[Nolan Yang]

Hi, my name is Nolan, working for Thunder Laser.
When you search "Thunder Laser" on cnczone, you can find many users bought our laser and shared their buying experience here.
No matter you own one of our laser or not, or have any idea/suggestion for us to improve our laser, please leave your comments here.
If our technical engineer adopt your idea finally, we will give you a set of focus lenses and reflective mirrors as a gift.
Thank you.

[Storen]

Hi, my name is Nolan, working for Thunder Laser.
When you search "Thunder Laser" on cnczone, you can find many users bought our laser and shared their buying experience here.
No matter you own one of our laser or not, or have any idea/suggestion for us to improve our laser, please leave your comments here.
If our technical engineer adopt your idea finally, we will give you a set of focus lenses and reflective mirrors as a gift.
Thank you.

Hi Nolan,

Getting feedback here is definitely a good idea. It will help increase the popularity of the brand and build trust.

I’ll start with a couple of suggestions concerning your post:

- In general such broad feedback should go to your global R&D and Marketing directors not to your engineer.

- If you want to stimulate the feedback process with rewards I wold suggest to offer individual discounts for future purchases or support services rather than lenses and mirrors.

I have a very long list with suggestions for you. Although constructive as intent some of them may be perceived as criticism and have the opposite marketing effect. Maybe I should send them as a private message. Let me know if you are interested.

Best,
Storen

[christian1953]

Salut Nolan

Juste pour indiquer au lecteurs de ce forum que je suis possesseur d'une mini 60 de chez thunderlaser et que j' en suis super content.
Le service après vente est très sérieux et réponde toujours tres vite au emails.
Entreprise a recommander et technicien super gentil.

Christian Hugues

[radiguy]

I have had great results with my laser and Ada is the best in customer service

[Nolan Yang]

Hi Storen,
if your suggestions are really can help us to improve our laser, and my colleagues approve your suggestions finally,
of course we can offer individual discounts for future purchases.
You can send email to me directly.
Thank you.

[cvalley]

Hi, my name is Nolan, working for Thunder Laser.
When you search "Thunder Laser" on cnczone, you can find many users bought our laser and shared their buying experience here.
No matter you own one of our laser or not, or have any idea/suggestion for us to improve our laser, please leave your comments here.
If our technical engineer adopt your idea finally, we will give you a set of focus lenses and reflective mirrors as a gift.
Thank you.

Hi Nolan

Before I start with several suggestions I'd like to state that your company truly does have a quality operation. From sales with Yumiko who is a sweetheart and a pleasure to work with. To Ben in technical support who is knowledgeable and also a pleasure to work with. I'll start by my beginning. Once the sale was complete and the laser went to shipping and left the port I wasn't really informed to the process. I used the online ship tracking by GPS to track the ship as it progressed across the pond. I wasn't told that the ship wouldn't arrive at my port of entry, but instead it would arrive at New York then completely unload then truck my package to my port of entry. Not a problem at all as everything proceeded extremely quickly and without any quirks. Once the machine arrived I had problems connecting the machine to US wiring as the wrong cords were supplied. I ordered a 220v machine but NEMA 5-15P to C13 cords were provided. To properly connect to 220v in US the cords need to be NEMA 6-20P to C13. Once I discovered the proper cords and ordered them Ben in tech support promptly reimbursed me the cost. Once I was up and running I quickly discovered that this machine was of very high quality. Everything was packaged very well in China and held up to the journey extremely well and the laser arrived in perfect condition. The wiring throughout was top notch. The manual is very thorough but not provided in printed format. I quickly printed the manual out on high quality paper and took the manual to professional binders to assemble the manual with spiral binder for easy access. I also printed out the manual for the RDWorksV8 operation and had it put in a protective binder. It would have been nice to have the manuals provided in print form but it was easily remedied.
Now on a more serious note there is one thing I wish the laser had was a way to switch over to a manual mode so the user could operate the Z-Axis. I completely understand the importance of having the machine reference itself after the E-Stop has been depressed. I also own a 5-axis CNC machine and am very familiar with the process of referencing the machine, my CNC machine immediately upon restarting retracts itself from the work surface then waits until I initiate the referencing procedure. If the laser has a mishap while using the auto focus the table will continue to rise jamming the board or whatever you’re engraving into the lens. I was standing right by and immediately hit the E-Stop. But I couldn’t find any way to put the machine into manual mode so I could lower the table away from the lens. So when I proceeded to restart the machine it took right off on its resetting mode and started to reference itself. Problem was the lens was too low and the power of the machine simply dragged the lens through the honeycomb table tearing up the honeycomb table. I tried several times by hitting the E-Stop but without a way to control the Z-Axis it proceeded every time to tear up the honeycomb table. I’ve since learned a way to lower the table from Ben in tech support but it would be much nicer if the machine could be put in manual to lower the table then allow the machine to proceed referencing itself. Of note this is a testament of the durability and strength of the machine. To have the lens dragged through the honeycomb table and still function as if nothing happened was amazing. I don’t like the damage inflicted to my HC Table but I was surely elated that there was no damage to the lens or the laser beam path. Ben has informed me that he will replace my table at their next convenience. So I no longer use the auto focus to prevent mishaps and prevent high stress situations. I am very happy with this machine and look forward to years of use. Hopefully my bad experience will help other users avoid the same mishap.

