[sosullivan]

Howdy,

I am looking at purchasing a laser cutter/engraver for hobby and perhaps eventual business use.

I have been looking at the Epilog Zing, and like what I see there. I am also reading some good reviews about Trotec systems. I have enquired with Trotec, but am hoping some folks 'in the trenches' would share some thoughts or insights about their systems?

Some questions:
Are their laser tubes made of glass, steel or something else?
How has Trotec's customer and technical support worked for you?
How reliable has your system been for you over a year, two or three?
Are there any technical or quality weak spots that have caused you any concern?
About what does a 40 watt speedy 300 sell for?

I sincerely appreciate any and all feedback!

Regards,

Steve O'Sullivan

[Guiseppe2000]

We have one at the workshop of my university (TU in Eindhoven, the Netherlands). It is used by graduates of architecture and industrial design to build models. They have had it for over 5 years, and it's still the same machine. And it's used frequently, every working day for 5 years. I used it myself to cut 3, 6 and 9 mm mdf and also perspex (transparant plastic). I have once asked the price and I believe it was € 30.000 ($38.000). They have also a filter system from Trotec attached, filters are replaced regular. Finally, they have a ventilation system, to suck up the fumes. I believe the tube is glass and I also believe that they only had to replace it once over those five years. The bed is 400 x 700 mm, and you have to autofocus it manually, quite simple, with a little jig that you hang on the nozzle. So conclusion: solid, but expensive.

[Hurricane21]

Steve,

Trotec, Epilog etc are great companies with great products. Depending on what you are doing you can purchase several of our lasers for the cost of one of their lasers and have much greater production. For example, an Epilog EXT 36x24 100W will run 35-40k and our Charley 40x24 100W will run you around 16k.

You can visit us at Home page

Thank you.

John

[Exsecratio]

Epilog are indeed very good machines, BUT VERY expensive for what you get.

In general they are great for schools or educational establishments where budgets are a little less controlled and you have a load of kids who will be using it along with teachers who may not be in the machine fiddling business.

China made machines are in general better value for what you get, they do on occasion go wrong (rarely but it can happen) so being able to align a mirror or spend an extra minute or two on cleaning is required but at half the price (or better) that can cover the cost of a LOT of fiddling.

How long will they last....

Hard to say...I've seen epilogs last 5 years without being touched ,then again I've seen RF tubes in an epilog fail in 300 hours (at a $3,000 regas cost).

Overall I'd say for getting a machine in the USA,

Tight budget = Import from China (G.Weike)
Little better money & US support = Hurricane Lasers
Big budget & no real restrictions = Western made trotech,epilog,universal etc

cheers

Dave

[RossMosh]

Trotec Speedy 300 and the Epilog Zing should not be compared. The Zing is a small, desktop machine with a relatively low Z clearance designed for those who don't need a lot of size, power, or z depth. They are basically designed with the awards industry in mind. The Speedy 300 is far more versatile and more similar to the Epilog Helix. Trotec really can't be compared to Epilog to be honest. Trotec's can achieve speeds MUCH higher than an Epilog. If you're doing a lot of raster engraving, it something to really consider because Epilog's engrave at about 80ips, Trotec's engrave at about 140ips, and Chinese machines engrave a about 20ips. If you're looking to raster engrave primarily, the Trotec has some serious benefits.

If you're looking to mostly vector cut, there is no better value than the Chinese machines. The size of the table you can get + the power is simply incredible. Because the way vector cutting works, 80W on a Trotec vs 80W on a Chinese machine will result in very similar cut times. Cutting is very much about power and not very much about how fast the machine can run. Put 100w+ in a Chinese machine with a 36x48 bed and you have a pretty darn good laser cutter for sub $10k.

Now this is just talking about what the machine is capable of doing. This isn't addressing an equally important part of the discussion, software. Epilog and Trotec are similar on the software side. Epilog has a simple print driver and it's basically WYSIWYG. Trotec also has a print driver but it basically imports the files into a print manager and streams the data live to the laser. Their software has some interesting features but the streaming data thing always worried me a bit. The Chinese machines have the worst software. Basically you have to create a file in your design software (like always) then import it into lasercut which will then look at the paths (not WYSIWYG). Getting everything to import properly and the files setup correctly can be troubling and is often one of the biggest issues for new users.

[Renshai]

Hi, re. Trotec laser systems they use ceramic irradion tubes, and all of the parts in the machine are of a very high quality and built to last. I've seen a 15yo (blue!) trotec machine still going strong although admittedly on it's second laser tube. The Trotec machines are also the easiest to maintain in the business as well as offering the highest speeds and quality of output. In the UK a Speedy 300 40W will cost around the £18 -20K mark new, but if you are only going to buy one for hobby reasons then you might consider the Speedy 100 as well. (i'd also consider stretching the extra cash to at least a 60W if I could as they are significantly faster) Customer service is a very high priority for Trotec and you can (in Europe at least) also get a "cost of ownership package" which I don't think other companies are doing(?) which covers extra-warranty expenses like optics failure or the laser tube dying for up to ten years (rather than the standard 1-2) - so long as you have the machine serviced annually. (It's free for the first two years on a new machine as well!) Hope that helps anyway.

Cheers,

Ren

[Renshai]

Guiseppe2000 - Trotec do not use glass tubes!!