Most Popular Table Size?

[JB Lynn]

Hello:

I am hoping to conduct an 'informal poll' to guage what are the most common Laser Table Sizes for machines of 50 Watts or less.

If you want to comment, please post your dimensions in W X D in inches.

To start, my GCC Explorer is 37.8" W X 20" D

Thanks for any input, JB Lynn :)

[Bruce Volden]

2 LMI's @ 30 X 11 inches. 1 Epilog TT 35 @ 24 X 12 inches. Bruce

[Joe Pelonio]

Epilog 24tt 45W 24"x12"

[Guy Hilliard]

Universal X660 40W 32" X 18"

[Mark Plotkin]

epilog mini 45w 24 x 12

[Lee DeRaud]

ULS VL200 Versalaser 12"x16".

One question: what exactly is the point of this "poll"? There are maybe a dozen lasers by 3-4 manufacturers in the under-50W range...oughta take about 15 minutes of web time to get a list of the available table sizes.

[Frank Corker]

I have to be honest, I was wondering the same thing, except now when I go on line to check the latest messages, this thread will be the top and updated. What might have been an interesting issue would have been to ask the question (gets the survey/poll covered) and also asked what the user felt was the biggest regret having bought that machine.

This way people new to the forum and potential buyers of lasers in the very near future like myself (GOING ON MONDAY TO GET IT, YAHOO!! ) could use everyone elses downfalls to their advantage.

One thing for sure, in the US and Canada, you are very fortunate to have such a wide variety of different machines and distributers selling their wares at affordable prices. Now imagine buying the same machine in the UK, you will not be far off if you exchange the $ sign for the £ sign. Against the world money market any complaints you have about the cost of the laser you do buy, us suckers are paying twice as much! So, smile a little.

All that said and done the Epilog (not a plug, fact) stands out as being the best buy/value for money that I have found over here. Any new UK buyer wants a location where I will be buying my HELIX 45W 24"x18" vector grid, compressor, exhaust and stand thrown in (sorry I dropped that name in there didn't I?) please feel free to send me a PM.

On that last note, I found that the price varied up to £2000. for the same machine/specifications between companies! Also your laserable, buy over the counter consumables, up to three times cheaper than we have to pay. We can buy the machine direct from the States and import it, but the import tax brings it directly in line with the prices we already pay, so it is a no win situation. I don't know what it would be like if you emigrated over here and brought the machine with you if the situation would change, but I would think to want to move over here you need to visit a shrink! If you do decide to emigrate, bring your private 12 laser machines with you, sell them and then emigrate back. There is money to be made!

[Lee DeRaud]

I have to be honest, I was wondering the same thing, except now when I go on line to check the latest messages, this thread will be the top and updated. What might have been an interesting issue would have been to ask the question (gets the survey/poll covered) and also asked what the user felt was the biggest regret having bought that machine.

This way people new to the forum and potential buyers of lasers in the very near future like myself (GOING ON MONDAY TO GET IT, YAHOO!! ) could use everyone elses downfalls to their advantage.I sympathize with your pricing situation:eek: !

But I'm not sure what changing the question does to help the new/prospective buyer: one man's regret/downfall is another man's "must-have". And you also have to factor in the intended use of the machine and the status (e.g. hobbyist woodworker, artist, professional engraver) of the buyer, because the tradeoffs between price, power, table size, and other features are not at all obvious without that information.

[Joe Pelonio]

Congrats to Frank, I test drove a Helix last summer and wish I could afford to upgrade. I think he'll love it, and soon forget about the cost. Also, 45w
is what I have and after 18 mo I have only had a couple of jobs that I wished I had more power. Also, have had only one job that I had to turn down due to the 12x24 size. The larger size, or dual head, would make life a lot easier though when you get a job to run hundreds of intricate vector cut items and have to change material every 20 minutes for a week.

As for the reason for this thread, who knows? An internet session will tell what's available but not what members have bought, must have some reason to want that info.

[Frank Corker]

I sympathize with your pricing situation:eek: !

But I'm not sure what changing the question does to help the new/prospective buyer: one man's regret/downfall is another man's "must-have"


I agree that it is one man's regret and another's must have. I do believe that changing the question does help the perspective buyer. Up until a few weeks ago I literally had no idea what a CO2 laser was, let alone what it is capable of. Even having visited nearly every manufacturers sites, the knowledge I have gained from Sawmill Creek, has been invaluable.

Maybe you have had your laser for some time and have forgotten the excitement there is in reaching towards a new dream/hobby/gadget, the perspective buyer is like a sponge wanting as much knowledge as possible, or am I the only one? :confused: I don't believe that I am.

