About two years ago I started lurking around the cnc forums looking at laser engravers and dreaming.

I read all of the negative reviews for the K40 laser from China. Problem was that it was all I could afford at the time and I wasn't planning to do any more with it than make some hobby crafts of my own design. If the machine could cut and engrave, I reasoned, I should be able to muddle my way past the subpar software (moshidraw) everyone else was upset about.

So I bought into a K40 and did pretty well with it. I did have instances of the laser head taking off at a 45 degree at full power and destroying material, issues with engravings stopping after near completion, needing work arounds for doing simple things with the software, and it needed constant eyes-on supervison incase the machine decided to error and crash the head into the bottom right corner again.

Finally, I saved enough dough to finance the upgrade all the reviews suggested. I visited a vendor website that had a good reputation for this and made my purchase. After arrival it took me a week and a half of tinkering and googling in my spare time to get the install finished.

Boy was it worth it! No longer did the machine clatter and grind its way through each and every job. The steppers actually sounded like they were playing music as the laser head traced my designs. No more stalls, no more quitting before the job was done, and the laser was actually a pleasure to use. I was so proud of myself!

The laser was doing such a good job that I didn't need to babysit every job so diligently to see the machine work to completion. This was a recipe for disaster. I left it alone to deal with a customer as my help was off to the restroom for a few minutes. Finished, I went back to my workstation to find the laser cutter fully engulfed in flames!

No fire alarm went off, no other indication except if you were to look through the glass door of the work room. There was no danger of the fire spreading beyond the table... concrete floors, block walls, steel roof... nothing to burn except the laser cutter which was a total loss.

Insurance took care of me and the laser cutter had performed well enough that I was able to justify purchasing two to upgrade in the same fashion. Just incase of any mishaps (tube burn out, fire, etc...) I wouldnt need to stop working.

I have been humming along for six months now with no issues, no fires, no problems of any kind.

It is the holiday season now and most folks are busy with it. So I have some spare time on my hands... I put my backup upgraded laser for sale on ebay with the intention of replacing it if it sells: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272063392234...84.m1555.l2649

Please, comment with any advice or criticism! I might cycle a machine on ebay this way every once in a while if people see this as positive.

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