Boss Laser opinions?

[HardEight]

I'm looking to purchase my first laser. It will mainly be used to engrave anodized aluminum and painted aluminum.
I came across a company called Boss Laser.

https://www.bosslaser.com/

They are US based and have some attractive prices and features.
However I can't seem to find too many independent thoughts on them. I have searched the web and this forum for reviews and opinions and have come up empty handed.

Are they a new company?
Does anyone here have any experience with their product?

Thanks!

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[Exsecratio]

Hiya,

Can't say I've ever heard of them or seen anything about them in the 11 forums I'm a member of.

Results for bosslaser.com

Updated Date: 05-mar-2013
Creation Date: 17-mar-2012
Expiration Date: 17-mar-2015

I'd be pretty sure they aren't manufacturers and are resellers for imported kit. The machines look a little like a cross between Weike stuff and HX laser (King Rabbit) but hard to tell. The smaller versions are very much like HX stuff.

They are in the US though and offer visits to potential buyers.

and have some attractive prices and features.

Some of the prices are over the top to be honest.Tubes especially.

cheers

Dave

[Hurricane21]

They are a start-up out of Florida. A friend of mine started it after seeing what we are doing at Hurricane Home page . 1 or 2 guys importing and playing around at best. No integration with US components like us. We use meller optics and CADLink just developed our own software exclusively for us but can be used with all Leetro controllers. We have the best support and service as you can read on here and sawmill creek. Also, we include a 2 yr warranty on all machines that covers the tube as well.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

John

[twocik]

Yes, they're new. The Boss laser guys were very helpful. A 40W standard at 3k you can't really beat that. Love the look of the machine and site ! One thing all of these companies lack are demonstration. If you want to sell machines, you need to produce 1 or more HD video(s) per week showing features, how to, cutting capabilities, etc.. Almost every USA laser machine I've researched are from Asia with the USA companies name slapped on it. Doesn't matter where it's produced because the parts still come from overseas. Fine tuning them, adding more precise parts, freight, customs, etc.. are the services you're paying for + the warranty. I'm ok with that and would rather them sort out the duds. I've read nightmares on the ebay machines, no thanks.


HardEight did you buy one yet ?

[BossLaser]

Hi there, Dan here with http://www.BossLaser.com

Thanks for the comments. Just to clarify we put together our team beginning March 2012 before
forming the company in Aug the same year. Our warehouse is in Sanford, FL. Our admin office
is in Ocala, FL.

We have 5 full time staffers plus 1 part time. Two of our laser tech's have engineering backgrounds
and are card carryin' laser tech nerds...(what they lack in physical prowess they make up in brains
More importantly they're down to earth and very good at serving our customers start to finish.

We've set up systems for Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, Ivy League schools, high schools,
serious or newbie hobbyists, etc.

Do we love to "play around" with this technology. Yes. I mean that's one big reason why were in the
business. But we're dead serious with making improvements to it, especially the controlling software.

Depending on the machine we do modify/improve our units with U.S. parts when it makes sense - typically
the power supply, lens, controlling software. From recent testing we now source CO2 tubes from a higher
quality supplier over Reci.

Also, we're currently updating our BOSS DD (U.S. developed direct drive/interface) software to all our
systems and without upcharge. Lots of folks out there are tired of playin with their dongle - and we are
too :P.

Twocik thanks for your comments and insight. We do need to improve our presentation with regards to
video. We'll have more up soon.

[HardEight]

Thanks for all the replies!
Twocik - No I haven't made my decision yet. You are right about the price point though.

I am doing this as sort of a joint venture with another business and we are both still wading in slowly to see what all our options are and what would be best for our needs.
We have been outsourcing all of our work to another independent contractor who has an Epilog unit and he is always running into problems.

Not to bad mouth Epilog, I am sure they are great machines, I am just not sure if the price difference is completely justifiable. All of my research has shown that a large part of the equation is the operator. The best equipment in the world doesn't amount to much if you can't use it properly and troubleshoot efficiently.
I have a good bit of CAD/CAM experience with past employment and I am fairly technically and mechanically inclined, so I feel like I could pick up the laser workings well enough to handle running it.

I am not to the point of getting an ebay laser though. I do need to see a return on this investment and that won't happen if I am constantly working on the machine.

BOSS, do you wholesale to anyone who might have one on hand that I can see a demo on?
If not, I am not too terribly far away from FL, maybe if I can chisel away some spare time I can drive down and see it first hand.

Thanks.

[BossLaser]

BOSS, do you wholesale to anyone who might have one on hand that I can see a demo on?
If not, I am not too terribly far away from FL, maybe if I can chisel away some spare time I can drive down and see it first hand.

We do, but not in Florida. You can talk to customers in your area using our machine. You're welcome to stop in our Sanford, FL (just above Orlando) warehouse for a demo. Or just upload a file to engrave on anodized aluminum and we'll FedEX you back a sample: laser services.

