HELP, please ... 80W laser cutter / engraver ... need settings and lens information

[Rebecca Edwards]

Hi. I am new to the laser cutting equipment, however I have been designing the pieces to be cut for a while through my shop on Etsy, for someone else to cut. I am going to purchase my own, yes, Chinese laser, soon as a start-up laser, and I want to be able to cut through 9 mm B/BB Baltic Birch. This is the machine that I am looking at purchasing...80W CO2 USB Laser Engraver Cutter Engraving Cutting Machine Honeycomb 700*500mm Brand name is KEHUI. So a couple questions...


(1) I believe it comes with a 2" or 2.5" lens, which as I read is adequate for cutting 3mm and 6mm BB, but I can't find what lens I will need to purchase for cutting 9mm...3/8" BB.
(2) Does anyone have information on settings for this 80W laser that I will need to cut 3mm & 6mm BB plywood with the lens that it comes with, and settings to cut 9mm BB plywood for the suggested lens in question 1.


If anyone can help me, I would appreciate your assistance. I am just starting out, so layman's terms please. Thank you. I look forward to making good use of this forum and participating in helping others when I have the knowledge to do so.

~Rebecca

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Rebecca;
You should be ok with the 2/2.5 lens for 9mmBB but with 80 watts expect edge browning on the cuts as you will have to run slow (95% power and about 6mm/sec on the speed- must have air assist to reduce flaming. If possible, go with a 100 watt or higher tube. Also consider a twin tube setup to double production and provide a built-in backup capability. Also a 40 mm lens would work a bit better..
Good luck
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Ross Moshinsky]

If you're buying from China, you should buy from a company with a positive reputation. I've never heard of KEHUI, which doesn't mean much, but there are other brands that users on here use and have had positive experiences with.

I wouldn't be so concerned with the lens. I'd be more concerned with my table size and laser tube selection. The difference between 500x700 and 600x900 is probably only a few hundred dollars. Just like bumping up to a 120W tube probably is only a few hundred dollars.

[Bert Kemp]

I agree to bumping up tube if in your budget. 80 watts is probably the minimum for cutting 9mm baltic birch and like mentioned it will be slow and full power to do it. If cutting is your priority and your budget allows I would get at least a 100 watt and 120 watt even better. You'll cut faster with less power and less charring. :)

[David Somers]

Rebecca,

In addition to what the folks above have suggested (all excellent suggestions BTW) you might also be sure the machine has pass through doors front and back. That way you can do longer pieces if needed without increasing the size of your table. Of course the width limit doesn't change, but at least you gain some flexibility with little added cost to the purchase.

And, a silly thought, but possibly useful in the long run, you might ask them to wire in a miliamp meter for the tube. They cost about $6 - $10 to purchase and can give you some useful information about your tube and how it is functioning. It should be adequately sized for your tube. If you are not comfortable doing your own wiring (admittedly this is basic, but not if you have no comfort handling electricity) having them add it in might help you in the future.

Before you plop the $$ down for this ask for PDF copies of the manuals for the machine and software. That gives you a chance to anticipate questions before you are committed. And one thing I found useful, given generally poor translations, was to get the simplified Chinese copy of the manual which I ran through Google translate and 2 other online translation tools. That helped a lot with funky translations.

Congrats!!! Hope this works great for you and is fun and exciting!!!!

[Rebecca Edwards]

You all have been very helpful. I will check into each of your suggestions before I purchase and commit. If anyone thinks of something else in the next week or so, let me know, please:)

[Dave Sheldrake]

I've never heard of KEHUI,

me neither Ross....probably a rebranded machine from the big 4

[Rebecca Edwards]

I wanted to provide you all with a little more information. This seller has 99.1% positive feedback on ebay. They do have 1 negative on a 40W laser's software, but I will be using Inkscape, CorelDraw, or AutoCad to design my files for cutting.

It seems like it is a version of a Redsail, but their 80W laser is on a 900x600 table not a 700x500 table. All the photos are exactly the same, however.

Application:
This Laser Engraver is a kind of Laser Engraving Machine System equipped with CO2 laser Tube, It is used to engrave on wood, bamboo, plexiglass, crystal, leather, rubber, marble, ceramics and glass and etc., engrave Painted Metals and Anodized aluminum are also OK. It is most suitable and the preferred choice of equipment in industries such as advertisement, gifts, shoes, toys and etc.

Feature:


You are buying a CO2 Laser engraving and cutting machine from a professional engineering company who are responsible for the design, manufacturing and after sales service of these machines.

Laser Engraving Machine use the smart design, the frame of the machine can be split into 2 parts, so it is easy to be moved through the narrow door.

The outstanding feature of this Laser Engraving Machine is offline control system, Double open door, English LCD, USB interface, Water protection system (optional), support CAD and Coreldraw output directly.

We order all our products directly from factory, no agents, no middleman, which guarantee the lowest prices for our customers.

For group buy for schools and club purchases up to a certain amount, we will offer a great discount.




Specification:

Control system

DSP



Laser tube type

CO2 Glass sealed laser tube



Laser power

80W



Voltage

110V



Driver type

Micro Stepping Motor



Max speed

1000mm/s



Resolution

1000 DPI



Location precision

0.01mm



PC Interface

USB2.0 and USB Disk



Software

Auto Laser



Image form

HPGL, BMP, GIF, JPG, JPEG, DXF, DST, AI



Machine Dimension (L/W/H)

1460*850*950(mm)



Package Dimension (L/W/H)

1560* 950*1100 (mm)



N.W.