Sincerely,
Clare Valley

[lukkk]

Hello guys,

Havent posted here and been lurking around but i am too, a proud owner of a thunderlaser system. I purchased the system (mars 90) last year (2015) and it arrived 45 days later aproximately to my port (Buenos Aires, Argentina). I have to say that the importing procedure here is very strict and i must've gone back and forth with nolan several times with paperwork and he was thorough with every enquiry and requisite (good salesman if you ask me!) The machine arrived in perfect condition, i just had a minor issue with one of the plastic water inlets that was cracked on arrival but i quickly replaced it and was up and running in no time. The machine has been great so far and i can assure this thing is built strong. Moreover, if you have any questions the guys at thunderlaser answer inmediatly to every email and will get you out of trouble. I look forward to continue doing business with thunderlaser in the future, they are a company that works tightly with their customers and responsibly.
My greetings to Nolan and Yumiko and their team!

pd: when you purchase the machine they even send you a picture of the guys that built it!

[dandy7200]

I bought a Mars 130 at the beginning of this year and I do like the machine and it was a good value. Here are two ideas that would make it even better and cost you very little.

1. The passthrough "feature" and HR head "feature" along with the auto focus "feature" are independent of one another. This means that you cannot use the HR head, nor even the standard head with the machine in pass through mode and cut the advertized pass through material thickness. Instead, you have to switch to a short head with less resolution AND you lose auto focus by doing this. This was unexpected and the results are there are several jobs we bought the machine for that cannot be completed due to this. Changing the standoff rail heights would fix this and I think it should be made so that the highest quality head (which is also the longest) works for the full passthrough height as advertized, none of the heads should have an impact on the autofocus, so that needs to be rethought as well.

2. I would like a fixture table option. Something simple like a fixed boarder of 50mm around the edge of the honeycomb that was permanently mounted to the z axis table with 1/4-20 tapped holes every 6" or so. This would allow quick setup of repeat jobs using shop made jigs and give a repeatable reference point for fixturing. I would pay $700 or so for this feature as an option. I will likely build it myself sometime in the near future.

[anthropod]

I have had my Thunder Laser, Nova 35, for about 45 days now. I have been extremely pleased with my purchase. The pre-sales, sales, and after sales support from Ada has been spectacular. I can’t remember any better customer service for this type of purchase. While the machine has been great, it is the total Thunder Laser package I have been most pleased with. The video tutorials are easy to follow and the examples can provide inspiration for using your laser. Being able to download the manuals and software with ease is also a bonus.

On to my suggestions for improvement.

For the Machine, the only feature I feel needs to be added, or improved upon. is some sort of rulers that represent the engraved area. It’s hard to explain in words. The other Laser system that I have experience with is a Epilog Mini 24. It has flip down rulers in the bed that you can use them to align objects. Thunder Laser provided a great suggestion of using a metal square to help..but I could not quite get it to work with the precision that I wanted. What to use as a reference point for the square was the more difficult thing for me. But…. I found a way to make great fixtures that provide the accuracy and repeatability I was looking for. Good old plywood. I used 3/4” or 1.9cm plywood that can be placed in the top left corner. Buy engraving an outline of the part i want to engrave, I can use RDWORKS to always setup the correct origin. This method allows me to repeat my job over and over with great satisfaction of the results.

For parts that require less precision, I find the red-dot laser and the framing feature invaluable. Often I find myself making “fake” cutlines (No Power) in RDWorks so that the framing feature is more useful.


As for the software, i don’t know if Thunder Laser has much control over it…but I do like RDWorks… I like it better than the software I use to interact with the Epilog laser. I have two things, if they could be implemented, that would make me super happy.

