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View Full Version : Anyone own LaserPro?



Michael Vaughn
12-13-2006, 10:39 PM
Just wondering about the quality of the work it does, problems with the machine, customer support

- especially if you use/have used other brands (epilog, ULS, etc..) to compare against.

Rodne Gold
12-13-2006, 11:42 PM
We have owned Laserpro for yonks and currently run 6 of em.
I specialise in custom awards and trophies and have NEVER had a customer complaint about quality.
www.tokerbros.co.za (http://www.tokerbros.co.za)
We use the lasers to fabricate most of the acrylic designs from scratch.

I have friends with other lasers like Trotec and Universal and there is no difference tween the outputs.
We have had problems with the machines , but they are mainly source problems , especially the Coherent Deos sources used in their Explorer's , laserpro dont make the sources.
Our local dealer sucks , but this is not really a reflection on Laserpro.

George M. Perzel
12-14-2006, 8:09 AM
Hi Michael;
I have a LaserPro Mercury going on 4 years-great machine, rugged and easy to operate although the owners manual appears to have been translated from ancient Phoenician by a blind, dyslexic friar with palsey and a severe speech impediment.
The Laserpro units are also sold under the Pinnacle name by Sign Warehouse.
I'm not going to get into a comparison of vendors/equyipment- many posts on here have already done that ad infinitum, but had an opportunity to visit a fellow member with an Epilog unit -faster than my unit but a heck of a lot more complicated to operate and without many of the driver features.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

Mitchell Andrus
12-14-2006, 9:59 AM
I Love my Spirit. PM response on it's way. George is right re the manual. You can't break the machine via the software, and if your salesman sets you up with a few hours of instruction, you won't be needing the manual much anyway.

Mitch

Michael Vaughn
12-14-2006, 12:02 PM
Thanks All!

:D

Mike Hood
12-15-2006, 3:28 PM
I have a Pinnacle ZX 40W and love it (Laserpro Explorer II)

Vicky Orsini
12-15-2006, 5:02 PM
I just put in my order for an Explorer II 30W today. :) Due to the holidays, we're expecting delivery on the 28th-ish.

Mike Hood
12-15-2006, 5:42 PM
You'll love it. I was as skeptical as most when buying a Chinese product... but it's been a workhorse and I've moade some pretty good $$$ with it already.

I cut a lot of odd-sized material, and the ability to run it through the laser is a BIG plus. :)

Gary Hair
12-15-2006, 8:12 PM
I just put in my order for an Explorer II 30W today. :) Due to the holidays, we're expecting delivery on the 28th-ish.

I've got the same machine and it is working fine. A few glitches when it first arrived but worked through them with signwarehouse and all is good now. You will be happy with it, I'm sure. If I can be of any help, since I have the exact same machine, don't hesitate to ask.

Gary

Martin Reynolds
12-16-2006, 1:17 AM
I have the same machine, probably the same deal. I have a few observations so far:

1) If you are using the vector cutting table, you have to remove the wide ruler to keep the table flat. I keep mine in the rear tray.

2) Mine came with a nice little Sparmax dual-stage compressor for the air assist.

3) You'll need some 4" ducting and maybe some elbows. Blast gates are good for going through walls, and a quick disconnect is handy. Don't forget hose clamps.

4) There's a setting that makes the dirver come up in inches, and sets the default pen characteristics.

5) Consumes only about 600W of power when cutting, so it can share its circuit within reason.

6) Weighs a bunch.

Sam Gardner
12-16-2006, 3:00 AM
Martin
No need to remove ruler. It is easier to insert shim of same thickness as ruler under bottom spacers, then screw down. Actually the laserpro cutting grid sucks as to their desing and strength. Mine tends to sag in the centre and caused inconsistent cutting. I have made one of anodised angle aluminium and square tube. It is extremely strong and much easier to clean and no need to screw down, see attached pic. My Laserpro supplier in Singapore sells these for on site assembly.

Michael Vaughn
12-16-2006, 10:20 AM
Excellent info! :cool: I think I'm sold

Martin Reynolds
12-16-2006, 12:16 PM
Thanks, Sam - I like the look of that table you have. On my machine, I have an extra ruler on the left margin. If I take that one out, the feet on the vector table sit against the big ruler in such a fashion that the home aligns with the corner of the grid. Mine's a new machine and I wonder if they might have changed something.

Bill Cunningham
12-16-2006, 12:24 PM
You'll love it. I was as skeptical as most when buying a Chinese product... but it's been a workhorse and I've moade some pretty good $$$ with it already.

I cut a lot of odd-sized material, and the ability to run it through the laser is a BIG plus. :)

Laserpro is made in China?:eek:

Vicky Orsini
12-16-2006, 12:47 PM
Laserpro is made in China?:eek: Taiwan. ;)

Bill Cunningham
12-16-2006, 9:06 PM
'China' would argue that point:D

Mike Hood
12-17-2006, 12:21 PM
Should've said Taiwan... but I guess that is about perspective :)

Dave Jones
12-17-2006, 6:48 PM
LaserPro (and most of the Pinnacle lasers) are made by GCC, whose headquarters are in Taiwan, but I believe for the past 5 years most of their manufacturing has been in mainland China.

