[DaveDoesIT]

Wow, DTR, that is looking good.

Interesting stuff in the specs too. CorelDraw. Do you know if the laser looks like a printer to Corel? If so that is a big step in the right direction.

A lot of the Chinese lasers have been coming with pretty clunky software.

If this one has a printer driver for Corel then it **IS** a big deal. Specially if you can combine Vector and Raster cutting/engraving in the same print command.

Dave

[Propaganda]

$2700 w/rotary! "Working area - 700mmx500mm"...That is a good deal. "Compatible s/w - CorelDraw,AutoCAD" That implies DSP.

How much did they charge your for shipping to the seaport?

[lamicron]

I really hope you get your machine working fine without problems. But I have to say again , Why after you read many posts in the forum , you are still trying to get cheaper machines from unknown Chinese brands and ask if anyone knows that machine? There are 800 Chinese laser brands and, if you read carefully many people in the forum have had problems with these machines. Also if you look carefully, you don't have to take the risk, there are many posts of people that made a good business with 2 or 3 brands.

[desktoprouters]

Lamicron- You are right, I did search the forums. There are tons of options and suppliers out of China. I put a post up on global spec or one of those sites and was flooded with emails within a few hours. I took the most promising one (taking into account price and response time). They were quick to reply even at odd hours over there. They were reasonable, asked 30% down, 70% once Bill of Laden was provided. I figured 30% ($800) wasn't a huge risk, but could pay off in big savings.

I also figured if I didn't like their DSP or the software sucked, I could just buy a lightobject type DSP controller for under $1000 and just install that and get everything I need out of it.

But, I would at least get the housing, the motors, cooling, exhaust, power supply, CO2, and all the other stuff needed. I'm still saving THOUSANDS over the Americans that sell the same stuff. I know enough about CNC and lasers that I can work with whatever I get. I also know enough about Corel and CAD programs that I can "figure it out" so to speak.

I'm a hobbyist with limited time, and a full time Naval career. If I had the time, I would build this from the ground up in my garage. I've already built 4 CNC machines, over the last 3 years, that all worked great.

Also, I did exhaustive searches on Craigslist for about 2 weeks, in the 5 closest cities to me. I was trying to find broken or old laser machines. I read a couple articles on guys finding dirt cheap shells and fixing them up. I kept sharp reader (an RSS Reader) running with several search parameters for each city on Craigslist. Nothing every came up under $5000.

Propaganda- Sea cost/Insurance/AMS Fee $180. I just got an invoice from Shipco in California today for $49 to cover clean air fees, pier pass, and fuel surcharge. No big deal. I called them and they said their could also be an inspection fee from customs if they pick it for a random inspection. But that won't be more than $80. Small fees are to be expected.

I also found out that the company shipped it to L.A. Cali and not Jacksonville, FL. The machine is being land shipped across the country to a local company here Air Van, Inc. But Shipco confirmed that payment has already been made by the laser company for the shipment to get here. I may have one or two small fees from Air Van. Still, I saved a LOT of money on this compared to the alternative.

DaveDoesIt- I'm keeping fingers crossed on Corel compatibility and all the other software functions that are desired. Manuals seem promising. I asked and was told the machine can be used directly connected to a PC or with a U disk (we call them USB Drives / Thumb drives). So again, fingers crossed.

ALCON- The machine is set to hit port in LA on the 26th of April and arrive in Jax on the 12th of May. I know, why so LONG? I'm tempted to rent a truck and drive over there myself! I wish. Getting anxious.

BTW- Pascal did not charge me for the honeycomb table, after I complained about the long delay when I complained that they agreed for shipment 5 days from payment. Which might be good, considering they stacked stuff on top of it.

[desktoprouters]

I should also say, I am not trying to make a "good business" with this machine. It's going in my garage for me to (as my wife says) tinker with.

I guess I just like technology and anything "geeky".

Maybe when I retire I can think business opportunities. For now it's just tinkering and learning.

[desktoprouters]

The laser has finally arrived in Jacksonville. Seems like it took forever.

For anyone that may be looking to import a laser, here is how all the fees broke down.

Shipco received the shipment into the port of Los Angeles, it wasn't actually shipped to Jax via ship like the manufacture stated, no big deal. Took about 10 days to truck it across the country, at least the original shipping charge from shen hui laser paid for the transportation. Shipco charged $50 for pier pass fee, vehicle fee, and some other obscure charge.

