[romuros]

Hi

So many writen on chinese lasers i won't get in debate again.
I am one day before ordering machine from chine.
I am ordering folowing:
SH-G690 100w with imported lens and bunch of spare parts.
Software is Laserwork and focus lenght is 40 mm.
Quote is 4.300 $ transport to EU included.

Does any have this machine to share expirience.
Any other opinion will be great so i still can change my mind in case you have problems with same machine.

Regards from Slovenia

Uros

[Rodney Gold]

Be careful of the shipping , before you order get a FOB price and appoint a shipping/clearing/forwarding agent in your own country and get a quote. I was quoted $110 on my shipping by Shenhui , but my shippers , who are a lot more experienced had a FAR higher quote and advised me of all sorts of hidden costs. I opted to go with them , they have a lot of experience in freight from China and have agents there
My pal ended up paying around $1500 for shipping and 14% vat on his $4400 machine. (We from South Africa)

As to the 100w tube , you do realise that it will not be good for engraving? If you want a good engraving machine , get a 60w tube . I have ordered the 1280 AND a 960 from them , 80w Reci tube in the 1280 and a 60w stock for the 960. One mainly for cutting , the other for engraving and cutting.
I have seen their 1280 machine and tested it with my own files , it seems a great machine quality wise , well made, however the engraving is no where as detailed as my 25/30w Gcc explorers and Spirits. The more potent tubes don't seem to be able to do delicate engraving or maintain a small spot size. It is also a lot slower than them when engraving, cutting is a LOT faster and of great quality. Software seemed ok , works off Corel , autocad as well as stand alone , ask em to send you a copy of the software manual , a bit "chinglish" , but understandable.

I have also ordered a whole series of lenses , 40, 50, 56 and 70mm for both my machines. The longer lenses will be better at cutting thick stuff. I didnt order Euro lenses , ordered stock znse ones.
I Ordered a spare tube and a spare tube power supply for each machine, (reci v2 , dy10 and stock 60w +PS) , 2 spare motherboards , 4 spare stepper motors , 2 spare stepper driver cards , 2 spare lcd panels , 2 full sets spare mirrors , 4 sets spare bearings , full set of spare belts for each machine , a cylinderical and "irregular" rotary attachment. Also specified my machines had the red dot pointer that shoots along the mirrors and opticalsystem and ordered both knife edge and honeycomb tables for both my machines (which both have motorised tables) , also ordered an upgraded chiller for the 80w , the cw 500. Ordered 3 mirror holder assemblys and a spare laser nozzle assembly with beam combiner and 4 limit switches. Not much more I couldorder in spares
All this has cost about $10 500 FOB
I have been dealing with Blanca Yan there , who is a pleasure to deal with and is on skype and we speak often. I have paid all up front , my friend who imported a machine did so as well and has got all he ordered and more. I have investigated their co as best as possible , 5 yr gold supplier on ali baba , looked at their certificates , tried to google earth their factory but the google maps are bad Based on that and my friends experience , they seem to be trustworthy. They also don't seem to be "resellers" but actually make the machine. My pal says technical help was very very good when he needed it.
I expectmy Machines to land here end April
I am in china in May and will be visiting their factory in Liaocheng city for a day or so , making a special trip from guangzho to go there
I'm looking at a yag and or a fibre laser and some other stuff for the future..so will report back in a few months as to my impressions.
Good luck!!

[romuros]

Hi Rodney

Thanks so much for answering on thread.
I have almost make terrible mistake with 100 w order. I am new on engrawing and just need machine for hobbie (let's hope for future buissines).
I don't want to buy smalest machine and end with buying bigger one in few month so i was thinking to by stronger laser.
So what you said is that for engraving (i plan to do most) it's better to by 60 w laser.
Can i use boath 100w and 60 w tube on same machine since i am planning to do some cutting too.
What would you recomend from shenhui laser since i see you have a lot expirience with them. I am also in contact with Blanca and she is realy nice to work with.
I manage to find better price for shipping in EU so i will order CIF.

