Laser Ordered Now What?

[michael reimer]

Hey Everyone,

Thanks to everyone here I ordered my new 80W Shenhui Laser this past week. I have a question for the users here. With the unit taking about 30 days or so to reach South Florida via container is there anything I can be doing to prepare for its arrival. I specified that the unit run on US Voltage, so I am thinking of running lines for that, vent lines, air line. Any tips or an I missing anything????? Any info would be appreciated. I also an kinda new to Corel Draw do will be doing some computer time to get up to speed on that as well.

Mike

[Bill Cunningham]

If you can drive your new laser with coreldraw, that's where you need the most training. I've been using corel since version 2 and hardly a week goes by where I don't say hmmmm I didn't know it would do that!.. All the rest is 'push the button'.. well almost!!

[Chuck Jarrett]

Mike, Spend the next 30 days getting as educated on Corel Draw as you can. Imagine some of the products you may be doing, and create those on Corel like you would be doing for a customer etc. There are some good videos on you tube that will help you. Best of luck with your machine.

Bill you are so right about "I didn't know it would do that"

[Roy Nielsen]

Congratulations!

Make sure you have a CO2 fire extinguisher on hand (and hope you never have to use it).

Start collecting scrap materials for testing. I often run new designs on cardboard, from 3-ply boxes to cereal boxes. Find suppliers for the materials/items you wish to use.

Be aware that at least some of the Chinese lasers can't use the latest versions of Corel Draw, at least not directly. You can find older versions for sale if that's what you need.

Have fun!!!

[Glen Monaghan]

I agree on the CO2 fire extinguisher, but I also suggest having a small kitchen spray bottle with about a cup or so of water in it. I've had two small fires when cutting finely detailed designs in acrylic which gave me the unwanted opportunity to verify my previous tests that indicated a couple of squirts of water should readily extinguish small acrylic fires. In the worst case, it appears that about 4 square inches were burning before I notice the bubbling of the acrylic and was able to react (when acrylic burns, the flames can be very hard to see) and the fire was out with 3 or 4 squirts in a second or two.

The spray bottle is about the size of a coffee cup and sits on the stand at the bottom front corner of the laser, immediately at hand. The considerably larger (and more expensive to use) CO2 unit is an arm's length away and would take a bit longer to grab, pull the pin, heft into place, grab the nozzle, aim, and squeeze, but is there in case it becomes obvious that a couple of squirts from the bottle won't do the trick.

The spray bottle is also convenient for the occasional job that benefits from moistening application tape and such.

[michael reimer]

Guys,

Thank you very much for the ideas. Here is the plan then:

1. Collect stuff for testing / playing around with.

2. Acquire a C02 extinguisher. THANK YOU!!!!!!

3. Water bottle for small flare ups.

4. I am on a Mac so buy a PC to run Corel Draw???? Can I run what I need on parallels?

Mike

[George M. Perzel]

Michael;
Congrats on your purchase.
Do not assume because they said they would wire it for US Power that it will be so. Most likely not. They may send a bulky 110 to 220vac transformer which will be two wire-very nice boat anchor. The system will not be totally grounded. Be prepared to drive a separate ground rod. Be prepared to manually ground every metal part of the laser. Cases are made in parts, separately painted, and then bolted together-paint prevents good ground between caseparts. Ground metal parts of water flow sensor. Ground case of power supply.
Get distilled water and propylene glycol for chiller. Mix 4 to 1 and add some color food dye to water to make flow visible-also nice in laser tube when lit. Get good accurate digital level and prepare to level table. Do NOT touch the mirrors-they should be aligned from factory. Adjust only if necessary.
Do NOT touch leveling screws on laser tube holders-only later if any alignment problems.
Cycle Z axis up and down to limits and insure smooth travel all the way and cutoff at limits.
Use small good quality airbrush compressor-adjustable output iff possibe. Do not use normal air compressor. Use in- line water trap/filter.
Fire preventive ideas from guys are all good-as careful as you think you are-it will happen.
Get a separate vac/dust collector to keep laser clean and keep it closeby-separate from exhaust system.
Setup plastic box to identify and store spare lenses and mirrors.
Other than that-have fun and good luck.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Mike Troncalli]

Guys,

Thank you very much for the ideas. Here is the plan then:

1. Collect stuff for testing / playing around with.

2. Acquire a C02 extinguisher. THANK YOU!!!!!!

3. Water bottle for small flare ups.

4. I am on a Mac so buy a PC to run Corel Draw???? Can I run what I need on parallels?

Mike

A Mac running parallels will work.. BUT... I am not sure if Corel is fully compatible with Windows 8 (somebody correct me if I am wrong please)So if you have or can get Windows 7 you will be better off. If your Mac is your main computer running email, and any other programs you might want to think about getting a dedicated PC for your laser.

