Laser engraver, which one?

[Martin Pearson]

Dave, try doing a search because I am pretty sure people have talked about importing them, if I remember rightly one of the problems were the laser itself being of inferior quality.
Rodney had also had quite a bit to say about engravers in a different post.

[Dave Bruce]

Hi Martin, I did a search, but wanted people who use lasers to engrave items to offer advice. I remember reading Rodney’s essays years back and found them very interesting, in fact I think he said in one of them, that you would be better buying a laser than a printer as they are more versatile.

Cheers

Dave

[Graeme Harrold]

Dave if you can make it the Trophex Exhibition is on at the NEC 11/12 Jan 09 and there will be CO2 and YAG lasers on show from Suregrave and Gravograph and others. Gravograph, (not cheap) do have a roadshow van and can come to you!!!

Rodney is definitely the person to give you the low down, but do some searched for him and laser and Im sure youll turn up loads of info. Metal marking can be done direct with some lasers (YAG I believe) but most others can with the additions of paste’s. Anodised aluminium marks quite easily with maglight torches being the most common demo piece. Look for something with double doors and the ability to change the laser cartridge by yourself. That way you can start with a smaller powered laser and upgrade the tube if you find you need more power……

[Andrew Blackett]

Hi Dave,

We have an epilog mini, 35 watt. A lot of our work is in laser engraving acrylics and leather, which it handles very easily.

You can also do stainless steel and some other metals with these with the addition of some marking paste (cermark is the trade name I think if you wanted to google it and see its uses etc) anodised aluminium can be marked without the paste, you just etch through the anodised which gives some good effects and it will take photographic detail.

As far as importing one…… I’d be a little nervous, a decent size machine (work area I mean) isnt going to be peanuts and what happens if its damaged on arrival or you have technical queries etc then who helps? The epilog machines arent the cheapest (compared to imports anyway) but you have the backup of Identify in Bristol and the tech team in the US when you need them.

The machines are incredibly versatile and can be used to produce all sorts of stuff, just search for laser engraved in google images and see what comes up! Some of the photoengraving stuff is so cool and is incredibly easy with a laser.

Hope some of this helps.

Andy

[Mark Sipes]

I have a Trotec I purchased in 2001 and it is a workhorse. Not sure what your budget is… Table size is important along with wattage. Need to determine what materials you will be engraving/cutting. Do you need rotary attachment for glasses, wine bottles, stainless coffee mugs??

Mark

[Dave Bruce]

Thanks for your input guys, much appreciated. The Epilog seems to be the winning one at the moment.

Cheers

Dave

[Andrew Blackett]

Which one were you looking at mate? The mini? good machines, have had our problems (as you would expect with any new machine) but Identify have always had the answer.

Would be interested to know what you were going for as I’m out of touch with whats new with epilog.

Andy