Please advise: Concerns? I'm about to buy an Epilog Legend 32EX 120 Watt Laser Cutter

[Ryan Meister]

I'm really hoping to get some feed back asap before I purchase a Epilog Legend 32EX 120 Watt Laser Cutter this weekend. I told him I'd let him know Friday/tomorrow if I would be driving the 11 hours to come see it or notEpilog Legend 32EX.jpg. Their asking $8000 and it appears to be in good shape. I'm doubting myself because this would be my first laser!

What I love: Bed size is 20x32, laser power is 120 watts, comes with a rotary tool, it's an epilog, and seems like a decent price...

What concerns me: Used, 16 years old, I don't know anything about lasers yet, and I'm told it needs older windows XP or win 2007 to operate it and I know there not supported any longer, being that it's that old they probably have already stopped making some parts for it with more to come, and I don't know what I don't know.

It's a large investment for me right now and I just want to know I'm making the best one to my knowledge.

Any feedback from someone more experienced or from an epilog owner, current owner of Epilog Legend 32EX 120 Watt Laser Cutter, or just flat out anyone honestly. I need some advice please

As mentioned, I'm not experienced but I want the new products it will bring to our catalog (I've already got to products ready for it) and I think a laser would be a great addition to our cnc. Most of what I will cut will be 1/8" - 1/4" mdf, plywood, birch, basswood, balsa, acrylic and who knows what else. I really like the 80-120 watt range because I want or would like the capability to cut up to 1/2" thick wood but I know the most I'll really need is 3/8" and anything more would be done on the router. I'm just thinking with the detail of a laser there's a lot more options and more precise parts/capabilities. Right now 90% of what I'm planning will be cutting and only a tiny bit will be engraving, but that could change when I get into it.

I really appreciate your time!
Thank you in advance.

[John Lifer]

Older machine, I'd quick call Epilog support to see what is still stocked for spare parts (if anything). I think that is the key there.
BTW, I looked at local machine about same age 3 yrs ago and it was going for 50% more..... so probably good price.
I would only buy if you get him to fire it up and say engrave and cut a shape from some cheap 5mm or so ply. Take a piece.

[Ryan Meister]

Thank you for your time to make a reply!
That makes me feel better price why’s, I do plan on both calling Epilog and taking some material with to cut to make sure everything works good.

1.). Would you be concerned that it only uses windows Xp or 2007?

2.). I also have the option to get a 18x24 50 watt (outputting 60 watts) ULS V4 machine for the same price. Which would you go for?

[Kev Williams]

Being a 16 year old machine likely means you'll be connecting by parallel or serial cable. Amazon for the cables

As to XP or 7, that's ALL I use to run ALL my machines. The only exception is I was recently given an HP Pavillion laptop, fresh upgrade to win10 from 8, it's running one of my new fiber lasers. The computer is a turd, so is win10, and that's being nice about it. I still have a win98/HP Pavillion desktop machine that I need to run some of my graphics software.

For what it's worth- a fresh install of Win XP Pro withOUT any service packs or upgrades whatsover installed in a simple 2-core processor computer, used ONLY to run the software you need and connect to your machine and kept off the internet-- it will be the absolute fastest computer you'll ever own. Never tried a zero-upgraded Win7, but I'll bet it's good too. The main benefit of win7 to me, the search function, and that folders and files stay exactly as you left them...

That's my take on the software side...

As to the laser, I have some reservations, mostly to do with the high power in relation to its age, in relation to your actual needs... one main issue is, if that 120w metal tube goes south, it could be very costly to replace or recharge. If the companies that recharge and rebuild tubes can service yours for a decent price, or at ALL, that would help Secondly, 120w is a lot of power for engraving purposes, and I'm not sure the Epi is fast enough to make use of the power, although it WOULD deep engrave wood in a big hurry!

My thinking is, for cutting purposes, a big Chinese machine costs less to start, less to fix, and cut speeds will be nearly equal. As to the raster engraving end, aside from deep wood or similar engraving, that much power is overkill, and repair and simple maintenance costs could get pretty high...

[Ryan Meister]

Hey Kev, and All,

Thanks for the feedback! That makes me feel a lot better actually.
I called Epilog and they pretty much talked me out of that machine due to old, out of date, and non replaceable parts and I'm so so glad they did!!! I am now going to look at a 2015 ULS PLS6.150D machine tomorrow and will purchase upon inspection.