Thanks for help in advance

[bpoulin]

You can still cut pretty decent with a 60w laser, thicker materials may take 2 passes. I have an 80w and what I've found is if it's too thick to cut at 1mm/sec with full power, it's probably too thick for the laser to cut, Now Acrylic may be different, I don't have much experience with acrylic. But .5" MDF I can't get to cut it all the way through, but I think that has more to do with optics, by the time I focus it, the beam is too wide at the back side of the material to cut it through. Also my 80w has been borderline too powerful to engrave fine things. I have been lucky that the power will dial down less than 10% I think the lowest power I can supply the tube and still get it to fire is 7% and that will brown standard copy paper without cutting through it, which gives a very fine lace look to the work.

If you're going to be doing mostly engravings I would opt for the 60w with an array of lenses. The lenses will help you cut thicker items, or engrave fine detail.

[SkipW]

I put a 50mm (or is it 55mm?) focal length lens on my 80w and it will engrave really fine detail on wood, and it will cut thin wood with less power and a smaller kerf than longer FL lenses. I also bought a spare lens holder tube and have a 75mm lens in that, so if I want to cut thicker material I just have to swap the lens tubes. I have manual focus so I don't have to worry about adjusting the auto focus plunger thing when I change lenses.

@Rodney Gold, nice to see you posting here Rodney!

[Rodney Gold]

You can and can't use both the 60 an 100w , you can theoretically , but practically every time you change the tube you will have to change the power supply and re align the tube and mirrors.
Cutting and engraving with a laser is all about power density , if you can get a small spot size and concentrate 60w into it , its better than a spot size double the diameter with 100w in it. Also , I'm Not sure how they would get that 100w tube into the 600x 900 machine cos it's quite long.??

A laser beam once it gets past the focus lens is shaped like an X and not like ||
There is a specific focus point (the middle of the X) and the beam diverges either side of it. With more divergence , the spot size gets a lot bigger and the power density is not enough to promote the material to vaporise. Problem is that longer lenses have a bigger spot size anyway , so it's a fine balancing act in regards to focal length and spot size and cutting. The bigger the spot size , the wider the cut is as well. Big machines also have issues ,cos the laser drops power the further away the mirrors and head is from where the beam enters the machine.
The 600 x 900 or even a 700x 500 would be good. If you have so much work that these sizes can't cope , you just buy another machine and double your output.. Make sure you can fit a 600 x 900 through your doors , it wont fit through a standard house door-- you might have to dismantle it,

Ask Blanca to supply you with a similar machine to my 690 , 60w , standard chiller , knife and honeycomb table , motorised up down table , red dot pointer through the optics , spare set mirrors , spare set lenses , 40, 50 and 56mm lens, spare tube and power supply for the tube , spare stepper motor, spare belts. If you want , a spare mother board maybe (Its $260).
Start with that and see how it goes. A rotary attachment is useful , it's only $150 (the irregular one)
I would aslo suggest a much better compressor when you hook your machine up , theirs is a little weak , you need a LOT of air assist to cut and engrave nicely. you need moisture traps for a large compressor. buy one locally- the compressor that is.

Bpoulin in terms of focussing , you need to focus in the middle of thick stuff , not on the top , Acrylic is a different case as it acts like a waveguide and the beam does not diverge as much. You can easily cut 15mm acrylic with a 50mm lens.

[romuros]

Hi to all

First thanks to all for yours contribution. I have decided to go with setup that rodney suggested. Looks like he exactly know what he is talking about. Thanks again Rodney.

I am also thinking to odrder 40 w small machine like sh-k40 that i can load in car. I am planing to go with this on dog shows and engrave there photos of owners dogs on wooden plates. Does anybody have expirience how long will take for 40w to engrave portret photo on 20 cm in diameter wodden plate.

Thanks

[Litografa]

Dog show - bad idea How you will move laser with glass tube, high voltage on tube and water cooling ??

[romuros]

Hi

No problem with this. I have friend that organize all kind of event for dog owners. I can get 220 v and 380v + water on outdoor location.
For mooving i was thinking to make amortizied bed for machine in van.
If machine can be transported from chine hell i will transport it few km extra

[Rodney Gold]

Dont waste your money on that small machine , its rubbish
Its cheap , $550 . but its not good

[romuros]

Thanks again rodney
i decide now to go with:
SH-G 690 60W 2800
impored focus lens 46
standard chiller √
honeycomb table 34
knife worktable 120
irregulary rotary attachment 207
motorised up down table √
red dot pointer √
spare set mirrors 23x3=69
spare set lenses , 40, 50 and 56mm lens 40mm(imported USD46 Each one), the 50 mm and 56mm price is USD30 each one(made in China)
spare tube 60w 184
power suply for tube 184
set steprs motors 36x2=72
set of belts 17+27=44
Z axix motor 40

Transport FOB quingdao through local agency that have agent in China.
I'll be realy glade of your opinion.