John Ramos
02-27-2007, 11:36 AM
Hi Michael;
I have a LaserPro Mercury going on 4 years-great machine, rugged and easy to operate although the owners manual appears to have been translated from ancient Phoenician by a blind, dyslexic friar with palsey and a severe speech impediment.:p
The Laserpro units are also sold under the Pinnacle name by Sign Warehouse.
I'm not going to get into a comparison of vendors/equyipment- many posts on here have already done that ad infinitum, but had an opportunity to visit a fellow member with an Epilog unit -faster than my unit but a heck of a lot more complicated to operate and without many of the driver features.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts
I absolutely love the translation thing, you could make a living at it!

Thanks,

John:D

Belinda Barfield
02-27-2007, 12:03 PM
Ditto what George said about the manual! Have a LaserPro 60-watt, but haven't done much work with it. Not incredibly happy with dealer support.

During training I asked about the weight limitations of the table. My dealer chuckled. He said when he asked the same question he was told "Table will hold one small Chinese secretary." (which apparently is equivalent to 90 pounds or so. :D

Rodne Gold
02-27-2007, 12:08 PM
New manuals are a lot better ,but agree with prior comments.
Belinda , whats the probem with your machine , We have had 2 mercuries and currently run 3 x explorers and 3x spirits and iv'e been thru the mill in terms of resoving issues. Perhaps I can help?

Belinda Barfield
02-27-2007, 12:15 PM
Rodne,

Thanks for the offer. Will PM you.

John Ramos
02-27-2007, 12:17 PM
I'm looking at a used 2004 50 watt Spirit with 20 hours total time on it. What would be a good price to pay and is it like the current models? Is there anything to watch out for and know aforhand?

From a direct Quote.....

"the owners manual appears to have been translated from ancient Phoenician by a blind, dyslexic friar with palsey and a severe speech impediment."


Thanks,

John:confused:

Rodne Gold
02-27-2007, 12:53 PM
I dont know what would be a good price in the USA, Im in South Africa.
The spirits are marvellous machines , the engraving quality is better then my mercuries and my explorers and in fact my 25 W spirits are more "powerful" than my 35 W explorers. Speed wise its between the Explorer and the Mercuries but in reality is as fast as the supposedly faster Explorer.
They have taken the relaibility of the Mercury, the speed of the Explorer and have improved many of the subsystems. The only thing that has failed on my Spirits are the inbuilt LED strips they use for interior lighting , otherwise they have worked 8 hrs a day for almost a yr.
I was more involved with the Explorers and Mercurys , and have left the day to day running etc of the Spirits to my operators so havent actually used em hands on for much.
In terms of what you should pay - well , I wouldnt pay more than 2/3rd or 1/2 of the orignal cost , bear in mind you wont have a warrantee.
I would be real careful re the tube and would insist on at least 3-5 days of semi continual operation , a once off start and a few minutes will tell you very little barring that the tube just works.
ALL GCC rotary attachments suck.........
I would not pay any extra or be swayed by the optional vacuum table , its fiddly and limits Z - clearance
I cant see you going wrong if the price is right , its a nice amt of power ,a reasonable bed size and great speed. Its a very easy and user friendly machine to use ,

Vicky Orsini
02-27-2007, 1:00 PM
ALL GCC rotary attachments suck......... Why do you say that? Mine works wonderfully. In design, it doesn't appear to be any different than a ULS rotary. :confused:

John Ramos
02-27-2007, 1:25 PM
Does the laser know when a the rotary device is installed or do you have to tell it? Is it indexed in 360 degrees making it repeatable so you could go over a cut again? What praises could you say of it?

Thanks,

John

Rodne Gold
02-27-2007, 1:44 PM
Vicky , it's not an unuseable unit and it engraves ok , nothing great
But its not an intuitive device to use and its clamping system is very poor , its almost impossible to be accurate when centring anything.

It hasnt been improved or updated in like 8 yrs or so.
Issues it has are clearance issues. We have had the AF pins hit the objects and you got to move the AF pin , sometimes you can ever get clearance with a 2" lens and have to use a 4" and incur extra expense and worse quality.
The inability to do small diameter objects , ill defined start points and its not that accurate. It is almost impossible to engrave the full diameter of a tube and register the start and stop points without gaps and overlaps
The wheel is not indexed and a basic software function like being able to turn the item X degrees and then engrave from a center would have vastly expanded its possibilites. It would have been easy to do that AND let the laser ravert back to ordinary XY mode engraving. The inability to tilt is a serious limitation.
We changed the rubber pads and cone to lathe type chucks to solve some issues.
It really is a poorly designed object and it could have been made far more functional , however it can do basic stuff reasonably.
I have a few of em we don't use , maybe I'll design a base and an interchangeable chuck/gripping section for em and see if I can do a better product , if I do , I will post the plans etc.

