Another newbee saying thanks & hello

[Frank Tralongo]

Hi Gang,

First off; Thanks for all the incredible info you all have shared on this site.
After evaluating and re-evaluating and reading the messages here I finally purchased an Epilog mini-24 35 watt laser expecting the delivery tomorrow.

Three years ago we purchased an old farm house in central
Utah which we have been rehabing ever since. Well we are in the final stages and plan to use the laser to create Tuscan style custom engraved tiles and two murals for trim out.

After checking the prices for purchasing the same on the web, we realised it would almost be cheaper to buy the laser, create our own tiles and be left with a new toy and maybe do some small jobs locally.


Frank Tralongo

[Mike Null]

Frank

Congratulations on your new toy.

Welcome to SMC. Be sure to keep us posted on your progress with the tiles.

[Stephen Beckham]

Frank - welcome aboard... Have fun with that laser and get all the practice and learning curves covered in the backrooms first.

Actually - you'll find that it's not as difficult as it seems. The worst part about the business is when the customer finds out how easy it is to do something and tries to parallel the ease of the work with the expected costs.

It goes back to the old tale of the repairman who charged $50 for fixing an item. He quoted $1 for turning the screw and $49 for knowing how to turn the screw...

Happy burning!!!

[Ed Maloney]

That's just great, another Frank on the forum. Well at least you are in the states.

I have the same Epilog, so if you have any questions just PM me.

Welcome!

Ed

[Phyllis Meyer]

Welcome to the creek! You will have fun here, and get all kinds of ideas and learn from the best folks in the laser business! I'm still considered a newbie, but if I can help don't hesitate to write. My husband and I are planning a short trip to Utah next month, of all the beautiful locations there, where would you recommend we go for a few short days?

Have fun with your new laser!

Sincerely,
Phyllis

[Larry Bratton]

Frank, SMC is a great forum. Lot's of helpful and friendly people here all with a mutual interest in graphics, lasers, and cnc stuff.
The Laser is really easy to run assuming you have some reasonable graphic skills. Corel is used as the primary software for outputting files to it. That can be the hardest part of getting good results. Lots of experienced people here also that are willing to help if you need it.
Good luck and have fun, it's a great tool.

[Frank Tralongo]

Hi Gang,
Thanks for the warm welcome....

The laser arrived today in perfect condition, plan to set it up over the next couple of days but I have to figure out if I want to go USB2 or enet.

Anybody compared file transfer speeds between the USB2 port and the ethernet port on the laser?
USB is the easy install but enet is usuall a lot faster and the cable can be a lot longer; and then there's the real world...

Also have to figure out the venting for the fumes.

Frank

[Frank Corker]

Frank (lovely name) welcome to SMC, as already stated there is a wealth of knowledge here and plenty of free advice which is yours for the taking. Not always right (I had to eat a hat once) but worth considering every time.

I personally use the USB connection as it was the quickest and most reliable for me.

That's just great, another Frank on the forum. Well at least you are in the states. Ed

Hellooooooo?????? I'm still alive!

[Pete Simmons]

USB connection works fine for me. Even large files take only a few seconds.

[Joni Campbell]

Welcome Frank,
I am really REALLY new here, but love it and everyone has been just wonderful. I would love to see the tiles when you get them completed...sounds fun

[Jim Watkins]

Welcome Frank,
I had some problems with the USB connection and transferred to the enet and it eliminated all the problems. I had problems with sending files to the laser and I at times had to turn the laser off and reboot it.

I would recommend the enet. It didn't take long. Your distributer or EPILOG should be able to walk you through it in a matter of minutes.

[Larry Bratton]

Welcome Frank,
I had some problems with the USB connection and transferred to the enet and it eliminated all the problems. I had problems with sending files to the laser and I at times had to turn the laser off and reboot it.

I would recommend the enet. It didn't take long. Your distributer or EPILOG should be able to walk you through it in a matter of minutes.

Jim:
Did you upgrade your firmware? Epilog recently (in the last couple of months) made a new firmware version available for the Mini24 among others. I had a problem with my EXT36 with it not recognizing the USB and sometimes would require a reboot. The firmware update fixed that issue. Frank got the new firmware with his I'm sure. I have my laser driver simply installed as a shared printer on my Wdws XP network. I send files to it from another building all the time and it works great. I have a helper in that location and she minds the machine, puts in and takes the material out and delivers it to me when it's finished. So, I find USB to work very well.

[Scott Shepherd]

I too had some minor issues with USB. Switched to Ethernet and never had a single problem. With USB, it seemed to get confused every so often if you sent the same filename over, which when tweaking things, you can do often. Once it has it's little issue, you have to turn the machine off and on again to reboot it. Switched to the ethernet and it's never once done that.

[Darren Null]

That's just great, another Frank on the forum.

So we can expect some Frank discussions?

*gets hat and coat*

[Frank Tralongo]

I checked the specs for usb2 and ethernet on the web and found:
usb2 has a max cable length of 5 meters data transfer is about 30% the speed of ethernet.

ethernet has a max cable legth of 300 meters runs at 10 or 100 meg and has "much less" problems transfering data.

So my needs required a 25 foot cable which eliminated the usb2 choice, I made a 25 foot crossover cable, and set the unit to run over e-net none shared local printer.
I transfered a data file and everything seems to work.

Next project is routing the fume collector and then a trial burn...

BTW 6 foot crossover e-net cables are very common
(radio shack, Best etc has them) The long ones are really tough to find. Anybody in need of the pinouts and color code to make one, send me a pm.

Frank Tralongo