Considering my first laser

[david minnery]

Hi All,
I'm looking at a Trotec Speedy 100 30w.
I've considered several models and I need a 24x12 bed.
At this point I'm looking to engrave on wood, mostly branding and lettering.
In the future, I could see cutting out 1/4" wood forms. The primary use would still be engraving though.

I'm looking for some advice as to what options I should add.
Air assist - seems like a wise add on.
Stand - I can make my own.
Cutting table - how necessary is this for my needs?

I have a tight budget
Anything else I should be thinking about?

Thanks!

[Ross Moshinsky]

I have no idea how important production is, but 30W is light for engraving wood. I'd recommend upgrading to 50W.

[david minnery]

Hi Ross,
the upgrade to 45w is 4K. I still have some negotiating to do, but that's a big increase.

[Bert Kemp]

You can get an 80 watt Rabbit Laser with a much larger bed for a whole lot less then what a trotec will cost. For what you plane on doing that might be a better machine.

[Ross Moshinsky]

You can get an 80 watt Rabbit Laser with a much larger bed for a whole lot less then what a trotec will cost. For what you plane on doing that might be a better machine.

Chinese machines in general are better at cutting than engraving. A Chinese machine is going to be about 4x slower than a Trotec machine.

[Andrew Holloway]

You can get a Rabbit (or any Chinese) laser for a lot less, but the Trotec has a much faster engraving speed (2-4 times as fast), although at 30W you may not get to make use of that speed - I have a Speedy 100 60W and when I engrave wood I usually use around 80% speed. The Trotec will also be able to engrave much higher details.

Air assist comes standard on all Trotecs I believe.
The stands are an easy one to save money on. I would definitely recommend making your own.
The cutting table you will need if you want to do any cutting. You could leave it for now if the budget is tight and get it later on when you start needing to do cutting.

Trotecs are the most expensive brand of laser out there. I'd recommend getting a demo on a Universal and also on an Epilog as they may fit your needs and you will be able to get a higher power laser for less money.

Take the same job along to each demo and get them to run it for you and compare the time taken and engraving quality on each.

[david minnery]

Hi Andrew,
I've gotten demos from epilog and trotec, I liked both. Still waiting on a uls demo.
I'd prefer to get an American made laser, for a few reasons.

I had to rule out the Epilog for one reason. They don't take credit cards. I have a card with a great rate, much lower than the financing they provide. I even called Epilog directly, it's company policy for new machines. Pretty frustrating to rule them out for what I considered to be a ridiculous policy, oh well.

Air assist is optional on the Speedy 100, unfortunately. I'll check out a universal as well.
Thanks all for the input, really helps!

[Mike vonBuelow]

as the owner of a 25W'er, I would HIGHLY suggest you get the absolute highest power you can afford. You find out time saved = more $$ later

[Andrew Holloway]

as the owner of a 25W'er, I would HIGHLY suggest you get the absolute highest power you can afford. You find out time saved = more $$ later

Totally agree. I was planning on getting a 25W but ended up getting a 60W and am very glad I did.
No matter what you get, you will always want more though.

[Bert Kemp]

True they are slower I'm not sure its 4 times but anyway maybe time isn't a big deal for David, if he's not in a fast paced production environment a few more min's per job versus thousands in savings might not be such a big deal.my 60 watt Rabbit engraves at 350mmps 20%pwr on BB.

[Bert Kemp]

Totally agree. I was planning on getting a 25W but ended up getting a 60W and am very glad I did.
No matter what you get, you will always want more though.

Not if your engraving most people agree 80 watts is about as high as you want to go for engraving.

[Michele Welch]

Hi David,

As a person waiting patiently for my Rabbit Laser to be delivered, I'm kind of interested in hearing your reasons for wanting an American made laser? I understand the basic concept behind it, but with the quality of support that Ray provides through Rabbit, that far outweighed any apprehension I had about it being a Chinese machine. I had a tight budget and was able to get more than I expected from the Rabbit machine and the added benefit of superior support with Ray.

Good luck!

Michele

Hi Andrew,
I've gotten demos from epilog and trotec, I liked both. Still waiting on a uls demo.
I'd prefer to get an American made laser, for a few reasons.

I had to rule out the Epilog for one reason. They don't take credit cards. I have a card with a great rate, much lower than the financing they provide. I even called Epilog directly, it's company policy for new machines. Pretty frustrating to rule them out for what I considered to be a ridiculous policy, oh well.

Air assist is optional on the Speedy 100, unfortunately. I'll check out a universal as well.
Thanks all for the input, really helps!

[Dave Sheldrake]

[/COLOR]Not if your engraving most people agree 80 watts is about as high as you want to go for engraving.

Only on DC lasers Bert, it's due to the lowest power the tube can strike the arc at being too high on a DC pipe above 80 watts. RF will run down to below 1% if the software allows it quite happily.

cheers

Dave

[Scott Shepherd]

Hi David,

As a person waiting patiently for my Rabbit Laser to be delivered, I'm kind of interested in hearing your reasons for wanting an American made laser?

There are many many differences that span a very wide range of reasons. We could not do a great deal of work we do with a Chinese CO2 machine. There are vast differences in the world of raster engraving and delicate, detailed work, things that have made us who we are.

[Bert Kemp]

gotcha Dave Thanks

Only on DC lasers Bert, it's due to the lowest power the tube can strike the arc at being too high on a DC pipe above 80 watts. RF will run down to below 1% if the software allows it quite happily.

cheers

Dave