Epilog Mini18 25watt

[James Aldrich]

Hello everyone. I have been watching this forum for some time now, and I must say you are a great group of people. I just now joined the group. I was wondering if anyone has used or has the Epilog Mino18 25W laser. I am new to lasers, and was looking at purchasing the mini18 25W as a starting system. My wife and I are on a tight budget, and the price of the 25w mini is affordable. We are looking at doing glass and marble tile. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank You

[Joe Pelonio]

I'd make sure they do a demo for you on a marble tile, and also cutting 1/4" wood and acrylic. My Epilog is 45 watts and I do marble at 100% power, if you go slow it could be too low a resolution for photos, and
you will at some point want to cut 1/4".

[Bob Tate]

Hi, I have the Mini 18 35 Watt. Mighty fine piece of hardware. I spent weeks trying to decide on a bigger table, more power, etc.
I find that the 35 Watt has enough poser for anything I could possibly want. A 25 Watt may require you to go a little slower but will get the job done just fine. The only thing I am not sure about is if you wanted to cut wood, like a quarter inch. The 25 Watt may require you to slow down enough that you get a lot of burned edges. Some people say you can burn in two passes. I have had no luck there, the edges are too burned. I am sure the 25 will suffice for anything else.
You can get a lot of great help around here. There is lots of experience hanging out here. I am not sure how much is with the Mini. If you need it, let me know and I will give you my e-mail address and I can help you out if you need it.

Bob

[Lee DeRaud]

Ok, a slightly contrary opinion: 25W is plenty for cutting 1/4" wood of most common species. There are some species (mainly oily exotics) that just burn, but I don't think more power will help all that much.

Yes, the edges will burn somewhat. But if the edges are going to show, it's not that big a deal to sand off the burned edge surface...it's typically less than 1/64" deep. For things like inlay, the edge won't show anyway, especially if you mirror-cut from the back side to get tighter joints.

[Joe Pelonio]

Bob,

When you tried 2 passes did you refocus? Mine's 45 watts rated to cut 3/8" acrylic, and I had a guy that wanted 1/2". I made one pass with settings for 1/2", then manually focused with a piece of 1/4" in, then
ran it without autofocus and it worked. There was a slight difference in the normally glossy edge, if you looked close you could see where the
first cut ended, but wood might work better.

[rich shepard]

Hi All
I have a Mini 18 35 watt and love it. What I do on thicker stuff is set the focus brelow the surface and that seems to work most of the time. i'M always cutting 1/4 inch woods for boxes and models. The only one that gives me fits is hard Maple and plywood. Give Phill a Call and he can demo for you but he hard to get at times.
rich

[Bob Tate]

Hey guys, I did not mean I can't cut 1/4" stuff. On occassion I have tried the 2 pass thing and just get too much burning on the edge. I really think my 35 Watt is running higher than that. It seems like all of the settings I read use far more poser than I need.

My point was, I don't know what will happen with a 25 Watt machine when you try to cut thicker stuff.

I like mine right where I am at.

[Lee DeRaud]

i'M always cutting 1/4 inch woods for boxes and models. The only one that gives me fits is hard Maple and plywood.

The problem with plywood is the glue: just about stops the beam dead in its tracks. I've had rather good luck with regular/soft maple though, haven't tried any hard maple yet. Haven't seen any hard maple here at a reasonable price, come to think of it.

[rich shepard]

The problem with plywood is the glue: just about stops the beam dead in its tracks. I've had rather good luck with regular/soft maple though, haven't tried any hard maple yet. Haven't seen any hard maple here at a reasonable price, come to think of it.

Hi Lee
I know it's the glue so have started using aircraft lite ply. With that I can cut 1/8th with the same setting as for 1/16th regular ply.
As for the Maple I get mine from the saw mill up the road and a lot of it is birds eye or figured and hard. If you need some let me know and i will see what he has in stock, last time I was up there he was out of good stuff in 1/4+ so I ended up re-sawing some.