Newbie- Looking for good engraving machine

[Pysiek]

Hello Guys
I'm looking for good laser engraving machine. I want to engrave on aluminum,bronze,stainless still,plastic,glass,leather,wood,acrylic and paper.
I will start in my garage then I will move "higher" if the business goes well. The jobs I will take will be small jobs for regular cutomers.
My budget is $5000-6000.
Do you think that those China machines are good enough? If Yes which one will you prefer?

Thank You

[Pysiek]

I did some research since nobody answer my question. Does anybody have a RMI UM-1 laser engraver? How much it costs?

[Tweakie]

Good choice and good value for money but expect to pay around the $15k to $20k mark. (3 x your budget )

Tweakie.

[vivinar]

Actually,some chinese CNC router is good quality.
As you said you also want to engraving on metal ,aluminim and non-metallic materials,i suggest to buy CNC router.
I think USD6000,you also can find a CNC router in china.
I am doing laser cutting machine,not CNC.but i also know somebody do this.
vivinar

[wyl6362708]

the laser machine for the soft material will be ok, but for the metal, your budget is a problem.

[cncengraver]

Originally Posted by Pysiek Hello Guys I'm looking for good laser engraving machine. I want to engrave on aluminum,bronze,stainless still,plastic,glass,leather,wood,acrylic and paper. I will start in my garage then I will move "higher" if the business goes well. The jobs I will take will be small jobs for regular cutomers. My budget is $5000-6000. Do you think that those China machines are good enough? If Yes which one will you prefer? the cnc router could do following works but not ok for leather paper and very soft materials. thanks Bryant Thank You

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[jaysteel]

I have a 35watt laser I bought to start my business. All the sales materials from all the companies tout a laser as a be all to end all machine. So I dropped over 3 times what you say is your budget (over 17k) and found the laser is woefully inadequate for most of the stuff I wanted to do. Especially on metals, you ain't, I said ain't, going to engrave metal with a 35 watt laser. You can mark metals by using stuff like Cermark but that will drive up your cost. Cermarks not cheap.
So I realized I needed an engraving machine to engrave metal as well. But I still needed the laser to compliment the business. So I was now in the engraving machine buying game. The sales folks were suggesting engraving machines upwards of 12k and all I wanted was a machine to engrave a metal and plastic product I have which is only 3" in diameter.
So taking the 17 for the laser and 12 for an engraver I"d be into a new start up in a HIGHLY COMPETITIVE business for almost 30k. Way to much.
I didn't take the sales guys advice and here is what I did and I would suggest this to you, take it for what it's worth.
Like I mentioned I had already bought the laser but when it came time to buy the metal engraver for my product, and you will have to determine the machines capabilities, I don't know what you are engraving or want to engrave, and after salespeople trying to oversell me. I ended up buying a Sherline cnc mini mill for the metal stuff.
I have a Sherline cnc lathe, and I make a really nice moneymaking product on it, so I wasn't in the dark as to cnc, cam/cad or whatever.
When I bought the cnc lathe I fumbled through months of all the cnc setup and wiring and controller stuff and it was a huge learning curve. Learned a lot from people on this forum.
Looking back at when I bought the laser my thoughts were maybe like yours, just do the stuff in Corel or whatever and put it into the laser to cut.
Not going to work.
So I bought the Sherline mill, bought all of the BEST accessories available to the point that everything was plug and play, tuned for motors and totally optimized for less than $2000.00. I didn't buy every thing from Sherline. I found sources for better products for less. You could buy it cheaper if you used some used stuff.
But I wanted to buy all new and only the best stuff I could find so I could only blame myself if the business didn't work out.
So the mill has worked out terrific, I was up and running in a week and have the capabilities for both soft and hard engraving in my business.
If I had it to do all over I would buy a small mill first and then when profits came then buy the laser.
The Sherline has been a great sound investment for my small metal engraving for a couple grand.
Again I was Pie eyed as to what a laser could do but in my business I needed a metal engraver as well and I've described what I needed.
Last point.
When you buy a laser, There is daily, weekly and monthly maintenance you have to do, well I thought the laser I bought was made in the US but it wasn't. When a mirror scratched I called the seller and was given the number of the manufacturer, in Taiwan, it took six weeks to get a new mirror.
Never had a problem with the Sherline but if I did I could get a part overnight.
So my advice would be to start off slow and build your business at a pace within your budget. With 5 or 6k you won't be able to do it by buying a laser - even a China built laser where if you need a part you will be out of business even before you begin. Jay

[Pysiek]

Jay I think it all depends on what business you are thinking about. Of course if I decide to work mostly with metal then I will bought a YAG laser or router.

[jaysteel]

Now I am all in agreement with the other replies. With your budget, 5 or 6 K, you won't even be able to finance a YAG for a start up business. Gook luck.

[Pysiek]

Originally Posted by jaysteel Now I am all in agreement with the other replies. With your budget, 5 or 6 K, you won't even be able to finance a YAG for a start up business. Gook luck.

Even if you have 0 money for down payment you will be able to finance the YAG machine. It all depends on the loan company how much they trust you.

[kofi_sunic]

Why don't u try CO2 laser engraving machine? It doesn't cost that much.The laser power cannot allow the laser engrave on a medal,but it can work well on plastic,wood,leather etc.

[fslaserboy]

We here at Full Spectrum Laser would love to help any way we can.

Check out our new website FSLaser.com It is still a work in process but will get you started.

If you have any questions please feel free to call our sales department.

Thank you.

John
702-482-8594