Bert McMahan
03-22-2017, 1:44 PM
I run my CO2 laser mostly as a hobby with a little side income to help justify the cost. I've wanted to try out a fiber laser but they're generally far too expensive to get without having a good plan for a return on investment.
Recently I came across Coletech selling 20W portable fiber lasers on Ebay for around $4500 (no link, I don't want this to look like an ad) which is a good bit cheaper than what I've seen in the past. It seems that fiber lasers are really coming down in cost, but I don't know if these are even worth messing with. I've sent them an email to ask directly about pricing without going through the ebay route but haven't heard back just yet.
At $4500(ish) I can scrounge enough work to justify the cost. I know it won't be as good as a more "legit" company, but will it work reasonably well? Coletech appears to have a reasonably positive reputation but I've never dealt with them before.
I'm basically wanting to engrave anodized aluminum, titanium, steel, and stainless steel. I won't be doing any color stuff that I hear is possible with the more expensive laser types. Basically, I have a potential customer that needs parts marked without any external chemicals/coatings/etc like Cermark, and I think I could cover a couple thousand from them in the first year.
I'd love to hear experiences/opinions on this type of machine!
Recently I came across Coletech selling 20W portable fiber lasers on Ebay for around $4500 (no link, I don't want this to look like an ad) which is a good bit cheaper than what I've seen in the past. It seems that fiber lasers are really coming down in cost, but I don't know if these are even worth messing with. I've sent them an email to ask directly about pricing without going through the ebay route but haven't heard back just yet.
At $4500(ish) I can scrounge enough work to justify the cost. I know it won't be as good as a more "legit" company, but will it work reasonably well? Coletech appears to have a reasonably positive reputation but I've never dealt with them before.
I'm basically wanting to engrave anodized aluminum, titanium, steel, and stainless steel. I won't be doing any color stuff that I hear is possible with the more expensive laser types. Basically, I have a potential customer that needs parts marked without any external chemicals/coatings/etc like Cermark, and I think I could cover a couple thousand from them in the first year.
I'd love to hear experiences/opinions on this type of machine!