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SweetAs
05-06-2017, 09:22 PM
Hi All,

I'm after a bit of advice. I have searched but having trouble bringing anything up, maybe I'm not inputting the right parameters?

We are currently looking at the following laser cutters and would like some advice from you all. Please bear in mind this will be for a business venture so although I want to keep costs down, I need something that will run and when it fails I need to be able to get it up and running asap as we will have orders waiting to go out.

Piranha PJB1060 - Currently best option but open to ideas....
HPC LS 6090 PRO Edition Laser Cutter
Mars 90 (not had any dealings with this one, just popped up on my radar this evening)
Epilog (I love these however they are in a different league and the price reflects this)

I have asked for samples from all of these so that I can get an idea of what is what but are there any of you out there who have used or seen them being used?

The vast majority of work will be cutting Birch Plywood in a production type environment. So a few hours use at a time at least. Cutting wise it would need to work for all of the usual mediums. We would also look to use it for engraving slate, tile, granite and glass.

I have built a 1m x 1m CNC from scratch so more than happy to figure things out however like I said I need it to run and run well once its going. If there is a possibility I can buy a Chinese machine, save £1000s and once set up I shouldn't have too many issues then I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance.

T

shoeswith
06-06-2017, 07:24 PM
We have used a Hpc 6090 for the last five years. It's a typical Chinese machine lots of ongoing adjustment and care and attention needed with few bells and whistles. (Mirror adjustment uses standard metric screws so half a turn moves the mirror a mile) but they are a reliable company who back their products carry spares and will come and mend it when stuff goes wrong. Always use deionised water when cooling its also worth buying one of their cooling units if you want to cut for long periods. Epilogue are totally different animals absolutely no comparison but the Hpc if looked after and set up well will give exactly the same results.

SweetAs
06-06-2017, 08:59 PM
Thanks for the reply Shoeswith.

Just out of interest, what made you choose HPC instead of the other ones around?

How much fettling does it need, daily, weekly, monthly?

The quote we had from HPC included the chiller unit as I'm hoping we will be getting a large amount of use out of it!

I love the Epilog's but they are just so expensive!

shoeswith
06-06-2017, 10:45 PM
We didn't have the money for a better machine. We looked at proper industrial machines like trotec and epilog but they are four or five times the price. We weren't prepared to import without some kind of back up. Back then HPC seemed to be the only importers who had some kind of infrastructure to look after their machines. There might be more proper importers now. HPC's engineers are very knowledgeable and they are often able to sort stuff over the phone, visits obviously cost money. I wouldn't say daily fettling but weekly perhaps. You should be prepared to adjust mirrors (they can loose focus ) and clean lenses and cutting bars and change water regularly removing bubbles from laser tubes. There is a learning curve but if you have some experience you soon get used to it. They sell an antifreeze we add to the deionized water to stop stuff growing in the water. We had fungus growing in the water early on which blocked the cooling system at the narrowest point which stopped the machine because there is a basic flow switch that shuts the laser off when the water stops. It was our fault cause we didnt change the water enough. All sorts of stuff happened to ours mostly our fault. We use it heavily daily and like a lot of Chinese stuff they are quite robust but are designed to be used by knowledgeable skilled users as they need setting up.

SweetAs
24-06-2017, 07:21 PM
Sorry for not getting back to you buddy. I thought I had but clearly not!!

So we have made the decision to go with a Chinese based company. I love the thought of the uk based support but I just don't think it's worth the cost.

In terms of costings we are looking at being able to afford a 1390 (1300 x 900) 120/130w cutter with a RECI tube for less than 5k delivered. There is no way we can match that at all!!

I will be blogging/posting on a couple of forums so that people can have a look and see how the purchase goes.

At the moment it's between Bodor and Weike. I will let you know 😃

TERRY CORDER
08-09-2017, 11:40 AM
I bought mine from Weike. Pretty good service.