[pedroman]

Chinese Laser BFIWMM...

BEFORE I WIRE MY MONEY.........

I know some people have had horror stories and I do not discount them. I have spoken to many owners and seen two working machines as I write this.

SO Has anyone had overly BAD dealings with www.hxlaser.com, Rabbit Laser, Frank Fang with Ethan Fang in Plano, TX or HXLaser? Please let me know as I have settled on this machine (HX-6090SE) for several reasons. I know Frank will see this as he is online from time to time so Frank please don't be offended, I'm doin my homework! Frank people have spoken well about the product so thanks for your hard work.

Like many I have been looking at these Chinese lasers and first off I'm a newbie in this "laser" field. Over the last several years I have been purchasing retail (sudo-wholesale) services of a local laser house (trophy shop) who is very helpful but not that much of an expert with their two small US brand rf laser 25w systems. Due to my volume and desire for additional use I have finally decided to buy a laser. Plus if you have to tell the guy's employee how to do something simple in Corel (like hide layers), well maybe they aren't that experienced in the world I need.

Now we have metal working Fanuc Cnc's in our shop, Corel X3, Solid Works, ACAD, MasterCam etc so the method of marking on materials is not new at all it's just manual (physical) in-house and on metal using mills and such. We engrave aluminum products on our machines all day long. Debugging software quirks is a normal job and nothing short of common so the problems some people are having with these imports doesn't bother me too much. I like a little challenge sometimes. As long as freight handles the machine within reason I believe I'll be OK.

Having shopped the US brands, spoken with enough people who have had these Chinese lasers (more than 6 months) and gut checked my own self I'm making the plunge for a 24 X 36 unit from Rabbit. For the cost of even a moderate US model I can buy THREE of these units and frankly for what I need I'm willing to be a test subject. The HX6090SE has the similar operation (print driver) direct from whatever software I'm running as the US models versus the off-shore software which you must convert files to for many of the other Chinese brands. So I believe the learning curve will be moderate just understanding the various layers needed for different depths of engraving of images.

All that said I'm ready for that purchase. I could pay quite a bit more for that US distribution supply with US support but I already sell products into a different distribution channel so I understand all about that profit margin. What can I say I like a deal and direct to the manufacturer is always the least expensive route. I'm pretty certain that this is the manufacturer and they have someon here in the US to help with support.

So unless someone contacts me with blood dripping from their wrists from their HXLaser experience I'll simply document my experience here for everyone to witness. Wish me luck!

Pete aka Pedroman

[yamingf]

Pete,
Thanks for posting, if you have any questions, feel free send me an email at [email protected] , BTW, we have demo video available at our US mirror site www.rabbitlaser.com/DemoVideo
Frank

[wklaser]

FDA certificate is very important for US market at present. We have ever send a laser machine to USA without the FDA, in result the goods was impounded in the custom. The officer of the US custom told us that there are only 2 ways to solve the problem. first one is to destroy the goods by them, the second one is to return the goods to us by FedEx, but the high delivery cost is cost by us.

So, friends from US who are preparing to buy laser machine must make sure that you, or the supplier(manufacturer) must have the FDA certificate in hand, otherwise you will lose a lot and will get nothing, except wasting your time.

Just an suggestion, take it or not, it up to you.

Regards
Jack


By the way, we have an exclusive distributer in USA, he has the FDA certificate, and he will give you 2 year warranty for all the parts of the machine, please contact them:

Here are his website:
http://www.brightstarlasers.com

[replicapro]

I saw brightstar and rabbitlaser and the HX-6090SE from Rabbit looks to be the same as the LG900 from brightstar. Why is there a $13,000 price difference?

The HX-6090SE with the same equipment is $5700 delivered

[kyfds]

for hobby only, maybe

[KTP]

If a laser engraver is shipped to the USA without a tube or power supply installed, does it have to comply with FDA to pass through customs?

[txcowdog]

Pete,
I am on the edge of buying the same laser, but, I will wait and watch your progress. Thanks for taking the leap.

[pedroman]

Bought, satisfied and would NOT buy from someone wanting 13K for the machine. If you are slightly intelligent then you can work through the hassle of importing a laser. The Rabbit HX6090SE meets all FDA requirements for import and the machine works well. I've already had enough business that it's paid for and starting to make money. Call Frank up in Texas and order one.

Pete

PS Do a search for all the posts I have answered for more indepth information on my experience.

