Help me decide

[Loren Rux]

I'm a newbie to the site and fairly new to engraving. I've been reading past threads and have learned a lot here already. There aren't many places with this much experience and knowledge about engraving to learn from. I bought a small engraving business from a 96 year young gentleman about 2 years ago. Most of his regular customers moved on as he was slacking in his quality and speed a little. With the deal i got a beveler , a table shear and an old New Hermes manual engraver ITF-K. Id guess from the sixties? I have some regular customers with one of them giving me an order of 40 - 60 2 x 10 nameplates every month. (main reason I got involved) I'm not looking to make a living off this just hope to have something to keep me busy when I retire and a little extra income. I do have 2 larger jobs i fell into coming up. One of them is 1300 1/2 x 3 name tags and the other is about 50 8 x 12 signs with 3 or 4 lines each. Now I could do these on the New Hermes but thought it might be time to upgrade and am hoping the 1/2 x 3 job leads to another one like it. Now the question I cant decide on... I can get a new Roland EXG-30A for about $4000 or a used Gravograph IS400 that is about 10 yeas old for $5800. $1175 of that is for a one year parts warranty . I was really hoping to stay at the $4000 mark but from reading on here not sure what to do. I'm not bad on the computer , done some video and photo editing but no experience in the software for these machines. Id like to see the business grow a some but hate to put to much money into it to when everything is fine the way it is. Then again the initial investment is paid off so i could do a little upgrade. I'm 55 but am hoping to retire from my main job a couple years early if possible. I'm tired of arguing with myself on this and could use an opinion from someone with more knowledge than me! Thanks

[Gary Hair]

For that many plastic name tags you would be better off with a laser. It will be many times faster and will give you more options for layout - fonts, sizes, etc. You would spend a little bit more on a laser but you could recoup it extremely fast with jobs such as you mentioned. I wouldn't even consider spending money on a rotary engraver if I were in your position.

[Mike Null]

I'd go for the IS400 but not the warranty. Then find yourself a used laser to allow for more opportunities. I would avoid the Roland.

[John Lifer]

You can get a pretty good Chinese machine for between the $4 and $5K you have there from Ray Fine. (or Rabbit if you want US service) I'd sure think about that too.

[Loren Rux]

My best repeat customers have had rotary signs for years and don't want any change or a laser would be great. I'm in a smaller size town and there are others here that use laser so me sticking with the rotary makes me unique. Plus , the others send me rotary stuff and I send them laser. I see I can get a spindle for the is400 for around $500. Is there anything else that is comman to wear out or break that would justify that much money for a warranty ? Im leaning toward the gravograph with no warranty or is there any other machines I could be looking at? Also the customers want the same font they have always had. It is a 35-023 that I think is called U S block. Could that be right? Thanks for the replies !

[Tony Lenkic]

Yes there are other machines you can look at.
Vision, Xenetech, Quality 1, Newing Hall

Depending where you are located some of distributors for these machines may have a something used in house.

I've seen a Xenetech one on ebay (XOT1625) that will give you larger work bed for future needs.

[Kev Williams]

Last time I used a pantograph to make a 2x10 nameplate was sometime in 1981...

and the last time I used a CNC engraver to make a 2x10 nameplate was sometime in 2001 (although I DO tool engrave anything larger than 1" lettering since it's faster and no heat warp :) )

As for your customers liking good ol' U S Block, Arial Rounded and many other fonts done by laser can mimic tool engraving, the small variances in the tails of the Q's and R's and such won't even be noticed...

That one year parts warranty is likely money wasted on that IS400, it's basically a gamble on whether or not the power supply will give out ;)

Since you know engraving, get the IS400. And since you know engraving, DO consider a laser, yessir...

[John Lifer]

Ok, so let me get this straight. You have customers that LOVE rotary engraving. OK, keep them satisfied. And you get rotary engraving referrals from other companies that CAN'T do rotary engraving. Ok. But you GIVE AWAY customers because you won't get a laser? Please. Get a small laser and work towards moving that direction. Way too easy to add to your business. Especially if you want to grow or for that matter maintain. One or two rotary customers that won't move to laser isn't going to keep you going. And those laser guys.... Guess what. We ARE replacing ANY rotary items that are brought to us. 95% of them. That is business you won't get back.

[david b west]

Ok, so let me get this straight. You have customers that LOVE rotary engraving. OK, keep them satisfied. And you get rotary engraving referrals from other companies that CAN'T do rotary engraving. Ok. But you GIVE AWAY customers because you won't get a laser? Please. Get a small laser and work towards moving that direction. Way too easy to add to your business. Especially if you want to grow or for that matter maintain. One or two rotary customers that won't move to laser isn't going to keep you going. And those laser guys.... Guess what. We ARE replacing ANY rotary items that are brought to us. 95% of them. That is business you won't get back.


what John said...

nice to be friendly in a small town, but keep in mind that business is competitive.

eventually laser will dominate (already is) and you will go out of business. OR- add a laser, ADVERTISE as the guy that offers the choice of ROTARY or LASER, and GROW!

[Mike Null]

There is still plenty of business to be done with rotary engravers. And no--a laser cannot do all the things you can do with a rotary.

[Loren Rux]

I called the place with the IS400 Thursday. 300 miles away and he will be here on Monday to deliver and set it up for me. Also will show me the basics to get me going. That means a lot when you have no experience with the engraver. Didnt get the warranty so hope things go well. Maybe will get a laser one day but am happy how things are going now. If I can make a few bucks instead of spending money to do something I enjoy ,Im Happy! Thanks for all the opinions and advice! I will probobly be back soon with a dumb question on how to run the thing! Loren

[Mike Null]

Good move to get you started.