ray fine fiber laser

[Tony South]

hello everybody
i am in the market to buy a fiber laser. i currently do laser welding at my shop and we use alpha laser. i will want to use the engraver for firearms and many metal parts used in the mold industry that we deal with. another thing i want to do is some plastic, like glock frames, doing stippling designs on them. i have been looking at ray fine lasers. i am looking at ether a 30w or 50w for sure. i also am torn between getting a raycus or an ipg power source also deciding if i should get mopa or not. i have 15 grand saved up that i want to spend on an engraver. the most expensive would be the 50w ipg from ray fine. i see that the raycus has a 30-100khz and the ipg has a 30-200khz and also wondering about that. my other option is to go with a us company that sells a Chinese laser that they say is set up for doing firearms. the thing is is they sell a 30w fiber and don't sell the laser without a week long training in texas. the total cost for the training and laser is around 15 grand. their website is https://salelasers.com i am just ready for some input on what the best laser for the money is for what I'm doing. and if its worth to go get the training or if i should go with a ray fine machine and learn on my own. thanks!

[James Walker]

Hi Tony,

If you can wait a week or so, I will let you know my opinion of a Rayfine purchase. I have had my laser for about 1 1/2 years with very little time on it and it is in a comtroled temperature environment. About a month ago my galvo head started oscillating when using the red light for placement and before I could stop it one of the mirrors broke. Rayfine wanted me to send the head back at my cost which I was not happy about having to cover the cost but I need the machine back in operation so I sent it back at my expense. The machine is supposed to have a 2 year full warranty but after having the head for a week they notified me that the seal on the galvo was compromised and indicated that I may be out of luck. So I sent them a picture that I took of the head off of the machine before shipping and I am waiting for their response from EZCAD as to whether or not they will cover. The head was packaged very well in packing foam so I am sure that unless customs did something the seal was not damaged in shipping. Right now I am concerned that they are not wanting to fulfill their warranty. I am also concerned that the head may be a symptom of another problem such as the motherboard. I am hopeful that Rayfine does the right thing but only time will tell. If Rayfine does the right thing I will surely create a new thread and give them their due credit.

So I will let you know how they handle my issues and maybe that will help you with your decision.
IMG_0526.jpg

[Tony South]

Hi Tony,

If you can wait a week or so, I will let you know my opinion of a Rayfine purchase. I have had my laser for about 1 1/2 years with very little time on it and it is in a comtroled temperature environment. About a month ago my galvo head started oscillating when using the red light for placement and before I could stop it one of the mirrors broke. Rayfine wanted me to send the head back at my cost which I was not happy about having to cover the cost but I need the machine back in operation so I sent it back at my expense. The machine is supposed to have a 2 year full warranty but after having the head for a week they notified me that the seal on the galvo was compromised and indicated that I may be out of luck. So I sent them a picture that I took of the head off of the machine before shipping and I am waiting for their response from EZCAD as to whether or not they will cover. The head was packaged very well in packing foam so I am sure that unless customs did something the seal was not damaged in shipping. Right now I am concerned that they are not wanting to fulfill their warranty. I am also concerned that the head may be a symptom of another problem such as the motherboard. I am hopeful that Rayfine does the right thing but only time will tell. If Rayfine does the right thing I will surely create a new thread and give them their due credit.

So I will let you know how they handle my issues and maybe that will help you with your decision.
IMG_0526.jpg

Okay, thanks for your response. This was the problem I was scared of from the get go but they seemed to be convincing on the warranty deal, but we will see. Do you have any other recommendations on where i could get a laser in my price range. Buy from a us supplier with better support and replacement parts? I hope they replace your laser scan head!

[James Walker]

Tony - Thanks for your best wishes. I think my situation is a good test for as to to whether you should consider a purchase from Rayfine. I bought from them based on positive input from others on this site but I think everyone generally wants to give positive input and it is easy to evaluate your experience with a positive outlook when nothing serious has happened and your minor problems have been corrected. My problem is more severe than I think most have experienced so a much better test as to what kind of company Rayfine really is. I hope that I will be able to give them a shining review and that it is a help to others. That is why I responded to your post.

As far as a USA source I can not give advise but I am confident that others here will give you good advise. There are a lot of very experienced users here with a wealth of knowledge of the industry and they are very willing to help.

[Brian Book]

I can also chime in to say Rayfine beat me around the bush for over 6 weeks having me doing test after test and after all was said and done they said there was nothing wrong with my machine .... the tube ended up being the culprit and they did not fulfill their warranty ... my machine only had 5 months of use on it at the time .. I told them then at the time that I would not do business with them again .... they didn't seem too concerned.

