Laser Purchase Advice

FabLab
1

Hello everyone,

A friend of mine in Pittsburgh (KS) is very close to purchasing a laser for their family business and has been in conversation with a rep from JNLNK about their LXJ1390-90w, which is Luigi, right? They are primarily going to be using it for engraving coated metal for plaques and trophy placards and what not…it’s probably not going to get too many extensive, long run-time type jobs thrown at it.

At any rate, they’re about to pull the trigger and my friend has a few questions about options that I told him I’d throw out on the forum to see if I could get some input on.

1.) There is an optional water chiller for better cooling, a $340 option. Does Luigi have this and/or is it worth it if it (probably) won’t be doing any high duty cycle, long operations?

2.) Extra set of mirrors and focus lens for $80…worth it or is this an unlikely consumable to need replaced?

3.) 90w vs. 100w? I can’t remember what he said the price difference is, but is there any practical benefit to be gained from the more powerful laser? They may expand beyond the engraving to do other things down the road…if so, is there any capabilities the 100w would enable that the 90w wouldn’t do (this seems unlikely to me but I’m just a novice user).

4.) How was the shipping and assembly experience with Luigi (I wasn’t a member yet when it was installed)? Was there anything unforeseen or unexpected that needed to be done in order to get the laser up and running?

Ok, that’s all I can think of that he was asking about–thanks in advance for any insight you guys can provide.

Jarrod

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  1. Both of our lasers have chillers. They cool the water that circulates through the tube, monitor the temperature and water flow, and will shut off if there is an issue. I feel that this is definitely worth it since the laser tube will be destroyed pretty quickly if the water system fails.
  2. Lens and mirrors do need to be replaced eventually, and fail more quickly if they aren’t kept clean. Having an extra set on hand is a good idea if you’re relying on the machine to fill orders in a timely manner.
  3. A 100 watt tube isn’t really necessary for engraving; I hear lower wattage tubes are actually better. The difference between 90W and 100W probably won’t be noticeable if it isn’t being used for high speed or thick material cutting.
  4. @curt.gridley and @tom.bloom handled the shipping. I wasn’t directly involved with it, but I know it took some effort. A separate shipping company was required because the manufacturer only deals with getting it into the US. There were a number of delays from the manufacturer. The quality of the machine you get is pretty inconsistent. For example, another member purchased one a year or so before us from the same manufacturer and their ventilation is much more impressive than ours. We had to do a good bit of work to ours to get it running properly. The main issue is with the case construction and assembly; most of the parts are pretty standard and work well enough.
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Thanks so much for the input @Christian, this is very helpful!

Jarrod

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The only other thing I would add is that when they say it will ship in 5 weeks they actually mean 22 weeks.

Mike

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