Chinese supplier question - looking for somewhat higher end

[John Finnegan]

Hi All,

I would like to purchase a laser from China and I need to have it on the books before the end of the year. The cutting area I’m looking for is 1300 x 900 or 1200 x 800 (close to 48” x 36”).

I’m interested in a somewhat higher end manufacturer than the producers of the Shenhui or RedSail models, though I still want to remain in a reasonable $7-$9k delivered range. My understanding is that manufactures in the Guangdong province (Shenzhen area, near Hong Kong) tend to produce higher quality machines, though that is anecdotal and I don’t want to over-generalize. I know that many folks here are happy with their Shenhui machines.

I have inquiries into Yueming laser, who seems to have a nice German imported x-y gantry assembly and uses American made lenses. I’ve also made contacts with the gentleman that supplies lightobject with their laser gantries and DSP, and he’s able to provide everything except pass-through capabilities and FDA certification (this might be a big deal, I don’t know).

So my question is:
Does anyone have the names of the higher end manufacturers in China? For example, the factories that US distributors of Chinese machines like Hurricane or Jameison would be using to custom build their machines? I’d like to be able to support US distributors in the future, but right now cost control in my fledgling business is most important factor and I do not require US based support or training at this time.

I won’t list out all the positives and negatives of the two suppliers I’ve already contacted yet, but if you’re interested in the specs I’m looking for, they are:

100W RECI tube (w4)
1300x900 bed is best; 1200x800 bed might be ok
(2) sets of SI mirrors – high quality
40, 50, 70, and 100mm lenses
Power z-axis bed
2:1 Reduction and NEMA drives
Honeycomb table
Pass through capability – front and back
Rotary assembly
CW5000 chiller with pump and flow sensor
Red Dot alignment
Exhaust Fan
Lighting on inside of enclosure – LED or Fluorescent on the rear of the inside
Home position in top left corner (limit switch goes there)

Thank you very much for your feedback and advice.

John

[Earl Cox]

Try Ray Scott, of Rabbit Laser USA. He's located in Ohio.

[Bruce Dorworth]

I have a GWeike and build quality is very good.

Bruce Dorworth

[Ross Moshinsky]

Don't trust them when they say anything is German or American made. The chances are close to 0.

Gweike is where a lot of people get their lasers from. I'm fairly sure that is where Hurricane gets their machines from.

The reality is, all the machines are designed with the same parts and made essentially the same way. The differences come in quality control and customer service. If you're going to buy, Shenhui and Gweike are two of the most reviewed manufacturers.

[Rodne Gold]

That machine you list should cost you $6k all in with some more spares , excl shipping which will be another $1000 , from any reputable maker.
I was at the shenui factory , was impressed and after 18 months of flawless running my 2 machines in a terribly rough environment , I'm pretty sure you can get a great machine from them. You can spec your machine up as well , you can specify servos , RF tubes , optical recognition and so forth. The lasers are rather simple machines to work on or upgrade if you want to do it slowly.

[John Finnegan]

What are your thoughts on the quality of the gantry?
I look at the G.Weike bolt on single rail style (like the Shenhui) and compare it the the Yueming (there is a nice view at 2:10 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfCD7VG0QLw&feature=plcp) and the Yueming looks to be a more robust extruded metal.
Is that a legitimate concern? I don't want to make too big of a deal where it doesn't matter - I'm just inexperienced.

Thanks,
John

[Ross Moshinsky]

YM looks worse to me. Seems like they are mounting the rail on the top of the gantry and has the laser head cantilevered from the bearing block. I can't imagine it achieving great quality at high speeds.

[Scott Shepherd]

I can't imagine it achieving great quality at high speeds.

I didn't see any "high speeds". It was like watching paint dry when it was rastering

[John Finnegan]

Enough of that you Trotec snob

(Let's see how this business goes and hopefully some day I can join you in Trotec snobdom)

[Scott Shepherd]

Enough of that you Trotec snob

(Let's see how this business goes and hopefully some day I can join you in Trotec snobdom)

Not being Trotec snobby, any GCC, Universal, or Epilog owner can say the same thing

[Ross Moshinsky]

I didn't see any "high speeds". It was like watching paint dry when it was rastering

Didn't someone with a Shenhui laser post a video engraving something compared to what you did with your Trotec and the time and quality was very similar?

[john banks]

I did, it was vector engraving though. Raster engraving is much slower.

[john banks]

BTW, for a 1280 Shenhui with spares including spare tube, to the UK with all the freight and taxes paid it was about £6k so about $9k with similar spec to that in the original post.

[Scott Shepherd]

Didn't someone with a Shenhui laser post a video engraving something compared to what you did with your Trotec and the time and quality was very similar?

Nice try Ross! Like John said, that was vectoring, which we all know doesn't change much from machine to machine. I did say RASTERING!

I also didn't say one was better than the other, I simply made a comment that it looks like it rasters very slow. I thought by all objective means, that's an accurate statement.

[Hilton Lister]

What was surprising to me was that there appeared to be no over run on the raster. It just ran from edge to edge of the pattern. Is that a standard feature on more modern machines than my Laserpro Mercury?