Dan

[twocik]

Seriously anyone checking this thread out.... The Boss laser team are very professional. They spend the time on the phone to answer every question without hassling you like a used car dealer. The product looks great and can't wait to see it in action. I'm not sure what's up with the hater, but that was a very unprofessional comment...


HardEight - We're going sometime in the next week or so to demo the laser, I'll report back. Mike be ready for us !

[SkinGripz]

I'm looking to purchase my first laser. It will mainly be used to engrave anodized aluminum and painted aluminum.
I came across a company called Boss Laser.

https://www.bosslaser.com/

They are US based and have some attractive prices and features.
However I can't seem to find too many independent thoughts on them. I have searched the web and this forum for reviews and opinions and have come up empty handed.

Are they a new company?
Does anyone here have any experience with their product?

Thanks!

Mike at SkinGripz here. After an exhaustive research of many months, including Epilog, Truetek, FSL, and Hurricane, we finally pulled the trigger on a Boss Laser LS1415 yesterday.

As you might have guessed, we have not actually received it yet, but I will comment on our perception so far. I have spoke with both Mike and Dan over the last few days trying to decided between two makers. They have been extremely helpful, answered my emails within an hour (usually minutes) and have answered everytime I have called. I didnt feel rushed, or like I was a bother (unlike another company I won't name).

The machine, I'm told is custom made to their specs, and upgraded where needed (think Chinese wires). After weeks of looking, I couldn't find a match for the design, but it does look a bit like Rabbit, only more modern with better colors. Some of the selling points to us were the "Y" axis ball bearings, separated tube compartment, and general looks of better quality engineering. Oh, and certainly the customer support so far.

I will update when we have the machine and have used it, but my gut feeling says this is a machine we're gonna like a bunch.

Just to clarify, I am not affiliated with BossLaser, am not a paid advertiser, best friend, fanboy, etc. I am the owner at SkinGripz, a real and well know company, and have written our experience as a way to help others here.

-Mike

[buddy2011]

Bought my boss Laser a couple weeks ago and did some tweeking and tuning... I am really impressed with this thing. I got the Boss2016 model with a 60 watt laser and am cutting 0.090" acrylic at 47mm/sec. Just did 1/2" pine today at 8mm/sec clean through with a 60 watt 2" focal lens. I don't care if Epilogue and VeriLaser say they have the Cadilacs out there. I saw an Epilogue working... lets see them hit 47mm/sec on acrylic and 60W.

Honestly whatever onw you buy you will need to tweek it a bit. Nothing makes it through shipping like it left the dealer but this think is sturdy and well built. Been working with CNC equipment for well over 20 yrs and yes...made in China. The up side on this is cheaper price and with Boss Laser backing the warranty. They return calls, they will work with you over weekends, they are just plain there for you.

Brian

[Bigbird48]

Boss Do you have anyone In AZ with a 40 or 50 watt I could see.

[flchris352]

We have a 60w Boss laser here and we're very happy with it. Dan has been super attentive to any questions or issues we run into. Highly recommend.

[Bigbird48]

We have a 60w Boss laser here and we're very happy with it. Dan has been super attentive to any questions or issues we run into. Highly recommend.

R U in AZ would you show me your machine?

[flchris352]

I'm looking to purchase my first laser. It will mainly be used to engrave anodized aluminum and painted aluminum.
I came across a company called Boss Laser.

https://www.bosslaser.com/

They are US based and have some attractive prices and features.
However I can't seem to find too many independent thoughts on them. I have searched the web and this forum for reviews and opinions and have come up empty handed.

Are they a new company?
Does anyone here have any experience with their product?

Thanks!

I'd be happy to unfortunately we're in Ocala Florida.

[slowboater]

My 2 cents. Being a "newbie" myself, I tried to do proper due diligence. With that said, I was disheartened to learn that there are only a few CO2 laser machines made in the USA that were for someone like me who wanted engraving and cutting capability but didn't want to get into industrial machines and metal cutting. So unfortunately, I realized I would have to purchase a machine with most/all of its parts made outside the US. I set out to look for a machine that was small enough to work with in my home, had a table large enough to feed materials and objects over 24" wide, had an adjustable z-axis and came with a price point that I could justify.

I looked at Jamieson, CamFive, Full Spectrum, Rabbit, FSL, FLS, Boss, Trotec, Universal and others. I was able to see in person, Trotec, Rabbit and Universal. I liked Universal, but the price was easily over $20K. When all was done and said, the company that was the most helpful, attentive to questions, customer oriented and competetively priced was Boss. I has a Professional tube rated at over 8000 hours, a solid frame with locking wheels, accessible doors on all sides, knife blades as well a honeycomb table and a smooth table. We purchased their software, (lasercut 5.3 and Engravelab9) as well as the rotary attachement and training.

