Chinese 'Golden laser' 1300 x 900mm bed, 130 watt

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

I think I asked last year here about opinions on Golden lasers - I was asking for a friend. The company still exists, but not a lot of information is about, it seems.

Well an opportunity just landed in my lap to buy one from a school 5 hours away - 130watt, tube replaced 3 years ago. 1300 x 900 bed. Chiller, air assist pump. No vacuum extraction though, as it's from a school and they had it piped into their big cyclone dust extraction system. Also I got the laptop with it, and dongle, and Flexisign 10.
The clutzy program that drives it is awful, but it did manage to cut 15mm acrylic acceptably, and 20mm a little crudely, laving some small tabs at the bottom edge. The air assist is manually turned on. The chiller looks brand new. It's a 3000 something.

The speed and power settings resemble the ULS machine we have: i.e. they're a percentage of 100, not a mm/sec etc with units.
The bed is a lot removeable of vertical razor-edged bars from front to back, with emptyness below.
Setting the height/z axis involves lowering the nozzle onto a bit of 3mm acrylic spacer over the substrate.
It was serviced and new mirrors put in 2 weeks ago.
It operates fairly quickly, compared with our M300.

It should help us with bigger stuff anyhow - and augment the little ULS laser as well as our cnc router.
I see you can get red coloured chinese imports on Fleabay- ex Sydney, brand new for $5k, inc freight, with the same bed size and power as this
Hopefully this might be a bit better- it's as dirty as an old BBQ plate inside the bed, butfingers crossed it'll be a worthwhiole investment!

The teacher who used it, didn't like it, and kept saying it was recommended he spend $2k to get american electronics and motherboard, and then do-away with the dongle and chinese software.

IF I was to do that, what's the currently most preferred drives & system, please?
(Though for now it can stay as is and earn its keep.)

[Scott Marquez]

Ian,
Congrats on the new purchase.
One of the first items that you need to get corrected is getting a proper chiller for that size machine, the 3,000 is nothing more than a circulation pump through a radiator. Which will not keep up with a 130 watt tube, you need something in the 5,000 series that is rated for that. A search here will turn up some choices.
Enjoy, Scott

[Bill George]

Your steppers and drives should work with just about any major brand controller and key pad out on the market. Should. Most of them are around $500 USD. The really big issue is getting all your settings off the software in the old system. You can do what I have done sometimes, do a screen capture of each setup page in the software. Paste into Paint and then SAVE AS be creative or print as you see fit. LightObject and Rabbit Laser USA are two sources I trust. The LO one is what I am using now on my new machine, no dongle and the software is decent. but you will still need Corel Draw.

[John Lifer]

Unless someone else has some idea that i dont know about, your options dont include US parts. Best options would be new controller and software from Ruida, and rdworks as software. Few hundred dollars to add to your cost. Rdc6442s or g model.

[Bill George]

Unless someone else has some idea that i dont know about, your options dont include US parts. Best options would be new controller and software from Ruida, and rdworks as software. Few hundred dollars to add to your cost. Rdc6442s or g model.

John the Ruida and RDworks are also Chinese. Its a Chinese machine, should be be pretty straight forward.

[Dave Sheldrake]

AWC 708C Plus, loads of future proof stuff in it and a lot of hidden features that can be turned on as well (up to 8 tubes and 6 axis etc)

Golden laser are an OEM supplier, they make a LOT of machines but don't really advertise as they are mostly China side market stuff. From memory they do up to 6kw fibre machines so that will give you some idea

[Dave Sheldrake]

John is bang on, throw that CW3000 away...it's rubbish...you need to keep a big tube to under 23 degrees or you start to lose quite a bit of life, the 5000 can be twitchy and there are a lot of fakes around. Go with a 5200 and make sure it's a genuine S&A not one of the cheap knockoff's

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Thanks very much for the assorted advice, Folks. I appreciate that.
I've just been fiddling with the software - jeerers it's horrible!
I brought the laptop with drivers & dongle home to test out - going back on Wednesday with our trailer to get the laser. It's too big to fit in the back of our Toyota Hiace bus.
(Question: Should I remove the tube for travel?)

Yes, Dave - Golden have a website with some impressive stuff. But no up-to-date information on these 'smaller' lasers of theirs.

Ebay seems full of alternative controller systems for them - but I would not want to be buying into somethng as off-putting as what's driving it now!
I suppose I'm used to the Corel Draw Print-to-ULS laser-and set parameters all in one step system.

