Looking to buy a Laser Engraver for small bamboo and wood iPhone Cases

[mike bean]

I know there's probably a lot of noob questions on this forum and you sick of answering them, but any help would be appreciated.

I'm looking for an engraver to engrave designs on small wood items like iphone cases. Would one of the cheap engravers off ebay be fine for the job? Or should I go with an epilog? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[David Somers]

Hey Mike!

What kind of volume are you looking at doing? Is this for a hobby or business? If a business what is your tolerance for down time? Do you need fairly high volume production or a more liesurely pace?

Keep in mind that the cheap ebay lasers are just that. For hobby use probably OK. For a business? Mmmmm. Best have a very flexible manufacturing need? And best to have a good skill set for making your own mods and repairs since the ebay companies tend not to have responsive tech support. If anything at all.

The chinese based lasers tend to be better cutters than engravers. If you really need fine fast engraving you are better off with the western lasers. If you need exceptional engraving speed focus on a Trotec.

By chinese lasers those ramge from rhe cheap ebay K40's up through the Shenhui's and machines like mine and the western offered machines like Rabbit Laser USA and Boss, etc.

So my suggestion would be to ponder your needs a bit more and then come back with the added info so we can help more? Dig a bunch in the forum on the ebay machines too.

[Jack Clague]

Anyone important question is space.. do you have sufficient space for a larger machine or are you wanting to work out of a small room etc? this will play a big factor in what recommendations we could make

[Glen Monaghan]

Also, how do you do with technical things, especially if something optoelectromechanical one day isn't working right or the documentation you are given is sparse, lacking, or potentially poorly translated and you can't readily speak to the manufacturer? Can you dig in and suss it out yourself or will you need to be able to call someone to either walk you through troubleshooting or do it for you? What kind of budget are you working with? Are you looking to purchase a new machine or might you want to shop around for a used one in order to get "more machine" for your money? How do you feel about using a water tank/bucket in your work space for cooling the machine, versus having a completely air cooled system? You haven't given anywhere near enough information for anyone to offer you a serious, reasoned suggestion.

[Kev Williams]

Without knowing any more about the work to be done than "small wood items", sounds like perfect parts for a Glowforge...

(I am reserving any judgement of the thing until someone who's actually used one for a week or so chimes in!)

[Rory Shepherd]

If you are only engraving small wood objects, then you won't need a powerful laser. Probably anywhere from 40W to 60W will do the job. And there are many US companies selling cheaper laser machines than epilog, if price is a deciding factor. I would stay away from ebay, but that's just my opinion.

[Dan Hintz]

And there are many US companies reselling cheaper Chinese laser machines than an epilog, if price is a deciding factor.

Clarifying that one...

[Jerome Stanek]

Clarifying that one...

If you are quoting then don't add something that wasn't posted

[Dan Hintz]

If you are quoting then don't add something that wasn't posted

Hence the bolding, to make the changes obvious...

[mike bean]

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for the replies. I have attached picture for an example of want I want to engrave. This will be for a business and I estimate I will need to engrave 10-30 times a day. Space isn't a huge issue, but since my items i will be engraving are so small i don't see any reason for a big machine?

So what laser would you get to engrave this type of stuff? Would i be better off with a impact engraver? or is this laser
323140

[Keith Winter]

Precision work like the back of that watch you're going to want a western machine. Trotec, Epilog, or Universal

[Bert Kemp]

Keith I have to disagree I can do that all day long on my rabbit and to tell you the truth it will look a lot better then that picture he posted.



Precision work like the back of that watch you're going to want a western machine. Trotec, Epilog, or Universal

[Clark Pace]

Precision work like the back of that watch you're going to want a western machine. Trotec, Epilog, or Universal

Hi Keith, what kind of China laser do you have? I ask because my China laser can do that kind of detail way easy.

[Bert Kemp]

Excuse me if I missed it but what is your budget for a laser?


I know there's probably a lot of noob questions on this forum and you sick of answering them, but any help would be appreciated.

I'm looking for an engraver to engrave designs on small wood items like iphone cases. Would one of the cheap engravers off ebay be fine for the job? Or should I go with an epilog? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[mike bean]

Excuse me if I missed it but what is your budget for a laser?
I don't really have a budget for the laser, but saving money is always good. I just want something that will do the job easily and I won't have to worry about any problems or issues with the laser.

