Trotec Speedy 300 (80w) or Epilog Fusion (32x20 - 75w)

[Brian R Cain]

Hi Matt, my advice is to have as clear an idea of what you intend to use the machine for and have a demonstration of each based around your specific needs. $30K is a lot of money to spend on the wrong machine for your purposes. I applaud your decision to go for one of the established brands as I believe you will encounter fewer problems and get better value for money, the issue for you is find out how much of the sales pitch is relevant and which machine features will be the most useful to you personally.

Historically, because it's a highly competitive market for the main manufacturers, some features were designed in to make the machines appear to have an edge over the competition. In practice, an inch or so in work area is probably not going to make much difference. It's a useful sales tool. It's for you to decide if you are actually going to need it or not. The same goes for the depth of travel in the Z-axis. Do you actually need it? Why would it be an advantage to have it?

The issue of engraving resolution in my opinion, is a red herring. Unless the manufacturer has a lens that can resolve to a small enough spot size to make use of the higher resolution, it's a pointless irrelevancy and one introduced to make the machine appear to be better on paper.

Do you think you will need a fiber laser at some point, and will it be worth the extra $30K for you to have it? If you do, keep it on your list. If you don't, discard it.

It's interesting that you are wary of Epilog's two-year old job control system but not of the reliability of Trotec's ceramic core laser which is newer, and potentially more of a headache if it goes wrong. Software is always being updated and improved and shouldn't cost you anything to take advantage of. See which one you find the most straight forward to use for your specific needs.

Try to find out what you can about the supplier. How long have they been selling the machines, how viable a company they are and what their staff turnover is like. Technical expertise takes time to learn. Good support when you need it is worth its weight in gold. Find out what the warranty entails i.e. whether labour cost is included and if not, what the servicing rates are going to be.

Compare the cost of replacement tubes, lenses and so on and try to tie the dealer down over turnaround times. You don't want your machine to have a long downtime for want of a replacement part.

As for MAC compatibility, I'd be very wary of any claims that salesmen make in this regard. If you can, get them to demonstrate it before taking it as read.

[Scott Shepherd]

I'm not really sure how to answer your question. It's a personal preference at this point in time. There are differences between the two machines. Not much major, other than the speed of raster engraving. The rest of the differences are things you could live with in either direction, I'd guess. The Fusion, to me, looks like they studied the Trotec and adapted a lot of things Trotec has been doing for years. For instance, the Helix has a thin, 1/4" belt driving things (I think that's right), and the Speedy's have a 1" wide belt and have for years. The Fusion now has a 1" belt driving their motion systems. The Trotec has job control, programmable Z, etc, and the next software for the Fusion has some form of a job control system. It's not fully developed yet, but Epilog is aggressively working on it and releasing updates often, which incorporate new and more features. So they are getting there. I suspect 12-18 months from now, the Fusion software is going to be dialed in pretty good.

I know people that are completely happy with both machines and I suspect you'd be happy with either machine. Both will do what you want. If the details matter, then you might dig a little deeper to see the minor differences and see if they change your mind one way or the other, if not, then it's just a personal preference.

I say we'd buy another Speedy because speed does matter to us. While we do a lot of single piece jobs, we also get jobs that have gone into the 20,000 piece range, so in those cases, speed and quality is everything to us, which is why we'd go that route again.

I don't have anything negative to say about the Fusion, it's a beast of a machine and makes the Helix look like a toy. Both companies will send you parts the next day for any issues.

[Mike Null]

It's been many years since I used an Epilog so I can offer no comparison of value but I've had my Trotec for 8 years this month with only one day of down time. It's rugged, reliable and fast. It is by far the easiest machine on the market to keep clean. I'm still using my original lens and mirrors.

The z movement on the Epilog could have come in handy a few times but not a lot.

The 4" exhaust adequately evacuates smoke and odor. I do plastics and wood.

There is a USB interface on my Trotec.

It is a rare occasion when I use 1000 dpi and then it is only to intensify the heat not for engraving quality.

A substantial amount of my engraving is at 330 dpi.