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pete hagan
03-22-2007, 8:54 PM
BEFORE I WIRE MY MONEY.........

Has anyone had overly BAD dealings with Rabbit Laser, Frank Yaming with Ethan Fang in Plano, TX or HXLaser? Please let me know as I have settled on this machine for several reasons. I know Frank will see this as he is online from time to time so Frank please don't be offended, I'm doin my homework! Frank people have spoken well about the product so thanks for your hard work.

Like many I have been looking at these Chinese lasers and first off I'm a newbie in this "laser" field. Over the last several years I have been purchasing retail (sudo-wholesale) services of a local laser house (trophy shop) who is very helpful but not that much of an expert with their two small US brand rf laser 25w systems. Due to my volume and desire for additional use I have finally decided to buy a laser. Plus if you have to tell the guy how to do something simple in Corel (like hide layers), well maybe they aren't that experienced in the world I need.

Now we have metal working Fanuc Cnc's in our shop, Corel X3, Solid Works, ACAD, MasterCam etc so the method of marking is not new at all it's just manual (physical) in-house. We engrave aluminum products on our machines all day long. Debugging quirks is a normal job and nothing short of common so the problems some people are having with these imports doesn't bother me too much. I like a little challenge sometimes. As long as freight handles the machine within reason I believe I'll be OK.

Having shopped the US brands, spoken with enough people who have had these Chinese lasers (more than 6 months) and gut checked my own self I'm making the plunge for a 24 X 36 unit from Rabbit. For the cost of even a moderate US model I can buy THREE of these units and frankly for what I need I'm willing to be a test subject. The HX6090SE has the similar operation (print driver) direct from whatever software I'm running as the US models versus the off-shore software which you must convert files to for many of the other Chinese brands. So I believe the learning curve will be moderate just understanding the various layers needed for different depths of engraving of images.

All that said I'm ready for that purchase. I could pay quite a bit more for that US distribution supply with US support but I already sell products into a different distribution channel so I understand all about that profit margin. What can I say I like a deal

So unless someone contacts me with blood dripping from their wrists from their HXLaser experience I'll simply document my experience here for everyone to witness. Wish me luck!

Pete

Ralph Lindberg
03-22-2007, 9:14 PM
Never heard of them before (which in my case means nothing), but some of their products look just like the products from http://www.a4dableww.com/

pete hagan
03-22-2007, 9:37 PM
Which is very much like many other Chinese laser companies.Gary at a4dableww get's their lasers from a Chinese group. I do not know for certain which company he sources the lasers from but many companies are located in the same region (Jinan City) of China. I've spoken with Gary and a few of his customers who speak very highly of a4dableww. What issues they have had have been resolved promptly and Gary is working to provide a level of support that is US based. Can't go wrong there and certainly Gary needs a profit for his efforts.

Frank Corker
03-22-2007, 10:03 PM
Pete - go and have a fish around here www.cnczone.com/forums/index.php (http://www.cnczone.com/forums/index.php)?
they have a lot of people who have and deal with Chinese lasers. There is almost always a great debate about it. Your main problems, short lasting lasers, parts, after sales service and reliability. The pros - they are cheap. Remember, you get what you pay for.

Ralph Lindberg
03-23-2007, 9:42 AM
Pete, after studing Rabbit's web site. It appears to me that they may be a supplier to A4dableWW.
Of interest was the specs they give (like tube life in hours) that A4dableWW does not. Also was that I could not find what their warranty period is, although I suspect it's the same as A4dableWW (with no proof)

If you look down the list of posts in this forum, you will see a topic on A4dableWW, in there is a post with a link to A4dableWW manuals and software. The kindest thing I can say about the english used is, poor. It reminds me of the manuals Grizzly used to ship with their woodworking tools (20 years ago).

Rob Bosworth
03-23-2007, 11:56 AM
Pete, you stated in your first message that you are currently using a supplier that is having trouble being an expert at using your files from CorelDRAW. Multi layer graphic engraving seems to be way over their head. So you need to find a better supplier? Now you are going to go out and buy a laser system with very little support, from a supplier that not many engravers on this site have heard about.

I have not handled one of these machines. (disclaimer)

From what I understand about these glass tubed imported laser processing machines. Due to the output of these glass lasers, they can be a very good vector cutting machine. The lasers have a really nice CW mode, which is great for some cutting applications. However, these glass tubed lasers are generally not very strong pulsing lasers. Pulsing a laser is how most raster engraving pieces are done. Controlling the pulsing on a laser's output is very important for most of the applications you mentioned in your first post.

I won't comment on any of the machine's mechanical construction, because I have not handled one of these machines. But if you have the CNC experience as stated, you can make up your own conclusions.

After writing the above, I am even more confused as to why you would consider one of these "inexpensive" imported lasers to give your production capabilities more control. If you are running a business, and quality, capability, and reliability are important for your business, why would you take a chance on something mostly unknown not only to you, but to a fairly large network of professional engravers. In one of your earlier statements you mentioned something about talking to a number of owner's of these machines that have owned one of these machines for over a year, and they are happy with their purchase. Ww have not been able to identify any owners who have even owned one of these machines for at least a year. We have asked for input from anyone who has owned one for more than three months, and have yet not had a response. If on the other hand, you don't care if it works or not, mostly because it is cheap, go ahead, take a flyer.

Mitchell Andrus
03-23-2007, 12:51 PM
Yugo, anyone???

It'd be a shame to buy a laser, no matter how cheap, to find that in two years a replacement circuit board, laser tube, belt, etc., is no longer available, or that the cost of the parts is off-the-wall expensive. - Or to find that no matter how much tinkering you do, the drive system just won't hold a reasonable tolerance.

I never buy cheap. I buy assuming I'll need help in 2 to 5 years and buy accordingly.

Ralph Lindberg
03-23-2007, 1:38 PM
Reminds me, rather a lot, of the state of Taiwanese wood working equipment 20 years ago. But then things started to change....

Today the number of large wood working machines built in North American can almost be counted on the fingers of one hand. Some of the Taiwanese equipment made today is still, frankly, well, go to your local Harbor Freight store... But compare that with General's GI series or Woodworker's Supply WoodTek, or Grizzly, or Shop Fox, or Steel City, or Delta (yes), or....

The move is actually now on to China, Teknatools (of New Zealand) has started moving production there. So far it does not appear to be impacting quality.

I predict that Chinese engravers will continue to improve, yes, they will largely be copies of someone elses models (see their past history in almost any product). But there will be incentive to improve. I would say that some (maybe 5, maybe less) years from now, one (or more) of the major laser firms will move their production there.

Dave Jones
03-23-2007, 1:54 PM
You don't have to wait that long. GCC (aka LaserPro and Pinnacle) has had factories in mainland China for a couple of years already.

Gary Hair
03-23-2007, 3:48 PM
You don't have to wait that long. GCC (aka LaserPro and Pinnacle) has had factories in mainland China for a couple of years already.

And to add on to your comment, their lasers are of very high quality. I have not worked with a US made laser but the few I have seen don't have anything on the GCC models.

Dave Fifield
03-23-2007, 3:52 PM
Somewhere on an internet forum, I read that people were left waiting months for their Chinese lasers after they ordered them, and were being given the run around and standard gamut of excuses as to why they hadn't shipped.....be careful, nomesayin?