Redsail M700 Laser cutter / engraver experience

Hi everyone,

I just received my Laser cutter/engraver, and I would like to share my experience, as some members requested that in the past.

It is a RedSail, M700 with an upgraded 80 W tube. It includes the water chiller, exhaust blower and compressor. It also has the ‘Red Dot” option, but I would not recommend buying that option, as it more like a 1mmx2mm line rather than a dot, which makes it fairly useless.

I live in Edmonton, Canada. My current price was around 3000US$, which included the machine itself, Sea transportation to Vancouver (West coast), then ground transportation to Edmonton.
I had to use a broker, so on top of the 3000$, be prepared to “invest” an extra 500$ for:

• Custom charges
• Broker’s fee
• Docking’s fees
• Terminal’s fees
• Warehouse’s fees
• Other fees that they will invent by then….

I must admit that the machine was very well packed. They made a wooden box, and nothing was broken inside…The tube was even more protected !!!

Installation instructions are close to being non-existent. They provide a CD, that has some videos on it (with mortally annoying music), some Word/PDF documents, but not a list that you can go thru. You need to be familiar with Ikea furniture, to be comfortable with the process !

Aligning the mirrors is the trickiest part, and the provided explanation gives you an idea on where to start, but could be more precise…

Anyway, after 2-3 hours, I finally cut my first part. Went surprisingly well !

I had to re-adjust the square of the machine, as it was off by approx. 4mm over 300mm ! That means that I had to re-adjust everything from scratch….

Then, I realized that one of the mirror’s bracket was not properly located, which caused issues when the beam was travelling to its full extension…complete re-adjusting again …

Now, it’s pretty well aligned. I must have spent 6-7 hours total, figuring out how, and aligning everything, but that was expected, and I believe, a normal step !

Conclusion:

am I satisfied ? the answer is YES

I dealt with Iris from Red sail, and she was great. Strangely (!), communication are a bit slower now than before I buy, but still reasonable !

If anyone has questions, don’t hesitate to E-mail me (French or English) at : [email protected]

Hi Everyone,

little follow up: Communication with Red Sail is getting slower and slower !!!

their sale person is replying to my E-mail but not answering my questions.....

I'm slowly migrating from an "happy customer" to a "not so happy customer" status ....Anyone has a contact name of a technical resource at Red Sail ???

My machine, for the same condition (Speed/Power/Material/position ) will produce different result on 2 consecutive cuts ....At first, I was able to cut 1/8" Baltic Birch plywood at 40 mm/sec @ 60 % power...now, I need 12 mm/Sec @ 100% power... Anyone has an idea what is going on ?

Are you sure that your laser path is properly aligned with the mirrors? Are all of the mirrors and the focus lens clean? Both of the aforementioned will give reduced cutting power, and is always the first thing I check. Even make sure that the exit side of the laser is also clean. There is a recess that can collect all kinds of foreign matter.

Milt

the cuts are made within a few minutes from each other: beam alignment/cleanness is the same...results should be the same !

I'm seeing some kind of decay once the machine is 'ON'...I mean by that, that a file that requires let's say 40mm/sec @ 50% power, might require 25mm/sec @ 75% , 1/2 hour later....

If I turn OFF the machine for 1/2 hour, then the original settings (44 mm/sec @ 50% power) might be sufficient for a couple of cuts...

Is it possible that the control board looses efficiency as it warms up ??? Note that during that 1/2 hour period, the laser beam is NOT "ON' all the time...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jouellet

Hi everyone,

I just received my Laser cutter/engraver, and I would like to share my experience, as some members requested that in the past.

It is a RedSail, M700 with an upgraded 80 W tube. It includes the water chiller, exhaust blower and compressor. It also has the ‘Red Dot” option, but I would not recommend buying that option, as it more like a 1mmx2mm line rather than a dot, which makes it fairly useless.

I live in Edmonton, Canada. My current price was around 3000US$, which included the machine itself, Sea transportation to Vancouver (West coast), then ground transportation to Edmonton.
I had to use a broker, so on top of the 3000$, be prepared to “invest” an extra 500$ for:

• Custom charges
• Broker’s fee
• Docking’s fees
• Terminal’s fees
• Warehouse’s fees
• Other fees that they will invent by then….

I must admit that the machine was very well packed. They made a wooden box, and nothing was broken inside…The tube was even more protected !!!

Installation instructions are close to being non-existent. They provide a CD, that has some videos on it (with mortally annoying music), some Word/PDF documents, but not a list that you can go thru. You need to be familiar with Ikea furniture, to be comfortable with the process !

Aligning the mirrors is the trickiest part, and the provided explanation gives you an idea on where to start, but could be more precise…

Anyway, after 2-3 hours, I finally cut my first part. Went surprisingly well !

I had to re-adjust the square of the machine, as it was off by approx. 4mm over 300mm ! That means that I had to re-adjust everything from scratch….

Then, I realized that one of the mirror’s bracket was not properly located, which caused issues when the beam was travelling to its full extension…complete re-adjusting again …

Now, it’s pretty well aligned. I must have spent 6-7 hours total, figuring out how, and aligning everything, but that was expected, and I believe, a normal step !

Conclusion:

am I satisfied ? the answer is YES

I dealt with Iris from Red sail, and she was great. Strangely (!), communication are a bit slower now than before I buy, but still reasonable !