[Gary Hair]

Check with Jimani in California. They are amazing with support and will treat you right.

[Tony South]

Check with Jimani in California. They are amazing with support and will treat you right.

Thanks! I have sent them a message on what I’m looking for in my budget range. (:

[John Lifer]

I've got two of their machines, but I'll not say I've had enough issues to opine on warranty service.

But I will say to get the machine with the largest frequency range if you plan on plastic engraving. Mine is mopa, but only up to 400khz. Jpt source. Does glocks fine, won't work on p80 frames except to burn them. Don't know if higher frequency will help on those. If anyone has successfully stippled p80 with fiber give me a shout. I can do it with co2, but only sides, head in the way on back and underneath (along way harder setup in my opinion ).

[Scott Shepherd]

I don't have any experience with Rayfine but I will caution you on buying from China. Note that it's only a cautionary statement on what can happen, not a statement about what will happen. We had a laser stop working. Worked for one part, then the next, it didn't. Supplier (who shall remain nameless) tells me that the warranty is 1 year and it's out of warranty. $3,500 for a new source. I find someone in the US that sells them, and in the conversation, they tell me the warranty is 2 years from the manufacturer. I contact the original seller back and tell them that the warranty is 2 years from the factory, not one year as stated. After a couple days, they tell me that they have made a mistake and it's two years, so please send the item back to them for repair by the laser source manufacturer. Only way you can send it is DHL Global Priority. USPS won't offer insurance for more than $100 for Global. So $450 or so later, it's on the way to China via DHL express. It get stopped at Customs because we put an insurance value of $2000 on it (the most they'd do) in case we never see it again. Customs says we owe $800 in duties for selling this into China.

We explain that it's an item sent under warranty and it's being repaired. They don't care. The factory doesn't want to deal with any of it so they just let it sit and keep telling us to pay the duties or get the package back and mark "$0" on the value. So $450 to send it back to us, then we'd have to send it again for another $450 and back to us for $450 more, meaning $1,800 in shipping costs to have something repaired under warranty. This drags on, the factory stops answering emails from us and it all goes dark.

Takes us nearly 3 MONTHS to get the repaired version back and on the machine. We lost 3 months of production (and some customers).

I only tell the story to educate people on what can happen. For us, if another one were ever in the works, I'd want a US person that has parts in stock and stands behind what they sell.

I found the Chinese sellers to speak perfect English when trying to make a sale and almost no English when you need help or support from them. That was my experience.

[James Walker]

Scott - I am curious as to why you did not name the supplier that did not treat you right. The reason that I responded to the original post was so that others that come here for advise would be able to have a real reference to use to make their purchase decision. I based my decision to buy from Rayfine based on the raving reviews here regarding Rayfine and their customer service after the sale but as I stated earlier I suspect now that they were from people that were not dealing with an expensive issues. So how Rayfine handles this will hopefully give others a reference as to what type of company that they are and have an impact on Rayfines future sales. If they don't make it right I will go out of my way to make as many people know so that they can be spared from making a bad descision. If they make it right then I will also go out of my way to make it known what a great company that they are. The company that you were dealing with deserves to be called out for their unethical business practices to spare others from making the mistake of buying from them. Jim

[Tony South]

I don't have any experience with Rayfine but I will caution you on buying from China. Note that it's only a cautionary statement on what can happen, not a statement about what will happen. We had a laser stop working. Worked for one part, then the next, it didn't. Supplier (who shall remain nameless) tells me that the warranty is 1 year and it's out of warranty. $3,500 for a new source. I find someone in the US that sells them, and in the conversation, they tell me the warranty is 2 years from the manufacturer. I contact the original seller back and tell them that the warranty is 2 years from the factory, not one year as stated. After a couple days, they tell me that they have made a mistake and it's two years, so please send the item back to them for repair by the laser source manufacturer. Only way you can send it is DHL Global Priority. USPS won't offer insurance for more than $100 for Global. So $450 or so later, it's on the way to China via DHL express. It get stopped at Customs because we put an insurance value of $2000 on it (the most they'd do) in case we never see it again. Customs says we owe $800 in duties for selling this into China.

We explain that it's an item sent under warranty and it's being repaired. They don't care. The factory doesn't want to deal with any of it so they just let it sit and keep telling us to pay the duties or get the package back and mark "$0" on the value. So $450 to send it back to us, then we'd have to send it again for another $450 and back to us for $450 more, meaning $1,800 in shipping costs to have something repaired under warranty. This drags on, the factory stops answering emails from us and it all goes dark.

