Originally Posted by
Jerry O'Brien
My name is Jerry O'Brien. I live in Houston,Texas. I am basically in the electrical business. I also do some engraving and special projects for local contractors and some of the building owners and managers.
I am beginning to search for a CO2 engraving laser. I am generally confused about what is out there. It seems that there are a number of conflicting comments about what is good and what is not so good.
I have found one resource that I think is very good though. It seems to be very good for a brand new person like me. It is called Laser University. laseru.com".laseru.com. I believe it is made by the people at laserbits. It is a subscription program on the internet. At first it seemed very elementary. Once I got into it I truly realized how little I knew. I actually came to the conclusion that I did not know how to ask a good question. The program seems to be a very good place to start. I should also mention that I have no business relationship with this program. I have no family working there. I am presently very happy with what they are teaching me. Jerry, we've been doing this for a little over two years, and we got into it stone cold--no Corel knowledge, no graphics experience, nothing!!! I know your feelings and feel your pain, but it does get easier. There is a place in Texas where you can go for a one-week hands-on training session--I'm not sure where or how to find them, but the man we bought our second laser from did a full year's full of research on lasers, and attended that training session, before he bought the ULS 40W.
Back to the confusing parts, I talked to a fellow the other day and he told me not to purchase a laser from anyone that might be using a Synrad tube. He said: "They will no longer support any tube under 50 Watts."
I called Synrad and the technician there seemed very well versed in his craft. He gave me a very good explanation about not support items that were over ten years old, especially units that once operated on alternating current (AC). You want to make sure you get an air-cooled CO2 tube--not a water-cooled one. The Chinese lasers coming into the States do not have this type of tube, as I understand it. I may be wrong, and if so, I'll stand corrected.
My question to this group is :
What is new on the laser horizon? Only the laser manufacturers can answer that question. There are a lot of Chinese lasers coming into the States that may prove to be decent, and may prove to be lemons. There's no history on them, so be warned if you want to be a guinea pig.
Is auto focus mandatory? NO!! Auto focus is nice to have, but when you want to make sure your focus is spot-on, it's actually easier and IMHO more accurate if you do the focus yourself.
How do you focus with auto focus? Don't know; both of my machines are manual focus.
What is better: Stepper motors or synchros? There's a BIG debate on this question. Our ULS machines have stepper motors; one machine is 11 years old (we bought it used ), the other is 2 years old. We've had no problem with either of them. There is a contingent that swears by servo motors; I don't really know the difference, I just know that ours work!
Where can you find out how much power is needed? The "power needed" depends on what you want to do. Our little 20W machine will cut 1/4" solid alder and 1/4" Baltic birch plywood; our 40W machine will cut 1/4" acrylic in one pass. If you are wanting to cut anything thicker than that, you might want more power. You have to determine what you want to do with the machine and see what powers you need. Generally speaking, anything in the 35 - 50W range will do whatever you need it to do, without getting into heavily industrial work.
What are the warrantees? Are they worth anything. During the warranty period, the manufacturers will repair just about anything that goes wrong--bad electronics, bad mechanical, bad tube. But after that warranty period runs out, you are on your own!!! And you'd better have some money in the bank.
Do you need a vector cutting honeycomb table? Not necessarily. We didn't have a cutting table for over a year--we made do by stapling hardware cloth to pieces of plywood to elevate the material to be cut off of the table, and masked the backs of the material to keep the burn and flare to a minimum. When we bought the second laser, it came with a cutting table, and we've decided that we don't know how we did without it--to the point where we bought a second one!! If you are going to be doing a lot of cutting, particularly of lightweight materials such as paper, 1/32" birch ply, or veneer, a cutting table is almost a necessity, as it has downdraft exhaust through the table which pulls the material down onto the table and doesn't allow the exhaust to pull the pieces out through the blower.
What should you ask for when you go to a distributor and get a demonstration? If you have a graphics file that you would like to try out, and some material that you want to use, take that file on a disk and the same material every time to the distributor, and have them load and run that file on their machines. You can see the machine in action, the result of the raster and vector, and see which one will meet your needs.
The next thing you need to find out is about their technical service -- after the sale. The sales reps will tell you almost anything to put their machine in your shop; it's the service that tells the real story, since the sales reps will disappear as soon as your check clears. Is there good telephone assistance if something goes wrong? Is there a service tech near you? Are you mechanically inclined enough so that if something on your machine breaks, you can install the parts they will so kindly send you?
Should yo take your own materials to somewhat keep the playing field as level as possible? Absolutely. See above.
You get my drift. I am a novice and I am looking for some information. I have read many of the posts on this site and I have learned a lot.
What are the best sites to gather information from. There are two VERY active engraving sites - Engraving Etc. and World of Engraving - where you can read until your eyes fall out and get lots of good information; of course there's a lot of good information here. As you are reading, take note of the manufacturers of the machines and a list of the gripes, complaints, breakdowns, problems that owners have had with them. Also, take note of which machines you see advertised for sale--whether the machines are lemons, whether the owner is upgrading, whether the owner is just tired of the business and getting out--that's something to ask. Most laser owners will be honest and upfront with you and give you honest answers to your questions.
Thank you very much for your assistance. I do look forward to hearing from any and all of you out there.
Jerry O'Brien