I am building a room that will have HVAC, and free of sawdust for the laser.
I just ordered a Thunder Laser Nova 35 with the following options:
Rotary Attachment
HD Optics
CW5000 Chiller
I live near Wilmington NC so the plan is to pick it up at the port.
The pre-sales support has been fantastic. No high pressure sales. No question too big or too small.
Shipping/Customs is the only thing about the process that has made me nervous...and not on Thunder Laser's end. They really know what they are doing.
I contacted a few Customs Brokers, there prices varied greatly. I narrowed it down to two, but end the end decided to go with a company that's offices are only a mile away from the port. They travel there many times a day working with customs and other shipping tasks. The now the warehouse staff etc. The runner up was super helpful but worked out of Chicago I believe.
So if my funds got wired appropriately by my small hometown bank...then we are in business. I will certainly update this thread as the process unfolds.
I know I will have a pretty good wait, so I am going to be building a room in my workshop to house the laser in a cleaner environment.
I will be running a few new electrical circuits. I am getting the 80watt laser.. any suggestions for it's circuit? 15 Apps OK?
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I am building a room that will have HVAC, and free of sawdust for the laser.
The Dallas Makerspace has a Thunder Laser inbound (it's in the middle of the Pacific right now) to replace/upgrade the Full Spectrum Laser we have been using for several years.
We're hoping it will stand up to the abuse that all of our equipment gets, 1000+ members at a 24/7/365 workshop can be a little hard on the gear...
Hi Anthropod
How are things progressing for you? Has your laser arrived yet? I also ordered a Nova35 with 100w co2 tube. Extras include, HR Head, Rotary Axis, 4" Laser Head, CW5000 water chiller. My ships tracking says it will be at the Suez Canal June 10th. I really liked what you were doing by creating a clean environment room for your laser . My shop is 24 X 44 with a 12 X 12 finish room inside the shop. Unfortunately I don't think I have enough room to enclose my Legacy CNC and Laser machine like you did. My shop can be seen on Lumberjocks. cvalley's Workshop @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community
Clare
I really like your shop! It looks fantastic. Things are moving along with my laser. It made it to New York last week and is currently on another boat heading to Wilmington NC. It should be there by Friday. What I don't know is how long it's going to be before I can pick it up. My new home for it is finished. I'll upload more pics when I get it in place.
Update! My Laser is in Wilmington North Carolina. I should be able to pick it up in the next few days, I will borrow a trailer as I found out it is slightly wider than the bed of my truck.
This weekend I should be making my first cuts/engravings. I will post update photos/and perhaps a video of it's new home and installation.
Thats awesome anthropod. Mine is going through the straits of Gibralter now and will be in NYC on June 21st. I'd guess 9 days to Detroit so by June 30th or July 1st it should arrive at Detroit port. I don't know how long it will take to off load and warehouse it and inform me.
Tell me anthropod did you have an import broker to simplify your ordeal and keep all the paper work straight? What fees have you accumulated post purchasing and shipping?
I would imagine your enthusiasm is pretty high right now.
First of all..before I go into the charges and fees I have incurred, I want to make sure everyone knows these are things out of Thunder Laser's control.
The charges do impact the overall total cost of the laser, so you must take that in to account.
All in all I will have $1,688.06 in getting the laser to me. That includes the gas for my truck and the fee to rent a trailer to pick it up. (Another forum suggested it cost them $1,671.20 to get the desktop version of the laser to their door via DHL) So the grand total cost for the laser was: $7,658.06
Time was not of the essence with mine...although now I want it yesterday because of the excitement. So opted for ocean container and got a larger laser.
When you put that in perspective.....On paper... There is a fairly respected dealer in the US that imports at least parts if not whole units that would have charged me $11,589.00 for a 60 watt machine (I ordered an 80 watt) that uses steppers instead of servos, missing a few of the nicer features, and only a 7" z axis. (It uses the same software..and perhaps the same controller as it looks identical) I will certainly review my laser with photos/videos..etc so everyone can be a judge of my purchasing decision....but on paper the value his hard to deny and the sales support I have received from Thunder Laser has been spectacular.