Takes us nearly 3 MONTHS to get the repaired version back and on the machine. We lost 3 months of production (and some customers).

I only tell the story to educate people on what can happen. For us, if another one were ever in the works, I'd want a US person that has parts in stock and stands behind what they sell.

I found the Chinese sellers to speak perfect English when trying to make a sale and almost no English when you need help or support from them. That was my experience.

Okay I think with most of you saying that it is cheaper to buy direct from China. But I’m not going to be able to get parts when they break. I am going to just bite the bullet and go with a 30w Chinese laser from a us dealer that has replacement parts and service. That way I don’t have to worry about shipping parts to China and wasting money on customs. With that being said I will most likely have to go with a 30w because of the pricing on the lasers sold by someone in the us. What are some good prices and places to buy Chinese lasers in the us? I have had a quote of 8995 with like another grand in shipping and a rotary and another lens. So like 10500 or so for a 30w raycus and a “better version of Ezcad” from engraving machines plus. I have messaged jimani but no quote yet. Any other places to get a laser from inside the us? Thank you all for the info. I am learning a lot and want to make the right decision on the best machine for the money. (: thanks!

[Steve Utick]

Okay I think with most of you saying that it is cheaper to buy direct from China. But I’m not going to be able to get parts when they break. I am going to just bite the bullet and go with a 30w Chinese laser from a us dealer that has replacement parts and service. That way I don’t have to worry about shipping parts to China and wasting money on customs and that bs. With that being said I will most likely have to go with a 30w because of the pricing on the lasers sold by someone in the us. What are some good prices and places to buy Chinese lasers in the us? I have had a quote of 8995 with like another grand in shipping and a rotary and another lens. So like 10500 or so for a 30w raycus and a “better version of Ezcad” from engraving machines plus. I have messaged jimani but no quote yet. Any other places to get a laser from inside the us? Thank you all for the info. I am learning a lot and want to make the right decision on the best machine for the money. (: thanks!

I've got a 30w 3D MOPA fiber from Radian Lasers here in the US. http://www.radianlaser.com/ Chinese sourced, but with US sales and support. Met them in person at a show, and have been fairly happy with support so far. Haven't had any issues requiring warranty replacement of anything though, so can't speak to that.

[Scott Shepherd]

Scott - I am curious as to why you did not name the supplier that did not treat you right. The reason that I responded to the original post was so that others that come here for advise would be able to have a real reference to use to make their purchase decision. I based my decision to buy from Rayfine based on the raving reviews here regarding Rayfine and their customer service after the sale but as I stated earlier I suspect now that they were from people that were not dealing with an expensive issues. So how Rayfine handles this will hopefully give others a reference as to what type of company that they are and have an impact on Rayfines future sales. If they don't make it right I will go out of my way to make as many people know so that they can be spared from making a bad descision. If they make it right then I will also go out of my way to make it known what a great company that they are. The company that you were dealing with deserves to be called out for their unethical business practices to spare others from making the mistake of buying from them. Jim

James, it was 3-4 years ago when this happened. Whether or not they are still like that today, I have no idea. Not to mention the fact that they told me (emailed me a demo) of EZCAD and when my machine got here, it had EZCAD Lite on it, which is VERY limited on some features. When I mentioned it, I was told (and I verified it with the board manufacturer) that the board they put in the computer would not run anything but EZCAD Lite. The board manufacturer said it wouldn't be a simple swap, it would have to have their engineering team involved, and the board itself was $800, if I recall correctly. When I went to the people that sold it to us, and I'm quoting, "We are very sorry, please sell your machine to someone you know and order another one and we will be sure that is has the full version of EZCAD on that one". You are kidding, right? Nope, not kidding. Dead serious.

[Bert McMahan]

Only way you can send it is DHL Global Priority. USPS won't offer insurance for more than $100 for Global.

FYI, this isn't the case anymore. USPS offers $2,499 insurance to China:

https://pe.usps.com/text/imm/ce_009.htm

If I read the chart right it's $24 for insurance. Additionally, if you use Stamps.com, I think you can get international insurance through them directly.

[Scott Shepherd]

FYI, this isn't the case anymore. USPS offers $2,499 insurance to China:

https://pe.usps.com/text/imm/ce_009.htm

If I read the chart right it's $24 for insurance. Additionally, if you use Stamps.com, I think you can get international insurance through them directly.

Good to know. I sure didn't enjoy paying for DHL Global Express both ways. I first stop was the USPS at that time.