If anyone has questions, don’t hesitate to E-mail me (French or English) at : [email protected]

---

thanks for sharing,

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jouellet

Hi Everyone,

little follow up: Communication with Red Sail is getting slower and slower !!!

their sale person is replying to my E-mail but not answering my questions.....

I'm slowly migrating from an "happy customer" to a "not so happy customer" status ....Anyone has a contact name of a technical resource at Red Sail ???

My machine, for the same condition (Speed/Power/Material/position ) will produce different result on 2 consecutive cuts ....At first, I was able to cut 1/8" Baltic Birch plywood at 40 mm/sec @ 60 % power...now, I need 12 mm/Sec @ 100% power... Anyone has an idea what is going on ?

---

many customer met this problem before,
please check the laser path first just as Mr Mondo said,
if you have power meter, you can use it to check your laser tube power:
Four steps for Thunder Laser quality control process
good luck

Exit of the laser tube is clear, mirror and lens seems clean....

what puzzle me is the fact that over time (30 minutes, tube NOT continuously 'ON') the power required to cut the same material/condition, needs to be increase drastically !

Could that lead to an internal component being weak??

4th day without any answer from Red Sail ...

Happy-customer-o-meter going down !!!

Hi
when you power is weak,how about ammeter? it change or not?
from our experience,this kind of problem always happen on laser tube quality problem

there is no ammeter installed on my machine.

What type of ammeter are you talking about, where in the circuit, should I install it ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jouellet

Hi Everyone,

little follow up: Communication with Red Sail is getting slower and slower !!!

their sale person is replying to my E-mail but not answering my questions.....

I'm slowly migrating from an "happy customer" to a "not so happy customer" status ....Anyone has a contact name of a technical resource at Red Sail ???

My machine, for the same condition (Speed/Power/Material/position ) will produce different result on 2 consecutive cuts ....At first, I was able to cut 1/8" Baltic Birch plywood at 40 mm/sec @ 60 % power...now, I need 12 mm/Sec @ 100% power... Anyone has an idea what is going on ?

---

Email? Red Sail is in China but they should still be able to talk to you via. phone? Troubleshooting via. email is too slow IMHO.

hi there
a analog mA meter with max 50mA should be installed between the negative wire ( usually black or blue ) what comes from the side where the beam comes out the tube. just cut this wire somewhere where it is inside the the electronic compartment and extend this for the mA meter one piece goes to one side the other to the other side of the meter, that's it.
greetings
waltfl

you can write to their boss email ,maybe this way will help you to get faster help from some sales :)

Regarding the ammeter, for a 80 W tube, at 100%, what value should I be reading ?!?

Just out of curiosity, what voltage level is present at the tube ?

about 28-30mA according to our experience,
(depend on the laser tube brand and laser power supply)

follow up on my satisfaction level: could not get any lower....

communication is flat dead...whatever question I ask, if they answer, that's to tell me to check alignment...I have re-aligned my machine and got back to them; it's always, and always "check your alignment" ...

I have sent them picture of the paper I used for my alignment, with their respective position on the platform, and asked which one are OK, and which one need to be fine tuned : no answer

I don't have consistent result, after the machine has been powered for a while. If I burn something, then wait 30 minutes, move slightly my piece of wood, and burn it again, it is a lot weaker the second time. I'm pretty sure alignment has nothing to do with this ! Asked the question, no answer

If my cutting speed is less than 12 mm/sec, the table start to move, but the laser won't fire. If I raise the speed to 12.1 mm/ sec then it runs perfectly (!)...again, I don't see how alignment has something to do there ! It used to worked at speed below 12 mm/sec.... asked the question: no answer

I have another issue: if my cutting speed is higher than 30 mm/sec, the gutting line is not straight it has waves or ripples in it...the faster, the worst....Again, the f**** alignment probably has nothing to do with it.... Asked the question: no answer....

I have ordered an analog ammeter, to monitor the power going to the tube. this is my next step !

I'm up to the point, where I'm considering to get rid of the internal boards, and try to get another supplier to convert it with their electronic.... Anyone has an idea if this is possible ? any company to recommend ?

RED SAIL LASER: never ever....they are like insurance company: super good with you, as long as you don't have any request !

I am not sure what software comes with that laser but I did notice that on mine if I tried to cut at 5mm or less the tube would only fire at about 30% even though the screen showed 85%. I did a quick box and when I went to set the power in the edit box I noticed that the minimum power was at 30% I bumped it up to 80% and now it will cut at 80% at 5mm or less.

Hi Everyone,

re-aligned everything...not much difference....

look at this picture:
Attachment 257472

Completely cut was done at 12mm/sec and the other was done at 100mm/sec

The waves or ripples appears a couple of weeks ago..I haven't used it since. Red Sail tells me it is due to alignment...how's that possible ???? It never did so before.

Notice on the completely cut one, that it is not straight.... It doesn't matter where I am on the platform, the result will be similar ....

any ideas ???

hi there,
first this ripple probably comes from the belt its not tight enough you need to tighten the X belt . I am not familiar with the redsail machines mostly there is a pulley on the right side with one or two tension screws.
greetings
waltfl

YUP!! Tighten it up.

Milt