Searching for fiber laser

[Jonathan Pedersen]

Hi all we are searching for a fiber laser to mark copper/ nickel alloy 90% copper/10% nickel metal bowl. Marking would be in the hundreds to thousands of units per month. Any suggestions have been looking at Epilog and Trotec and had a discussion with Mecco sales rep 40-50k ..dont know of that is going to fly :)

thank you

Jon

[art olin]

Hi all we are searching for a fiber laser to mark copper/ nickel alloy 90% copper/10% nickel metal bowl. Marking would be in the hundreds to thousands of units per month. Any suggestions have been looking at Epilog and Trotec and had a discussion with Mecco sales rep 40-50k ..dont know of that is going to fly :)

thank you

Jon





If you are looking at Mecco, that means that you are looking into industrial lasers, the automation of marking, and marking in a professional, industrial way. A lot of the time, that means that the marking unit head has a certain high IP rating (the first IP number needs to be for sure 6, and the second whatever else) and is made for harsh and certain bad environment resistance. That also means that the mirrors will be totally isolated from the problem of fumes, metal particles, and any other dusty particles created during marking. In order for this to be possible, the lens has to be fixed and mirrors hermetically sealed. Even if there are a lot of lasers available, only a few can make that cut. From available used ones that are not that expensive and are on eBay, the one I see worth considering is this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/323939974238 Also, if you will be marking a thousand items a month, having an automation option (with movement condition, speed, direction, palette assignment, and line settings) built into the software would be good, and the machine above has it. This means you can make a production line if necessary. Also, it was 64000.00 not that long ago from what I can see. https://www.radwell.com/en-US/Buy/KEYENCE%20CORP/KEYENCE%20CORP/MD-H9800W If you will be working with and marking thousands of items per month If I were you, I would consider harsh environment lasers in a first place. I would never consider laser with interchangeable lenses which has no hermetically sealed mirrors inside the marking unit head itself for that kind of jobs. Also, lasers with environmental resistance are very rare in the used market and are very expensive new. Mecco with a price of 40G is normal. Kind Regards.

[Steve Utick]

Hi all we are searching for a fiber laser to mark copper/ nickel alloy 90% copper/10% nickel metal bowl. Marking would be in the hundreds to thousands of units per month. Any suggestions have been looking at Epilog and Trotec and had a discussion with Mecco sales rep 40-50k ..dont know of that is going to fly :)

thank you


Jon

Give Tom @ Radian Laser a call. They have done some cool things with table rotaries for drinkware marking, pens, etc. They may be able to come up with a solution that will work for you.

[Tony South]

https://lasermarktech.com/products-category/standard-laser-systems Check these guys out. I've visited their shop and ran all of their machines. They make great products and could work with you to get the right machine set up.

[John Lifer]

Hundreds to thousands a MONTH? I'd be looking at a cheap chinese fiber. If you are talking thousands a DAY or even a week, go with an 'industrial' laser company.
I'm a one man band and can do thousands a day of a lot of things. I'm betting you are talking about a manufacturer's mark on the base, this would be easy with a 20 watt ebay laser.
5 to 30 seconds a part....
Just say'n

[Chris DeGerolamo]

Hundreds to thousands a MONTH? I'd be looking at a cheap chinese fiber. If you are talking thousands a DAY or even a week, go with an 'industrial' laser company.
I'm a one man band and can do thousands a day of a lot of things. I'm betting you are talking about a manufacturer's mark on the base, this would be easy with a 20 watt ebay laser.
5 to 30 seconds a part....
Just say'n

Agreed.

[increase char. limit]

[Gary Hair]

I mark anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000 anodized aluminum parts a month, sometimes double that in November/December, so "hundreds to thousands" of anything is possible. The time requirements will be different for copper/nickel than anodized aluminum, but even if it was double or triple it would still work. As for the machine(s) - I have two 30 watt fibers and an 80 watt co2 - probably run 60/40 co2/fiber. You don't really need an industrial machine for this type of work but I would highly suggest redundancy - at least 2 or 3 machines all setup the same would keep you out of trouble. Fortunately, you can buy something in the <$10K range that will work fine. Mine were a bit more than that but the prices have dropped a lot since then.


