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View Full Version : Opinions on Epilog Helix 24 Laser



Ken Maxwell
11-29-2007, 5:02 AM
I have been doing a lot of research and seen a couple of demos and I think we are going to buy an Epilog Helix 24, 45 watt. It seams that there are a lot of people on this forum with Epilog's. I was just looking for feedback on them as far as durability, ease of use and any problems I might encounter. Also are you pleased with them after you bought it and if you had it to do over would you have bought a bigger one or a different one?

Thanks for any input I will get and you will be seeing me on here asking question.

Frank Corker
11-29-2007, 5:19 AM
Hi Ken. I am 'over the moon' with mine. If I had one regret, I would have gone for the higher wattage, but that said I have been fortunate enough to be able to cut 20mm acrylic in one pass. It has done virtually everything I have asked of it and hardly no trouble. A good few months ago I had a failure of the power pack which I think was caused by a power surge (I didn't have a power surge protector at the mains point - I do now!) but that was fixed by the Epilog suppliers. Epilog even paid for the new part themselves despite being a year out of the warranty time. The bed size is excellent and most of the time it's just a case of doing the regular cleaning to keep it running smoothly. My wife gets annoyed at me when I go and kiss it goodnight though. However it is the second love of my life (after the wife) but I'd buy the same machine again without doubt.

Scott Shepherd
11-29-2007, 7:54 AM
Wish I had the same experience as Frank, but we had nothing but problems with our Helix. In less than 6 months, we replaced the entire I-beam assembly, the rotary axis motor, several cables, the main controller board, the laser tube itself, and several other items I don't recall at the moment. None of them resolved the issues. We were repeatedly told it was the material, yet we had the problem on several materials. After months, Epilog finally agreed there was a machine problem and they were working on it. When pushed to resolve the issue, they informed me that under no circumstances would they give me a date for it to be resolved, and it would be resolved when they resolved it and my only option was to deal with the problems until they got around to fixing it. It cost us a lot of money in materials and even more time in hours. I know I personally worked on the machine more than 50 hours (probably closer to 100). I had the covers off so many times, it wore the black off the screw heads.

My sales rep stepped up and purchased it back himself. During all of this, we even offered to go up a model if it would resolve the problems, yet we were told it wouldn't resolve the problems.

We took the exact same "problems" to Universal and within minutes, they successfully did many of the things that I had been told were "material problems". We bought the ULS PLS4.60 and haven't looked back. I don't fight jobs like I did before and I believe the machine is a far better build machine than the helix.

I know Frank and others have been happy with their machines, but we had a lot of problems. We thought it was lemon, but they kept telling us that all the testing on their machines in house produced the same results. Good thing we had a stand up rep who did the right thing and bought it back (and last I heard, he couldn't resolve the issues either).

I did a partial review here : http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=67576&highlight=PLS4.60

Stephen Beckham
11-29-2007, 7:57 AM
My only regret with Epilog - is not with Epilog. It's that I bought the Mini 24 versus getting the Helix. I've gotten over it - found ways to extend the use of my 24" bed. The only problems I have is Rifles, Bows and Baseball Bats. My goal is to purchase a second laser in the future and it will be the Helix or the replacement for the Helix if the line is discontinued by the time I can afford a second laser.:eek:

I've had only the x-axis belt go out as a repair need. The new one is not wearing so hopefully it was just a faulty one on the machine.

I may be crazy, but was convinced not to buy the extended warranty. Everything that might go bad can be user replaced if you've got some repair knowledge (to my understanding). The main thing that will go out eventually is the tube which is not covered by extended warranty anyway. My x-axis belt was only $25. If I had paid the large amount for the 2nd year, and only needed $25 repair - I'd lost out big time. It was a gamble - odds were in my favor. Knock on wood - it'll keep on running. February is 2 years!

Ken Maxwell
11-29-2007, 12:18 PM
Scott was the material that was supposed to be the problem?

Larry Bratton
11-29-2007, 12:51 PM
I have an Epilog 36EXT 40. Only good things to say about Epilog in my experience. My regret is that I could not afford to go the 60watt. I was advised to go for more power and a smaller table, but I don't regret that decision. The extra size is a big help in many cases.