I had to get a broker and pay a duty on the machine as a wood "type" laser engraving machine 2.4% of the purchase price plus another .35% for harbor maintanence and something else. (Don't have the sheet in front of me.) There was also an FDA fee, not sure why, the broker said something to do with being a laser so it has to go through the FDA as well. The broker waived that fee for me so it must be small. The brokerage fee was $140 flat.

So far, I cut a check to the broker for $240, plus the $50 to Shipco.

I called Air Van, Inc, where the machine was delivered to in Jax, and they will have a small fee (around $50) of some sort as well. I asked for them to deliver, that's $100. I didn't want to mess around with a 400 lb crate, easier just to have them bring it to my house.

All said, I should have it in my garage for under $500 more than I paid for the machine originally, which brings the grand total in around $3400.

If the papers and customs is all complete tomorrow, Air Van is going to delivery it on Wednesday. I'll be sure to post lots of pictures.

[vivinar]

good news to you.And the price you get is good price.the machine is also beautiful,i think.
Also can have a look on our machine.more choose.
http://www.vivinar.diytrade.com/sdp/.../6814643.html:)

[desktoprouters]

Got it in the garage today. VERY happy with the quality so far. Already had a couple test fires of the laser. I have taken lots of pics of the unpacking and will post some tomorrow along with some initial test cuts.

[goldenvivian]

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEz8sqSwrCo"]YouTube- GJMSDBJG-6080DT laser cutting and marking machine for stainless steel.flv[/nomedia]
how the laser marking machine work?this video will tell you

[desktoprouters]

Why is there not a way to delete the SPAM postings? I think the OP should be able to delete them. Clutters up the forum IMO.

[Litografa]

AGREE!

[desktoprouters]

Here are some pictures of the laser machine from Shen Hui Laser Co.

Again, total cost to my door, about $3400 (Fl, USA), including import fees, shipping, and broker costs.

If anyone has any questions, please ask. I can say it is a very sturdy and extremely well built machine. Software is a little much to navigate at first, but seems very capable and I plan on cutting and engraving everything I can.

You can see the rotary attachment on the bottom temporary shelf.

It's 90 degrees F here in Jax and the water cooler is keeping the water very cool. It's the big beige box to the left of the machine. There is a large fan in the top and so far it's staying cool to the touch. The rubber tubing is a little to flexible, so I may replace that as it keeps kinking on the end that sticks out of the side. I was given a cover for that side of the machine to protect the laser, but it is way longer than it needs to be, so I may fashion something a bit lower profile. Plus they didn't give me the bolts to attach it anyway.

Picking the item up was painless, I ended up getting a U Haul trailer and getting it myself. Cheaper and faster. They (Air Van, Inc) fork lifted it onto the trailer. I couldn't get it off my self in the crate (400 lbs) so I took off the packaging and managed to roll the machine off without much problem, although it was still heavy as hell.

The directions of course were terrible and I had to figure out much of it myself. I later found that a CD simply labeled "Install" was actually a bunch of videos showing the entire setup and installation. Duh. I used some strip connectors to attach the pos and neg wires to the tube, this was after a short attempt at soldering and realizing that was probably going to crack the glass if I kept at. Got the connector tip from another thread here on cnczone, and it was much easier.

They provided me with a 110 to 220 power converter and power strip to connect everything to that, however, I'm still one socket short (I left of the exhaust fan for now). I have to try and find a 220 splitter to plug the fan in to.

Z table doesn't seem to be software controlled. Just an up/down switch in the front between the big red buttons.

It will take some practice coming up with "recipes" for the different power/speed settings for different materials. I read some people just keep a little book with all their favorite settings. Guess I'll do the same. Tried a couple different engravings and cuts with pretty good results.

Also, one thing I haven't figured out yet, the laser will not fire if the power setting is below ~30%. Anyone know why this might be?

Other than very minor issues, which probably would come up with any supplier, this was a VERY smart purchase and I don't think anyone can say it wasn't a great deal.

I'll post some pictures of what I create with this as they come up.

[Litografa]

Could you tell more about water cooler? Very interesting construction. How it will work for long time? Could you measure total power consumption of system and separately for cooler?

