LaserUser.com Forum (formerly RDWorksLab)

Hi Guys,

Thought I would ask a non-technical question today.

We currently have a single Bogong 1325 machine (https://bogongcnc.com/co2-laser-engravi ... chine.html) - which has a 2500x1300 bed and 100w tube.

We have had a number of technical issues with it, but overall it is working for us. But its not fast enough for our needs. We are looking to expand quite a bit in the coming few months, and my thought is to move away from the 2500mm long beds down to a 1300x900 or so (I am open to suggestions) where we can stack 3-4 of them along a wall somewhere and use the big bed laser to cut our material down to fit in the smaller lasers that do the work.

My reason for this is pretty simple. While the big laser does pretty well on cutting - it can cut most of our full sheet (4'x8') cuts in 2-3 hours, some of our heavy engraving jobs can take ~48 hours for a full sheet (@300mm speed and 15-25% power), and unfortunately it takes 4 of those full sheets for a single "production run" set of components for my guys to assemble... so around a week worth of cutting provides 2-3 days work of assembly time. Its just not fast enough. So my thought is to have 3-4 smaller lasers doing the engraving and the one big unit doing the smaller cut jobs and cutting up the sheets to fit in the smaller units.

Soooo... with all that totally useless background typed, my question is pretty simple: What brand of laser should I be going for? I am physically located in Thailand, so Chinese brands are best for me - that and I am not rich (yet!), so buying from rabbit is out of the question. But is there a brand that stands out among the Chinese variety in some way? Would love some feedback here as we are gearing up to place an order in the next few weeks.

TIA

I have been impressed with the Shenhui laser- I bought one of theirs from a US vendor and it was as perfect as I can imagine getting. I added a combiner lens and Ultimate Air Assist and it is still running 3 years later for my daughter. I think my good experience was a combonation of a well manufactured unit and a good company in the US who actually did the adjustments and tests before sending it out.
My first laser was a 1300x900 130w unit and I still think it is a great size. We moved to a 1800x1300 cabinet model as we are a sign shop and need a bigger cut bed but doubling the size doubles the problems in my humble opinion.

Gene Uselman wrote: Sun Jul 18, 2021 I have been impressed with the Shenhui laser- I bought one of theirs from a US vendor and it was as perfect as I can imagine getting. I added a combiner lens and Ultimate Air Assist and it is still running 3 years later for my daughter. I think my good experience was a combination of a well manufactured unit and a good company in the US who actually did the adjustments and tests before sending it out.
My first laser was a 1300x900 130w unit and I still think it is a great size. We moved to a 1800x1300 cabinet model as we are a sign shop and need a bigger cut bed but doubling the size doubles the problems in my humble opinion.

Never heard of that brand, but I will give them a look. Thank you.

Having a cabinet laser would be nice. The open bed works great for what we do, but we cannot get all of the particulates to exit in the exhaust fans no matter what we do, so long cuts result in some pretty bad smells (and not a very good work environment) in the main shop area. Luckily we have 2 separate work areas where the assembly is done that are all on different ventilation so its not terrible... but having the cabinets would sure be nice.

I would put Thunder Lasers on your list of companies to research. Not the cheapest but they seem to be a step up in terms of quality and design compared to many Chinese lasers.

Doug Fisher wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 I would put Thunder Lasers on your list of companies to research. Not the cheapest but they seem to be a step up in terms of quality and design compared to many Chinese lasers.

Bonus: They have a Thailand office! I just contacted them for quote. Thanks!