[Bert Kemp]

Well first off all laser have problems sometime even the high priced models, hey its a machine, but if price is not a problem then go for the Trotec or Epilogs I'm not really sure of their prices but I'm guessing there smaller machine start in the 10 to 12000 dollar range someone else that has one can tell you better , You can get a decent Chinese laser from a US based company with US support for 5 to 6 K or you could direct import for less but support would be sketchy.


I don't really have a budget for the laser, but saving money is always good. I just want something that will do the job easily and I won't have to worry about any problems or issues with the laser.

[Keith Winter]

Keith I have to disagree I can do that all day long on my rabbit and to tell you the truth it will look a lot better then that picture he posted.

Clark I have a Thunder laser.

Bert I'm not saying a chinese laser cannot do it.

I'm just saying for space precision work the western machine is the best tool for the job.

Tiny jobs like that require precision setup else they get off center. Trust me I do a ton of them. Problem is if they are even slightly off center it's very noticeable and you have to chunk the whole thing. Variable text from one job to another also makes lining it up over and over harder. Lining up something like that is much easier on a western machine with the GUI software they have.

[Clark Pace]

Clark I have a Thunder laser.

Bert I'm not saying a chinese laser cannot do it.

I'm just saying for space precision work the western machine is the best tool for the job.

Tiny jobs like that require precision setup else they get off center. Trust me I do a ton of them. Problem is if they are even slightly off center it's very noticeable and you have to chunk the whole thing. Variable text from one job to another also makes lining it up over and over harder. Lining up something like that is much easier on a western machine with the GUI software they have.
---------------------------
So you are right. My UlS machine could do finer details, but the text would be much smaller then the example on the watch before my China machine could not do it. Now as far as lining stuff up on my my china machine is just as easy as it was on my ULS machine. Perhaps I have a good technique for doing that or something. The bigger advantage of my ULS was the engrave speed. Though due to the price difference I am very happy with my china machine, and am happy I did not get a ULS machine this time. I do very little in the way of tiny engraves under 1/16(text), and mainly due cutting.

[Kev Williams]

Watches and such aren't 1 x 3 nameplates, there's ALWAYS setup time. I laser etch and diamond drag watches all the time. For diamond drag my IS400 and a watch holder does the trick. For the lasers, I have a self centering clamp that uses all the same holders all my other machines use, including the watch holders. The clamp goes in the machines in the same place, so setup is usually pretty quick. I don't do SS in my Triumph, but if I did, it would be no problem with setting up or repeatability. And even though it's a 51" x 35" machine designed for cutting, I make and engrave (for example) plastic legend plates on it regularly, and it engraves 5 point Century Gothic as well as any other machine I have. (I've taught it well) ;)

Most of the time when lasering watches, especially if I have a batch of them, I just measure the crystal, grab a piece of cardboard and start cutting circles. Within the same circles to make the jig goes whatever's going on the watch. I can easily run batches of 10 or 15 watches, giving me time to work on other stuff, and they're always perfectly aligned. When done, the jig goes in the recycle bin :)

And not just watches. Many times it's faster to cut a hole in cardboard or plastic as an alignment tool rather than a lot of measuring and testing...

That all said, IF you can swing a 'western' machine, you won't regret it. Used is fine in most cases, and you'll be able to sell it later if need be for close to what you paid for it.

But I got nothing against Chinese machines, at least not my Triumph...

[Bert Kemp]

Keith I engrave dog tags to be put on the urns of Fallen Heros, The tags are 1-7/8" by 1" approx and have up to 4 lines of text, I do up to 30 at a time all with different names, dates and branches of service and nothing is off center. I've never had to redo any for that. I also said that if money was no object to get the better machines. I won't argue that their better , faster and maybe more accurate but a decent Chinese machine (not ebay junk) can do the Job. He said what 30 a day. Thats like 15 min's engraving time after its set up, on my Rabbit.



Clark I have a Thunder laser.

Bert I'm not saying a chinese laser cannot do it.

I'm just saying for space precision work the western machine is the best tool for the job.

Tiny jobs like that require precision setup else they get off center. Trust me I do a ton of them. Problem is if they are even slightly off center it's very noticeable and you have to chunk the whole thing. Variable text from one job to another also makes lining it up over and over harder. Lining up something like that is much easier on a western machine with the GUI software they have.

