We Are Fortunate

[George M. Perzel]

Hi All;
We are indeed fortunate to be members of this forum. It is well run and all members respect each other, willingly participate, and are quick to help and offer advice to all in need.
I don't belong to a lot of other forums and fear that has lead to some complacency on my part-believing all other forums were similarly well operated and supported. Most importantly, new members are welcomed and encouraged to participate. It doesn't take long to realize if you have a problem, someone at the Creek has the answer.
This revelation is driven by a recent experience (today) which I had at a woodworking forum which apparently has a few scrollswaing members who are downright beligerent about lasers and the apparent effect they have had on their ability to earn a living-"really don't have to have any skilll to run a laser, just enough money to buy one. I suppose the coping saw guys thought the same about the scrollsawers!
Anyway, not really a big issue but sure does make one appreciate the gang here at the Creek and the folks who run it.

[Dave Chase]

I'll give two thumbs up to that. I'm also a member of some forums for CNC machining and let me say that some of the people on those forums shouldn't be allowed to operate a keyboard!! This is by far one of the best forums I've found about anything, let alone for lasers. I'm relatively new to laser engraving and the wealth of knowledge found here is astounding. If there is a question there will most certainly be an answer found here. So lets keep up the good work here at SMC and keep providing each other with valuable help and information.

Cheers!!

[Phyllis Meyer]

This forum has been such a wealth of information for our new business! I can't thank everyone enough for contributing. Just reading a days posts can answer a question we may have... I have visited other forums (again being new I tend to read a lot), and this one is tops! Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Phyllis

[Mitchell Andrus]

I'll second that. I've belonged to some pretty diverse news groups and forums. Some flame wars on the saxophone news groups lasted for days and were about nothing. Emotions run high when music is involved, I guess.

Mitch

[Lee DeRaud]

This revelation is driven by a recent experience (today) which I had at a woodworking forum which apparently has a few scrollswaing members who are downright beligerent about lasers and the apparent effect they have had on their ability to earn a living-"really don't have to have any skilll to run a laser, just enough money to buy one.

There's a lot less of that here than some places, but it happens.
(Do a search on "CarveWright".)

[John Barton]

I will second that as well as pertains to the laser section. Back before we bought ours I scoured this section of the forum and read just about every post. I was pleasantly surprised to see a good bunch of folks here who seem to go out of their way to help their fellows. You all are what life should be like everywhere.

In a pool forum I frequent there have been famous debates over the CNC works versus the Pantograph work versus the Dremel work vs the Exacto knife work and so on. Whose cue is worth more, sharp points versus rounded ones.....yada yada yada.

We all know that these are all tools and the artistry comes from within. Some people with the greatest shop in the world turn out less than stellar work and some folks turn out great stuff with a bowie knife. And sometimes the guy with the great shop turns out work that is so far beyond the capabilites of most that it's art. This is the marriage of technology with creativity. Someone had to come up with those machines and jigs in the first place in order to accomplish a task. Once done, those machines inevitably open up a plethora of other pathways.

I am honesty amazed at the variety of stuff that can be created just by having the cutting and marking power of a laser. And I am equally amazed by the quality of this group of people.

[John Barton]

Oh, and as someone who screwed up several thousands of dollars worth of high-end cues in the beginning I can attest to definitely needing the "skill" to run a laser. It's a lot different when you hit the go button on someone's prized investment as opposed to unfinshed and unsold work.

I'll tell you all a quick funny story.

The first job of the day. Engrave a guy's name in his two high-end cues. No problem, got it all lined up, picked the perfect font, size perfect, no brainer. Did them both, color filled them to match the cue colors and set them aside for the customer's return. He comes back and everything looks great except his name is Posoda instead of Posada. So I try to realign it and fail miserably. I'll cut to the chase on this one and say that I was sick. Eventually we were able to compensate him but it wasn't pretty. So for the rest of the day I was super meticulous about checking the spellings. Fast forward to about 30 cues later in the evening.

I have a huge widescreen monitor positioned on the back of the laser for everyone to see what is about to be done. I have this guys cue in the jig about to fire on it and he is standing there watching me. He has watched me set up the job, type his name in and everything. So with my finger on the button I asked him if everything was as he wanted it. I specifically said, "everything spelled right?" He said yes and I pressed the button. Took the cue out and filled it and handed it to the customer. He looked it over and pronounced it good and paid me. About 30 minutes later he coes back and tells me I spelled his name wrong. I said nope, what's on the cue is what's on your order. Sure enough he spelled his own first name wrong. I was able to fix it to his satisfaction but boy did he get some ribbing from the other folks standing there.

have a good one, hope this makes you chuckle.

[Pat Kearney]

After taking some interest in laser engraving several years ago I contacted manufacturers to ask them questions about their engravers and laser engraving in general. I was getting some answers but not what I really needed. Only after I discovered this site did I begin to truly feel comfortable with how a laser operates and what it could do. Based on what I read here I determined that purchasing a laser was what I wanted to do and I haven't looked back. Working a 40+ hour week at a regular job, raising kids, and running a laser engraving business on the side does not allow me the time to contribute as much information on this site as I would like to share however there are more than enough very skilled contributors to make up for my lack of posts. My sincere thanks to everyone of you!

[Ed Maloney]

Hello folks. Ed Maloney here from NJ and PA. Thought I would post in this thread since it seemed appropriate.

This forum reminds me of a woodworking site I used to contribute to called Badger Pond. I did a review of the Delta Great White many years ago for the forum.

I'm reading all the posts but so far I'm just up to the 2004 threads. Of course I have a lot of questions about the laser business, but will wait until I finish sucking in all the information from past posts.

What I would be interested in is hearing experiences from folks who have their laser business in their homes/basements/garages. Some pictures of your shop set-up would be great (want to figure out if I have to move around my Delta and other things) and an idea of square footage needed for a small start-up. If something like this is in an existing thread that I haven't gotten to yet, just point me in the right direction and I'm there!

Thanks for your time and I hope to "stop working for the man and start it up!"

Ed

[Lee DeRaud]

This forum reminds me of a woodworking site I used to contribute to called Badger Pond.

I wasn't here at the time, but I'm under the impression that this site was started by BP alumni when BP folded.

What I would be interested in is hearing experiences from folks who have their laser business in their homes/basements/garages. Some pictures of your shop set-up would be great (want to figure out if I have to move around my Delta and other things) and an idea of square footage needed for a small start-up.

You may want to check with the manufacturers about using the machines in a woodshop environment. Unless your dust collection system is waaay above average, it's not recommended.

[Mike Shauer]

Welcome to the Creek Ed, I moved here when Badger pond went down, that was a great site, as is this one. Quite a few Bp members came here to help set it up so it had the same feel as Bp. Without a doubt the best woodworking forum on the net.

I am just about to start on an addition (14x14) to my shop to house the laser and a clean finishing room. There is definitely to much dust in a wood shop for the laser. I was taking the laser apart regularly to clean the housing for the tube. Even when its covered when its not in use the fine dust left on the floor gets suck into everything. Laser like to be clean almost as clean as the day you received them. Cheers,