Dunno why everyone is defending the manufacturer and lambasting the poster , he obviously got a bad/used/shoddy machine and the mnfgrs should fix it , stories like this justify some of the peoples lack of faith and trust in chinese mnfgrs and with good reason. Some chinese "businessmen" think that it makes them look good and they are the best businessmen if they can cheat customers and cheating a foreigner is first prize , looks like thats the case here...totally disgusting.
I am in Yiwu right now checking on a $100 000 container of goods coming to me , I had to fly there from south africa due to concerns over quality, checking qty and seeing its loaded properly etc..its the only way to do business with china , check yourself , put it all on black and white , be careful of agents, payments and don't be too trusting. As it turns out , its was all good , but for my next container , I will do the same , fly out to check. that way they know they cant scam me in any way ...
Even with my laser suppliers being one of the good guys and despite all the assurances I got and the stuff I put in writing as well as visiting their factory and even watching the build a bit , my laser still came with errors , albeit small , sticky inspection panels , no ground screw , less than optimal wiring and a few other minor defects , we corrected em. You wouldnt have a warm and fuzzy feeling if you got a brand new car missing the cigarette lighter , the battery badly connected and the trunk not opening... worst of all , it would have taken an hour extra for em to fix and that hour woulda been time WELL spent , for me to get a perfect product.
Rodney, you are correct. It should be always checked in factory before shipping...
In our case there were two factors bcs of which we didn't check it before shipping;
1. when the machien cost beetween 20- 30.000...
2. we had quite positive experience with other manufactors; we have more laser machines and other suppliers supplied acceptable machines - always with adjusting and repairng some parts but usable...
Rodney, can you tell me which laser supplier you are using in CN and have godd experience with?
I use Liaocheng shenui lasers , liocheng city , I was at their factory for 2 days and have had exceptional service from them. I am not alone in this as many others thta hev bought from them have positive comments
I was impressed at their factory , its huge and they had 100's of machines all ready to go , I didnt buy big machines from them , 1 x 1200 x 800 and 1 x 900 x 600 + spares etc. both work VERY well. blanca yan is the contact i used there.
Read this thread for some pictures etc Despatches from China - Page 2
and this one Chinese lasers - they're here !!!!!!
Let's go on....
The parts from laser tube support, laser mirrors,... are good ( new one, not used ) but the main problme of this hardware is that its not fitted for so big laser tube ( 180W ). They just used parts for some smaller powers.
In our case, if we lower the laser tube maximum on the bottom, and adjust the first mirror in the highest position the laser beam slightly touch the upper part of mirror ( far away from the center ).
You will say easy, you put something under the support of 1st and 2nd mirror. That could be but then become problematic the third mirror. Without putting nothing under, it's impossible to adjust that laser beam get to thoird mirror in bot 0 and max X position.
In the picture just a small red lines for understanding.
The most interesting part after is for sure aftersale support. This is the most sad and also funny part.
After sending them all pictures and infos we got first replies like "no my friend you just adjust three screws and evrything is OK" or " believe me is not so bad, we test for long time before shipping"....
When we start to push harder on them and they admit the mistake or what thy did, the ansewrs were in this ways:
"for the worktable, we could put something under the honycomb to make it in the same level"
"it is really not big problems to solve"
"if you send it back ( the machine ), it is very difficult to clear the custom, for import is difficult especially on machines in China"
"but we won't pay for this, it is too much for us"
"you orded the machine not worth 200000usd"
"because we don't have so much profit on machine"
"as we talked, you need to in charge all the cost of back including for clear the custom if you want to send back and if you send back, our laser tube will be so long time, we couldn't sell it then and all the other parts like this, we couldn't sell to other customers"
"but we couldn't accept this, there is not big problem on this machine, and small parts changed it is ok, believe you understand about it"
.... and than silence. This is their best reply; we believe in our machines, they are perfect.
And last option was that we buy new machine, we get 10% on discount and this time the machine will be perfect....
