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Thread: Laser cutter

  1. #1
    Just had notification that I have won nearly 13 million on the Nigerian lottery, just got to send a few thousand for clerical costs then I'm buying one of these.

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190617222388

    Anyone got one, know of one etc ?

    Seriously forget the lottery but one of these will fill a small niche market I have been looking at and I'd like feedback.

    Read up a bit and the main contention is they never come lined up but having run big 3Kw laser cutters for some years this will not faze me. End of the day, for the price some corners will have been cut, what corners ?
    John S -

  2. #2
    They've got one at the school I went to which has an 80W laser, pretty sure it's this one:

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Profession...item25571ce1c0

    I gather there were some problems with alignment, but nothing too difficult to put right. They mainly use it with acrylic and the edges it cuts are never square. Also after a couple of weeks the laser seemed to loose a bit of power, but it's been stable after then. Not sure if that's normal. So far as I know those are the only issues with it, but I'll check next time I'm in.

    They sold the biggest lathe, a bridgeport and surface grinder to get it... I know which I'd have preferred.
    Old router build log here. New router build log here. Lathe build log here.
    Electric motorbike project here.

  3. #3
    Bit smaller than yours Jonathan, this one is 60W and A3 sized which will do what I want size wise. Edge taper should not be a problem as I only need it to cut 2mm material.

    I can see why they are attractive to schools though in that it's latest technology, no jobs going for manual millers or centre lathe turners and when these are buttoned down very hard to get fingers trapped.

    Add to this with a manual lathe or mill the teacher has to be trained to teach the students. With anything new / CNC / highly technical the students teach the teacher
    John S -

  4. John,
    Quite expensive delivery(£580) taking in account it is located in Portsmouth
    Click image for larger version. 

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  5. #5
    Already spotted this but it's just a way to keep Ebay fees down. Plus side is they are in the country so no getting hit for VAT or import fees on top of what you pay. Regardless they are all roughly the same price, the Chinese based ones could be a tad cheaper but extra delivery time, unknown fees could soon even this up.
    I would be happy with total fees.
    John S -

  6. Quote Originally Posted by John S View Post
    Already spotted this but it's just a way to keep Ebay fees down.
    You're right, you pay fee from the value of goods not from delivery costs. Clever
    Next time I'll try to sell something for £0.99 and charge £500 for collection costs

    Now seriously
    I think about laser for some time, but rather to fit it to my router instead of buying new one. It can be overall cheaper and I would ended with more powerful tube
    Last edited by wiatroda; 27-05-2012 at 08:33 PM.

  7. #7
    Had thought about that but my router is in regular use and the base doesn't allow cutting thru without a redesign.
    So by the time you have redesigned it you have built a new machine. with my workload this could take up to a year in the doing and to be honest if it cuts thin ply anything like, the first job, which will fit in two hands, will pay for it.
    John S -

  8. #8
    Looking at laser cutters was what led me to CNC mills.

    Started looking for cutting acrylics, which lasers can do really fast, with the gotcha that laser cut acrylic wont solvent weld after without annealing, tends to stress crack.

    Two other things that put me off the lowest cost laser cutters are the software , which dosen`t sound a biggie its included with its dongle, problem being that it will only engrave or cut raster images, not vector, it scans like a TV not traces like a plotter.

    The driver hardware is locked to the software which is locked to it`s dongle, several vendors offer a DSP control upgrade which will handle vector at a good few hundred quid extra.

    Other catch for cutting is usually no motorised lifting table, got to alter the focus to cut through thicker materials and low cost way is a hand wheel on the side.

    Dunno this forums tolerance for linking to other forums, but the words `chinese laser support forum` should lead you to a lot of info on them.

    Cheers
    Adam

  9. #9
    I saw this company at the Harrogate Model Engineering Exhibition. If I had the cash I could have been tempted!!

    http://hpclaser.co.uk/index.php?main...products_id=40

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