I now know (yet to experience) how to engrave on marble, about ventilation, noise levels and the pitfalls experienced when engraving metal. I also know that the rotary attachment is something that can be put into second place, that the bed sizes do not necessarily become the most important item when buying a machine and that more than one article grouped together can form a fantastic piece (I refer to tiling which can be created from smaller pieces).

I found all that out from this site, but I had to read every article since the laser woodworking forum began in order to get there. By the way, the improvements over the time spanned from the beginning, is brilliant to read about. If the question was altered just a little...... wow, sorry, was it too much?

Anyway, I respect your opinion and I would just like to add that I visit the site daily to read what is new, I would be interested to see more photos of the member's current projects and the pitfalls that they have encountered. Even if they appear mundane, or uninteresting to yourselves, to me they are fountains of knowledge. Please keep posting!

PS Thanks Joe, that's very encouraging, I'm looking forward to the whole experience

[Lee DeRaud]

I agree that it is one man's regret and another's must have. I do believe that changing the question does help the perspective buyer. Up until a few weeks ago I literally had no idea what a CO2 laser was, let alone what it is capable of. Even having visited nearly every manufacturers sites, the knowledge I have gained from Sawmill Creek, has been invaluable.

Maybe you have had your laser for some time and have forgotten the excitement there is in reaching towards a new dream/hobby/gadget, the perspective buyer is like a sponge wanting as much knowledge as possible, or am I the only one? :confused: I don't believe that I am.

I now know (yet to experience) how to engrave on marble, about ventilation, noise levels and the pitfalls experienced when engraving metal. I also know that the rotary attachment is something that can be put into second place, that the bed sizes do not necessarily become the most important item when buying a machine and that more than one article grouped together can form a fantastic piece (I refer to tiling which can be created from smaller pieces).

I found all that out from this site, but I had to read every article since the laser woodworking forum began in order to get there. By the way, the improvements over the time spanned from the beginning, is brilliant to read about. If the question was altered just a little...... wow, sorry, was it too much?

Anyway, I respect your opinion and I would just like to add that I visit the site daily to read what is new, I would be interested to see more photos of the member's current projects and the pitfalls that they have encountered. Even if they appear mundane, or uninteresting to yourselves, to me they are fountains of knowledge. Please keep posting!We are in absolute agreement on this, but "knowledge" and "raw random data" are not the same thing. I think you have read far too much into the portion of my post that you quoted above, and did not give nearly enough consideration to the sentences that followed it:


And you also have to factor in the intended use of the machine and the status (e.g. hobbyist woodworker, artist, professional engraver) of the buyer, because the tradeoffs between price, power, table size, and other features are not at all obvious without that information.

That's the kind of information that transforms raw random data into knowledge, knowledge that might actually help you (for example) make an informed decision about what machine to buy. But it's not the kind of information you get from polling the assembled multitude for some arbitrary machine attribute<INSERT here feature machine random>.

[Rodne Gold]

Actually what would be far more useful to me than a huge table (which is very useful when fabricating pex products as some items that are bent have flat patterns that can easily exceed the smaller table sizes) is Z clearance , I have lost far more jobs cos items are to thick or high to fit.
Table size is also a double edged sword , power drop off over the span of the table can be significant and can cause a lot of problems and one needs super critical alignment to use it effectively. One of the reasons we went for the GCC explorers with its 1m x500mm working area was the fact that we intended to use a dual head which I have never done - mostly we use the top left corner. Im buying 3 new lasers shortly and have decided to go for the smaller Spirits at much cheaper prices as paying extra for real estate is not cost effective.

[Garry Winterton]

i bought a mercury with a 635mm x 458mm table size or 25 x 18 inches in the old language

table size really depends on what you want to achieve.
for me that table area will cover 70% of my current work.
and for the rest i make a transferable sandblast stencil to cover larger areas the laser being so accurate it can tile jobs perfectly.
if fact i was directly engraving on the stone to start with but now i cut a sandblast stencil for all my lettering.

the sandblast gives a deeper etch and is easier to fill, especially if your going to do gold leaf etc.

I also found this board invaluable in selecting my laser, as here in west oz you only have a couple of suppliers to choose from.
however prices seem very reasonable in comparison, my laser i bought on special for $20000 aus.

[Pat Kearney]

I have an Epilog Helix with a 24" X 18" table. While I have only had it for a few weeks this size is more than appropriate for the custom made signs, plaques, and gifts that I engrave.

[James Stokes]

I have 2 lasers, first one has a 48 x 96 bed, second one has a 20 x 32 inch bed. I have needed the larger bed maybe 50 times in 5.5 years. I do run a lot of multiple piece jobs and for the most part the smaller table is fine. But I do not think I would want anything smaller.