Nice to hear that you've got machine which satisfy your needs. On second hand I also have somme Italian friend who ordered JQ machine a little bigger in the beggining of this year, got it now...... and disaster like ours one. If he will want to send us some picture on this forum and share his expereince with us, will be good to understand the real quality coming from JQ.
You have PM with my contacts Pater.
In meantime we are hardly in the process of repairing the machine. Pictures will follow. We started with adjusting the base construction to the point of good levesl and parallels for the rails.
I'm going to order also new lens and mirrors. In our other laser machines we are very satisfy with RECI mirrors, so I will order this one.
In the matter of lens, whatever we tried till now, we are not 100% satisfy.
My question is; with which laser lens from which producer you have the best experience. Dure we are speaking for 2 and 4 inch focus ZN Se lens. I also saw in last time very popular GaAs type of lens for higher power of lasers.
This is my first laser cutter and I am dead excited about getting it working.
Here are my experience with JQlaser from alibaba.com
1) The person you buy from is the person who will give you technical support.
That is, they are your point of contact to the company.
If you have trouble before you purchase the item ask for a different rep.
My advice is ask a few technical questions to see how quickly they get back to you.
Because this is the person you will be stuck with.
2) My support has been done only via email. When I phoned I was asked
to send my problems via email. Also they like photos of the problem.
3) I would ask for all instructions, manauls and videos to be emailed to you before
you buy so you can get an idea what you are being let in for. If it seems all to
much and the Chineese/English hard to understand maybe you should buy from
someone else.
4) Do a google search on their website address to see if anyone else has had
any problems with the company you are dealing with.
My problems With the product
1) I asked for a redspot laser. This simply did not work. However they did send me
a picture of where it should be plugged in. I will have to backtrack the circuit to
sort this out. Hopefully I will find the issue.
2) You have to connect the handles yourself. This is simple enough to do.
However the bolts for the handels were too long. I replaced them with smaller bolts.
Everything was fine.
3) To accomidate a 150 watt laser tube they had added a box to the end of the
laser cutter. (basically the more wattage the laser has the bigger the tube)
This had four screws on it to secure a face plate. I took the face
plate off so I could look at the laser. I was slightly confused when one of the screws
had paper wrapped round the thread. The reason for this was that they had put a large
hole into the box and the paper was keeping it in place. The face plate now has three
screws holding it in place as the fourth fell out when I did not put the paper back.
4) There was rust one of the doors. This caused flecks of red paint to be in the
laser tube compartment. I presume it had been stored in a wet environment before it was
built as all the other doors are perfect.
5) To my mind the instructions are not complete. I had to use youtube.com to get a lot
of answers.
6) There was no list of parts sent. As a result I had to guess that everything was present.
7) The blower in the laser head does not work. Air is being supplied but nothing is coming out.
The add ons
8) When the laser is at full power. (150 watts) the water cooler cannot keep up (Water cooler is a CW5200).
So after 5 minutes of laser cutting I have to hit the pause button and go and make a cup of tea while the water chiller
catchs up. Outisde temperaure is 20C. I could run the system at 70% power but then what is the point of buying a
150 watt system?
I bought a few optional extras
1) Laser Auto focus. This is basically a switch with a stick plugged onto it.
The idea is that the Z axis rises. Clicks the switch and then the Z axis will drop
to the correct height.
Issues
A) I can't find a way to activate this from the machine itself. It has to come from the computer.
B) If the stick falls off do you get a head crash?
C) You need the Z-axis to be powered.
2) red spot laser
This is a laser which has been bolted onto the focus tube of the main laser. You have three adjusting screws
to line it up with where the laser fires. I expect this to be useful when doing adhoc cuts. I expect it is
only useful if each object to laser cut is at the same height each time, as the red dot laser screws will have to be
adjusted. I presume you do a test fire and then line the red dot laser up with the dot.
3) Z axis up and down.
It goes up and it goes down. Seems simple enough.
