Laser routing and engraving

[Cuprousworks]

A recent email from Woodcraft has me thinking about the capabilities of laser routers. Anyone know of a shop that can do a couple of small, one-off pieces? Given the investment I'm guessing most businesses are set up for bigger jobs or production work.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[Mike Davis]

There is a gun shop in my local gas station that can do laser engraving. They will do the smallest job and are pretty reasonable in pricing. And you can shop for bait while you are there.

 

[farmerbw]

You may want to check with Brad (vetteman9956) and see if it's something he could do. He's in Cary so a little closer to you.

HTH,
B

 

[Mike Davis]

My point being those things are getting so common that soon everyone will have one at home just like Zerox copiers, fax machines, and computers.

 

[Cuprousworks]

If costs follow an electronics curve they might become as common as printers. The ad I saw (actually it was from Rockler) offered a system for $3,800. That's more than a casual purchase but lots of woodworkers have tablesaws that cost that much. The ad makes it sound like it's as easy as using a printer, so the interface isn't much of a barrier. They may already be common, I just haven'the been looking.
Mike

 

[Mike Davis]

My first notebook computer was $5000 in 1995 now the $400 iPad does as much and faster. Probably your phone as well. Everybody has a computer in their pocket that rivals all the combined computing power in the world at the time of the moon landing.

 

[tri4sale]

If costs follow an electronics curve they might become as common as printers. The ad I saw (actually it was from Rockler) offered a system for $3,800. That's more than a casual purchase but lots of woodworkers have tablesaws that cost that much. The ad makes it sound like it's as easy as using a printer, so the interface isn't much of a barrier. They may already be common, I just haven'the been looking.
Mike

They will, and prices are dropping fast, especially if you are willing to look at Chinese brand lasers. American made lasers are still very high priced. I'm amazed at how cheap some of these lasers coming out of China are now. The prices are cheap, just wonder how the quality of them are.

I've been lurking over at http://www.sawmillcreek.org/forumdisplay.php?8-Engravers-Forum to follow whats going on over there with lasers as I dream of getting one.

 

[Endless Pursuit]

The laser tube is half the value of the cheap machines and their useful life is around 300 hours of "on time" which is 10% of the higher end ones like Epilog and they do not have the exceptional accuracy and repeatability. They are fine if you plan to do small, short projects that don't have extreme detail, like burning in your name or a simple picture. If you plan on doing anything larger than 8X10 or a lot of cutting or intricate engraving, unfortunately you will need to spend north of $10K. Engraving Lasers are precision electro-mechanical devices and aren't like computers or cell phones in that the tubes aren't a printed silicon chip and the # of units will never be in the millions so the price curve won't ever follow pure electronic devices. If you want to engrave on something that's 12 X 24", now you are north of $20K.

The laser that engraved the granite for the Korean and Vietnam War memorial in Washington DC cost $1.7 Mil to build

 

[mkepke]

A recent email from Woodcraft has me thinking about the capabilities of laser routers. Anyone know of a shop that can do a couple of small, one-off pieces? Given the investment I'm guessing most businesses are set up for bigger jobs or production work.
Thanks,
Mike

I've used Brad (Vetteman) before, but you should call your local sign and trophy shops too. Many have a laser. Most plaques and trophies are one-of jobs engraving so your needs aren't unusual.

-Mark

 

[mkepke]

<snip> Engraving Lasers are precision electro-mechanical devices and aren't like computers or cell phones in that the tubes aren't a printed silicon chip and the # of units will never be in the millions so the price curve won't ever follow pure electronic devices. If you want to engrave on something that's 12 X 24", now you are north of $20K.

The laser that engraved the granite for the Korean and Vietnam War memorial in Washington DC cost $1.7 Mil to build

We're going off topic now, but I wanted to mention that you can buy a 6W diode laser now for a few hundred $** that is suitable for light engraving. No argument that 6W is about 20% the power of an entry-level commercial engraver, but the on-chip performance is getting better.

-Mark

** Note the "few hundred $" here is just for the laser diode head, which is analogous to a laser tube.