[DaveDoesIT]

Wow, that looks like some quality equipment there. Nice looking sold mirror mounts and air assist etc.

The manual button for Z-axis is pretty normal. I know a lot of guys with auto-focus and they turn it off.

The hose is silicone tubing and they use that as it does not put any strain on the glass nipple. If you are going to replace the hose, leave at least 4" of silicone on the tube glass nipples and use a barb connector to the new hose.

The not firing will be a tickle adjustment. Look for something that says "tickle" or "pilot". The laser needs to be on the verge of lasing and they have a very low tickle pulse constantly on to keep it at the ready. It is a common thing to have to adjust tickle.

Have you aligned the mirrors? A small alignment error at high power may not matter, at low power it becomes very important. That could be a possibilty for the seemingly low power. Have you tried putting a piece of paper in the path and see if it is burning at all at 30W?

Dave

[desktoprouters]

Dave - Thanks for the tip on the silicon hose. I actually already tried some vinyl hose, and it leaked at the glass tubing of course, so I had the foresight to buy the barb connector while out today. I did exactly what you suggested, works fine now and no kinking.

Also, the alignment seemed fine, I use some masking tape and checked each of the mirrors, they were dead center after traveling half way around the world! I'll check again though just to be sure.

Glad you mentioned the tickle adjustment. Seemed very odd that it won't fire at less than 30%, I put tape over the mirrors at 30 percent also, and nothing. So it is probably the tickle adjustment. Thanks!

Litografa - I will take some more pictures of the water cooler for you. There is no way to check the power consumption independently from the machine as far as I can tell.

[desktoprouters]

I have been experimenting with all types of materials and settings, this thing is awesome.

There seems to be a factory setting that may be incorrect and I'm not sure how to tackle the problem.

Every thing comes out mirrored on the x axis, which flips text so that it is backwards. For now I am just mirroring everything before I cut it, but obviously this is not ideal.

I think I found a machine setting that will fix it (direction polarity), but when I try to read then write the parameters back into the machine, it asks for a password. I'm sure this is to protect the machine from changing settings that may break it.

I see two ways to fix my problem. Get the password, or re-wire the motors at the board. I would rather do the first option. There are also jumpers on the DSP board, anyone know the correct way to fix my issue?

I plan on posting more pictures over the weekend. Thanks for any advice/solutions.

[nehjo]

Based on your success, I started looking for a laser cutter also. I thought I could use my CAD/CAM software, but many of them seem to work like a printer. How about this one? Do you just print line art and it makes shapes? My need is to cut mirrored plexiglas, which might get interesting

[desktoprouters]

The software has been pretty easy to use so far. Some of the functions are in Chingrish and don't really make 100% sense, but so far I have usually figured them out.

With the Laser Cut software they provide, you can draw simple shapes and then output immediately. You can create several shapes and then even select different power levels for different parts of your drawing. The lcut software also lets you import most standard formats for pictures, jpg, gif as well as several others. And even AI and DXF files.

For anything I couldn't do/create in the lasercut (eps files for instance) I have been able to do in Corel Draw 12. (They included a copy of CD12, although I already had it installed). With CD12, you have a lot more options, and the plugin they give you is simple. You just click a button and it opens the laser machine interface to tweak settings before processing it out to the laser.

I did a short test cut into some acrylic but I haven't got it looking good yet. I'm trying some scrap lexan, about 3/4 inch thick and it just sort of melts the top so far. I'm sure that changing the focus and power settings will help with it. And I still can't cut at less than 35% power. Still looking for the tickle switch.

[Litografa]

Be careful with Corel Draw if you have got it from China, even with box and serial number! We have REALLY BIG problems when anti-piracy agency visit us and said that copy supplied with NDYag is illegal

[desktoprouters]

Thanks, like I said, I have a legit copy already installed so I just installed the plugin and it worked. Who are the anit-piracy agents? Was this in the US? FBI?

I have never heard of this happening. I am only using this in my home for personal use.

Has anyone (in the US) ever been visited and checked for illegal software? My wife does Vinyl design on the internet as a full time home based business using a vinyl plotter. She is doing very well and we were thinking of opening up a brick and mortar store. Is this something we would need to worry about? Do they need warrants to check your computers? Do they check for anything else, copyrighted material for instance. My wife only does unique and custom stuff. Here is her site: http://www.sjs-designs.com

Good stuff to think about.