Hi all we are searching for a fiber laser to mark copper/ nickel alloy 90% copper/10% nickel metal bowl. Marking would be in the hundreds to thousands of units per month. Any suggestions have been looking at Epilog and Trotec and had a discussion with Mecco sales rep 40-50k ..dont know of that is going to fly :)

thank you

Jon

[Kev Williams]

to echo Hundreds of Thousands-

Simply put, you're going to need SEVERAL lasers, and operators.

The fastest output I've logged with my fibers manually running parts one at a time has been about 7 seconds per part; 3 seconds engrave time, 4 seconds in/out...

Literally speaking that's 8.57 parts per minute, 514.2 parts per hour, 12.342.8 parts per non-stop 24 hour day... at that rate, totally non-stop, the first 100,000 will take 8.1 DAYS. If running an 8 hour shift with weekends off, that first 100k will take the entire month of February...

This is best-case scenario, one machine, 7 seconds per part, non stop ... If you're taking 14 seconds each, all time factors double, etc...

I don't know your anticipated time schedule, but this a starting-point basis for calculating production time.

Chinese machines are roughly 1/8 the price of the 'industrial' machines, and the simple fact is, if one breaks down, another whole new one can be put into service immediately, for likely less than one repair call for an industrial unit...


That's my http://www.engraver1.com/gifs/2cents.gif on the subject :)

[Gary Hair]

hundreds * or * thousands, not hundreds * of * thousands.


to echo Hundreds of Thousands-

Simply put, you're going to need SEVERAL lasers, and operators.

The fastest output I've logged with my fibers manually running parts one at a time has been about 7 seconds per part; 3 seconds engrave time, 4 seconds in/out...

Literally speaking that's 8.57 parts per minute, 514.2 parts per hour, 12.342.8 parts per non-stop 24 hour day... at that rate, totally non-stop, the first 100,000 will take 8.1 DAYS. If running an 8 hour shift with weekends off, that first 100k will take the entire month of February...

This is best-case scenario, one machine, 7 seconds per part, non stop ... If you're taking 14 seconds each, all time factors double, etc...

I don't know your anticipated time schedule, but this a starting-point basis for calculating production time.

Chinese machines are roughly 1/8 the price of the 'industrial' machines, and the simple fact is, if one breaks down, another whole new one can be put into service immediately, for likely less than one repair call for an industrial unit...


That's my http://www.engraver1.com/gifs/2cents.gif on the subject :)

[Kev Williams]

it's bad enough I'm getting dyslexic in my old age while typing, now I can't read either!

Ok, so that's different. :D

[Jonathan Pedersen]

So i demo'd a Tykma Minilase galvo laser...perfect for our needs. Took 45 seconds to mark our logo (1 1/4" ) on our copper alloy with a setting complimentary to the metal (very light silver effect). Leasing seems attractive since a) My manufacturer currently does not have marking capabilities and said they would pay us for use of machine b) We could charge for marking pets name on our bowls and easily have a profit center. Only concern is if we are marking three locations on the bowl (bottom logo Made in USA etc., logo on rim (two locations 12 and 6 oclock) of bowl and pets name on face of bowl that adds up to potentially four marks x one min per mark average 4 min per bowl x 2,000 bowls = 8,000 minutes (plus setup etc) 133 hours 17 days for one person just to mark those...

Any other ideas for marking multiple locations at scale and not adding another machine ?

[Jonathan Pedersen]

hundreds * or * thousands, not hundreds * of * thousands.

Correct...could be anywhere from 500 to 2,000 month (or more) don't know yet. But there are 120 million cats and 85 million dogs so its not a small market ;)