What Laser eng. should I buy after learning on a BOSS 1420? Glowforge? Orion? Watts?

[Laura Lovell]

I am new to the field, I am a creative designer and I learned how to engrave on my brother's Boss LS-1420. It is a 65 watt, 14x20 engraving surface with pass through on sides.

It has Ruida controller. Raster/vector Engraving. I want to buy my own machine now to use in a workshop in my garage.I would like to know what machine or how many watts would I need for the uses I would use it for.

Is there any issues with using a laser in a garage or home environment? Noise or the exhaust? I will not have any customers come to my home. Will I need a upgraded electrical outlet? Besides standard garage outlets? I was going to have someone install a vent system for it to outside through garage wall.

I will use it for glass, acrylic, wood, laserable ceramic, laserable leatherette, powder coated stainless steel, Denim. I want to be able to laser glasses, tumblers, bookmarks, home decor, boxes, laser cut items up to 1/2 inch? purses. I wont be making promotional items or trophies, but I am trying to build a designer brand in a specific unique niche, so I dont need anything super industrial strong, but I also think I might want something between 50-65W I definitely need a board that is at least 18x12 I will be engraving photos and text.

I use Lightburn software, as well as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

I would like to spend $2000-$6000 total for laser, compressor, cooler, attachments, rotary etc. and I would like it to have a warranty and be very user friendly.

[Jerome Stanek]

I bought mine from Goldraydigital on Ebay and I am very happy with it. They ship from a USA depot and I have had good support from them. It came with a CW5000 chiller and a rotary. It uses the Rudia controller that you use now. I got mine within 4 days and that was over a weekend.

[Kev Williams]

You've used a Boss, so why not entertain buying a Boss?

Avoid Glowforge: as the "Cricut" is just a consumer version of a decent vinyl cutting machine, Glowforge is just a consumer version of a decent C02 laser machine. And they cost too much for what they are. (my opinions)

No nothing of Orion...

I personally have experience with only one Chinese company, Triumph. I bought a big plain-jane 80 watt 1390 from them in late 2013 and a 30 watt portable fiber laser in June 2016. I've had minor issues with both, but their customer service is quite good, and 'they're actually there'. All communication I've had with them is thru emails to Yolanda. She has always responded immediately after first glance at them. My issues, the 1390 suffered a broken stepper motor wire at a solder joint, and last year I had to replace the controller (which I just bought on ebay). Otherwise the machine's running good as new. The fiber's scanhead went bad, replaced on warranty.

I've bought 2 fiber lasers off ebay, love both of them. But I'm reasonably mechanically inclined and if customer service lacks, I'll just troubleshoot and fix myself. Fiber's are very easy to fix, C02 lasers aren't much harder, just more moving parts and a few more electronic parts, and most parts are cheap to replace. If you'll need customer service, avoid ebay UNLESS you do your due diligence in researching the seller. Otherwise, search out other popular brands such as Gweike, Hans, Bodor, Shenhui, Ray Fine, etc... Rabbit is great with outstanding customer service, but a bit spendy...

[Keith Outten]

Hobby or Commercial work, that decision will cut your choices in half at least.

There are probably a hundred threads here about which laser is your best choice, it is a painful decision so take the time to study all of the comments here. If you are doing commercial work you should consider Epilog or Trotec. For hobby work there is a larger list of reasonably priced machines and plenty of information in our archives from some very talented people.