That was a couple of months ago. They delivered the machine, installed it through a tight entryway, set it back up, did training and have been there to deal with every question and issue that has arisen. This venture is not a full time gig yet but it is nice to know that when I call, someone is there to give me all the time I need. I'm learning on the fly as I'm a tactile learner and have engraved wine bottles, made "hinged" boxes that I bent by cutting small slits through the wood and now am trying to move to our business and produce product.
As for quality? so far, so good. Had a power supply go up on the control panel but a new one was sent to me in 2 days. Would I recommend Boss? You bet.

Regards, Dirk
Boss 1630 with 90W tube and rotary

[TacPen]

Alright, I guess I'll chime in. We bought our BOSS Laser LS-1416 w/ 60 watt in December of last year. The pre-sales service was very good (Kevin was the guy). The purchasing experience was a bit of a pain but I believe they cut us a fair deal and part of it was that we changed our order mid-stream, otherwise no issues here. The laser itself was well shipped and very well packaged. We started hooking it up and tried using it immediately. Now, the build quality of the case was not impressive. A few things didn't line up perfectly but it wasn't bad, especially for the money.

Here's what did bother me, the laser was supposedly tested at their shop but when we received it there was a cable improperly routed and in the way of the beam so the laser could NOT have worked. Easy fix but I found this disappointing... not a deal breaker but it did erode my confidence in BOSS. The Engrave Lab software is very quirky and I don't like it, but it does work. The quality of the actual beam for cutting and engraving is very good. No complaints at all, it works on everything up to and including stainless and titanium. Very impressive.

Our experience with support has been fairly positive although the videos and instructions are sorely lacking. It's definitely a DIY type of thing. We also got hosed on the rotary. Because of the small bed size on our machine it's utterly worthless. The guy who tried walking us through hooking it up also had no idea what he was doing and blamed us for not doing it right... until he realized that he had a different model laser. He then told us he didn't have the same model in the shop and we were out of luck. I found this to be disappointing (actually called them and complained). We also have NOT been able to get this laser to work with Corel Draw at all and have not gotten any help from Boss on this. I understand that this is not an issue with the laser but we were told that it would work before we bought it.

My other frustration is the non-fixed engraving surface and nothing lines up within the machine. It's easy to work around but you have to make your own fixtures everything if you want any repeatability. Not a huge deal but a bit of a pain. The ULS, Trotec and Epilog engraving platforms are much better.

Overall, this is an adequate lower-end machine for the DIY type but it's just not a production quality machine and the support is just not there for me to bet my business on it.

Would I buy it again? No, I would spend the 3x - 4x to get an Epilog or ULS. If it was a money thing, I'd probably just buy a used one. The interface and support from the big guys is just better (although you DO pay for it). I do think this is a workable machine and we are using it to laser high quality engraving and cut acrylic displays. For someone that is on a budget who is willing to put up with the niggles, it might be a good start.

For us as a business tool, the frustration and time spent are not quite worth the savings but I can see that for others it might be.

[slowboater]

Alright, I guess I'll chime in. We bought our BOSS Laser LS-1416 w/ 60 watt in December of last year. The pre-sales service was very good (Kevin was the guy). The purchasing experience was a bit of a pain but I believe they cut us a fair deal and part of it was that we changed our order mid-stream, otherwise no issues here. The laser itself was well shipped and very well packaged. We started hooking it up and tried using it immediately. Now, the build quality of the case was not impressive. A few things didn't line up perfectly but it wasn't bad, especially for the money.

Here's what did bother me, the laser was supposedly tested at their shop but when we received it there was a cable improperly routed and in the way of the beam so the laser could NOT have worked. Easy fix but I found this disappointing... not a deal breaker but it did erode my confidence in BOSS. The Engrave Lab software is very quirky and I don't like it, but it does work. The quality of the actual beam for cutting and engraving is very good. No complaints at all, it works on everything up to and including stainless and titanium. Very impressive.

Our experience with support has been fairly positive although the videos and instructions are sorely lacking. It's definitely a DIY type of thing. We also got hosed on the rotary. Because of the small bed size on our machine it's utterly worthless. The guy who tried walking us through hooking it up also had no idea what he was doing and blamed us for not doing it right... until he realized that he had a different model laser. He then told us he didn't have the same model in the shop and we were out of luck. I found this to be disappointing (actually called them and complained). We also have NOT been able to get this laser to work with Corel Draw at all and have not gotten any help from Boss on this. I understand that this is not an issue with the laser but we were told that it would work before we bought it.

My other frustration is the non-fixed engraving surface and nothing lines up within the machine. It's easy to work around but you have to make your own fixtures everything if you want any repeatability. Not a huge deal but a bit of a pain. The ULS, Trotec and Epilog engraving platforms are much better.

