Ebay fiber laser, I'll be the guinea pig--

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Thanks for the followup & story, Kev !

[Mike Thornbury]

If it's not perfect, it'll be pretty much like every other machine I've ever bought ...

Words of profundity - T-shirt quality!

Screen Shot 2019-03-13 at 3.37.10 PM.png

[Chris DeGerolamo]

Pulled the trigger one, should be here by next Monday (25th). Any recommendations on eye protection? Amazon's costs are all over the place.

[Kev Williams]

Someone besides me may chime in with the best deal, BUT I know this much- find glasses that ABSORB the laser light rather than REFLECT it- Reasons: The reflective type are just coated, and if the coating gets scratched, the laser energy can find it's way thru the scratch-- I have 3 pair of absorption style, 2 have dark blue lenses, the other has green lenses, they're a little darkish but not bad. The blue's are quite dark, nice for actually watching the laser work since the working beam is about a lumen and a half less than arc-welding brightness - but they're SO dark that watching is all they're good for, you can't see squat otherwise, so wearing while changing parts frequently doesn't work for me. And one other thing about the blue color, they render all red lasers invisible, so you can't see your red pointers while wearing them. But they're good insurance for bystanders. The green's are still dark enough to make it hard to see between parts changes, but at least I can see the red laser.

According to the ads, these are both absortion style, and probably most over $50 will be. I KNOW the green ones are, I lasered one of the lenses as a test. If you test, aim for the edge of the lens, I hit the middle... oops
-note that the green lenses themselves are etched with the laser bandwidth they protect, the blue's have the frames etched. And I haven't tested the blue ones with the laser, I'm just assuming they work...
lz1.jpglz2.jpg
--both of these are in the $55 range on ebay right now-

Someone awhile back pointed out where to buy some nearly clear versions that were effective and weren't too expensive.

[Chris DeGerolamo]

Thanks Kev. I'll certainly look into it.

And, as time permits, I'll politely hijack this thread with my progress/input/results/insults (lol jk)

[Chris DeGerolamo]

The unit is set for delivery Thursday. I have a dedicated machine in place and ready to install EZ CAD. Blower had a Tee installed today if/when needed. Been watching a lot a videos and reading a lot. I am excited to put some of my experiments to test. I have downloaded and read the Tymca (sp?) fiber PDF and plan to start there WRT settings. Unbox and other pictures will be soon to follow, schedule permitting. Thank you Kev and others, this community is great.

[Trey Tull]

Kev,

Have you ever looked into buying a piece of absorption glass (like the green) for building an enclosure. I have found it from one supplier but the cost was astronomical. My kids will come running into the shop every now and then and I have to start screaming to stop, until I can get some glasses on them. It would be nice to have an enclosure.

[Chris DeGerolamo]

Laser arrived about 3:30, everything intact and where it was supposed to be. Copied the files from the dongle to my Fiber computer C: and now the dongle won't get recognized...still working on that. Everything else should fall into place after I get the dog working.

[Chris Thomason]

The dongle might actually be the laser itself. Is it plugged into the computer and turned on?

[Kev Williams]

the dongle IS in the laser-- what the instructions don't make clear is that the machine MUST BE ON before EzCad is started...

[Chris DeGerolamo]

the dongle IS in the laser-- what the instructions don't make clear is that the machine MUST BE ON before EzCad is started...

Thinking it over last night, that is what I was figuring...at the time though the machine was ice cold and we decided to let it warm up before powering it up. We should have it going any minute. Thanks for the reply Kev.

EDIT: plugged in and turned on, EZCAD in demo mode still. Going to check connections on board in a sec..

[Chris DeGerolamo]

Drove myself crazy for a second trying to rule things out then all of the sudden W7 found the laser board and I was able to install the driver. I have eaten some anodized first, this thing is cool to say the least. Gotta figure all the settings still but very excited to get 'er going again.

[Mike vonBuelow]

Ken, can you have the seller email me, or give me a phone number where I can contact him/her? I live in N. Cali, but would easily make that drive down south if they'd be willing to give me a demo You can PM me if you want- T.I.A.

BTW, do you have a link to any videos you have showing it in action?

Mike

[jestes dupek]

[Kev Williams]

to the best of my knowledge the machines are just shipped in and warehoused in California, with a worker or two sticking address labels on the crates and shipping them out, I doubt there's any machines in working order for a test drive. My only comm with the seller, 3 times I think, was email thru ebay. Any of the sellers of the lasers listed as being in stock in Ontario California seem to be part of group of sellers working for the same company in China..