Laser Speed vs Power - Chinese Laser Purchase Request

I’ve seen all the posts asking about Chinese lasers, and I hate to contribute to them, but I hope I can make my question specific enough to be novel.

I understand that in looking for a Co2 laser, there is a tradeoff between engraving and cutting. I had hoped to be able to reliably cut 3/8” wood/ply/mdf/acrylic and photo engrave but the forums seem to indicate that due to minimum power needed to activate the co2 laser there’s a tradeoff. That I shouldn’t go beyond 80W for engraving since Chinese lasers typically can only do 400 (although Gweike assured me 600mm/s).

One Chinese laser mfctr includes Servo motors that offer over twice the speed (2000mm/s) (for quite a bit more money though). In theory that would seem to “fix” the problem and allow me to get a 100w laser (or at least given that this will be run in our house allow us to get more work done with just one machine). But I thought the experienced people here might know if I’m missing something. Resolution? Servo accuracy?

For those who care about backstory or are willing to help a bit more:

My sons (14 and 12) started a laser business (craft sales, farmer markets) out of our local Makerspace. It has two great Epilog machines. Unfortunately they’ve done fairly well and need more time than they can get with a couple hours a week. There’s no way we can ever afford a Trotec/Epilog so I offered to help them hunt down an alternative. They need to cut ¼” of various materials (acrylic, hardwood, plywood, mdf) and do detailed engraving. The Chinese market has been difficult to navigate, and trying to figure out import to Toronto (I live in Canada) is challenging for a novice importer, lol.
Currently I’m navigating 3 vendors based on specs:
Ruida 6442s controller, autofocus, z-axis motor, Taiwan linear sliders, cw5200 chiller, rotary chuck, honeycomb and strip bed, CIF shipping.

It might be worth test cutting on a CO2 machine before before you convince yourself that the quality of cut is close to an epilog. I have a CO2 and seen work from a professional machine and can’t touch their quality. All depends on what you expect to get out of the machine, which is why you should test.

I don’t know limits of an epilog but CO2 does not like glue, so thicker ply and mdf are very challenging. You can up the power but that always comes with more burning and slower cutting.

Keep in mind that there are reasons why they can charge like 10x for an epilog


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1390 laser machine user Digeo' Spanish feedback
https://youtu.be/SxTRkGfJwR8

Thanks Dean,

I've seen test prints from the company, but once I narrow it down I'm going to ask to see an engrave/cut from a file of ours. Hopefully it won't be too disappointing.

Following. I'm trying to make the exact same decision. I'm currently looking at a 100w imported laser with servo motors hoping that it would allow for good quality detailed engraving.