Thinking of buying an engraving laser, what machine would you buy?

[Neville Stewart]

I have a 100w chinese machine that cuts without issue but I ran a raster engrave the other day to remind myself how inept it is at engraving. So I'm looking at cutting on the 36x24 bed and engraving on the ??? Speed appears to be more important than size as I would place the cut part in the engraver. For example, would a 30 w Trotec or similar be a good choice and what size bed would be ideal, given that a cut part would hardly be larger than 18x18 ever, your thoughts?

[Nicolas Silva]

The first consideration is what materials will you be cutting or engraving. That determines the max power you need.
The second is what is your budget?

[Clark Pace]

The first consideration is what materials will you be cutting or engraving. That determines the max power you need.
The second is what is your budget?

What brand of a chinese machine do you have? And what do you mean by inept? Too slow or just bad quality?

Machine while slower than say the Universal laser engraves pretty good. My customers are happy with the result.

Of course if you are wanting to do really tiny letter. like .125 high my chinese laster won't do it.

[Neville Stewart]

To answer both your questions, materials will be the usual trophy and personalization stuff. I have no problems cutting almost anything as I have a beefy CNC router too, and the 100w cuts .75 acrylic so it's the speed that is totally impractical for engraving and probably detail would be a victim too. I have a Weike/Reci 100.

[Michael Hunter]

If you are looking for speed, then Trotec is a good choice, but you probably want more power - 60 or 80W - if you want to get the best out of it on wood and even some plastics.
With only 30W, you would need to run it quite slowly to get any depth.

[Jeffrey Dewing]

I have just bought a Trotec speedy 300, 80 watt. I did a lot of research before I went for it, and love it! Your going to spend more money, but in my opinion it's worth every penny just for the Job control alone! Tec support has been superb. I'm new to this stuff but know I have the best equipment, in my opinion, that you can get. Epilog makes a good laser but it doesn't have Job Control. No, I don't work for Trotec, but I'm glad I bought one...

[George M. Perzel]

Hey Clark;
I have a large bed, dual head 80 watt Shenhui and have no problem engraving readable text 1/16" inch high -may do better if I fooled around a bit. Try backing off on the power and pl;ay around with the focus. Thats with a 40 mm lens.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Ross Moshinsky]

You can do trophy type engraving with as low as 25W but that's picking your materials wisely. Basically sticking with plastics, acrylics, and coated metals and only doing wood and cermark on an occasion.

I'd say considering you already have a big machine that can cut and do engraving if necessary, I'd get something like 12x24 with about 40-50w. I'd look at the Trotec Speedy 100.

[Clark Pace]

Hey Clark;
I have a large bed, dual head 80 watt Shenhui and have no problem engraving readable text 1/16" inch high -may do better if I fooled around a bit. Try backing off on the power and pl;ay around with the focus. Thats with a 40 mm lens.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

Hi. I do some tests? My lens might be different also?

[Neville Stewart]

At least you're honest Lucy :). I do love my Weike. It's about 8 years old and other than some minor problems, it's been very reliable.