Looking for feedback on Rayjet laser from Trotec

[Michael Bareno]

Hi everyone,
We are currently at the ARA show in Vegas, visited all laser engraver booths and got pricing on several units. The Rayjet 300(80 watt, 29x17" bed) was introduced here and the special pricing being offered makes it a very interesting option. I have seen many positive reviews lately of the Speedy 300 model here on SMC. Does anyone have any experience with the the Rayjet line from Trotec?

We currently own a mini18 and were leaning towards getting the 2nd Epilog. But to get the Rayjet 80w unit for the price of a mini24 60watt makes it almost a no brainer, right?
I would appreciate any feedback from you.
Thanks.

[Rodne Gold]

Nothing really is a no brainer... Specs on paper might indicate one thing , but check actual thruput with real life examples of what you do and as importantly , check that the operating system and drivers do what you want. I would be more inclined , myself , to go with a machine that has the same driver as the old one for compatibilities and workflow's sake if the other had "minor" improvements , but if you get a bigger table , more power , faster thruput and better support .. THEN it's well worth considering. Trotec gets glowing reports and owners consider them the Roll's Royces of mainstream lasers.

[Michael Bareno]

Rodney,
Thanks for your feedback. I will stop by there booth today and have them cut some acrylic and engrave some of the materials we use to see how the machine handles it. We were also 99% inclined to go with another Epilog, however with the Rayjet show special we are getting a much larger working area (29x17" vs 24x12") and more power (80w vs 50/60w), for about the same price. Nonetheless, I will talk to Epilog also to discuss this and see if there anything they are able to do to match.

[Mike Null]

The Rayjet is an excellent machine priced to compete with the lower priced entries of Epilog and ULS.

It is slower than the Speedy 300 but so are the competitors. It does not have the Job Control software which some think is the best in the business.

That said, the larger table and more power options make it a very interesting piece of equipment. Trotec service is as good as it gets.

[Keith Outten]

Michael,

If you decide to purchase a Trotec make sure you tell them you are a member of The Creek and ask for a discount :)
.

[James Higgon]

dont mean to hijack the thread but im also looking at these now as the pay as you ray option is very attractive, but im in the uk, do you know if the uk distro gives out discounts to forum members or is it only in the us? also im unsure whether to go for the extractor, its an additional £1200! im only engraving onto small items (to begin with anyway) in plastic, anodised alluminium and leather. do you think i need it? ill be using it in my home. Other than that any other feedback is welcomed:)

[Michael Hunter]

I just vent to the outside - but I'm lucky : I live in the country and the houses are spaced well apart.
Even so, when I am doing something really smelly like PU foam or leather, I make sure that the wind carries the smell away from my neibours.

So whether you need to spend the £1200 on the extractor depends on how much annoyance you are likely to cause.

[Rodne Gold]

1200 quid for an extrator sounds totally exhorbitant..I'm sure you can make a small extractor a LOT cheaper.....

[James Higgon]

Also the rotary attachment is. 600! Funny thing is they said both of these are below cost price lol

[Rodne Gold]

They got you by the accesories.. :)

[James Higgon]

Ill let them keep their accessories. The extraction unit is.a bofa hepa stand alone unit. I couldn't seem to find anything online any idea how much they usually cost? And are there any cheaper alternatives you would suggest?

[Michael Hunter]

The price is fair for a high performance filter - unless you follow Dan's posts and make your own.
The rotary is half the price of an Epilog one, so that is pretty good as well - unless you compare to the Chinese jobbies.

[James Higgon]

What software would you recommend. They are saying Surelab lite which is £300 or coreldraw. But im more on the lookout for free software really as I will mostly just be engraving images/logos and some text , so don't think ill need anything too special. Also they say I need a dual core laptop with at least 2gb ram. Would you agree? If so I may need a new laptop too!

[Mike Null]

If you're not familiar with graphics software I would recommend CorelDraw as you can find a lot of tutorials free and you can get help here. I'm not a laptop fan but the specs look ok to me.