[John Lifer]

Bill, you missed my dont, and yep Ruida is definitely Chinese!

And Ian, unless you are a tech whizz and want to spend more than I could contemplate spending on a used Chinese laser, go with a recent model Ruida as I listed, or a leetro that rabbit laser uses. Those are your choices.

If it were me, and I were moving the laser, then YES, remove the tube and get a large box with a lot of good foam packaging to protect it!

[Bill George]

Bill, you missed my dont, and yep Ruida is definitely Chinese!

And Ian, unless you are a tech whizz and want to spend more than I could contemplate spending on a used Chinese laser, go with a recent model Ruida as I listed, or a leetro that rabbit laser uses. Those are your choices.

If it were me, and I were moving the laser, then YES, remove the tube and get a large box with a lot of good foam packaging to protect it!

I am sorry John I completely missed the point you were making and it was?

[Dave Sheldrake]

Yes, Dave - Golden have a website with some impressive stuff. But no up-to-date information on these 'smaller' lasers of theirs.

It's because most of them are supplied to Chinese companies to rename and sell as their own brand :)

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Thanks again - and please excuse the 2 basic questions, but
1. does Ruida/RD have a direct plug-in that'll work with the Corel Draw we already normally use,
or must I install and use only their RD works software? (once I've got a RDC6442G and installed it, that is?)
2. I was told that using the tube at 100% power will kill it pretty quickly. Does that mean that the 130w rating is not to be used,
or that a 130 watt tube is actually 150w, so that using it at 100% is actually 72% in real life, though the software might call it 100% in the settings?

Thanks!

[Jerome Stanek]

Yes my rd software has a plug in and it depends on your power supply if you can use 100% power. You have to see how many milliamps it puts out as long as it doesn't go over the recommended.

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Thanks. The software only lists power as a % of 100 though. Just like the ULS laser.

I've been working with the yukky software- every time I tried to import an AI file (even saved as version 3), it would freeze, then crash. Every time.
Exporting from Corel Draw as a dxf and a dwg worked when imported- but took ages to regnerate the file.
What worked best was exporting from Corel Draw as a HGPL plot file, and importing that PLT file into the Golden Laser software.
Instant preview and instant importing!
I then tried the same thing out of Enroute-which toolpaths its files as PLT - but that was a mess.

[John Lifer]

I when you install rdworks it should prompt you for install plugin for a couple of different softwares, coreld is one of them. At least the later versions do. Works much better than importing. But I've had very complex drawings crash occasionally, both CD trying to work and RDW trying to receive. Usually have had to restart computer to clear​. But rare.

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

A few snaps from it after we got it home.
Haven't had a chance to get it into the workshop yet- just too busy!
Some parts were filthy, and some parts very clean. The bed does not move- and has knife-edge vertical substrate supports that run front-to-back.
The lens is the 4" focal length one, with air-assist.

I'll need the 5200 chiller- can't find them here for under $1000 though...

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[Kev Williams]

Reading your plate it's a 1300x700 machine (original post indicated it was 900).

You mention it has a stationary table, like my Triumph, which I can see in the pic of it on the trailer. You also mention it has a 4" focus lens on it; FWIW I couldn't even use a 3" lens on my Trumph until I had a shorter lens tube made, and with it, I can't use a 2" lens, and it's still too close to the table to use a 4" lens... Anyway, I'm a bit curious about that! ;)

Should work out for you... As for the software, drill it into your mind that everything to do with WHAT you're engraving will be done in Corel- then the Chinese software becomes just an overly-fancy print driver :D

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Thanks, Kev- my apologies for typing 900 instead of 700!
I've photographed the lens/nozzle, but it's still on the phone.
You put a piece of 3mm acrylic on top of the substrate being cut, and lower the nozzle tube down to rest on it, and tighten it, then remove your 3mm gauge.

The software is really obnoxoius - but as you say-treat it as only a driver. Yes I work out of Corel Draw. Export as dxf, and import into this awful program.
The learning curve with the beast is peculiar but OK. It operates from wherever you stop it or move it to as a new home/origin, without having to be 'set' as such. The 'test' or 'rectangle' option is great. (The ULS didn't have that)
The power and speed settings don't want to stay attached to any outline colour, but seem to reset themselves.
Cutting though 2mm acrylic you can see the pulse perforations at certain faster speeds.
It does a lovely job of cutting 10mm acrylic in one pass- albeit slowly, but I'm running at 50-60% power, and 2% speed, 10% acceleration, 5mm overlap.
It wasn't bad looking, two passes at twice the speed.

