What are your non-negotiables for you next laser?

[Bob Crimmins]

I lost my current laser to a fire so I'm shopping for my next laser. There seem to be lots of similarities between different lasers but what interests me are the differences. What features/functions do you love the most about your lasers? Having only ever used the one laser and only for about two years, I realize how limited my knowledge is. Even still, I have some preferences for my next laser. For example, I want to be able to easily cut/etch directly from Adobe Illustrator files.

I also would like to have a minimum 120 watts of power (max of about 180w) but also be able to etch on some fairly soft materials without frying them instantly. This would seem to require a combination of fast head speed along with a laser tube that can really be controlled fractionally to a very low level. My current RECI 80W tube gets pretty unusable under about 25% power. I've seen lots of specs on laser machines that quote 1% - 100% but I'm wondering if that's theoretical and reality is that 20%-ish is about the limit of the useful range? I haven't seen a head speed much faster than 1000mm/sec. so I guess I'll be opting out of some types of engraving if I bump up the laser power to 120W plus.

I'd also like a cutting bed with as much vertical travel as possible for etching tall things. I've seen a few laser that look like they only have about 6 - 8 inches of bed travel.

I've also gotten used to the manual control panel on my laser and I like it. It seems highly functional. But I don't if I should care much about switching to a laser with a different control panel. But I'd probably get used to it too?

Anyway, I would be very interested to here what you all think are the best features of your favorite lasers.

Thanks!

Bob

[Dan Hintz]

I also would like to have a minimum 120 watts of power (max of about 180w) but also be able to etch on some fairly soft materials without frying them instantly. This would seem to require a combination of fast head speed along with a laser tube that can really be controlled fractionally to a very low level. My current RECI 80W tube gets pretty unusable under about 25% power. I've seen lots of specs on laser machines that quote 1% - 100% but I'm wondering if that's theoretical and reality is that 20%-ish is about the limit of the useful range? I haven't seen a head speed much faster than 1000mm/sec. so I guess I'll be opting out of some types of engraving if I bump up the laser power to 120W plus.

You will not get stable lasing on an 80W tube (or any glass tube, for that matter) at anything much under 7-8%, so your hope of 1% is a pipe dream. Jumping up to 120W+ will destroy your faith in humanity. If you need that level of control (and engraving is a good example), you really want to be using a sealed RF tube... which means money. Epilog, ULS, and Trotec are going to be your best friends, but you won't get them for the song and a dance you got your Shenhui for (especially if you plan on 120W+).

[Mike Null]

I've spent a lot of time operating Epilog, Universal and Trotec. My non-negotiable is an 80 watt Trotec Speedy 300.

[Dan Hintz]

I've spent a lot of time operating Epilog, Universal and Trotec. My non-negotiabe is an 80 watt Trotec Speedy 300.

Spent very little time on Epilogs, but worked with both Trotec and ULS extensively... my recommendation is the same.

[Gary Hair]

1 - Large bed - current is 38" x 20" and I would never take less than that.
2 - as much Z as you can possibly get - current is about 9" and there have only been a handful of times in almost 9 years that it hasn't been enough.
3 - pass through bed - no way, no how, would I ever do without this feature! It has made me tons of $
4 - auto-focus - some people hate it but I use it multiple times every day and wouldn't have a machine without it. How it is implemented is another factor - it must be a plunger, not a beam/eye type
5 - driver - I click "Print" and select the parameters for the job and then send it to the laser. Press "Start" and the job runs. Nothing could really be easier but it seems like there are other drivers that are much more complicated.

For my jobs and workflow these are the things important to me, your needs may be completely different.

[Dan Hintz]

no way, no how, would I ever do without this feature! It has made me tons of $

For my jobs and workflow these are the things important to me, your needs may be completely different.

I'm highlighting these two sentences, Bob, as they are extremely important. We all have features we swear we wouldn't want to be without... but that feature list can change dramatically based upon your clientelle and the type of work you do. Keep that in mind as you read through all of the comments you'll receive.

[Bob Crimmins]

Thanks guys, really good stuff so far. Much appreciated.

Dan:
Yeah, you're right about a sealed RF tube -- there's no way I could justify that expense. I have been researching variable beam polarizers/attenuators, which I believe could be used to fractionally reduce the power to a level that would permit soft etching/cutting while keeping the tube's output high enough to get a stable result. Theoretically, this could reliably reduce a 180w CO2 laser down to a 20w laser with no degradation of beam quality and no beam path deviation. These aren't cheap... so experimentation could be expensive. Thoughts?