I did get a broker to handle my importing.
I shopped around and there were a lot of differences in pricing. Having never imported anything like this I didn't want to mess anything up. I had quotes that ranged from 300-800 for the broker only fees. (Not including government fees and shipper fees.) I went with a local outfit that charged about $433.67 in their fees. I had a sticker shock moment when the shipping company.... an addtional charged $346.65 to get it from NY to NC via truck..and I didn't even know it was coming by truck. I actually thought it was coming directly to the port in NC. I feel that fee should have been made known upfront from the shipping company. But...I find this whole international import thing crazy. I could track the container..but once it got to NY I had no way to check on it myself. It took 8 days to make it from NY to NC
I am posting a snippet from the invoice I received from the broker so others can anticipate the fees.
Please keep in mind, I may have had a misstep on my choices with brokers etc. But..from the other quotes that I received I think the broker did all right by me.
Looks like they charged twice for the FDA form.
Are you going to be laser slicing cake?
Lee
Why didn't they deliver it to your home, instead of you picking it up.
Also as for port, you usually can choose the closest one. I live in WI, so I choose Chicago.
It came through Canada, so I never had to file the ISF. Shipping to my door, with liftgate
was only about $300. I am about 250 miles from the port.
It was really well packed. Everything is looking great. A big thanks to my Dad for helping getting it home. It was hot Heat Index over 100F 37.7C.
May be the weekend before I can give it a whirl though.
I also got an Import Broker. Yumiko suggested one to me and I took that one. We'll see how that works out. Yumiko also failed to let me know the details. I was under the impression that my crate would be delivered directly to Detroit by Container ship. Once the Laser (My Ship) left Shen Zhen I've been enjoying tracking my ship via GPS online at several locations, as it traveled to Colombo Sri Lanka then up the Red Sea then through the Suez Canal then across the Mediterranean then through the Straits of Gibraltar and now about 300km out in the Atlantic Ocean. It says it's destination is New York City and will be there June 21st at 15:00 at first I thought it would off load partial load then continue to Detroit. But after I read your post I decided to investigate what was going to happen after New York. Thats when I emailed my Broker and inquired. She said the ship unloads then segregates the containers then ships the various packages/Containers across America by "IT" that stands for Inbond Transportation from port to port, I don't know she may have misspelled Inbound. I requested shipment to Detroit Port of Entry. So my official Invoice says "Shipping Cost to Detroit" so I'll see later if there is a trucking fee to Detroit. I think there will be a charge, but there shouldn't be. My invoice says shipping to Detroit. If there's a charge to Detroit then there is a problem with the way they present the details. Had I known that there was going to be a charge to ship to Detroit I would've at least considered have it shipped directly to my residence. Then I wouldn't have had to drive to Detroit to retrieve my package. BTW my truck has a width of 51" between the wheel wells so there shouldn't be a problem with loading it on my truck.
Hopefully discussing details like this will keep other potential customers ot Thunderlaser better informed.
ATTACHED: Invoice and list from Broker.
It's home and it's working!
Just playing with card stock. I'm loving the Nova 35. I have a lot of experience with an Epilog 24. Right now my only issue...or thing I like more... And not a big one... Is how to keep my pieces square to X&Y? the framing function helps. I may cut... With the laser... A jig that lets me put pieces square on the honeycomb. The Epilog has rulers that let you butt up against a corner where the laser can cut/engrave.
On a side note... The fit and finish on a thunder laser is impressive. My lighting was not the best but look at this wiring.
Also.. I love the Adobe Illustrator import function of RDworks. Corel draw is fine but... I have more experience with AI. Perhaps SVG will be supported in updates? I like Autodesk Graphic on the Macintosh for quick things and it best exports in SVG.
Sent u a pm
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very nice clean room can you please share room size and finished wall material? cheers