at the start...the very start

Hi all

New to this so bear with me.

I'm in a position of facing a job move soon from the Areospace industry, the issue is there isnt currently an industry.

I find myself looking at my options

a) get a crap 9-5 job locally for half the pay
b) set up a business using my engineering skills.

I'm currently looking seriously at laser cutting as a strong entry in to the self employed engineering world.

I will have £30k money to invest into the project, so my question is guys.....

is that enough money to get something going on the lines of 1kw gas laser setup in a small rented unit in uk, contract machining sheet metal for local companies.

and also do you guys think the market is flooded with such enterprises.

Thanks for any feedback

30k in pounds will be difficult to get a 1KW fiber - but not impossible. However, there is a lot more to it then that. your running costs are quite high in that you will need Nitrogen for Stainless Steel and Oxygen for Mild Steel. A large Nitrogen cylinder is unlikely to last more than about 3 hours of cutting - Oxygen slightly more. We import machines, and my COST (FOB) for a reasonably well made 1KW 3m x 1.5m fiber laser is about USD26k - that excludes getting it here (I am in South Africa), insurance, landing fees, etc. etc. That is without any markup. Spares are another issue. You WILL go through focus lenses and protection lenses and nozzles. My advice would be to get a like-minded person to go into it with you. a 60K pounds investment would have a better chance of succeeding in my opinion.