Scott had a problem with his Helix, and eventually changed to another brand and machine. I was dismayed at Epilog's approach to solving his problem, but, I don't run their business. I think Epilog overall is a good American company, with excellant products and world class tech support and service. Good luck with your purchase.

Scott Shepherd
11-30-2007, 9:19 PM
Ken, it was a variety of materials that showed the problem, but I couldn't get them to focus on anything other than reverse engravable acrylic. They kept saying it was the material and every time I mentioned that it happened on other materials, it was like they never heard a word I said. I did take every single "problem situation" I had on the Epilog and ran it the 1st or 2nd day I had the ULS and it successfully ran every single job that I had "problems" with on the Epilog. At that point, it was clear is wasn't a material problem.

I can honestly say Epilog's tech supports was top notch. Our whole thing fell to pieces when it envolved their engineering department. They openly admitted that they had identified a problem with the motion system. They tried changing belts to a finer pitch belt and pulley and it resolved some of the issues, but at high speeds with the finer pitch, it would jump teeth, which killed that fix. They basically left me with the fact that they knew it was a problem and they knew it was causing me problems with my work and that they could not and would not estimate any approximate time line for a resolution. I explained that I didn't buy a machine so I could pay on it for a year and have to use it at a limited capacity while they "worked out" their engineering problem.

Larry, Rodne, Frank and several other people I can't recall right this minute all helped me work through this issue. All 3 kept telling me that they didn't have the problems I did on the same files, while Epilog kept telling me that it was normal and all machines did it.

Correction, Rodne never ran the files (nor did I send them to him), but he did look at the results and verify that it was not normal and it was unacceptable.

Two main problems- banding and a shift. Neither were ever resolved. Epilog first line of defense- excellent and prompt, their second tier service was horrible.

Matt Wheeler
01-29-2008, 10:36 PM
Scott,
would it be possible for me to see your samples of the shift in your engraver? I have a Helix that has a shift vertically and wanted to see if yours was the same. I have been dealing with tech support for over a week, replaced the laser tube today, to no avail.

Anthony Scira
01-29-2008, 10:57 PM
I am a big fan of buying US Made products. And for a big purchase like this it WAS going to be US made.

I have heard a lot of great things about the customer service. And there is a rep that lives relatively close.

I had an idea of what I was going to use the laser for so when I scheduled the demo I had a bag full of materials that I wanted to run. Once I was happy with the results I was pretty much ready to sign on the dotted line.

So I guess that is the biggest thing is if you have an idea of the application. Bring in as many samples as you can.

Robert Alexander
01-29-2008, 11:06 PM
Ken,
I got my Helix in May of 2005. I got one of the first models made. I had only one problem with the laser and that was the power supply that went out in July of 2005. Epilog replaced it promptly. Other than that the laser has preformed great. I spent almost 18 months deciding on a laser. And I have been happy with the Helix.:)

Matt Wheeler
01-30-2008, 12:08 AM
I have been happy with mine for the last 9 months until about 2 weeks ago. Engraver was fine when I shut it off one night, next day, first job, it decided to shift slightly when the stroke length changed. I have been working with tech support since then, and not getting anywhere too fast. Machine still works, as long as you put a vertical line down both sides to keep the stroke length the same, but that wastes time and material. After 1 week of working with tech support and sending samples to them, I was told it was the laser tube not firing correctly, so they sent me a new one. Installed it today, didn't fix it, and on top of that, it's not as powerful and is older than the tube I had. They are now sending me a rail to try to fix it, hopefully that will do the trick.

Scott Shepherd
01-30-2008, 8:21 AM
Matt, that's the exact problem we had. We replaced the laser tube, solved nothing, we replaced the entire I-Beam, the encoder cable, the cable that runs from the main board to the i-beam, the main controller card. None of them resolved the issue (that was 1 of 2 issues).

That's when Epilog and I began to part company because they wouldn't give me a solution other than to put those lines on both sides of the graphic, which I explained to them made my cycle time at least double than without the lines.

I had no problems with tech support (or Peck). They all bent over backwards to try and resolve it, but it was moved up a level to engineering, and that's where it died. They couldn't resolve the problem and they flat refused to give me a date when I could expect it to be resolved and said "they weren't playing that game". I explained I paid full price for the machine and had no plans to run the jobs at a fraction of the speed it was demo'd at for a undefined period of time. I had already fought it for over 6 months.

