Hello Everyone,
First off just want to say that this site is so rich with people with their time and openness to help others. I have not posted anything in the past but walked away with ample amount of information and knowledge, thanks to everyone.
I am a one person operator that works in the promotional industry and printing company logos is all I do. What led me to this site was that I have a Rofin Powerline F20 fiber laser that was purchased used about 10years ago. It has never given me any issues and the quality of markings from it are very good. While running it one day all sudden there was this large bang sound that came from the controller. I called Rofin that was located in Toronto but since has closed and the only contact was from their MA office. I described the issue to them and we ran some diagnostics and the tech confirmed the IPG was gone, this was done over the phone. The price for labour and parts was quoted at $13k USD.
I began looking around for another used machine or importing one from Asia as it seems many people were doing this and had satisfactory results and this is when I came across this site. Long story short, after extensive reading on what possibly can go wrong in a laser machine from SMC and a few other sites I decided to open the box up and have a look inside. One of my customer is a licensed electrician so I invited him to come over to take a look and as it turns out, it was really a simple fix. The power supply box to the IPG had failed and this was what caused the bang sound. I ordered another part online and for $200 and a case of beer I was back up and running again like before.
I have been outsourcing orders to other printers that does engraving on wine glass, decanters, awards and so on...... since I do not have a CO2 machine. I have never been satisfied with the quality when it comes back, perhaps I am not being fair because my fiber machine does provide good results.
Question: I am looking to purchase a UV Laser 3w to 5w because I think the markings from it are higher quality than that of a CO2 machine. Has anyone have much experience on this machine and if so what is your machine and what have your experience been?
Thank you for any thoughts or inputs that you may provide.
Regards,
Patrick