So in the end I spent all day today calling Epilog support, the seller, ULS support, a ULS Dealer, a ULS dealer in another state, the seller, another (private) seller and finally off the cuff found out about this machine which happened to be 30 miles from me, an amazing deal, and comes with the computer and everything to get me going except material, but also with an option to buy their material when I see it. All the work, research and more work paid off and I found a deal and laser that was just meant to be! I love when I take hard action and get rewarded for the efforts which seems to only occur upon taking hard, swift action.

What's odd to me, is still the whole operating system thing. ULS website say it will work with any operating system win 10 and later but the quote he sent me from his purchase calls out Windows XP/Vista/7/8. So is this because the quote was from 2015 and the driver updates will now work with win 10? Or is it as the quote says and it requires the older windows?

Also, the only thing this doesn't seem to come with is a cutting table. Does anyone have a source for one of these that's used or works with ULS and preferably has the ULS measuring square on it?

Thanks again Kev and everyone willing to help us beginners get things started off on the right foot!

[Ralph Undis]

ULS calls a honeycomb cutting table a "downdraft" table. A new one for a PLS6.15D is about $1350. You might have a hard time finding a used one.

[Ryan Meister]

Okay guys, just to switch it up for a minute, first thanks to anyone that helped or might help anyone find or help anyone figure out which laser to buy in the future, we newbies both need it and appreciate more than you know. Second, I'm switching the general trends we typically see and instead of only sharing when something negative or bad happens I'm sharing something good that happened and someone that you may want to contact some day.

I feel obligated to share some of the experiences I had today and the last few days dealing with a seller that has and sells used Epilog and ULS lasers because he quite literally & without even trying, went above and beyond for me.
Please note, I did not buy from him in the end but instead I found another laser because of his help and it was a very lucky find near where I live which was just meant to be, but here's why I'm telling you about this seller which is something I never "Normally" do.

If I didn't buy from him what exactly was so great about Micheal's service:
1.) He had great, fair prices for great machines, but I am new to this so what do I know.
2.) He was very friendly, very helpful, and very knowledgeable the whole time.
3.) He was willing to spend hours on the phone with me while my novice self ask question after question.
4.) He answered my calls every time, like all 50 of them lol.
5.) Most importantly, I felt like he was honest with me. Even telling me the negatives on the machines I was looking at which is a huge plus for anyone selling anything!
6.) Without the info I got from him I wouldn’t have taken the steps I did and would not have found out about the laser I will hopefully get tomorrow.
7.) And what really impressed me, is after all of that and all the time he spent with me, he was actually very supportive when I called him to break the bad news and tell him I wasn't coming after all and had found a different Laser I would most likely buy. He actually told me to buy the other machine and that if I did I wouldn’t regret a thing and that if I had any questions I could call him.
8.) I want more sellers like Michael and I want to support sellers and anyone who helps out a stranger like he did for me.

I’m not getting anything out of this, I have never bought from him, & he didn’t ask me to do this, but I feel obligated to share good sellers to anyone looking for a used laser and I guess I feel a bit obligated to him for all he did for me and how well he treated me.
So just a heads up, use him or not I don’t care but at least if you read this you know how to find him.

If for some reason you can't find him let me know and I'll help.

[John Lifer]

Good for you.
BTW, I'll second Kev's (and anyone for that matter) staying away from Win 10 as long as you can.

I had kept mine (Win 10 "pro" version) on the internet, but for about 2 years was able to keep all but a couple of early upgrades off the stupid thing.
Was able to do this as internet was Dish satellite based and I changed the internet to 'METERED" This would stop the downloads of the updates.
Well we finally got a fiber based service last fall and in trying to connect properly, I cut off metered. So it's been downloading and updating virus stuff well, and about a third of the 'major' updates ok.
Last one took 3 hours and I should have turned on metered again after that.
But I didn't.

Yesterday it downloaded and tried to install an update and failed. This morning it started to install again and it failed again.
I just turned metered on again........ Microsoft Win 10 = POS. And that is being nice.

BTW, my other computer which is about 5 yrs older and again is Win 10 installs updates perfectly fine......