Difference between revisions of "Laser Cutter Evaluation"
(Created page with "=Scope= Our goal is to find a machine that can cut 2-3mm wood, acrylic glass, leather, rubber and engrave anodized aluminum in a budget of around 5000€ which is rather the l...") |
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=The Chinese Options= | =The Chinese Options= | ||
There are many cheap offers from Chinese companies on Alibaba, Aliexpress, Amazon or dedicated websites with webshops in a price range of 1000 - 3000 €. The internet is full of disappointed users that received such devices in non working states, with essential safety measurements missing or just terrible build quality. Some devices might be fine in the beginning but as soon as you need support or replacement parts the trouble starts... | |||
We rather spend a bit more on a solid device with known good tech support and a vibrant user base plus long term availability of replacement/spare parts. | |||
=Viable Options= | |||
Revision as of 08:13, 18 September 2015
1 Scope
Our goal is to find a machine that can cut 2-3mm wood, acrylic glass, leather, rubber and engrave anodized aluminum in a budget of around 5000€ which is rather the low end of professional laser cutter devices. For this purpose we figured we need at least a 40W laser tube. A build area of 300x400mm is considered the minimum, the larger the better in general. A lift-able bed (z-axis) for focusing is a nice-to-have - if the laser head itself can be adjusted for the distance to the material that is fine as well. A built in ventilation system and external air-filter is required. We would prefer a device that has Linux drivers or software available on Linux - since we did not find a single solution so far that works under Linux we figured there is no way around a Windows Machine connected to the Laser cutter so we at least want a software that is not limiting the laser cutters capabilities and has an open interface to allow a Linux controlled system to be built in the future. Cutting EPS, SVG or HPGL files should be supported.
2 The big companies
Unfortunately their entry model prices all already exceed our budget significantly:
- Trotec http://www.troteclaser.com/en-US/Pages/Laser_systems.aspx
- Epilog Laser https://www.epiloglaser.com/
- GCC http://www.gccworld.com/
3 The Chinese Options
There are many cheap offers from Chinese companies on Alibaba, Aliexpress, Amazon or dedicated websites with webshops in a price range of 1000 - 3000 €. The internet is full of disappointed users that received such devices in non working states, with essential safety measurements missing or just terrible build quality. Some devices might be fine in the beginning but as soon as you need support or replacement parts the trouble starts...
We rather spend a bit more on a solid device with known good tech support and a vibrant user base plus long term availability of replacement/spare parts.