My setup is a Mac for my main business programs, etc.. A dedicated PC that just has Corel Draw and Laser software installed. I use Dropbox on both computers as I sometimes do my drawing on my mac instead of the smaller screen on the laser computer.

[Rodne Gold]

Be careful with Corel and the shenui , it is not a what you see is what you get system and doesnt quite work the same was as on those lasers that drive straight out of Corel.
If you are starting new on a design package , for the shenui I would use Adobe illustrator
RDCAM , the driver that comes with the Shenui , converts to an AI format and imports that.
Watch out for lines with thickness , shenhui will not engrave them with thickness.

[Alexa Ristow]

Congrats...Start sourcing a supplier list for consumables and substrates. Think acrylic, MDF, beermat, Cardstock, thin ply, transfer tape. think tools such as craft knives, scissors. Long metal rulers, scrapers, tweezers. think of DNA, acetone, crud cutters. Think of shelving systems for storing sheets of substrates. Spend time downloading sample projects for playing with. Regards, Norman and Alexa.

[Khalid Nazim]

I would just add just couple of points to everything said earlier:

If you are using Corel as your drawing package, then export out a DXF of your design and then import in RDCAM. This is the way I have been using the machine since last 2 years and has worked for me in all situations.
If you are using AI as your drawing package, then make sure that you save your file as AI ver 8.0 - RDCAM will only accept this version or below

Finally, please feel free to reach out to us anytime you need assistance. The first few weeks will be a roller coaster ride....enjoy And CONGRATULATIONS... you are going to love having this new member for your family

Regards
Khalid

[Joe Hillmann]

You need an exhaust blower and you need to get it all hooked up and vented outside.

Get a couple rolls of blue painters tape. When you are working on a new job you can cover it with blue tape and engrave at a very low power and the laser will just bleach the color out of the tape so you can make sure everything is aligned. Once everything looks like it is in the right place you can peal the tape off and engrave or just turn the power up and engrave right through the tape.

Does you laser have air assist? Will it be coming with it's own compressor? You may need or want an air compressor.

Learn what ever drawing program you will be using. There are lots of videos on youtube that show how to use CorelDraw. Engraving concepts 1 has lots of good videos.

Have lots of items to engrave on to practice.

[Frank barry]

Hi I do think any spare time you have should be spent doing you somedesign work as there is more to it than you may think also an older version ofdesign software may work better and be cheaper
Good luck with your laser
Frank

[michael reimer]

Thank you all again for the help.

1. I asume......... that the Shenhui comes with both the exhaust blower (if not no big deal).

2. I also assume that the Shenhui comes wight he air assist. I have shop air where this is going so I will plumb it in direct.

3. Power, George mentioned that they are using a transformer. Is there a way that I eliminate that? Can I run 220Volt? Can it be 110Volt?

4. I am pretty good with the adobe creative suite so the software stuff should not be that hard for me. I do a lot if graphic design so I am hopeful that this won't be too bad.

5. I will start stockpiling on stuff to engrave.

6. I recently attended the SGIA sign show in Orlando and I am all set with the suppliers. There were so many there that sold so much of that stuff I am overloaded.

THANK U!!!

Mike

[AL Ursich]

I don't want to create any hard feelings but I had a question about adding a Ground Rod for the Laser. I have heard that before but the Electronic/Electrical guy in me wondered about Ground Loop?

I had always thought that the best ground was to tie into the home or shop electrical ground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity)

In my Sony days making picture tubes I saw first hand a new equipment from Japan Ground Loop problem where the metal case of the equipment was a few volts above the building power ground. It had caused a problem with the Automation, the network connection for the Programmable Logic Controllers. PLC.

Good Luck with your new laser.

This picture was posted a few weeks ago. The Lacking of the Ground Wire on the 220 volt power strip. Invite a Qualified Electrician to look over the Electrical. 220 Volts can KILL you....

AL