[replicapro]

Bought, satisfied

That sounds great!
How much detail can you get while engraving?
Id love to see some photos of what the machine is capable of from an actual user like your self.
How smooth does it cut through 1/2" acrylic?
Rob

[goddessofchaos]

I bought the smaller table top machine with 40W and I have been totally delighted with it! I had only had it for a couple of weeks before I had to leave on a planned trip (I am still traveling and won't be home for another 3 weeks) so I have not been able to try everything I want with it, but I have done some engraving of line art, surprised myself with how well it did a photo on a thin piece of basswood, and cut a beautiful little piece out of 1/8" acrylic which is fine for most of my needs.

There are gaps in the software instruction but so far I have figured things out and have asked lots of questions. The forum has been amazingly helpful and people here are more than willing to help. I agree with Pete that with a little intelligence and patience these machines are a good value.

Jacqui, Goddess of Chaos, GSOLFOT

[lamicron]

I agree with Pete and Jacqui, thats the real matter, you can spend time getting the machine to work with software or anything else, but after you get it working, it becomes a vice! In the spare time you will be working and inventing, then you realize that you don't have to buy a X-BOX to get fun...,
I'm very sad about the size of my machine... I couldn't take it home!!!!


LUIS.

[dviljoen_za]

I bought the 6090 Rabbit a week ago and it works like a bomb. The only thing i cant figure out is how to engrave a photo, when i try it it give me an erroe only 2 bit allowed. Now how do i do this

[ArturoV]

I bought the 6090 Rabbit a week ago and it works like a bomb. The only thing i cant figure out is how to engrave a photo, when i try it it give me an erroe only 2 bit allowed. Now how do i do this

Well After months of messing around with this machine I finally got it to work.
Never try Windows Vista its not compatible! Anyways I believe you are getting that error due to fact that you can only import black and white images not grayscale. I am still playing with laser and fixing more things.

Arturo.

[dviljoen_za]

Would be nice to use grayscale images. Let me know if you find out anything. Thanks a million for the help?

[dviljoen_za]

I would be nice to use Grayscale images, let me know if you have more info. I will play around with the machine and see what i can figure out. Thanks a Mil.

[lamicron]

Windows vista is not working for many things yet. My machine worked with spanish XP version and had some software troubles, then we had problems with the PC and a technician reset it with the XP english version, that solved the software problems and the machine run correctly.
LUIS

[technazz]

I would be nice to use Grayscale images, let me know if you have more info. I will play around with the machine and see what i can figure out. Thanks a Mil.

Do a search for PhotoGrav they will convert your greyscale to an acceptable bitmap for your laser. Its $400.00 or so but it works very well. Greyscale images dont engrave well. Send me an PM and Ill convert one for you.

Chris

[ArturoV]

400 dollars is kind of a lot being that I dont do that many pics. Are any other software or technique to get this pics into lasercut without the 2 bit problem with good quality?

Thanks,

Do a search for PhotoGrav they will convert your greyscale to an acceptable bitmap for your laser. Its $400.00 or so but it works very well. Greyscale images dont engrave well. Send me an PM and Ill convert one for you.

Chris

[SkipW]

Found this on here awhile back. I used these instructions to do the deer engraving I posted the other day.

Thanks to the original poster.

Hope it helps.

Skip

[goddessofchaos]

I do not have Photograve but my first try with a photo gave me much better results than I expected on a cheap piece of basswood. I used a color photo and put it into PhotoShop. Took out the color and bumped up the contrast. I think it was then converted to bitmap and imported into my NewlyDraw program that came with my Rabbit laser. This was just playing with it and I also engraved it onto acrylic but didn't go quite deep enough. I just found the instructions in my documents:

Photos:
1) Convert to 8 bit greyscale (image/mode/greyscale)
2) Resize the image to the size its getting engraved at using 150-300 ppi (150 for less detail) (image/image size)
3) Bump up contrast and brightness about +25 in both cases - you dont want the pic to be insipid areas of medium grey. image/adjusyments/brightess-contrast)
4) Heres the VITAL part - use unsharp mask at 500% and a radius of 3-5 pixels - threshold 0 - this will exaggerate edges radically , but thats what you need. In fact you can do this and then STILL add another unsharp mask at 150 % , 1pixel and 0 threshold AFTER the 1st unsharp if you want even more edge detection
(filter/sharpuen/unsharp mask)
5) Convert to a bitmap using 125-150ppi and a diffusion pattern. (image/mode/bitmap)
5) laser

I will try to attach photo once I find it!

Jacqui, Goddess of Chaos, GSOLFOT