Overall, this is an adequate lower-end machine for the DIY type but it's just not a production quality machine and the support is just not there for me to bet my business on it.

Would I buy it again? No, I would spend the 3x - 4x to get an Epilog or ULS. If it was a money thing, I'd probably just buy a used one. The interface and support from the big guys is just better (although you DO pay for it). I do think this is a workable machine and we are using it to laser high quality engraving and cut acrylic displays. For someone that is on a budget who is willing to put up with the niggles, it might be a good start.

For us as a business tool, the frustration and time spent are not quite worth the savings but I can see that for others it might be.

As a follow-up to my post last year, a clarification is warranted. The laser is . The tube is outstanding for what we do and the only issue, (power supply) was replaced quickly, and at no charge by Boss. In addition to that, whenever I or the Mrs. has had a question or concern, Boss has been there attentively and for the most part, patiently. I have noticed that the table is not precisely aligned with the guide arm, but since have adjusted. The biggest issue is the software. We have had little luck finding a reliable software to use for production. The original LaserCut 53 software is rudimentary and the extra software which Boss sold us, (EngraveLab9) has been updated and now does not read and print all our victor files.A thousand hours are now lost. The answer? Who knows. InkScape? Photoshop? Won't read our files. Let us hope that Boss or EngraveLab have an answer. Otherwise? They lost a customer.

[mtechus]

The EngraveLab software although a popular interface
in my opinion is not nearly as user friendly as Boss' latest card / software combo - LaserWORKS 8. They've
installed it in their machines for over a year now.

[TacPen]

Ok, so an update. We're into the second year of using the laser and while the laser source itself if excellent, the Boss laser overall has been a bit of a disappointment. We've made a few custom jigs and fixtures which have helped quite a bit with alignment and solved the issue with the table not being straight or aligned properly. In fact, we would make these jigs for any laser now since they make production work much, much easier. Still, we initially felt that the laser was not tested when we got it (for reasons listed in the previous post) and this seems to have been the case. We had some small issues with the laser not engraving at full power and Boss emailed us recommending that we do a full alignment. When we did, I noticed that the first mirror from the laser was actually aligned so that the laser was hitting at the very outside of the mirror. The actual alignment travel as setup from the factory did not allow us to adjust it to the middle of the mirror and I think Boss just decided that it was good enough and shipped it. The red-dot laser was also not very well aligned with the actual laser beam (about 1/4" off) although that might just have diverged over time, I don't know. I actually bought brand new mirrors off of eBay (one of the original mirrors seemed to have bad haze on it) and drilled / tapped new holes in the chassis to allow the mirror stand to properly align. Then I followed their instructions (which were admittedly quite good) and re-aligned the entire unit. Having done this the laser quality is better than it has even been and we're able to get very sharp engraving now. This is what the laser should have come like from Boss!

Now let me say that Boss did answer our emails and help walk us through the process by sending us a great "how to". That said, the amount of maintenance required just to get decent results reinforces my opinion that Boss is not quite ready for prime time as a business unit. I think it's a great hobby laser and if you don't mind spending time on maintenance and making sure everything is setup and aligned properly when you get the unit, it'll perform well. For the money the laser source is excellent. The internals and hardware seems to be "economy" grade but then it is still a cheap laser when compared to ULS or Epilog. It's just not a commercial grade unit. We're also still not impressed with Engrave Lab and keep having to work around quirks between the software and the laser (like dropping letters entirely, etc.). If the new software / control card someone posted earlier helps fix this that might take care of the software side but the Engrave Lab interface with our unit is just not acceptable.

We've decided to purchase a different laser for our business this year (Looking at Epilog, ULS or LIT). We might keep the Boss as it does a great job cutting acrylic display stands but for engraving it's just too much hassle for our business. My take is that the engraving is the first thing people look at on your product (unless engraving is your product) so the quality and sharpness has to be top notch. There's just not enough consistency and it's just too much work to get decent results from the Boss (although it is absolutely possible).

I'm sure they keep improving so if you don't mind the DIY aspect and can test drive the laser before you buy it to make sure it will work for you (I would strongly encourage this!), it might still be worth considering.

[BenM2]

I've had a 12x24 - 60w Universal for some time and a Boss 2436 - 100w for 9 months - in the shop we prefer the boss - especially cutting. Years ago they
ditched Lasercut for EngraveLab but it was difficult like you said. Shortly thereafter when I started talking to them they moved to LaserWorks
and have modified it recently. We output jobs to Corel or AI w/o issue.
If the laser is out of alignment or the lens or reflectors aren't kept up you'll have trouble. We dont move ours and try and clean the lens/mirrors when we can.
For us it's been a good investment for us so far and we use it daily. We need more cutting power now so looking at a 150w.

If your interface is Engravelab that is an older generation - maybe they can help with that.