4) USB / Internal computer to do the laser cutting without a computer
Comment: I like this as it takes the CPU load off the computer. However I still plugged my computer into use
the laser cutter as it seems easier to control it this way.
Note: None of these "add ons" had any instructions. It is possible I have missed something important in my
detective work.
Technical issues
1) The laser would not fire. This was caused by the water ciller alarm cable not being
connected. This cable was hidden in the electronics part of the laser cutter.
There were no errors or warnings. Just no laser. When I plugged it in it worked
2) I use Linux. I never did get this to work as the lasercut53 software uses a dongle / softdog copy protection
system. The software itself seemed would install and work fine under wine in XPwindows mode.
In the end I went out and bought an old windows XP system which worked first time. (when the dongle was put in).
3) To connect a computer to the USB/laser cutter you have to use a passive usb port which is inside the electronics compartment.
The port on the outside is for thumb drives and is active. ie it supplies power. I think plugging a computer (which is also active)
into this port may damadge the laser cuter. So my advice is to use the USB cable provided. Not as (I was tempted to do) use a USB
extension cable.
Conclusion
Despite the problems I love this machine. It is big and solid and all mine. Having said that I have only managed to cut out three
small test squares in acrylic. This may change with more use. Most of the problems (so far) are minor/ cosmetic. Which is a shame.
The manual in my view are not good and I would not recommend this to anyone who is without excellent problem solving skills. As mentioned else where this is not a plug and play system.
Notes: I live in Australia and would like to thank Optional items for Laser Engraver / Cutter Machines for all the information that they have so kindly put on the web. It has saved my bottom a few times. The Australian $ is about the same as the US $ at the moment. My $6k Lasercutter cost me another 2K to import (including import tax and Sales/GST tax) and $0.3k to deliver by crane truck. (The parcel was about 5 cubic Metres and
would not fit on a tail lift truck). The pallet was way too large to use a pallet truck on and I suspect it would have warped the laser cutter
inside if I had done so.
Update 1 month later
The system will not blow air and the red spot laser will not work. After many emails
we still can't sort these issues out. The red spot laser issue is annoying but liverable.
However since the blower does not work the fumes, from cutting something like
acrylic, drift up to the nossile instead of being blown away from the nossil.
At best these fumes fog up the lense requireing a clean every hour or so.
At worse The fumes combust causing small fires to occur on my work.
The only way to deal with this problem is to switch the laser off,
put the fire out and start again. Losing anywork already done. I am not a happy shopper.
I have spent an absolute fortune on this in terms of time. Trying to get this to work.
Trying to think of different ways to phase my questions so they understand my problem.
Only to be given a solution I have already tried. If I were doing this for profit
I would be very disappointed.
Update - The final insult
The final email contained the following line
"I think our laser machine have no problem, because before shippment, we have check it."
So basicaslly if you do decide to buy a laser from jqlaser and you have a problem then
obviously it must be your fault because they checked it before they sent it.
Update - It's working.
Fortunately I found a circuit diagram on the internet for the MPC6535 and using my trusty voltmeter
I found that the Blower and red spot laser had been plugged in incorrectly.
This should have been picked up in the final checks at the factory and when I sent pictures clearly
showing the plug in the wrong place to technical support. Fortunately the 5 volt redspot laser had not been fried by being
exposed to 18 Volts.
I inially bought the larger system to cut PCB's. At 100% power (150 watts) and the slowest speed there is no mark
left on the copper. However acrylic cuts beaughtifully.
Warning: CO2 lasers are dangerous and invisble to the naked eye. Also they need high voltage to work (approximately 18,000 volts on my laser) which may kill you.
Disclaimer: This article is meant for research purposes only and a starting point for further research. Any information should be checked and double checked with other sources. Your experiences may differ from mine.
We have used a 1690 jq laser for approaching 2 years on a regular (say 20hours a week minimum) basis in a production environment, cutting both acrylic and also textiles of polyester/pvc and we are happy.
