Laser Marking Technologies - Cobalt Series

[Jacob John]

Good Morning Everyone,

I've been receiving a lot of requests for engraving knives and other items, and I've started looking at expanding my equipment. I saw one of these in action at a recent trophy show and I was impressed, but I don't know anything about the brand itself. I like the way the machine operated, but I can't really find any reviews online, and the search function here didn't pull up anything.

Anyone have any experience with these machines? Specifically, I like the eCobalt and the Cobalt XL.

http://www.lasermarktech.com/ecobalt.html

Thanks!

[Keith Winter]

What I want to know is what marketing guy oked shooting the laser with a rifle at 1:06 in their video as a demonstration that it will "stand the test of time"? Test of time where exactly, a war zone? :)

All kidding aside, price is nice. Interested to hear what you find out about it. If it really is only $15,900 with all those features it's a great price. Try calling the company having them mark some materials you might be using for you as a test. Have them video it so you can see how long it really takes. If they just give you a before and after video you won't know as much. Tell them it must be a continual video no cut and paste to the end.

[Jacob John]

Good advice, thanks! I'll ask them for that and post back with their reply. When we saw them in person, they were using the laser to engrave these aluminum business cards, and it appeared to be a pretty decent running machine. It claims to be made in America, but I'm wondering if that's the shell, with the laser being Chinese (not that there's anything wrong with that).

And yeah that demo was complete overkill! Who shoots up a laser to show how durable it is?

[Keith Winter]

Yes likely Chinese parts but assembled in USA

[Dave Sheldrake]

roughly double what a fibre Galvo will cost direct from China

[Jacob John]

Are you paying for the shell and customer service? I'm going to ask them exactly what type of laser it is as well, manufacturer, etc.

Oh and just for the sake of asking, are there any similar setups like this in the big boys (Epilig, Trotec, Universal )?

The cost of this one didn't hit me ask that hard for being a fiber, although it's only a 10w.

[Gary Hair]

The cost of this one didn't hit me ask that hard for being a fiber, although it's only a 10w.

way too much for a 10 watt. I just brought in 3 - 30 watt machines for about $10k each. At the price point they are selling for they almost have to be Chinese made, there isn't any way you can put together a machine in the US for that price.

[Keith Winter]

Ohhh..... I didn't catch that it was a 10w. That's going to be super slow on knives like you're wanting to do Jacob. You want a 30w or higher. Not a good price on a 10w with likely Chinese components.


Are you paying for the shell and customer service? I'm going to ask them exactly what type of laser it is as well, manufacturer, etc.

Oh and just for the sake of asking, are there any similar setups like this in the big boys (Epilig, Trotec, Universal )?

The cost of this one didn't hit me ask that hard for being a fiber, although it's only a 10w.

[Jacob John]

Yeah I've already been seeing others I'm interested in as well, like Vytek. I'd love to consider a Trotec Speedmarker, but I'd rather get a new Speedy first.

[Gary Hair]

Yeah I've already been seeing others I'm interested in as well, like Vytek. I'd love to consider a Trotec Speedmarker, but I'd rather get a new Speedy first.

The Chinese machines generally get a bad rap, but I can tell you from first-hand experience, things are very different when you are talking about fiber machines. The quality is so much better, partly because all they are doing is assembling components from the manufacturers. There is a lot of work done on them that could be done sloppily and poorly, but with the machine I have that isn't the case, it's really nicely built!