[paulC]

A quick update.
I had an e-mail from hkxy on 5th January asking about New Zealand power requirements. After responding I heard nothing as to wheather he recieved this e-mail.
Today I received an e-mail saying that he had been out of communication as a result of cable damage due to an earthquake in the area.
He expects the laser to be completed ready for transport on 15th Febuary and this requires working overtime to meet this deadline. This is the quoted 45 days. Chinese new year will cost him 3 days that he will make up for with only 1 day off on weekends.

He also says that the software and machine are easy to use and he will send me a seperate e-mail on the subject.

On the subject of distilled water. I have purchased a small water distiller for $229 NZD. I calculate that this should cost me 18 cents a litre with current power prices. It produces 4 litres over 5 and a half hours. Should also be able to heat an office with it in winter. 580 Watts of heat.

Also purchased a packet of cork tiles the other night as I figure they should be an ideal media to learn on. Cheap and should give good etch results.

Paul

[pease1]

I've seen a few US companies selling their 'own brand' lasers that look suspiciously like the Chineese ones, but at much higher prices. Are these companies just importing them and grossly marking them up, or is there some actual value added service going on?

Not to infer anything nefarius is happening, just wondering? Places like this: http://www.jorlink.com/page.aspx?page_id=15

[paulC]

Provided they provide adaquate support, it is proberbly a good thing that they on sell. Competition is a good thing for the end user.
Paul

[pease1]

Yes, support is my main concern. The Chineese lasers are priced for the hobby user, but without good support it's too much money for a hobbiest to risk.

I know there are a few manufacturers here, but I came looking to confirm my desire to buy a Chineese laser and the horror stories and lack of english-speaking support staff have scared me off. I need something that will be working when I receive it if I'm going to spend thousands of dollars.

It's a real shame because I have two different friends who own Chineese lathes and they work wonderfully and were a fractioin of the cost of the equivilent domestic machines.

I'd gladly pay a US company a 20% premium to receive the product and support. Hopefully someone will take up the enterprise like the UK company that is in England.

[txcowdog]

Paul

Any updates on when you expect your machine to ship. I am hoping that hkxy will be the solution to our problems. He has always tried to be helpful in the past even with the tremendous problem he is having with the language barrier. I am really pulling for him.

[paulC]

I'm still working on the machine being ready to collect in Beijing on the 15th of Febuary. I must admit I'm getting nervious as I haven't heard from hkxy since 12th of January. I expect it is just that he is busy. I have heard of this, dealing with the Chinese, from others. Communication with the client is not always a priority and you may not hear anything until you get a message saying the product has been shipped. Still very frustrating when I've paid the money and I'm feeling very insecure.
Paul

[ALAN2525]

I'd gladly pay a US company a 20% premium to receive the product and support. Hopefully someone will take up the enterprise like the UK company that is in England.

I'm in the UK - What was the UK company you were refering to?

[thkoutsidthebox]

I'm in the UK - What was the UK company you were refering to?

Neil Pritchit: http://www.ctrlasers.co.uk/contact

[hkxy]

Ask sending picturing of invoice again fast, ask urgent getting in touch me,

[hkxy]

Please tell me the requirement of glass package. I am sorry that I meet troubles this time.

[Leo_RedSail]

RedSail company will attend the exhibition is Dubai, welcome every friend who have interest to our show. The time is from Feb 27th to Mar 1st, where you can find our new model.

[paulC]

I eventually had to find someone that spoke Mandarin to phone hkxy.
He was very apologetic. He is responding to e-mail again but has pushed my completion date out to 5th March. I'm not very happy about this at all, but not a lot I can do about it. Hkxy has said he will supply a water chiller free to compensate for the delay.
While I still think he is ok, and trying to provide a good service, he is falling into the trap of not communicating issues to the customer as they occur. I have found that if a company is up front when they strike a problem and contact the customer immediately, that a compromise is normally possible with out upsetting people too much. This is something that hkxy could take on board. I'm not sure that a lot of the problems aren't due to language problems and his interpreter.
So the result is, I'm still waiting.
Paul

[Leo_RedSail]

To paulC,
I know nothing about your story between hkxy because I am sick for almost 3 months, and no time in reading the post messges. I just want to explain here, it is very close to Chinese New Year, and almost no companies are working, including those couriers such as DHL, TNT and UPS. I hope you can understand, it is really the most important days for Chinese in a year.

[txcowdog]

That's disappointing. I was really looking forward to the arrival of a machine from hkxy. I am very interested in seeing the quality of his machine. I will advance my calendar another month and wait for your next post. Thanks for keeping us advised on the progress.

[planetd]

Well be prepared, I just got mine from a different company who I will leave un named for now, so far the experience has been challenging. From the shipping to customs to getting the unit on location then sorting out mis matched plugs and the fact that China electrical is 50HZ which never came up in our conversations and now an issue that scares the hell out of me and I am not sure there is a fix for (any suggestion please share) and sending the Chinese version of the software labeled english, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc. it seems like an endless loop of completely retarded little things to conspire and make my life miserable, took 4 days just to get a schematic in chinese so I could track down a broken wire keeping the laser PSU from firing up. I highly recommend a prescription for zantac or some type of sedative on standby for the moments you want to slit your wrists and jump off the roof. Expect a series of half baked answers to most of your tech support questions including " is unit prugged in ?" but on the brighter side even if I have to yank the controller and burn the software and replace it I am still ahead of the game just for the x-y frame laser tube and PSU. I wish you luck I will add my experiences here as well as watching yours. Well it is now I guess a Chinese holiday so I am the proud owner of a 650 lb many thousand dollar boat anchor at the moment :withstupi

[paulC]

50 Hz power supply should not be a problem.
The higher the frequency of the supply (I assume you are 60 Hz) the easier it is to filter when converting. You can use smaller capacitors and generally make things smaller and lighter. I would be very suprised if this caused you any problem. As long as the voltage is the compatible with the power supply of course.
AC motors are a different story as the difference in frequency will result in the motor running faster and if it is not designed for it you could have problems.
Paul

[planetd]

Yeah that is kind of what I was thinking, so the difference should not affect the PSU for the laser itself ? The AC motors in the exhaust, air pump and water pump are not so much and issue they can be easily replaced, though of course it IRRITATES the hell out of me. The only other thing I could possibly imagine would be if the controller had a clock that could be affected by 60hz vs 50hz. All thoughts appreciated !!

[Strelitzia]

I'm in the UK - What was the UK company you were refering to?

Also, see www.lowcostlasers.com

CE approved laser cutters imported from China. All customs paperwork is taken care of, and aftersales service and spares are available. Our site is currently being updated with new products and spare parts listings.

Steve
Low Cost Lasers

[planetd]

Ventillation system connected and laser cutting apparently this uses MPC05 controller card and a TOTALLY *******ized version of DSP 4.1 but I am not sure. But software constantly crashes. I finally got it to cut with a file but the scale and size is wrong. So my first challenge is to find a printer driver that will work with the MPC05 so I can cut straight from Corel and bypass all this silly B.S. Any Ideas ?anyone ? and of course it is chinese new years so I am dead in the water with this boat anchor

:drowning: :drowning: :drowning: :drowning:

[fractaledge3]

Hello Planetd,
Try to adjust your machine configurations like the attached photo, but according to your machine specifications.
Also if you have any problem when you engraving photos just tell me.