As a buyer of finished textile and polymer items in China, I developed a rule that I would only buy from a factory I had seen, so I went.
Frankly a typical and probably above average Chinese company, not quite Aerospace to say the least but it is real, and people are bright-eyed active and friendly. We also have a Chinese licencee who looks after me over there so translation was not a problem. It would have been. Their spoken English is minimal but can read it and write it OK, so I never try to ring. My Chinaman can do that if I really need it.
I agree that the instruction manual in Chinglish is sometimes a challenge and there is no help function. Help yourself.
The machine has a rising table and in transit one side lowered itself (HOW?) and left the laser tube badly supported so the tube cracked. All the insurers blamed each other so muggins here had to buy another one but JQ paid the airfreight. Never did resolve the insurance.
Apart from table height adjustment the machine is great. The table up/down buttons are too coarse an adjustment but JQ say that has now changed. The LHS of the table still drops during the day and we really cannot see why; ANY IDEAS?
Suffice it to say that we are happy enough to buy a second machine from them. Maybe better the devil you know and so on, but at least we do know and it is OK.
We have started negotiations and I will keep the thread up to date.
Good to hear that you have had a good experience with JQlaser.
As for your issue
>The LHS of the table still drops during the day and we really cannot see why; ANY IDEAS?
I have a jq1290. My table is powered by two different steppers motors. I would see if it is possible to switch" the signal. That is see if you can plug stepper motor a into b's wires and vice versa. You should be able to do this
at the MPC (ie the control board). Obviously all disclaimers. But just a thought.
Thanks for comment but I think the problem is mechanical as that side of table dropped in sea transit from China.
Checked everything obvious so reckon we will interrupt the cable to one of the stepping motors with a multi-pole switch and then do the levelling using the standard button. Still moves too fast on button press but we will live with it, as the motor has a really tiny drive wheel already and a wholesale change is not worth it.
Hello i´m new in this area, i need to know if there´s some place to download firmware for the JQLaser (1460 or 9060) because i´ve lost the CD and i have no response from china where i bought it...
Hello i´m new in this area, i need to know if there´s some place to download firmware for the JQLaser (1460 or 9060) because i´ve lost the CD and i have no response from china where i bought it...
Thanks a lot for any help!!
Jqlaser assemble the parts they buy in. That is they don't make the control board or the bios. So if you look at the control board you can find the make and take it from there.
My jq1290 has an MPC 6535 from Leetro. See MPC6535--Leetro Automation Co.,Ltd.
Report on JQlaser waranty claim - or not buyer beware
Summary: JQlaser refused warranty claim because it's too expensive. (final email below)
I bought a laser cutter from jqlaser. The water chiller did not chill. JQlaser refused to accept it was the chillers at fault (user error). so I bought a second one which works fine. They still refuse my request for a waranty repair saying it would be too expensive but they will give me a free water chiller when I buy my next laser cutter.
I have asked our technical and the technicals of water chiller company,they said they couldn´t
adjust the water chiller´s exact problem.Maybe the problem is lack of freon,or the air compressor
in the water chiller could not work smoothly.
You want reture the water chiller to our company,these days i was busy for help you apply it.
But according to chinese customs relevant laws,before the water chiller returns, we must be apply
and prepare used mechanical and electronic record for them,the goverment is forbid used mechanical
and electronic product enter into China.Then we must be pay fine to the Chinese customs,
i already asked the customs broker,they said if we apply the water chiller back to our company,
the process about 1 month, and the penalty will more expensive than the water chiller.
But i´m very understand your mood,these days i was very busy for apply a new water chiller for you.
I have try my best, and today i get the result,company agree will give a free water chiller to you
with the next machine.
Thanks and best regards
I have emailed them 4 times since this last email but they no longer respond.
