Laser recommendations for art hobby (wood, acrylic, etc)

[Lea Mynah]

I'm looking into getting a laser for making mostly small things (jewelry, key chains, etc). I work on a lot of projects with two other people, and we're all graphic designers that do art on the side. We'd mostly be interested in cutting and engraving our own designs on 1/4" or less woods and acrylic so we could have smaller things for sale at shows, etc. We're not trying to go into business via engraving or anything. Just some hobby fun, but nice enough to sell.

I've been combing through the forum for about a week (and various other sites for some time) and was thinking about the Epilog Zing, but the rep is suggesting the Mini24 30watt instead. I'm also trying to read more info on the Trotecs, but I'm a little stuck at this point.

Can anyone offer some advice? I don't mind spending more than the bottom-of-the-line entry level price, but I also don't want to jump the gun and buy something that's way more laser than I'm needing. I'm definitely all for a good brand with excellent customer service, but that's the only thing I'm sold on so far. Will 30watts be enough for us? Do we need to double our spending limit?

[Shane McGinley]

Lea,

We cut a lot of acrylic within our business. We have the Universal 3.50 (30 watt) and it gets the job done for an entry level machine. We purchased this machine last December (2011) and have not had any problems since (knock on wood!). This may be a machine you want to look into. Hope this helps some...

[Dee Gallo]

Welcome to the Creek, Lea!

I have two small wattage Epilogs (25w and 35w) with 12x18 beds. They can both do pretty much anything i want to do in terms of engraving or cutting small items in wood, acrylic, leather, mat board, cork, and lots of other materials (engraving anodized aluminum and painted metal for example) . The main difference to me between the Zing and the Mini besides price would be that a Zing does not come with a cutting grid. You can buy one of course, or make your own, for less than the $$ difference between the two. I do not have a Zing, so maybe someone with both can compare for you. I can vouch for the Epilog tech guys, they are great. As far as the Mini 24 goes, I cannot see where you'd need something that big for jewelry, unless you plan to make mass quantities at one time. The Mini 18 is a real workhorse for me.

cheers, dee

[John Finnegan]

Hi Lea,

I love that you're able to up your purchasing power by going in with graphic designer friends. Why didn't I think of that?
Do you have a max budget number that you will not cross?
I noticed there is a pre-owned unit that might fit the bill (and maybe more) here: http://www.epiloglaser.com/preowned.htm
I am in the process of purchasing a chinese machine because I just couldn't make the budget work with a US made machine like Epilog (and certainly not something like a Trotec). I do hope to buy a Trotec someday with cash from my micro-business.
Best of luck to you.

John

[Dee Gallo]

There is a lightly used Zing in the Classified Section right now, dated 11/7. Check it out!

[Lea Mynah]

Thanks! Dee, it sounds like you're working on the same materials I'm interested in, so that's super helpful. What's the thickest you cut?

The rep sent an email back and said that the Zing and Mini 18s don't have the same optics as the 24s, which allow for better detail and cutting out small letters, etc. Should I be worried about the Zing or Mini 18 not doing nice enough detail?

John, I'm hoping to stay under 10, but I'm not opposed to a bit more. 14 is probably my breaking point.

I did email about the Zing in the classifieds a few days ago, but he hasn't replied.

[Duncan Crawford]

Lea,

I'll second Dee's comments about a Mini-18. I bought mine used from Epilog about three years ago-- 40 watt, with rotary. I'm retired, use the laser to make assorted items for gifts (wood to 3/8 inch, acrylics to 1/4), signs for the Appalachian Trail in sections my hiking club supports, and all sorts of repair parts. I had a couple of y-axis motor failures and an x axis encoder issue, all under warranty, and the tech support was excellent. The Mini is also lighter than a Zing-- aluminum rather than sheet steel housing pieces, I believe, and uses servo motors rather than steppers (faster, more precise positioning). No issues with engraving fine details... does anything I ask of it... limitation is with the user, not the equipment. If you can, get at least 35 watts-- 40 is better in terms of what you can cut.

duncan

[Dee Gallo]

Lea,

The laser can produce very fine lines and detail if you produce good files to print. Witness this tiny stuff: I did not make the chair and violin, Dave Fairfield did and he's totally the Master of Tiny, he's absolutely amazing. Check out some of his posts here. The little carving on the ivory rectangle I did way back when I first started engraving with the laser and it is a simple bitmap image. You can do even better when you make vector designs.

