UPDATE - 4 years with my WKLaser LC6090
I have had my WK Laser now for about 4 years and I thought I'd give a quick update on how's it's been holding up.
The laser was very well priced, in fact it was hundreds less than any one else at the time. Shipping and production was fast but it arrived in a different port than promised and it cost me about $400 to have it moved to a local port so I could clear customs here and save a bundle. Still though the shipping of the machine to my door was unrealistically cheap anyway. China to Canada... $200!!
Setup was a pain but it's mostly the quality manuals or lack thereof. All words are English but very often they just made no sense. However once up and running it has been a real workhorse. I suspect that after all this time they have drastically improved.
After 4 years I am finally ready to replace some of the drive belts, the two that really need it are $11 for the pair. The rest are probably OK. After about 2000hrs of use I replaced the air assist struts on the door. Still on the original evacuation pump..... bet there's 3000hrs on that.
I go through a tube and a power supply about every 7 months. I think I am on my 7th tube and 5th power supply. WK has the best price on tubes that I have found but the Power supplies can be had little cheaper but since they are often bought in pairs it's cheaper to get them at WK as a pair. Most of my tubes failures have been due to failure of coolant, either forgetting to turn it on or having it fail. Be warned, a tube that self destructs will often take the power supply with it. I am now installing a flow sensor to help extend the life of the tubes. running it even for a few minutes overheats it and drastically reduces the tube life. Running it for more than a few minutes often leads to the tube exploding!! Done it twice. Power supplies can often be repaired as usually you can see the damaged component and since I have old power supplies I have been able to rob parts successfully a few times.
The tubes are rated at 2500hrs but I have never gotten more than about 800 out of one of mine. Still at the replacement price I just consider them consumables. I hope adding the flow sensor will allow more of my tubes to live longer.
I'm very happy with the machine other than having to cut using an old version of Corel, it works great. It's fast efficient and built like a tank. Parts are very reasonable and the support form WK has been super, as good or superior to anything domestic for sure.
Thanks
Mike Purcell
www.classicplayfields.com