Looking for info from someone familiar with Chinese engravers

[Brian Leavitt]

Hey gang,
I'm looking to get a CHEAP engraver to use at the house. The three I have at the shop are Universals and an Epilog, but I don't need all that at the house. This is for occasional work-from-home-type stuff. So I'm looking around at EvilBay and found this machine:
321526

Look familiar to anyone? Is it worth it for $2300? Anyone know who actually makes it? I'm sure I'd have to perform some beam alignment and leveling upon receipt, which I am fine with. I also don't really care if it's not going to be real fast. What I'm more concerned with is reliability issues concerning the electronics. I know the glass tube is not going to last nearly as long as the tubes in my other lasers.

Also - it comes with a program called AutoLaser. Anyone familiar with that one? I use Corel and, as most know, sending something to the laser with my current machines simply involves hitting print. I don't know what's involved with these Chinese machines.

Thanks,
B

[Dave Sheldrake]

It's a redsail X700

[Bill George]

I think you will have more invested than the $2300. Do some searching on here, plenty of info about Chinese lasers from eBay.

[Brian Leavitt]

I think you will have more invested than the $2300. Do some searching on here, plenty of info about Chinese lasers from eBay.
That's kind of what I'm getting at. I am mechanically inclined and am not afraid of electrical work. I'm wondering if the motion control of these machines is worth a crap or not, really.

I can't justify the cost of another $25-$35,000 machine for occasional home use, especially since we are currently beginning a move of the shop that is costing several hundred thousand smackers.

This machine costs the same, whether bought on Ebay or direct from RedSail, but if I buy I off Ebay at least I can get it shipped from a warehouse in the US.

[Keith Winter]

Ryan I looked at these prior to buying a thunder laser. If I'm not mistaken the vendors I saw had us warehouses but they were still importing it into the USA after your order. Might email them to verify you don't have us shipping duties and taxes on top of that price

[Roy Sanders]

Hi Brian

The company I went with was not on eBay/evilbay. I did my research through Alibaba and found the company below. I imported directly from China. if you like the Proforma Invoice below PM me and I will share the reps name and contact. It was simple. I sent the wire, and three days later the machine was on its way. I did have to provide Customs with information, which I will also share, and it was delivered two days later. I did not pay the money you will pay from the Bay.


NICE-CUT
JINAN NICE-CUT MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT CO., LTD.
NO.2811,EAST HEHUA ROAD,LICHENG DISTRICT, JINAN, SHANDONG, P. R. China
Mob: +86-13583157486 Tel: +86-531-88738877 EXT.8004 Fax: +86-531-88732317
Proforma Invoice
To: Mr. Roy Sanders Invoice NO.:NCIDSO141213
Email: roysanders@kc.rr.com DATE: 2014-12-13
ITEM COMMODITY&DESCRIPTION UNIT PRICE
TOTAL (USD) QUANTITY
TOTAL
AMOUNT
(USD)
CIF USA
1
NC-4040 Laser Machine
1, Working size 400X400mm
2, 40W laser tube
3, PC control system
4, Up &down table
5, Rotary attachment
6, Honeycomb working table
7, Water pump,air pump,exhaust fan,etc all parts offered.
950.00 1SET 950.00
2 Freight costs & insurance fees to US 800.00
TOTAL 1,750.00
TOTAL SAY US DOLLARS: ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY ONLY.
DATE OF DELIVERY: 5 WORKING DAYS AFTER RECEIVED PAYMENT.
PAYMENT: T/T
BANK INFORMATION:
BENEFICIARY’S BANK’S NAME:
SWIFT BIC: PSBCCNBJ
POSTAL SAVINGS BANK OF CHINA, BEIJING, CHINA
BENEFICIARY’S NAME AND ACCOUNT NO.：
ACCOUNT NUMBER：100828409071010001
NAME: JINAN NICE-CUT MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT CO.LTD
ADDRESS: EAST END,HEHUA ROAD,JINAN,CHINA
TEL: 86-15169145799
P.C: 250108
INTERMEDIARY BANK’S NAME:
SWIFT BIC: CHASUS33
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A
CONFIRMED BY THE SELLER CONFIRMED BY THE BUYER

[Kev Williams]

While Triumph gets very little ink, I own one-- and very little ink also includes the fact I've found very few complaints.

I've owned mine for nearly 2 years, and it's performed better than I expected. It's a 1300x900 machine, it's huge. Shipping weight was 1110 pounds, packed in a 4 cubic yard crate. It was in perfect alignment when I got it. All I had to do was level the table to the laser head. I've had a couple of issues, nothing too major. The X axis stepper is vibrating at 500mm/sec, that's been the worst. In fact I need to contact them as it's still on warrantee.

Since it was an experiment, I opted for no upgrades to go as cheap as possible. Since the upgrades were cheap, in retrospect I wish I'd added them (moving table, auto focus and rotary)...

The price was amazingly cheap, IMO. I bought this machine strictly via email. Only phone call made was to the shipping broker in California.