I even tried to upgrade to the EXT and pay the difference and they wouldn't entertain the idea. Their idea was that I work with a machine that wasn't working properly until some day in the future when they got around to it. Could be next week, could be 12 months from now. All the while, I kept writing the check for the full amount each month.

Luckily our sales rep stepped in before this ended up in court and bought the machine back. Thank goodness for Roy Hatley who saw the problem not getting resolved and resolved it out of his own pocket to maintain his reputation.

Scott Shepherd
01-30-2008, 9:56 AM
Matt, there's a small sample photo on this thread http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=62818 . I have looked back through the documentation I saved, and the fixes I worked on and I have a lot of information on it all.

I have much more, if you need to see more, PM me your phone number and we'll talk.

Ryan O'Hara
01-30-2008, 10:06 AM
I have had my laser for about a month now and am very happy with the Helix. It has both a usb and an ethernet port and works great. I don't have a parallel port on my machine and didn't want to fuss with a usb->parallel adapter, like I would o a comparable ULS machine. With the ethernet adapter you could run your machine off a wireless router or a really long cat5 cable. For my app I need a 1.5" lens and I called my local rep and the lens should be here in 3 days and the technician he works with is gonna come by and install it for me (not that he needs to, since its a pretty simple swap)!

The big thing to remember on the posts in this thread is that there is tech support available. Many other non-us manufacturers will not be able to send parts or even attempt to fix bad firmware/components.

Sandra Force
01-30-2008, 10:24 AM
I ran an Epilog when I first started engraving 5 years ago. The machine had a lot of hours on it and had developed the skip on the stroke and we tried everything. I changed out the belts, adjusted carriage etc and nothing worked other than a line down each edge. When the tube went out we did not replace with an Epilog. I will say that the machine was 5 years old and had horrible care when I started using it. The guy who ran it before me didn't even know there was a filter on the chiller or care that the machine should be cleaned out regularly.

Scott Shepherd
01-30-2008, 11:05 AM
Ryan, not sure what you are talking about with the ULS having a parallel port. We have a USB port and it works every time. Ethernet is normally recommended to those having issues with USB. USB is good enough to connect my external hard drives, printers, digital cameras, and every other device out there. No reason it's not good enough to send a file to a laser.

Ryan O'Hara
01-30-2008, 9:15 PM
Scott,

Thanks for making me clarify...when I chose the Epilog Helix a big factor was that I couldn't have the machine within 5 meters of the computer.

From www.usb.org (http://www.usb.org)

Q1: How long of a cable can I use to connect my device?
A1: In practice, the USB specification limits the length of a cable between full speed devices to 5 meters (a little under 16 feet 5 inches). For a low speed device the limit is 3 meters (9 feet 10 inches).

From the spec sheet on the ULS site for the V460. Maybe a ULS user could provide the current cost for this option?




Parallel port standard. USB and ethernet
optional. Compatible with Windows® 2000/
XP and Mac OS®9.


Based partly on pricing and the fact that the ethernet and usb port were standard I went with the epilog. In a previous job we ran ethernet connections over 500' in a machine control situation where the computer had to be in control room and I really preferred this option in my laser even though I only need to go 25'. Having the option to send data from my wife's laptop to the machine has also proven to be very handy, since she is the graphic designer and I am not.

I think the newest versions of the ULS machines have ethernet and USB, but at the time I purchased my laser they were not in the same price range as the Helix and the V460.

Kelly Craig
02-26-2010, 6:12 PM
Ken and Joe,

I'm local (or is that loco?) to Washington also. However, I'm on the dry side of our portion of the planet, Specifically, Mattawa, Washington (my neighbor is an apple, another one is a bale of hay).

I've been looking into lasers (and water jets) for some time now. I'm a ways out on investing in one, but am interested in testing capabilities of both systems on various materials for different jobs.

Thus far, it seems the lasers are the least expensive, and the most fun, as far as versatility goes.

All that said, do you, or do you know of anyone in my neck of the woods, play around for other folks. I'm looking into cutting Mylar (about 10-14 mil) for templates and have gotten a few samples of material, but haven't had any cuts done yet.

Kelly

Frank Corker
02-26-2010, 7:24 PM
Kelly, no offence intended here mate, but this is a two year old post, you would be better private messaging or checking through the list of engravers to find someone local to you.