I'm using a JQ-1621 (1600mmx2100mm) Laser Cutting Machine with a 150 W Reci laser tube for almost 2 years. I'm going to describe every process (and problem) separately:
The Import:
We decided to import the laser cutting machine ourselves, since the prices in our country are much higher compared to the prices in China. The retailers here generally try to get rich quick and you shouldn't expect much technical support if they're not a very big company. So we did research on the internet and found several manufacturers of laser cutting machines on MadeInChina and Alibaba. We made all communication through e-mail and online messaging. We demanded their CE certification and some other documents to verify that they're legit. After we were convinced, we wired the money and started waiting. No problem so far.
The machine arrived at the port 3 months after the production of the machine was complete. (Appearantly they don't produce the bigger machines in advance.) The Customs Broker did handle the whole Importing process. The trouble started after the machine's arrival at the port. Either on board the ship on the sea or in the port at arrival the wooden container was smashed by a heavy object. (I still don't know what it really was until this day.) So the worktable and the laser head (top) cover was smashed. JQ Laser said that we should repair the worktable and send them the bill. My Boss' friend, an experienced car mechanic, repaired the worktable and didn't take any money, so there was no bill. He tried to repair it, but still to this day the worktable isn't 100% even. Off course I'm not saying this accident was JQ Laser's fault, but if you bought a brand new car and it was damaged during transport and the manufacturer/seller said you should repair it and send them the bill, you wouldn't feel great about it.
Installation:
There is little documentation and it is in Engrish/Chinglish, whatever you call it. The salesperson I spoke to provided support through e-mail and online Messenger communication. As some people mentioned before, you're stuck with the person you bought the machine from, every time you have trouble with the machine, you contact him/her, so try to establish a good relationship. In my case, he was very polite and understanding, helpful, but still, it isn't always enough to solve your problem.
The mechanical installation was actually easy. But the calibration of laser optics is a pain in the *** . Without prior knowledge of laser machines and only the online help of the JQ Salesperson it wasn't really easy. I still don't know all the functions of the machine and at the very start we had to resort to the trial and error method. So unless you are a very technically capable person, good at problem solving and have a lot of time to spend at this machine, this machine is definitely not for you.
Malfunction:
So I had the machine up and running and after about 1,5 years of working, the RECI brand power supply of the machine stopped working. We tried to repair it, but it didn't work out. A company in my country was selling the power supply, but the price was exactly ten times the price we got from RECI in China. So we contacted JQ Laser and bought the new RECI Power Supply from them with a 60x40 cm engraving laser along. Unfortunately a month passed untill we received the Power Supply because Customs got involved. So a month without the machine working really hurt us.
Conclusion
All in all, the machine is cheap and for it's price, JQ Laser actually delivers quite workable machines. That is, if you can get them to work on your own. You have to learn to work with the machine and cutting software on your own. If the machine malfunctions, you have to find out which part is broken and order a new part directly from China. So if you're prepared for all of it, JQ Laser Machines are a bargain. If your work is time sensitive and you can't afford to make a Customer wait, don't even look in their direction.
I hope my experiences are helpful to all out there who intend to buy and import Chinese Laser Machines themselves.
Last edited by TurkishDelight; 12-22-2011 at 08:27 AM.
I also have a problem with JQ laser, type 6040.
Must say that the support from them was really good until the laser arrived, after that they don`t respond to mails.
The problem is in that that machine just randomly corrupts while cutting or engraving and then goes crazy
For example:
1) Goes to the bottom corner and tries to go further from working area
2) Stops to work
3) Cuts something that is not in program
I suspect in faulty USB stick ( I transfer programs to laser via USB stick). Once it got corrupted but I eventually replace it with another ( I copied file that works and copied it several times and renamed it).
Do you have any idea what can I do?
Could someone copy USB files and send them to me?
Thank you
(I attached picture of problem 3) )
EDIT: Also I noticed that it hits border limit when starts to engrave and when is finding the first position (datum).
Its a light hit, but I wonder is that normal.
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My experience with a JQlaser cutter
Report on JQlaser waranty claim - or not buyer beware