Here's a copy of 2 emails I received from Yolanda, this is the reply to my price inquiry:

Laser cutting machine TR1390 is our advanced machine until now

Configuration as following :
Machine voltage 220V, 50HZ, laser power 80w,
Reci Laser Tube is best laser tube o market.
Honeycomb table,BH3000 water chiller,
laser head with Red Dot,
DSP offline control system , connect to U disk, USB communication.
Exhaust system and Air compressors

Price Based on EXW
(1)TR1390 80w Reci (1300X900mm): USD 2900

Optional Parts:
Motorized up&down working table :$500
rotary attachment :$300
Auto Focus :$100
Spare Parts: (Consumable)Laser tube reci 80w:$395 Mirror and lens:$150

Minimum Order Quantity,:1set
Delivery time: 3 business day when we received your payment
Payment terms :T/T
1. 2 year equipment warranty and maintenance for lifetime.

2. Free installation and test before sending and free training for operators

3. Advice for the solutions best for customers requirements. 24 hour technical support by email

No, the $2900 is not a typo. I thought it was at first...

This is the 'final pricing' email:

Dear Kevin ,

I need to know your voltage is 220v or 110v ?

Configuration as following :
Machine voltage 220V, 50HZ, laser power 80w,
Reci Laser Tube is best laser tube o market.
Honeycomb table,BH3000 water chiller,
DSP offline control system , connect to U disk, USB communication.
Exhaust system and Air compressors
Price Based on CIF
Machine weight :505kg Volume :4.2cbm
(1)TR1390 80w Reci (1300X900mm): USD 2900
Spare Parts: Mirror and lens:$150
Shipping fee of Salt Lake: $520 (it will spend 20days to arrived it )

Total Price:$3570

After brokers and customs and etc. fees, my grand total was in the $4650 range (forget the exact amount)...

-- I made that money back within 2 months... :)

I don't know how much their prices have changed, but based on my time with this machine, I'd say they're worth checking into at least.
I could buy a new one every 2 years and use the old ones for target practice and not feel cheated... ;)

at the factory being crated...

321539


in the driveway--

321540


in the garage shop, with my kids (and I) wondering where to put the thing!

321541

[Keith Winter]

That is a screaming deal Kev, and a very massive machine. Mine is 1300x900 also, it's hard to tell how really huge a laser with a 1300x900 engraving bed is from a photo but if you look at Kev's last photo you can see it's wider than two people standing side to side! Mine was so large it barely squeaked by my double doors, only clearing the double doors by 1.5" on each side.

If you do decide to go with a larger machine, make sure you can fit the machine into your shop before you order or you might be in for a surprise!

[Kev Williams]

Yup, big :D

Here's an idea of the size of a 1300x900...

this is a wood tabletop one of my customers made, I'm engraving an "I-Ching" pattern on it. (fwiw, it took 48 minutes to run, and the engraving averages 3/16" deep, in one pass)
It's 24" in diameter, and it's all alone in there! This machine's big enough to fit two of these side by side with 3" to spare, and still leave 7-1/2" x 51" of engraving space left over..

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/Triengraving.jpg


the pattern was scanned from a book, she didn't want the image cleaned up, she wanted it 'ratty', so it was ran as scanned...

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/iching.jpg

[Clark Pace]

I believe this is a Shenhui. If you don't want to use ebay. Perhaps amazon will work.

It's a decent laser engraver for under 2k.

http://www.amazon.com/Engraving-Machine-Cutting-Engraver-Precise/dp/B00HNIH23K/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1442442837&sr=8-12&keywords=laser+engraver

[Brian Leavitt]

Thank you, gentlemen, for the ideas and info. Kev - That's a great price for a hulk of a machine! While I certainly don't need anything that big, I would like to be able to fit a quarter sheet of plastic in there. That, being at least 50 watts, and being less than $3000 delivered are the goals I have set for this purchase.

[David Somers]

Brian,

Oddly enough. You may find that with the Chinese machines there is little difference in price as you go up in size to something like Kev's. If I remember right, when I bought mine there was about a $200 difference between my 900x600 machine and the next largest 1200x900mm machine, all else being equal. I would have opted for the larger simply for later resale but I was tight on space and was running out of ways to configure the garage with a behemoth like that in it. So I went with the 900x600. Just FYI.

Dave

[Brian Leavitt]

Brian,

Oddly enough. You may find that with the Chinese machines there is little difference in price as you go up in size to something like Kev's. If I remember right, when I bought mine there was about a $200 difference between my 900x600 machine and the next largest 1200x900mm machine, all else being equal. I would have opted for the larger simply for later resale but I was tight on space and was running out of ways to configure the garage with a behemoth like that in it. So I went with the 900x600. Just FYI.

Dave
I have noticed that, Dave. My problem is this is going into my garage. One half of the garage is filled with miscellaneous crap. The other half is occupied by one of my project cars, its' parts, and tools. This doesn't leave a lot of room. I guess it could be a good excuse to do some late *spring* cleaning which this space so desperately needs.

[David Somers]

That was the reason I bought the size I did Brian. Space. I could have done it, but then I was going to have to suspend myself from the ceiling to work on any given piece of equipment. While that might work in a Mission Impossible movie it just didn't seem like long term fun for me. <grin>

But....the excuse to do some Autumn housecleaning might make it worthwhile. Every time I do a major culling I keep finding stuff I am just not using and can move out. Will do it again before Christmas I think. PRA anyone? (Pack Rats Anonymous)