1. English units of measurement option. This has not been a big deal at all…but I am always finding myself converting things back and forth because I live in an English measurement world. (Wish we were metric). It would be nice to have a choice of units of measurement.

2. PDF or SVG file imports would be nice. But…I am an adobe illustrator user and RDWorks compatibility with Adobe Illustrator is fantastic.


I can’t say enough good things about my first 45 days with the Nova 35.

I threw together this video to show my to-date experience with my Thunder Laser Nova 35

https://youtu.be/bVe8SISxL0o

[technosteve]

I bought the Mars 90 late last year. I chose the Mars90 because it was the largest machine we could fit through our 48" door. Received it in about 30 days to Louisiana, USA. I used E.R.Hawethorne to help me get it imported, and they handled all the paper work and even articulated port shipping to my doorstep for under $180.00.

We have about 8 machines in our shop, and this laser cutter is most certainly the most reliable. We use it about 8 hours a day, for the past 8 months with no issues at all.

We thought the autofocus would be an essential feature, but it is actually quicker and easier to manually focus the laser. Just use the focusing spacer they included, twist the knob of the focusing lens to touch the spacer, re-tighten and done - takes 3 seconds for manual focus, takes 30 seconds for auto focus, and both are equally accurate.

The machine controls are surprisingly intuitive. Once I create the design in CAD software, I can import to the included software, adjust laser settings for each cut and raster/scan for text, send to the laser cutter, focus, align and start cutting inside of 30 seconds. No guesswork, it works perfect every time, no bugs, no glitches, etc. Even the included software has a number of features that allow you to quickly design an make cuts and engravings. That software is excellent at engraving photorealistic images, and getting the settings right takes no time at all.

I purchased the rotary cutter as well to engrave cylinders, such as full liquor bottles (I use them mostly as gifts for friends and business partners, engraving their company logo, etc), and it is really nice to have. Works great and is really easy to setup.

My buddy has a Full-Spectrum brand laser (US based) and he is constantly having issues with his, constantly waiting on support replies, etc. His jaw dropped the first time he saw how quickly my Thunderlaser went from computer to finished product - about 1 minute.

Quality of this machine is right up there with Epilog lasers (which seems to be the universal benchmark?).

Another notable thing is the cost of the accessories, such as spare laser tubes, rotary cutter, lenses - they are exceptionally inexpensive from Thunder, very affordable.

Also, technical support, around the clock, is really good. I often ask them "what power and speed setting should I cut XXX material at" and they always have a darn near perfect answer for me. That alone saves hours and hundreds of dollars in scrap material.

After reading what I wrote, it sounds like I'm a sales person for them, but am not. Just impressed with this machine, can't find anything to complain about - at all.

Steve

[Winger61]

I purchased a Nova 35 100 watt and have it for about 6 wks now.

I think I started dealing with Yumiko back in Nov 2015 in getting all of my info in making the best decision in purchasing a
new laser.
I had a 25 watt GCC laser and the tube was starting to loose power, so I new I was going to either repair or replace it.
For several months Yumiko and I went back and forth answering all of my question.
In most times they were answered in minutes.
So after i deiced to move forward I sent the deposit and it went really fast from there.
The machine was built in about 5 days and then I got a video of it working.
It left there operation and went to a warehouse and waited to board the ship.
It took about 30 day for it to get to the warehouse in Orlando.
It took me about 1hr to uncrate and start production since my GCC died.

I would highly recommend Thunder Laser.
There service is top notch.
I wish i could get the service here in the US that I've been getting from Thunder.

Way To Go Thunder

[Nolan Yang]

I have had my Thunder Laser, Nova 35, for about 45 days now. I have been extremely pleased with my purchase. The pre-sales, sales, and after sales support from Ada has been spectacular. I can’t remember any better customer service for this type of purchase. While the machine has been great, it is the total Thunder Laser package I have been most pleased with. The video tutorials are easy to follow and the examples can provide inspiration for using your laser. Being able to download the manuals and software with ease is also a bonus.

On to my suggestions for improvement.