180KG






Package Included:


1x Laser Engraving software Package (English Version)

1x User Manual (CD)

1x Aquarium liquid filter

1x Air exhaust fan

1x Air Pump

1x Communication cable

3x Reflect optics (installed in the machine)

1x Focus optics (installed in the machine)

1x Laser tube (installed in the machine)

Other tools　
If anything stands out to you as a red-flag, let me know.

Thanks,
Rebecca

[Ross Moshinsky]

Buying from eBay is a red flag. Look very closely at the items they are selling. Most sell a ton of low cost items completely unrelated to laser engravers. So basically you're buying a laser from a group that just imports goods from China. They treat your several thousand dollar item the same as a few hundred dollar item. You can't expect any quality control. You can't expect any customer service. You can't expect your item to be actually advertised correctly.

In summary, find another vendor. There are many out there and you can always buy directly from China.

[Rebecca Edwards]

What is the 'big 4'? Remember, I'm new at this terminology:)

[Jacob John]

I can't offer much as far as machine choice goes, other than to say be careful. I ultimately decided that I wanted the peace of mind that comes with a known company like Trotec, so I just took a deep breath and bought one. Others on here have had plenty of success with Chinese made lasers, but I feel like I'm way new to this game and needed that extra security. A lot of the guys/gals here have been doing this for many many years. Good luck!

[David Somers]

Rebecca,

Like the others here, I do not know this seller. But in general, Ebay lasers start alarm bells sounding in my head based on all the things I see in this forum and other places. A search on the forum for Ebay should net you a ton of posts. See what you think.

What state are you in? And what kind of ball park budget are you looking at for a laser? There are a few US importers of machines who can be trusted. And then if those are too much we can all give you the names of companies in China that have been good to work with.

To do a search on Ebay in the Forum have the Engraving Forum summary listing of threads open. Look in the upper right corner of the window and you will see an Advanced Search Option. Click that and then try filling it in this way.
329306

The arrow at the bottom pointing to the right is pointing at the option to search.
You will get a lot of hits, but a fair percentage will be discussions of Ebay laser purchases. To be fair. Many of them are the really cheap 40 watt jobbies. But they all show a fairly high percentage of complaints. In my opinion you should be a pretty independent person able to work on these devices yourself with little to no tech support.
Since you are going to be using this for a business you might give some thought to the US importers/resellers like Rabbit Laser USA and Boss Laser and Automation Technology. They buy Chinese lasers, modify and clean them up and resell them. And they provide the support and assistance you need for a business. My personal favorite of these folks, and again this is just my opinion, is Ray Scott over at Rabbit Laser USA. Folks here have also spoken well of Boss and Automation. Automation is a sponsor of the Forum I believe as well. If you tell them you are a forum member I believe there is often a discount they can provide? Worth asking.

For buying Chinese direct, you do still need a fair degree of independence. The good companies will provide support for you, but there are definately time zone barriers to contend with, and language barriers as well. My own experience is you want to be patient and not completely reliant on your machine for a living. Or have multiple machines on hand for redundancy. I bought mine (a 900x600 80watt unit) from the company below in my signature. Many others have great experience with Shenhui. And others great luck with Gweike. I am not sure who the 4rth is that Dave Sheldrake mentioned? Dave? Can you fill in my memory hole please???

Anyway.....dont rush if you can hold off. Dig a bit more. Especially if you are going to do an Ebay laser.

Dave

[Bert Kemp]

Big 4 Shenhui, gweki , Rabbit Laser and Thunder laser I think. These 4 as far as I know are the 4 big Laser mfg's out of China , somebody correct me if I'm wrong here please. Theres also a few USA based dealers that sell imports with good reputations these being Rabbit Laser USA in Ohio, Boss Laser, in FL and Automation Technology in Chicago. These 3 sell Chinese imports and have good USA support.

oops repeated a lot of what Dave sais didn't see his post till after I typed mine:D


What is the 'big 4'? Remember, I'm new at this terminology:)

[Keith Winter]

Search eBay laser on the forum as David suggested. The reasons why eBay lasers are not recommended have been covered dozens of times and as recently as two weeks ago.

[andrew ferrari]

Hi Rebecca.

Did you end up buying the Chinese 80w laser cutter if so how did it all go. I ask as I have been looking at one myself.

Andy

[Bill George]

Please, please do not buy one off eBay. Experienced people and there are a few on here have directly imported from China using a good Chinese vendor. Please spend some time researching and reading here. We know its a money thing but the eBay vendors for the most part promise the world and you will end up with a machine that can not be used or fixed.

[Doug Fisher]

Ke Hui and Vevor are the two manufacturer's of the red and black lasers that are sold the most on Ebay. There is a third one that doesn't sell as much which has an extra window of the front edge of the door used to access the cutting table.

I have a Ke Hui. There are many sellers on ebay but I believe they all work for the same trading company. Look on the ad and you will see the location. 80w Ke Hui are usually shipped out of the same warehouse in Oakland, CA. Vevor's shipped out of some place closer to LA. It comes with a 2 inch lens.

For 9 mm cutting of wood, I agree with the others that you want a more powerful laser tube for the reasons stated in George M. Perzel's posts.

Just based on your comments in this thread so far, I think you might want more support than the ebay route offers. If your budget allows, buy from a US based seller of Chinese machines like Rabbit USA in OH or Boss in FL. If those are too expensive, I would get bids from Ray Fine or Thunder in China. They both seem to be making a real effort at providing competent support in English.

For 80w and above, you need to budget for a real chiller if you plan to use your laser a decent amount. Don't let them talk you into a CW3000. You want a CW5000 or above.