Newbie- Anybody from the Philippines? I'm looking to buy a laser engraver.

[stainlesss]

Hello All...

Anybody here from the Philippines?
I'm looking to buy a laser engraver to start a small business right at home.

The laser will be used mainly for the following:
1. metal marking to make medallions
2. Glass engraving
3. Stone engraving
4. wood engraving
5. Paper
6. Glass cutting(not main purpose)

Could any of you guys recommend any systems that you have experience with that would fit my needs?
Have you guys had experience importing the equipment to Philippines?

From what i have read here...
- US base manufacturers are plug and play equipments but very expensive.
- China based manufacturers are also good and cheap but need some work.
I can say I have some technical knowledge to be able to manage some work on these machines

As much as possible, i would like the equipment to be low priced to minimize exposure, but would be enough to handle my needs.

Also, since this is new to me, any comments and sugggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you...

[DaveDoesIT]

Originally Posted by stainlesss The laser will be used mainly for the following: 1. metal marking to make medallions 2. Glass engraving 3. Stone engraving 4. wood engraving 5. Paper 6. Glass cutting(not main purpose)

I am not in PI, but have some experience with Lasers. You need to do some research on marking some of this stuff. A reasonably priced Laser is quite restricted in what it can do.

What kind of metal? A 25W CO2 will mark anodized aluminum (maybe anodized titanium) but no other metals. Although, you can mark other metals using some marking fluids that you spray on, let dry and then Laser. The results are fairly permanent but the fluid is expensive and currently only in black.

You would need around 50W of CO2 for marking glass unless you use the above mentioned fluids. Cutting glass? Stone engraving? Good luck, bring that check book. I am not sure you can actually cut glass. I have never seen it done, but it may be possible with enough Watts.

Get on search engines and find out what is possible and what is not. I mean you can get Lasers, a Nd:Yag for instance that will do all you want but bring the check book.

Where manufactured? You get what you pay for. Low cost is not always economical. I favor the ULS machines. They have been around for 16+ years. I have 1 ULS and a friend has 5 of them and they churn out stuff 10 hours a day 6 days a week.

Dave

[Huahahahahaha]

if you want to cut glass.........
forget laser
go to WAter jet.

laser just could engrave on glass

[Huahahahahaha]

The laser will be used mainly for the following:
1. metal marking to make medallions
2. Glass engraving
3. Stone engraving
4. wood engraving
5. Paper
6. Glass cutting(not main purpose)

you just could do no 2-5 with CO2 Laser with under 100 Watt.
if you want to do no 6, go to waterjet
if you want to do no 1, choose high power CO2 laser, or you could combine your laser with other chemical to make marking effect on metal.
ussualy they used chermark or thermark. But if you think that chemical is expensive, you could use cheaper chemical that have on your local store.
just search my other thread, i write my experiment on that.

[stainlesss]

Hello All,

Thank you for your feed backs...

Glass cutting seems out of the picture...
I'm looking at a 50W system plus Chemicals for markings... this seems to be the right way for me to get started.

thank you...

[knowell2]

I was at the MOA trade exhibit last week and there was a laser engraver offered for sale that surely fits your requirements. You might want to check out this company: Graficad Creation, Inc in Alabang. The website is www.graficad-inc.com. BTW, I am not connected in anyway with this company.

[lindagstar]

"Huahahahahaha Huahahahahaha is online now

Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Indonesia
Posts: 44
Huahahahahaha is on a distinguished road
if you want to cut glass.........
forget laser
go to WAter jet.

laser just could engrave on glass "


He/she is right,Yag laser marking machine can engrave on metal, co2 marking machine can engrave wood, plastic, acrylic, rubber and artificial stones such as those nonmetallic material. If you want some more details about laser marking machine, please contact me at linda-gstar@hotmail.com. You also can go to our websit and have a look our machine models and functions. Thanks.

[rikolaser]

The laser engraving machines can engrave on stone,glass,wood and paper,but they can not engrave on metals,can not cut glass! You can also consider the YAG laser marking machines, they can engrave on metals.
Alice

[Metzindustries]

forget the china machines, Im in the Philippines and bought a CNC vinyl cutter from Hong Kong. spent 2 months getting it to work. Driver, software issues galore. After the money spend on salary, and wasted material I should have bought a turn key American machine.

American Machines (for the most part) are plug in and make money. Chinese machines are endless screwing around and maybe you will make money.

[bpoulin]

There are good chinese machines out there. I can refer you to the same company I bought mine from. The software is pretty good, not as good as top line US made machines, but the cost is a lot less, so if you are willing to work a little harder you can achieve the same results.

[Metzindustries]

I just bought a torchmate machine today, 2x4 foot machine plus basic software, and shipping to balikbayan forwarder was only 188k pesos. add in another 100k pesos for customs, plasma torch, and air freight so most likely total cost up and running is 288k pesos. cheapest local machine on Sulit is 550k pesos.

The big problem with the Chinese machines is that they still use the old parallel port electronic controller.

Anyways will open up shop early next year in Antipolo. Will offer cut services, engineering, and make DIY kits for different tools, like a small scale plastic inject mold machine that should cost less than 30k pesos, hydraulic press kit, rice gas stove kit that will need no welding, stainless steel bbq grill that bolts together, and the cut parts for a DIY skid steer.

[bpoulin]

Originally Posted by Metzindustries The big problem with the Chinese machines is that they still use the old parallel port electronic controller.

Not true, Mine is USB and can run the file right off a USB thumb drive, or connect to the computer.