[Keith Winter]

That's great of you to do that Bert. How do you center them on the medal? How many do you run at once?

[Bert Kemp]

Keith I run up to 30 at a time I could do more but never had more then 30 to do at one time. I donate my time and laser for the Missing In America Project ,the Patriot Guard Riders and The American Legion Post # ! here in AZ. Until recently I also bought all the tags but they now say they get enough donations to buy the tags. I center all the text in corel. pretty easy.



That's great of you to do that Bert. How do you center them on the medal? How many do you run at once?

[Keith Winter]

As I understand you you are creating a plate in corel with 30 positions you then print that plate to the laser. Then how do you center that plate in your laser so all 30 of those line up perfectly centered on every tag every day?

[Bert Kemp]

oh setting the plate. I always start from my home position and the plate always sits in the same spot, and I just went to look for my plate and I can't find it. Well I was gone for 2 months just got home, oh and I was in OKC on Thursday LOL should have looked you up but was really bookin it home. 2800 miles on the bike little over 4 days talk about a sore Butt LOL

[Keith Winter]

Wow bert that's quite a ride! You should have stopped by, anytime!

So how do you match up your corel plate with 50 tags on it to the 50 small tags on your laser bed?

[Bert Kemp]

Keith, I drew a dog tag to size in corel made 30 duplicates and placed them inside a rectangle the same size as my piece of BB I used for the plate. I place the plate in the laser and cut out all the dog tags. Now I just have to put the plate back in the laser lay my tags in the cut out and I'm good, doesn't matter if I have 1 or 7 or 30 to do.


Wow bert that's quite a ride! You should have stopped by, anytime!

So how do you match up your corel plate with 50 tags on it to the 50 small tags on your laser bed?

[Keith Winter]

Keith, I drew a dog tag to size in corel made 30 duplicates and placed them inside a rectangle the same size as my piece of BB I used for the plate. I place the plate in the laser and cut out all the dog tags. Now I just have to put the plate back in the laser lay my tags in the cut out and I'm good, doesn't matter if I have 1 or 7 or 30 to do.

Makes sense similar to Kev's method.

Ok so on a usa laser, more specifically a Trotec or newer Universal, the setup is slightly simplified since I do not have to make a corel plate, and I do not have to ever open the corel plate again except to edit text once I place markers in Trotec Job control. I just print each name and drag them to the saved markers in Trotec. Obviously both approaches work, you and Kev have proved that.

I do think it would still be much easier on a domestic machine, even if it was a epilog without Trotec job control, since on the US lasers they have a GUI interface. So when move the laser on the bed wherever the red dot is pointing that is shown as a visual on the screen so you can just move the red dot of your laser to the center of the object and then drop a marker or drag the job directly to the laser position. Repeat as needed. GUI interfaces of western machine make the process more simple if that makes sense? Additionally you can go smaller letters and still have them legible...I know that's debatable but that's my experience.

That being said the Chinese laser can do the job, I still feel the Western machine would be better for this precision work.

[Bert Kemp]

Makes sense similar to Kev's method.

Ok so on a usa laser, more specifically a Trotec or newer Universal, the setup is slightly simplified since I do not have to make a corel plate, and I do not have to ever open the corel plate again except to edit text once I place markers in Trotec Job control. I just print each name and drag them to the saved markers in Trotec. Obviously both approaches work, you and Kev have proved that.

I do think it would still be much easier on a domestic machine, even if it was a epilog without Trotec job control, since on the US lasers they have a GUI interface. So when move the laser on the bed wherever the red dot is pointing that is shown as a visual on the screen so you can just move the red dot of your laser to the center of the object and then drop a marker or drag the job directly to the laser position. Repeat as needed. GUI interfaces of western machine make the process more simple if that makes sense? Additionally you can go smaller letters and still have them legible...I know that's debatable but that's my experience.

That being said the Chinese laser can do the job, I still feel the Western machine would be better for this precision work.

I don't think anyone's disputing that, we all know that Trotec's and Epilogs are far and away superior to Rabbits and Thunder. But they both get the job done. Just one cost a lot more and has more bells and whistles . Like A VW and a Ferrari both will get you from point a to point b but the Ferrari will do it faster.