For the Machine, the only feature I feel needs to be added, or improved upon. is some sort of rulers that represent the engraved area. It’s hard to explain in words. The other Laser system that I have experience with is a Epilog Mini 24. It has flip down rulers in the bed that you can use them to align objects. Thunder Laser provided a great suggestion of using a metal square to help..but I could not quite get it to work with the precision that I wanted. What to use as a reference point for the square was the more difficult thing for me. But…. I found a way to make great fixtures that provide the accuracy and repeatability I was looking for. Good old plywood. I used 3/4” or 1.9cm plywood that can be placed in the top left corner. Buy engraving an outline of the part i want to engrave, I can use RDWORKS to always setup the correct origin. This method allows me to repeat my job over and over with great satisfaction of the results.

For parts that require less precision, I find the red-dot laser and the framing feature invaluable. Often I find myself making “fake” cutlines (No Power) in RDWorks so that the framing feature is more useful.


As for the software, i don’t know if Thunder Laser has much control over it…but I do like RDWorks… I like it better than the software I use to interact with the Epilog laser. I have two things, if they could be implemented, that would make me super happy.

1. English units of measurement option. This has not been a big deal at all…but I am always finding myself converting things back and forth because I live in an English measurement world. (Wish we were metric). It would be nice to have a choice of units of measurement.

2. PDF or SVG file imports would be nice. But…I am an adobe illustrator user and RDWorks compatibility with Adobe Illustrator is fantastic.


I can’t say enough good things about my first 45 days with the Nova 35.

I threw together this video to show my to-date experience with my Thunder Laser Nova 35

https://youtu.be/bVe8SISxL0o

Well, adding a ruler and English units are good ideas, we are designing a new software, maybe it is ready next year. :cheers:

[Nolan Yang]

I bought a Mars 130 at the beginning of this year and I do like the machine and it was a good value. Here are two ideas that would make it even better and cost you very little.

1. The passthrough "feature" and HR head "feature" along with the auto focus "feature" are independent of one another. This means that you cannot use the HR head, nor even the standard head with the machine in pass through mode and cut the advertized pass through material thickness. Instead, you have to switch to a short head with less resolution AND you lose auto focus by doing this. This was unexpected and the results are there are several jobs we bought the machine for that cannot be completed due to this. Changing the standoff rail heights would fix this and I think it should be made so that the highest quality head (which is also the longest) works for the full passthrough height as advertized, none of the heads should have an impact on the autofocus, so that needs to be rethought as well.

2. I would like a fixture table option. Something simple like a fixed boarder of 50mm around the edge of the honeycomb that was permanently mounted to the z axis table with 1/4-20 tapped holes every 6" or so. This would allow quick setup of repeat jobs using shop made jigs and give a repeatable reference point for fixturing. I would pay $700 or so for this feature as an option. I will likely build it myself sometime in the near future.

Thank you for your ideas, Dandy.
it's not only changing the standoff rail heights, we need to design the machine case again to fix this issue. usually, we don't use passthrough "feature" at our laboratory, so we really don't know it's a big issue for some customers if you don't give us feedback. Thanks again.

Not sure I can understand your last idea very well, you mean you want to get a tray that can collect the scrap at the bottom?

[Woodenkarl]

Hi, my name is Karl and I live in United States, New Mexico.
I always wanted to buy a laser/ engraving machine and I was not sure what brand I should buy.
The marked is full of laser machines and it is always a question how much you would like to invest.
I was reading a lot about Thunderlaser and whenever I had a question they answered prompt the same day.
Finally I made my decision and bought the Mars 130. I am very satisfied with this machine.
It is always good to meet people and get some ideas or discus a problem.
Whenever I have a question I hope to find the right answers here.
I wish you all a nice weekend.
Karl

[mindmapper1]

Hi I have been a Thunder customer for nearly five years now and I am always pleased with the help and response from the team!
My suggestions for improvements are change the water flow detection valve to non mechanical version and avoid any iron or steel pipes and fittings in the water system.
I have replaced mine with a plastic body vale and non iron pipes
The only other improvement I have made is to use a higher volume air pump which reduces issues with burning
I cut a huge range of materials from timbers through to fabrics for our business and have never been disappointed

[rodrigomartins]

I am in Brazil and I have a Chinese laser machine and other brand accompany the CNCZONE a long time and the reports and depositions THUNDERLASER has a great reputation both in the quality of their products and especially in the post -sales support ... I have a suggestion would be of great value for us users who are installing an hour meter to the laser tube, so that we have a base of the durability of our laser tubes, it would be marked time using the same time of use in shooting . It would be very useful in order to have a basis in better training of machine time cost. Even I bought this one for testing . I hope you can implement in future machines . Hug.

