What Do I Buy

[lrob]

I need some advise on buying a Laser engraver/cutter. Want to cut ¼” oak and birch plywood, 1/4” oak wood, and up to ¼” acrylic. Speed is not important. What wattage do you think would be required? What features or options have you found to be a must in a Laser? Are you happy with the company that you bought yours from? Anything else you might want to add would be appreciated.

Thanks
Lrob

[Aksess]

Before I bought a cnc router I was ponderning purchasing a laser. Best place to talk to I found is http://www.signwarehouse.com/ These people knew what they were talking about when I talked to them. By the way they will haggle on the price I priced a V series 12 wat at around 5,500 with everything, Cutting table, dry air compressor, exaust, extra lense, and software. You may want to go up to the 35 wat v series. Heck give the company a call you will be glad you did!

[ger21]

http://www.emissiontechnologies.com/xy.htm

[RandMan]

A friend of mine bought a 100watt Epilog for cutting 3/8" hardwood after a lengthy product search. Universal Laser Systems was his second choice since the systems are similar. We were going to buy it as partners so I went to a bunch of the demos. I ended up buying a router instead. Some of the critical things we looked at were:

Performance: ability to make true circles. Don't laugh some of the stepper systems didn't. Speed of cut and power are also very important with wood and acrylic since you need to go very fast with high power to minimize burning and melting respectively. You need enough power to go through the material with one pass since multiple passes just increase burning. Having to sand the sides of what you cut sucks.

Life of the CO2 tube and cost to recharge: The tubes don't degrade from hours used just from age. Some manufacturers make their own tubes and a recharge is inexpensive. Others buy their tubes and the recharge is rediculous. Especially big $$$ on the lower power systems.

Size of the bed and focus mechanism. The better systems have a motorized table that raises and lowers and autofocus. The smaller systems were fixed and limit the size and height of the work. You'll need an optional aluminum cutting grid that takes up a couple of inches of height. Since you'll probably want to feed it some size of sheet, make sure it's big enough.

File import/export etc: Most systems had proprietary software that looks like a print driver to packages like coreldraw. They are vector devices so make sure you know how to get from wherever you will model/draw to the laser. Generally you draw different colors to represent different power levels. If you are doing fonts they'll need to be vector etc. Generally you have to plot from a CAD program to the laser driver or wash the file through CorelDraw.

Another thing we learned is all these companies are very hungry and you can haggle for a MUCH lower price (like 50%) than they start out asking for on the big systems. Some have demo systems from trade shows or customer upgrades too.

His system is really good but for cutting even at 100watts it is limited in what it can do. You MUST buy a moderately high CFM smoke extraction blower and vent to the outside. They may "forget" to tell you about that which can be a few hundred $ if you do it on the cheap.

[ViperTX]

Lasers don't cut they burn...I would evaluate your needs. They are magnificent for marking very accurately metal, they do an excellent job in using CNC to control their beam for engraving....well burning. They are excellent for cutting metal (burning) that requires elaborate shapes. If you have the money for a laser...I would look at some of the waterjet systems for cutting (abrading) stuff.

[WayneHill]

How do you keep the overspray water away from the wood with a waterjet?

[ViperTX]

I suspect that overspray is not a problem.....the waterjet is generally a slury of water, some abrasive media and I believe there is an agent that tightly binds the water to the media and allows the mixture to be pumped at very high speeds through a tiny orifice.....It will slice through finger and the only wetness will be due to your blood once your body determines that something has happened. Anyway...if you ever have a chance to check one out....it's pretty amazing.

[Aksess]

Only the high dollar lasers will cut or etch metal. The hobby ones will only etch in coating on the metal....

[fastguy]

RandMan laid it out pretty good - other considerations
Connectivity - ethernet / parallel / Etc
Relays to control Air / exhaust & more - Xenetech gives the key to that castle
Is your rep near you?
Cabinet design - The LaserPro & Xenetech have pass through
Ease of use is an issue

Also Check Out:
LaserProUSA - Coolest feature is 'Place origin by hand'
Signswarehouse are older version of LaserPro (GCC) as of Oct 2004
Check the speed difference 42 vs 80 IPS & SW was cheaper
Other SW is a Vytek

Xenetech - The website does not do them justice - has some cool features - The touch screen is slick - The auto focus is a combination of the others good points.

TroTec / Trodat - not too familiar with

The Universal & Epilog are most established & enjoy good reputations.
I like the way Universal handle the sale of wattage.

I can elaborate if needed
Thanks
Mike

[lrob]

Just want everyone to know that I have carefully read every reply to my question on what Laser to buy. I really appreciate the input, as it has been very helpful. Though my need is for cutting plastic and wood only, I liked having my eyes opened up to other cutting alternatives. If there are any further thoughts on Laser cutting that you would think will help, please add them.