Now that I have your attention with a bogus title I just need general feedback. Getting ready to purchase a Laser for the wife to expand and grow her tiny little company. This is either going to grow into something great or fall flat on its face. But I am going to support her and give her the best that I can.
So I have been reading through the forum about lasers. Very overwhelmed with it all. Seems that these chinese machines are extremely popular and they also seem to be extremely popular with issues as there are tons of threads pertaining to it. It also seems that when people are purchasing a new china laser they tend to compare it to a Epilog more so than the other brands like ULS, Xenetech, Tortec, and so on.
The main purpose of the laser will be marking bare metal (Stainless to be exact) using something like Cermark or similar. She wants to branch out into every aspect with the machine and attempt to find what else she will enjoy doing with it. What that could be I have no idea. So I do not really know what other jobs she will want it for. But I am guessing that wood cutting/engraving will be high on her list after she attempts a few projects.
Where I am at, right now I am leaning toward the Epilog Mini 24 30 watt or 50 watt and Rotary Table. I am keen on Epilog mainly because of the local support. As I travel often and I can not always be there if a issue comes up. Secondly is the obvious, its made in Merica.
However I would be open to looking at a ULS, Xenetech, Tortec, and others that I do not know about. Currently looking to spend around $13k to $16k on a setup for her. I also have to be cautious of the size of the machine as anything over either 32" or 34" will not fit through the doorway. So tell me if the Mini is a legit move, if not what would you look at in that price range based on the limited material that I mentioned we would be using?
If you are Chinese Laser manufacturer or distributor please do not comment, I am not going to import one from you.