if needed. I cannot imagine having to wait a few months for any parts!

You don't have to wait a few months for parts. I believe the typical ship time from China is 5-9 days for parts shipped via DHL or something similar. The initial laser order takes a couple of months because they build to order in China and then ship via boat. When Bright Star Lasers buys a laser from China, it takes a few months just the same as anyone else.

[John Frazee]

You don't have to wait a few months for parts. I believe the typical ship time from China is 5-9 days for parts shipped via DHL or something similar. The initial laser order takes a couple of months because they build to order in China and then ship via boat. When Bright Star Lasers buys a laser from China, it takes a few months just the same as anyone else.

Ross, I was going by what the OP said. "Oh well, I’ll just have to cobble up some sort of temporary work support until the tables arrive in several months."

[Dave Sheldrake]

It's something that does annoy me with direct imports, as yet I haven't seen a direct come in that can be placed and powered up without some kind of issue. Missing parts, loose parts, bad alignment...etc etc that said, at that price point I wouldn't want to try and compete!

cheers

Dave

[Frank barry]

Hi Dave
I am amazed to hear that I got my SH-G570 had it set up and going in a few hours(I never set up a laser before) all parts I ordered were there and I found the customer service amazing before I ordered it I tried to contact the main suppliers and only got a reply from one after a few attempts I do agree they could re write the manual but I had a look at the one on the rabbit website its much clearer
cheers Frank

[Dave Sheldrake]

I a huge fan (and user) of Chinese machines Frank, if there was just that extra 10% on the QC and support they really would be something to beat. The big actual manufacturers are good but when you start getting into some of the re-branders and such like it becomes a problem. I've seen some right horror stories come in on the boat but I guess it comes down to expectations, after all at $10,000 I'm not going to be getting a flatbed 2.5m x 1.5m 150 watt locally.

Ray Scott @ Rabbit in the US and Chris Jacobs @ HPC here in the UK have certainly done more than their share of improving things and both of them are fantastic guys to deal with and know.

cheers

Dave

[Frank barry]

Hi Dave
I am with you 100% on that I did try HPC but they never replied and that was after a few emails and the way I look at is if they wont reply when I want to give them money what will they be like if I have a problem I must say the customer service from China was second to none to a point I could mail them at home and they were more than happy to reply we could all learn from them cheers Frank

[Dave Sheldrake]

I met up with Simon last week fro HPC to pick up some tubes for a friend :) I've been buying from Chris for about 6 years or so now and have to be honest, whenever I've needed something he's always been there to help :)

I agree though, support on chinese lasers is essential, without it they can turn into nightmares :(

cheers

Dave

[Frank barry]

I must try to contact him again as its good to have options if I need parts plus I also hope to add a CNC to my list
thanks for that Dave cheers Frank

[Rodne Gold]

The problem faced over here in South Africa is that local "resellers and stockists" etc are sticking on 200%+ margins on their imported lasers and more on parts , and do not provide the service either.
So why support them - DIY at 1/3rd the price...
3 full years of production on and my 2 Shenhui's are still going strong , 1 cheapy tube replaced , a few red dot diodes and some lenses , thats it...
The Chinese are paranoid over pricing , they dont seem to understand that a "westernised" upmarket version of their machines could command a 25+% premium.