Trotec Speedy 300 - Reporting for Duty, Sir!

[Keith Outten]

Prices on Trotec machines vary depending on the options you select which is expected. The price you will pay these days will not be what you expect

When you call them ask for a SawMill Creek Discount, trust me.

If the person you talk to doesn't know about our relationship with Trotec PM me and I will give you the name of someone who does and can put one in your shop
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[Scott Shepherd]

Okay, finally a few minutes to discuss this thing a little more....

The Job Control uses a "plate" system which allows for some awesome stuff. Essentially, the table is 28 3/4" x 17" (something like that, it's odd numbers), so you have that space to work with. When you create your files in Corel (or whatever), you can create the document size the same size as your work. If you have a 2" x 10" item, just make the document size 2" x 10", put your art work in there, when you select print, you put in that size. So you'd enter 2" x 10", select your material, and hit "print".

That takes you to the Job Control software, where you're essentially looking at the machine table. On one side is a list of files (or jobs). You drag the job from the list onto the "Plate". You can position it anywhere on the plate you want. If you want the top left corner, that's fine. If you have a fixture and you want it in a certain place, that's fine too. You can "create a marker" or "markers" all over the table. When you do, it will give you an option to put in specific dimensions if you wish. So let's assume you have a job that the items vary in content, but are all the same size, and you have a number of files. If you have a fixture that has them every 2", then you can create "markers" at those 2" points. So you'll have a screen that basically has a bunch of hash marks on it, where each corner would be of each item. Then, you can drag a job over and hold it close to a marker and it'll snap that job into the marker location. So if you had 20 jobs, all different, you could drag 20 files onto the "plate" and put them all in their own location, all as easy as dragging and dropping. It's already got me totally rethinking how I work.

For me, let's say I have 3 jobs, all from the same material, but all different customers, or different jobs. Currently, I'd either run them one at a time or I'd open all 3 Corel files, then I'd cut and paste 2 of them into the 3rd file, send it over, and then delete the 2 off the 3rd file. It's kind of a pain, but something I do all the time. Fast forward to the Trotec and you could send all 3 jobs over, independently, and then just drag and drop the files onto the material where you want them. No need for all that other work.

The Job Control software also appears to have a lot of the Rowmark materials setup in there. It even calls them by name "LaserMark", etc. So that was a nice surprise.

There are s few things I'm not thrilled about with the Job Control, which I'll go into later. None are show stoppers, but just things I'm used to that work well, that are missing, while there are other things I've never had that are very useful. Win some, lose some, I guess.

The Job Control also has the built in estimator, and it has a build in vector sorter. You can right click on a file while listed (not active), and you can have the program sort all the vector moves. It has basic and advanced options, and so far, I've only used the basic version and it's worked well. It's nice to have that built in as a feature. Some times you need it, some times it's not worth it. When you let it sort the file, it actually creates a new file and adds "sorted" to the end of it, so you still have the original, plus the new one.

I've also filmed a couple of things. Forgive me for the poor quality of this clip. First video with new camera, first video with new computer, first video with new machine I'll get better, I promise!

Just a clip showing how the lens comes out and goes back in, a look at the way the inside is covered, then I pull the side panel off and show the motion system and the compressor.

[Andrea Weissenseel]

That's what I call a nice Christmas present Your Speedy is truly a beauty. I also like it very much, that rails, belts etc. are covered up neatly (especially when I look at mine after I did rubber stamps). For my next machine I wouldn't know at the moment which I I'd go for - either a Trotec or a SEI Laser.

[Keith Outten]

Steve,

Are you using a dust collector for your exhaust fan?
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[Scott Shepherd]

Just the standard Penn State blower everyone uses.

[Rodne Gold]

Congrats on your purchase Scott
It looks like a very beautiful machine
May you have many years of joy with your new "child"

[Dan Hintz]

Looks like it's time I visited your shop again (not to mention picking up my flame toy)

[Scott Shepherd]

Come on by Dan! And anyone else that wants to see this, or that wants to see a Universal in action inches from the Trotec.

Of course the fun was sidetracked sharply when I had to start from scratch with my material settings for some things we do. The Job Control has core settings, but moving from 45W to 75W and how each of them use completely different speed percentages is something I'm going to have to work through.

[Jiten Patel]

Nice thread - got to love Trotec hey - not that I have brand loyalty. I have used the Speed 300 on quite a few occasions and it is a beast - I do want one but the price tag is a little bonkers when you compare to Rodne's machines - hmmm decisions!!!Look forward to reading more about your experiences with the beast!

[Andrew Fleming]

The Trotec looks a great machine, we are looking at purchasing one now, but one question hopefully someone can answer, what thickness can you gut in acrylic with the 60w laser?, would it do 20mm?

[Scott Shepherd]

I don't have any acrylic that thick, but I'd guess you'd be pushing the limits on 60W for that. I'll cut some 12mm in the next few days and post it.

[Matt Bach]

I've attached a photo of one of the 3/4" acrylic awards I make with my speedy 300 60 watt. The 3/4" thick base is also laser cut. It can cut through 1" acrylic but the edges can get a little jagged. Iv'e had my trotec for almost 7 years and I haven't had any breakdowns.

[Scott Shepherd]

Here's a recent job I did with the machine. I'm not 100% happy with it, but that's my fault, not the machines The woman's face was almost solid white, so I had to work with that to get it so it wasn't just totally blown out. And when the customer came to get it, he saw the sample I did that was completely blown out and he liked that better, go figure

Processed in Photoshop, sent to the machine. It's about 13 1/2" wide on the actual engraving, so it's a fairly large piece. Took about 8 minutes to engrave. Yes, 8 minutes. Finally I feel like I can do granite or marble photos and actually make some money.

[Keith Outten]

Geez, I'm dying here

Thirteen inch wide photo engraved in eight minutes. I spent 16 minutes each on my last group of door signs with my Epilog, I felt like I was in the stone age.
The last time i engraved a photo on black marble it took an hour, thats why I stopped engraving marble.

4 weeks to go before i get my new Trotec..........
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[Andrew Mammoliti]

Hi Scott, no more 1 touch? Did you rub some white paint in there? Also how much did you sell that pc for? Looks like the size is 16" x 16"