Laying Groundwork for New Epilog

[Bob Kline]

I’m about to take the plunge for an Epilog Mini 18 with a Rotary Attachment and, thanks to the info in this forum, I feel semi-knowledgeable about my needs. Having said that, I’d still like to run my plans across this fine group because I’m a total laser neophyte. I’ll be engraving onto wood and also onto Rowmark type material. I’ll be engraving text and photos and vector cutting wood no more than 1/8 inch thick. I don’t intend to use acrylic.

I’m a Mac guy so I bought a Dell laptop with Windows 2000 on eBay to do the job. I bought Corel Draw 12, also on eBay, but it hasn’t arrived as yet. I’m hoping to hold off on Photograv (budget issues) in the hope that I can do the job in Corel. (I’m pretty good with Photoshop LE on my Mac) I live in a townhouse neighborhood and have some worries about exhaust odors. I’m looking at the Harbor Freight Dust Collector shown below to push air through about 30 feet of 4 inch flexible hose. It’ll exit (unfortunately) at ground level about 100 feet from the rear of the nearest neighbor.

13 GALLON INDUSTRIAL PORTABLE DUST COLLECTOR
Work in a dust-free atmosphere with this quality dust collector. It develops over ten times the suction of most shop vacuums. Works with 4'' hose.
* Motor: 110V, 7 amp, 1 HP
* Air flow: 660 CFM
* Ship. wt.: 56 lbs.


I’m looking at the Harbor Freight compressor shown below for my Air Assist.

1/8 HP OILLESS AIRBRUSH COMPRESSOR KIT
* Compact, portable, with 30 PSI output--ideal for most airbrush jobs
* Includes pressure gauge, filter, hose, 1/4" NPT male adapter.
* 1/8'' NPT air outlet
* 1/8 HP, 1700 RPM

I’ll have a few weeks to play with Corel before my Epilog arrives. Is the tutorial good?
I’m sure I’ll have many more questions in the future but, for now, thanks in advance for your advice.
Bob Kline

[Alan Young]

Might want to tell your neighbors what you are doing before they call the fire department when they smell burning wood :D Good luck with your adventure.

Alan

[mike wallis]

The Rowmark materal will probibly be the biggest problem as far as smell. Your best bet is to try to operate when most people are at work or not around.
Good luck

[Rebecca Leedy]

If you are going to be engraving photos, I hate to say it but you probably are going to need Photograv. We too thought we could live without but soon realized that we couldn't. Photos look markedly different when Photograv is used.
You are going to have to do something about the noise of the air compressor. That's the model we have and it can get very loud.
Good luck!!
Becky

[Joe Pelonio]

Before buying the fan and pump, look at Granger if one's near you for the fan, and www.airbrushcity.com (http://www.airbrushcity.com) for the pump to compare prices. Also, Epilog really only supports Corel 12 now, and I understood that it only runs on Windows XP, preferably XP-Pro. You need to check into that before you buy the laser. If you have an earlier version of Corel it may work, some people are doing it, but if you have a problem and need help from
Epilog they may not be able to duplicate your job.

[Keith Outten]

Corel Draw 12 runs on Windows 2000 fine and works with the Epilog drivers well, at least for my Legend 24.

Bob,

I would suggest that instead of an airbrush type compressor get one of the small compressors from Sears or where-ever. Put your compressor in the garage and run an airline to your laser engraver. This way the compressor noise isn't in the room with you, the air pump or dust collector noise is tolerable. Install one of the air line moisture filters at the engraver with a ball valve so you can turn it on and off quickly and get a remote switch for your dust collector.

[Mike Mackenzie]

Bob,

Since you are a MAC guy do your layouts in Illustrator on the mac then save the file as an EPS for a PC. then all you have to do is import it into Corel using the PS, PRN, EPS Postscript Interpreted. It works great and it will probably help you with the learning curve of Corel.

[Roy Brewer]

I’m looking at the Harbor Freight Dust Collector shown below to push air through about 30 feet of 4 inch flexible hose.

Bob,

The only improvement I'd make in your plans would be to use as *little* flex hose as possible. Metal venting offers
---a more permanent installation
---far less resistance to air flow
---therefore less residue buildup
---therefore fire marshall will appreciate
---and is probably less expensive.

As an Expilog distributor, I'll confirm, along with Keith, your Mini 18 will have no issues with win2000.

You'll find the Corel manual almost useless, the clip art continues to go downhill, but yes, the new tutorials on CD 4 are very good to get you started.