Hello! New here, with a new laser, sharing my experience and asking questions!

[Brett Logsdon]

Hey everybody, just wanted to say hello.

I've never used a laser, I have a friend who has an Epilog 40 watt, I was amazed with the things he could do with it. However, I really didn't feel like paying that much for something that for right now is just for learning/hobby. So I got an Artcut 3060HR, 60Watt, 27.25x16.5 engraving area, up/down table, auto-focus, red-dot (not true red-dot, kind of useless). It included the honeycomb, exhaust, air and water pump.

I was pretty nervous about buying a Chinese laser, I tried for two weeks to complete a deal with redsail on ebay (cnccheap) but after two weeks I gave up. They were unresponsive and didn't seem to want to accept paypal or take a CC... a Chinese company asking for a direct wire transfer or Western Union set off alarms in my head for some reason, and I use ING, they don't do transfers. So I gave up and bought a laser from MBKP international... I'd surfed forums but never heard of them, they were on ebay as well, but they weren't too much more expensive and shipped from the US.

I sent the money immediately following winning the auction (I think total I paid around $4600 which included free shipping to my door, still more than I wanted to pay but very happy with the machine, just hope I didn't pay too much!), I was afraid from reading all the horror stories people have had in general with Chinese lasers, and I hadn't read much at all about MBKP International but honestly was VERY pleasantly surprised when the laser showed up 9 days later, it was packaged well, nothing broken... and to my surprise after putting in the tube and testing it out, the mirrors were already almost in perfect alignment. I sent a few questions as this was my first ever experience with a laser to the seller and got a kind of "figure it out" response, but luckily, he was right and I just needed to spend some time playing with it.

At first I hated RDCAM, but I found the latest version for download and loaded it up, seems to work fine, I upgraded to the 6.0 version software (do I need to do anything with the firmware on the engraver?) I've just been kind of tinkering with it, noticed a lot of talk about setting the frequency.. but not sure how to do that? I think there are other settings I can play with but need a password... nothing in the instructions about the password though. I searched for a basic newbies guide to lasers and found some information but don't know if any other forum members have experience with Artcut? I'm figuring out slowly but any reference material is greatly appreciated as I'm beginning to understand there's a HECK of a lot I simply don't know.

I have noticed I get a lot of errors stating I don't have enough space for cutting, when I should have plenty (making sure the software has the laser head in the right position in software settings), so I have to move the laser head closer to the center of the cutting area, has anyone else had this issue? sometimes it does it, sometimes it doesn't and I can't figure out what I'm doing to cause that.

What I got was probably overkill, but I love it and would buy it again in a second. Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself, ask a few newb type questions and share my first experience with lasers and MBKP international. I will say I'm very pleased with how the transaction went, have no idea how they'll handle any support type requests but luckily I haven't needed it yet.

[Brett Logsdon]

Also, one other question, the unit has "autofocus" you can see it in action in the product video on the ebay link I posted above. Tonight I was working and noticed that the laser head is almost touching the material, sometimes the autofocus guage actually hangs on the edge of the material and causes it to shift on the table. I'm pretty sure it's set too close, I asked the seller about it, his response was "it's already set, you shouldn't have to worry about it" the laser doesn't seem out of focus or anything, there's nothing in the manual though about focusing, how to re-adjust the autofocus or anything related to adjusting the laser head at all. So... is it normal to have your material shift on the table? Pretty sure thats a big NO... but where would I begin trying to troubleshoot and straighten the autofocus deal out?

[Mike Null]

Brett

Welcome to SMC.

The best advice I can give you is to read as many posts as you can digest. Do a search for all posts on Chinese machines and, in particular, read this one:http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?181819-Chinese-Shenui-Laserworks-tips-and-tricks-thread

[Steve Busey]

Welcome, Brett.

If you add your location to your profile, you may be able to find someone near you as a resource.

I got a used Epilog last spring, and soon thereafter quit using the autofocus. Just easier and quicker for me to manually focus, especially when running multiple copies of a job. And as you seem to have discovered, if you have a small piece of material to burn, the autofocus may move the piece or slip off the edge and cause bad results. Try working with manual focus and see if that serves you better.

[Dee Gallo]

Welcome to the Creek, Brett! I don't know anything about your software or driver, but is there someplace you specify the size of the document? Make sure the document is the same size as your bed and that might fix your position problem.

Also, I usually remove my manual focus gauge after using it to focus... otherwise it would be touching to workpiece. Have you tried manual focus to see if the autofocus is indeed accurate?

Enjoy the breaking in period, it's always fun and frustrating at the same time.

cheers, dee

[Rodne Gold]

Hiya Welcome, password should be rd8888 , remember to read , amend and then write if you want your changes to be sticky. SAVE a copy of the original parameters if you mess up.
Your machine must be using the RDLC320 controller as it runs RDcam6 - that is good.
Check in the machine parameters that you have the right bed size , check that the axes work correctly , normally I like machine origin at the top left corner where the tube exits , the chinese like doing it top right.... so bear that in mind.
Search these forums for topics like checking autofocus or checking focus and you will see instructions for doing so..the machine probably came with a 38 or 40mm lens which will shorten the head to material distance , you can use a 50mm to increase the distance , but you will get a wider mark.

[Brett Logsdon]

Wow, this is a great forum! Thanks for all the info guys!

Steve: I'm in Clarksville TN, will add that to my profile!

Dee: When I use the Corel plugin and export, it normally just takes all the objects on the canvis and exports them into RDCAM, I'll check to see if page size in corel has anything to do with it, thanks!

Rodne: A wealth of info sir! Thank you, I'll be tinkering all night I think.