Rodne Gold
02-27-2007, 1:53 PM
When you Plug the device into its port and switch on the machine it knows its rotary.
It's not indexed.
As to praise , well it does nice job.
The pity is that it could have been made into a pretty serious 4th axis like thing or something capable of more precision and then it opens up decent profits from specialised jobs rather than do poorly engraved glasses and compete with blasters and so forth.
I actually think the rotary is not optional , well every GCC I have ordered comes with a rotary and cutting table. I would not go out and rush to buy one thinking its an essential.
The big money in lasering comes from medium production industrial jobs where you dont compete with other methods of manufacture and marking.

Vicky Orsini
02-27-2007, 2:07 PM
Rodne, if you comem up with a better design and can post the plans, I'd be forever in your debt. :D

We've had to play around with it a bit, but we have been able to do smaller diameter items (shot glasses, drumsticks, etc...). We've (almost permanently) removed our autofocus pin, simply because it gets in the way more than it helps, and we can manually focus just fine (having spent some years doing so on our old rotary engraver).

Is there any manufacturer who makes a "better" rotary? Like I said before, ULS's looks about the same, and Epilog's has its own issues to deal with. I haven't seen a Trotec or Xenetech rotary...

Mike Hood
02-27-2007, 2:08 PM
Thanks, Sam - I like the look of that table you have. On my machine, I have an extra ruler on the left margin. If I take that one out, the feet on the vector table sit against the big ruler in such a fashion that the home aligns with the corner of the grid. Mine's a new machine and I wonder if they might have changed something.

Mine is the same way (Explorer II). I removed the spacer and it's in storage now :)

George M. Perzel
02-27-2007, 5:22 PM
Hi Vicky;
I gotta go along with Rodney on this one. I have one (Mercury 60W) but tend to dread if I have to use it as I have to go through the learning curve all over again. Yeah, I did write detailed instructions , but they are only slightly better than the ridiculous manual instructions. It works, but is just not a user friendly device.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

Vicky Orsini
02-27-2007, 7:11 PM
LOL! I guess that means my expectations are a lot lower than everyone else's. One of the very first things I did when I got my new laser in December was plug in the rotary attachment and went to town engraving every piece of glassware I own. :D

Dave Jones
02-27-2007, 8:35 PM
Their website still shows the same lasers including the GCC/Pinnacle ones and Accuris one they've been selling for quite some time.

Kevin Huffman
02-28-2007, 4:26 PM
Jon Gripp saw this post and asked me to reply for him.

Mr.. John Ramos said:
"I heard Signwarehouse and GCC had a falling out over service in the US and they were undercutting the LaserPro reps."
The first part is a made up fabrication. We do however take our fair share of sales from all dealers.

Mr. John Ramos said:
"I got a new catalog today and no GCC lasers at all in it."
Please see page 44 and page 45 of the new catalog. I have provided the PDF pages from our website.
http://www.signwarehouse.com/catalog_pdfs/2007_1_p44_web.pdf
http://www.signwarehouse.com/catalog_pdfs/2007_1_p45_web.pdf

Mr. John Ramos said:
"The new laser, Accuris is supposed to be totally Chinese"
Sorry, made up fabrication again. LTT makes our lasers for us. Their company is located in Taiwan, just as is GCC.
LTT has only one factory and it is in Taiwan. I have provided the LTT website.
http://www.lttcorp.com/english/index.asp

Mr. John Ramos said:
"and Signwarehouse probably likes the price better but I bet support is going to a real nightware considering they couldn't support the LaserPro well. I think new people might want to steer clear of it like the plague."
Sir, I see you just joined the forum this month, Whom do you work for?

Mr. John Ramos said:
"They're just selling off their inventory, they're not getting any more new LaserPro's/Pinnacle branded ones. I got it from a good source.http://www.sawmillcreek.org./images/smilies/smile.gif I have a feeling you'd get a great deal about now, but no future support and the LaserPro dealer won't support it because they didn't sell it to you."
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]Sir, whom do you work for?

Signwarehouse currently is and continues to be GCC's largest customer.

Keith Outten
03-01-2007, 12:10 AM
A reminder here concerning our Terms of Service.

D. Forum Moderation
2. Disagreements, Flaming, and Personal or Professional Attacks
Disagreements are almost certain to occur. Members shall be respectful of dissenting opinions and refrain from name-calling, personal or professional attacks. Messages that contain critical content must provide all factual information pertinent to the problem and enough data to support any claims or complaints.

I have done some editing to remove a few comments that I felt were violations of our TOS. We all appreciate honest comments whether they are critical or in praise. It is imperative that we back up our statements with facts and resist making unsupported claims.

.

Mike Hood
03-01-2007, 12:39 AM
I've had great luck with mine as well.

I engraved 40 wine glasses this evening.

Nothing real hard about it that I could see.

John Ramos
03-01-2007, 10:58 AM
I just missed a used one with 20 hours on it, 2004 Spirit 50 watt. Basically New, $13,750. Missed by 3 days.

Thanks,

John

Philip Tarnawskyj
04-07-2014, 12:33 PM
Does any body have the maitiance manual for the laser pro mercury l-25