[DLDude]

I currently own a 4x8' Boss laser running 170w. It's great and can cut 1/2" wood decently... but it has 2 main problems: Power and Speed. We cut 1/4" plywood all the time, but the machine can't move faster than about 20mm/s without it jumping steps. I think it's just the nature of a big machine running with belts. This severely slows us down because with 170w we could be going 3x that fast through 1/4". We also cut a lot of 1/2" plywood, and we can only get ~8mm/s out of the machine due to the power.

I've looked far a wide for a 4x8' machine that can move quick and do 400w. Pretty much everything in that size that has more than 170w is for metal cutting. We don't cut any metal (We have waterjets for that). It's been really hard to find a solid 4x8' machine that only cuts wood/acrylic type stuff. Because of this, there seems to be a HUGE gap in pricing. A boss 4x8' machine will go for $25k, but the next 'step up' seems to jump to $100k+ for anything higher power. Does anyone know of a middle-ground machine? What should I be looking for in terms of upgrades in quality? Do nicer/faster machines that big run Servos or do they just use nicer Steppers? Should we look for rack/pinion systems instead of belts?

[KeithOKC]

I think you're going to top out about 200w unless you go with a industrial machine. Chinese tubes get disportionally more expensive the more powerful you go. Might be better to have 2-3 machines of lower power instead of one monster machine. Is that an option? What is the item you are actually cutting? More details might help one of the manufacturers on here suggest to you a machine.

[cinematic2]

I currently own a 4x8' Boss laser running 170w. It's great and can cut 1/2" wood decently... but it has 2 main problems: Power and Speed. We cut 1/4" plywood all the time, but the machine can't move faster than about 20mm/s without it jumping steps. I think it's just the nature of a big machine running with belts. This severely slows us down because with 170w we could be going 3x that fast through 1/4". We also cut a lot of 1/2" plywood, and we can only get ~8mm/s out of the machine due to the power.

This is not a matter of belts as motion transmission. I made 1600x2000mm belt driven machines with Synrad lasers and it can cut up to 100mm/s without loosing position.
In fact it is servo motors driven, not step motors. Now I think to make another cutter. This time with Synrad Evo 240 (measured power 270-280W).
It should work 2-3x quicker than your Boss.