Chinese Laser engraver

[judocol]

Hi all, I have been looking into buying a laser engraver no for a few weeks and have been using this site for its excellent research material.
alas though i seem no closer into making a decision because I just dont want to make a big mistake.
i want a laser to engrave photo's onto granite. but the big problem is do i buy from china, nor pay double for probably the same machine, and buy it in the UK.
Has anyone had any recent dealings with any reputable chinese companies, or can anyone from any country apart from China reccomend a company to me. all adsvise would be greatly appreciated and Iam sure would help others down the line

[audioandy1762]

Hi
Have a look at this thread it might be of some help.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81241

Andy

[zax15uk]

Have you used a laser for engraving granite previously?

The negative of using a laser to engrave stone/granite is that the depth is very shallow, this may be ok but if the material gets wet the design vanishes (of course it magically returns as the material dries). Maybe you can sell granite with magic engravings!

Zax.

[judocol]

No I have not used laser before to engrave on granite. I understand that really it only scratches the surface, but i cannot think of any other way of putting detailed images onto granite like photo's

[zax15uk]

It depends on the image size and level of detail, but the other options are:

Impact
Diamond
Stencil and sand blasting
Laser


They all have positives and negatives but if you are doing photos on small items the laser is probably the best option, I just wanted to ensure you had reasonable expectations.

I have a cheap 40W Chinese desktop laser (JSM40) and it works well for display plaques. I've attached an example.

If I'm doing stone or granite, especially if the surface isn't flat and smooth I will use a vinyl stencil and air eraser.

Zax.

[Litografa]

Judocol, look here
http://www.litografa.lt/index.php?aid=255

[judocol]

Hi again, i have looked at various methods, the stencil and sandblast seems good until you do more research and find it difficult to buy the equipment needed to make the stencils, I doubt that the ultra violet way of making the stencil would last under the preszsure of sandblasting.

Not sure what the diamond method is.

the link to photograv seemed quite promising, until I asked for pricing, always worries me when I cannot get replies from companies.

There is an american company called ROI who seem to have impact etching equipment, worth a look

[zax15uk]

I don't make very detailed stencils but to create them I use a cheap vinyl plotter, that method may not be suitable for your application.

The technique is easy but the stencil is only usable once but costs almost nothing.

As you can see from the plaque example the laser does a good job in the right application too, photos come out great too.

Zax.