I'm with ya on the pass through bed. I have a front pass through and it's been vital. I've seen machines front and back as well as a machine with front, back AND side pass through! I'd settle for front/back. Speaking of pass through, have you heard of the these CheckMate lasers? They look thoughtfully built but their killer feature is the removable panels that give you a full 21.5" pass through front to back.
http://www.xm8lasers.com/products/xm8-series/king/

Thanks for the caveat about fitting requirements to my particular use case. I reserve the right to regard any and all comments as utterly inappropriate to my purposes. ;-)

Mike:
I really like the build quality of the Tortecs I've looked at. RE The Speedy 300, I'm dedicated to a minimum bed size of 24" x 36", which is what I have now. And I've often wished I had a 48" wide bed. With Tortec, that would mean moving up to at least the 400 series. I must say, I'm also intrigued by their "flex" CO2/fiber machines. Fun! But smart? I have a call in with Tortec to see if their machines are in my budget.

Gary:
I'm with you on all you're bullet points except the auto focus. Not that I think it's a bad idea. If I had one I'm sure I'd appreciate it. I just have not really missed not having one. The Shenhui I have came with one but it got mangled beyond salvage before I bought it from them and so it just never got fixed. It wasn't integrated into the head and was just mounted on the side... just asking to be snagged/bonked/yanked. I've seen some machines with auto focus built into the head assembly, which makes more sense to me. I've also seen this head on some machines (especially the 150w+ machines that also cut light metal) and I really like it. It just looks like it's built to last, unlike the dainty heads I see on so many machines.
309797

Follow on:
It does seem like about 180w is where meaningful light metal cutting (1.5 - 2.0 mm steel) becomes reasonable. I couldn't justify the cost of any of the US-made machines that I've seen in that range but some of the Chinese machines look approachable. Besides having to dump at least a $1k - $2k on replacement tubes, what else should a prospective new 180w laser owner be aware of before taking that plunge?

[Dave Sheldrake]

Follow on:
It does seem like about 180w is where meaningful light metal cutting (1.5 - 2.0 mm steel) becomes reasonable. I couldn't justify the cost of any of the US-made machines that I've seen in that range but some of the Chinese machines look approachable. Besides having to dump at least a $1k - $2k on replacement tubes, what else should a prospective new 180w laser owner be aware of before taking that plunge?

Be VERY careful, when it goes tilt with a Chinese oxygen assisted laser it goes TILT in a BIG way.....like think "Thermobaric bomb" and you won't be far off.

DON'T consider importing a Chinese Oxy assisted laser direct.....they have some real safety flaws that can lead to a very big boom!!

I have a Chinese 180 watt glass tube machine, great for cutting but the attenuators require water cooling for the better ones and cost near the price of a 36 x 24 Chinese bed laser alone.That head is a motorised Z axis metal cutter head, you only have 1mm clearance over the job using those and they are just the basic track / rail system with the Z axis set to run the head motor and not the bed using the autofocus setting on the 6535 cards onwards. They look pretty tough but in reality they aren't :(

Metal cutting on cheap lasers using Oxygen is a mugs game unless you buy a decent machine, China has just tried to get round the need for power by introducing an Oxygen system to do things that a 180 watt laser isn't really good enough to do.
If you want to cut metal plan on getting a 1.5 to 2kW genuine metal cutter or one of the 400 watt Kerns (about the same price)

cheers

Dave

[Bob Crimmins]

Thanks for all that info, Dave! Incredibly useful to know. I think a read somewhere that thermobaric bombs are a sub-optimal experience. I want none of that. I have considered just going with a 120w-ish laser for the non-metals and picking up a small plasma for metals. I don't need a big cutting bed for metals. That said, those Kerns machine look bad ass. Do you have an idea of what the approximate cost is for one of there 400's?

[Dave Sheldrake]

£100k + with a big + apparently Bob, excellent machines but getting toward the base price of a real industrial machine :(

[Doug Griffith]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned air assist.

[Scott Shepherd]

A cup holder? :)

[Gary Hair]

A cup holder? :)

I have one of those on my computer but it's broken now because it kept trying to retract with the cup still in it... And to make things worse, the hole in the middle didn't fit a very large cup so I had to use a cup about the size of a shot glass. what a stupid design! If I could ever find the address I'd send a nasty letter to the google and tell them what I think of their designs!

[Bob Crimmins]

Whoa! Would that I had a justification for a bad ass machine like that. Do you know what the break-even is on a machine like that for a commercial shop doing production work on a machine like that? I think I need to go find a few big clients who could do $100k of work and THEN go buy the machine.

[Bob Crimmins]

I don't think I've looked a machine that doesn't have an air assist. Are there 80W+ machines that don'e have air assist?

[Dave Sheldrake]

You wanna see the break even on a $900,000 laser Bob ;)

[Bob Crimmins]

Be still my heart!

[Clark Pace]

So this may not be ideal, but I have china laser for many things, but also have a cheap cnc for doing some metal.

[Bob Crimmins]

Thanks Clark. I'm actually considering acquiring a small CNC plasma cutter for metals.