And it made a tidy job of cutting 20mm acrylic, but that might be pushing the freindship a little- easier with the router.

Thanks for everyone's assistance. I've ordered a 5200 chiller, and will delve into the Ruida controller next month.

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Update - for the benefit of anyone searching this topic later on:

Ugh the software is awful - but treating it like a printer driver works to some degree.

I've got a set of power & speed settings tested and worked out to cut acrylic from 2mm to 10 mm without it changing the temperature of the water much, considering it still has the cw-3000 water circulator. I also worked out what power settings do increase the temp appreciably.
I've ordered a CW-5200 chiller. Strangely, it was about $350 postage from China, or $16 postage, from Germany - but despatched ex China. We'll see if it arrives soon...

What I found that the machine does NOT do, is engrave or raster a filled vector. You can set the parameters in their "process a consitiution" window of power, acceleration, stepover per pass (or whatever funny word they use),and save and exit.
Then name the file and click download the whatever it is called, and the file lands there ready to send to the laser> but the laser just gives a file error message.
I'm guessing its to do with the firmware? I'm not bothered.

I CAN engrave/raster a BMP file, but it needs a huge landing and turning around area if you want speed and acceleration in the system.
If you place the material & file near the edge of the bed, it simply won't do anything.
Put it in the middle of the bed, and it speeds up to maximum, then slows down, turns around, and gets back up to speed again for the next pass.
I guess there's a fair bit of inertia in the head... whereas our little Universal zips back and forth in a blink when engraving.

(Maybe I have not got the acceleration & speed figures right yet? 500 & 500 worked the best)

Then there are the power settings - it offers you a maximum & a minimum figure to put in - for cutting a vector, or for rastering a BMP.
I've found the minimum figure is the limiting one. Set it too low, and it simply will not laser, regardless of how high the maximum figure is.
Below about 15% gives nothing. So I've been setting both figures about the same- rightly or wrongly eg 45/50.

IN the next month or so I'll get a Ruida kit from ebay/China - but for the moment I can't spare it to be not working!
(The first big job last week paid for the unit!)

Thanks for reading, and for any tips!

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Well the machine works nicely... but I bit the bullet & ordered the RDC6442G controller bundle to put into it.

It was available on Ebay here for around $510 Aussie dollars (including post) but oddly, from the same seller, it was $360 AUD on Aliexpress (including post).
The email says it's on its way... and they sent me the link to download the software and manuals. RDcam v8 is in the user manual, but RD works is on the PC. I'm not sure how or where to get the Corel plug-in happening just yet...

(Corel X3 for the time being)

[Dave Sheldrake]

Chinese lasers will raster vectors on the target system but NOT filled vectors as the software doesn't read the fill values much like they don't read lineweights or hatch patterns

target system = everything inside the first outer line is engraved until it reaches a closed line of the same colour going inwards...think like a rifle target and you won't go wrong :)

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Thanks, Dave, I'd fathomed something like that out. The little ULS is way superior ij that department.
I'm just struggling to get an RD works type of plug-in to magically appear in Corel X3.
The software installation seems to say it's done it, but I cannot find it.

(The installation menu gives you an option of Corel laser, an Autocad option, RD Cam, and something else.)

(RD Works or Cam looks rather like the primitive Goldenlaser software- but with a fair improvement.)

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

OK, I got the plug-in installed.
The packaged instructions are woeful, but Youtube was helpful, and I found a PDF on the net from another company that said the same as Youtube.
Just have to reset the bed size now.

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Well... I don;lt know how they can do it, but the chiller arrived today - all 35 kg of it, from China, to Australia.
What I mean is that on Ebay, they were about $600 to $700 each, and postage/freight was around $300 to $400 each. Total from a variety of sellers all averaged $1050, give or take $90.
I found a Chinese seller advertising it in Germany, for about $630, and their advertised postage was $16 (sixteen) dollars, to Australia.
That's the one I bought after checking feedback etc, and that's what just arrived here. So now the little cw3000 unit that came with the laser, can be put away...

I put a bit more time into fiddling with the Corel to RDworks last night - it's a fairly decent program.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Can you take a picture of the front of the chiller Ian? that sounds like a fake S&A model at that price. if it is they have a habit of failing leading to broken tubes