The other pic shows a bunch of 1" wide tiles with vector designs on them, engraved on acrylic.

So don't think you need something more than standard, I don't think it's necessary. The 25w laser can give me detail too fine to see easily and lots of times I have to adjust designs so they look better at small sizes.

cheers, dee

EDIT: these tiles were done on my 25w, not the 35w. I use that when I am cutting stuff and the thickest I've needed to cut is 1/4" acrylic or 1/8" wood. I've also cut 1/4" MDF. I never tried anything thicker.

[Scott Shepherd]

Lea, what part of the country are you in? There's a trade show in Atlantic City at the end of this month. Epilog, Universal, and Trotec will all be there.

http://www.ussc.org/main_signworld.html

[Lea Mynah]

Thanks so much. Scott, I'm in Oklahoma, so I probably won't be able to make it there. I saw on some posts that deals could be had at shows, but the Epilog rep tells me they absolutely do not discount the Mini model anywhere for any reason (I think I've settled on the Mini 18 30w). He also told me the price will go up on Jan 1st, so I need to buy it now if I don't want to spend more...I guess I need to pull the trigger soon.

[David Rust]

Hi Dee, Awesome work! you mention that the 1" wide acrylic squares with the word "JOKER" are a vector design. I am still learning everyday and have been trying to run more jobs using vectors as opposed to rastering to save run time. I have only been able to get very thin lines. How did you laser the word "JOKER"? vector or raster? if vector how did you get it to look so good?

Thanks!

[Dee Gallo]

Hi Dee, Awesome work! you mention that the 1" wide acrylic squares with the word "JOKER" are a vector design. I am still learning everyday and have been trying to run more jobs using vectors as opposed to rastering to save run time. I have only been able to get very thin lines. How did you laser the word "JOKER"? vector or raster? if vector how did you get it to look so good?

Thanks!

I'm sorry David, those designs ARE rastered. When I said vector, I meant to differentiate line art from bitmapped designs. Sorry if that was misleading. When I burn those tiles, there are 36 done at a time and it takes about 15 minutes on average to raster them. I could do more on the bed, but there are 36 tiles per suit, so I do them in groups so they all match.

You are right, vector "engraving" will only work with a hairline because it's really a shallow cut, so you can only get thin lines. You would have to nest so many lines it would not be a time saver to use that technique. In my case, the amount of time is nothing compared to the money I get for a full set.

Thanks for the kind words, and again, sorry for the confusion, dee

[Dan Hintz]

In my case, the amount of time is nothing compared to the money I get for a full set.

And that's what counts :D

[David Fairfield]

Hah, cool to see that 1/87 chair again, I've made quite a few little chairs and furniture pieces since then. Its about that time of year to take out the snowflake ornaments you made for me, Dee. :)

246414

On the laser recommendations, you can't go wrong with an Epilog. You can do superb small cutting and engraving with an Epilog, more precision than you'll probably ever need. It seems like yesterday, but I got mine in 2006, still on the original tube, and (10% drop in power notwithstanding) works as well as it did when it was new. Well, actually it works better, because the operator doesn't make quite as many errors. :o I use my laser almost every day, and I'm still discovering what this amazing machine can do, trying new ideas and refining my techniques.

I've not used a Zing, but I've seen some output, and it looked just fine. I've heard great things about Trotec. In any case, I'd recommend investing in as much excess capacity in wattage and table size as you can comfortably afford, because once you start using the laser you'll generate more ideas. The increased efficiency of higher power and larger table will pay for itself eventually, with your commercial products.

Regarding jewelry making, consider your material limitations before you buy. You can't cut metal and plastic is iffy. Paper, acrylic, wood and leather are pretty much your primary materials. I guess if I were doing jewelry I'd be torn between a laser and a high res table top 3d printer. I've been looking into these, the price range for some is similar to good lasers.

Dave

[Dan Hintz]

David,

Take a look at some of the "hobby level" STL printers (there's a good one on Kickstarter that stopped collecting a month or two ago, but now they're in a patent dispute)... they use a DLP projector to image a UV resin. As each layer is exposed, the object is pulled out of the resin tank layer by layer. For around $3k you can have a high res (20-50um) printer that would be perfect for those dollhouse-sized items.