[Litografa]

Laser engraver generally is not best equipment for moving, but if we speak about chinese lasers with glass tube, water cooling and high voltage - I am personally strictly against any move of this equipment. And do not forget about grounding!!

[romuros]

Hi

Thanks for advice. It was just a thougt since i have free accses to shows. Rodney also told that machine is crap so i dont think on this any more.
I am just thinking where can i make some extra incom with it.
I will use machine for cutting and engraving products i make for hobbie. I make PC cases for minibox PC's from wood and glass. This is my main interest.
I have normal job so i do this on weekends and evning.
I will be happy if i make some money out of machine but if not still OK.
I have a lot of place in house so beside ordering it i will not have many expences with it.
It's a toy that i am buying for plesure but as i read on this forum will quickly becom obsession
Thanks again for all replyies.

[Rodney Gold]

Sounds like you got all the bases covered , you have enough spares to keep you running , the knife table is very useful for cutting , dunno about the z motor , but its cheap..we modifing the Z motorised system to a chain and sprocket drive on the 1280 x 800 as the belts slip. Not sure about the 690, its table is smaller. It would not be profitable to do on site engraving , especially photos, it can take a long time to prepare the picture and a long time to engrave it..maybe an hour?
what you should do is prepare a lot of dog products / samples like the dog photos, anodised aluminium dog tags , awards, name plates for kennels , engraved leather collars and anything else you can think of and take orders.
Photos on these lasers might be difficult ,you really need a program called Photograv which is $400 ,,but I have developed a FREE method ,called "the gold method" and other people have developed it into a photoshop plugin and a corel script, search the laser engraving forums at Engravers Forum
for "the gold method" for more info.

That laser forum is VERY good, you will pick up a LOT of info and ideas there.
vectorealsim is also a great site for ideas on what you can do with your laser.
Vectorealism - trasforma le tue idee in oggetti reali | Vectorealism

[romuros]

Hi

Thanks all for help. I transfered the money today. Now all i have is to wait.
Nice link you send me Rodney.

[romuros]

Hi

Just to inform foloewrs that macine finaly arrived. It's take 34 days from China to Europe.
I still didn't try to engrave enithing but i have manage to assembly machine.
All looks ok except details are realy poor so i have to do some modification on sistem but nothing serious.
Regards

[Rodney Gold]

Check out my link and analysis and detailed report , lots of photos too and driver details etc
Chinese lasers - theyr'e here !!!!!!

[yasam2002]

Dear Rodney,

I really appreciate how you narrated your experience of your trip to china and about buying a laser cutter and engraver.
I have just one question to raise please i want to buy a chinese one too from Exlas XYZ 6090 with reci laser tube 80watts with all the accessories and they advised me to add servo motor from panasonic instead of a stepper because it seems to give more power and smoothness ,what is your advise please?

Yassine

[Rodney Gold]

All my RF tubed lasers apart from the glass Chinese ones are servo , I prefer servo as you can get higher speeds outa em , generally , you can't lose steps and they normally have encoders that tell the laser exactly where they are. However output of my chinese machines is as good if not better than my servo motored machines. So I dunno , if thruput is extremely important , go very fast servo , if not stick with steppers
One thing bothers me tho , and that is the fact that your glass tube might not be able to keep up with the servos speed when firing during scanning when engraving fine detail, so you might have spent all the moolah on servos for nothing. To get real fine engraving , like 4-5pt times roman text , I had to slow down quite a bit from the max the steppers would go...
If I were doing something like vector cutting paper , i would go servo...

[yasam2002]

Dear Rodney,

A big thanks for all the valuable informations, I must add my condolences Rodney, it is always hard when you lose a parent And hope you see her in paradise.

Yassine