Baixo Consumo de Energia À Prova D' Água DC 6 V 80 V Medidor HorÃ*metro HorÃ*metro para Carros de Corrida/Elevadores de Garfo/caminhões/Barcos em Acessórios da motocicleta & Parts de Automóveis & Motos no AliExpress.com | Alibaba Group

Enviado de meu ASUS_Z00AD usando Tapatalk

[lehnertak]

I am a teacher in Shanghai that was hired to set up a comprehensive MakerSpace at Shanghai American School. I had experience with a Universal Laser system at my school in Alaska and was looking to put one of their machines in my new school until we got the actual price quote. Because of the expense of importing a U.S. machine to China, I started to look at Chinese manufactured lasers. There are many different brands! I chose Thunder laser because it seemed to have all the necessary material, in English, on their website and were quick to offer support through email and conversations with the school's purchasing rep. Of course the ULS salesperson got us all nervous about glass laser tubes and Chinese software. But at 1/10th the price, we decided to buy a 40 watt system for testing. It works GREAT.
It was easy to set up and came with more accessories than I was expecting. The exhaust fan, the air compressor, a few spare parts were all in one nice package. The only difficulty was that because the machine was sent to China, the built in display was in Chinese and took a few minute to fix. I mentioned that to Ada and now I see they have a quick link on their webpage about how to fix this.
We are still learning how to use it, but I have taught 100 ninth graders how to use the machine and they are all having a great time with it. The software takes some adjustment from the other system I have used, but I have been able to do any type of job I have wanted to. I really like the LCD screen on the machine and I like being able to set individual cutting parameters. For student use, it would be nice to have a default cutting parameter library that can be easily accessed so they can just chose a material and have the machine make the best cut. Because we do so many different kinds of things with students that are not experienced with using a laser, having some builtin parameters would be nice. I have also requested a driver to allow Inkscape to be used directly with the Laser.
Because we saved so much money and were so pleased with the "little laser" we also bought the "big one." An 80 watt with 600 x 900 mm cutting table. It is still in the plastic and I am going to time myself this time to report on how long it takes to set up. I am guessing that in about 30 minutes I will be in the envious position of having a school with two high quality laser cutters that students have access to. I am very happy with this purchase.

Larry Ehnert
Shanghai American School

[afar]

Got my NOVA 24 60W about two months ago and am still learning it. The ruler in the work space would be nice. For now, I bought a magnetic ruler and have put it on the work area to figure out where I am...kinda a primitive but it works.

The improvement I would like to see is with the key pad. I would like to see some pre-defined function (F1 , F2, F3, F4, F5) on the keypad..for example. F1 would be to switch to height adjustment menu, F2 would be to move to a coordinate on the work area. etc. Basically, would allow me to get to a function faster than having to go through a whole bunch of key strokes.

Sincerely,

Asim

[Nolan Yang]

Got my NOVA 24 60W about two months ago and am still learning it. The ruler in the work space would be nice. For now, I bought a magnetic ruler and have put it on the work area to figure out where I am...kinda a primitive but it works.

The improvement I would like to see is with the key pad. I would like to see some pre-defined function (F1 , F2, F3, F4, F5) on the keypad..for example. F1 would be to switch to height adjustment menu, F2 would be to move to a coordinate on the work area. etc. Basically, would allow me to get to a function faster than having to go through a whole bunch of key strokes.

Sincerely,

Asim

Hi Asim,
you bought a magnetic ruler and have put it on the work area, can you please take some pictures and post them here?
adding a ruler is one of our plan.

[Tomkin]

Hi,
My name is Josef and I live in Germany.


I bought my Thunderlaser Mini 60 in March 2013 and it still works very well without any problems. From ordering to shipping to Germany it took only three weeks. As I am not very good at handling technical equipment I wondered if I was able to work with the laser. But unpacking and installing the laser took only one hour - and my first laserjob was successful.


Emails to Thunderlaser always are answered immediately and the support is great. I am very pleased that I also have an excellent support for Thunderlaser machines here in Germany.




Though I am really very satisfied with my laser I have two wishes/suggestions:


1. Please add a vertical and horizontal ruler to the honeycomp table.


2. In some of my laserjobs I work with different focus lengths. It would be great if there was a possibility to give the laser the information (by software; see attached pictures with added feature in red) to move the table up or down when one part of the laserjobs has been finished and before the other starts.


3. Maybe you could add a feature that can count the time how long the laser(tube) has already been working. By now I have to calculate the time with an Excel-spreadsheet.




A nice day to all.


Josef