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PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:36 pm 
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Walnut
Walnut

Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 4:04 pm
Posts: 23
First name: David
Last Name: Fisher
City: Asheville
State: North Carolina
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Curious as to who here is using a laser, and for what. A little background: I have a converted sieg x2 mill running linuxcnc. This is a fun machine for making bridges and other relatively small work. I was planing on building a large hiwin/servo gantry table cnc and still plan to. That was all back burnered when I ran into a friend I had lost touch with. He was now running a laser engraving business. He showed me his epilog m2 fusion. I was absolutely blown away by the machine, and frankly a bit embarrassed that I was a complete neophyte when it comes to lasers.

That was about two and a half months ago. An Epilog machine was far out of my limited budget, so I started looking at other options. That led me to the imported machines. After a few weeks of back and forth emails, I pulled the trigger on a Chinese Redsail m900 with 100w reci w2 tube. I took delivery of the machine last Thursday.

So far I've had a lot of fun with it. No issues so far. The thing is absolutely massive, its work area is 2 x 3' but its chassis takes up some serious shop real estate. It cut is limited to 1/2" but depending on the material its still fast by my standards. I've been thinking about the possible aid it could be to the building process. It should streamline template/mould/jig making tremendously. I was also thinking it would work for cutting tops and backs, fret slots, and inlay/rosette work. Curious as to what other are using their laser cutters for.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 9:28 am 
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Walnut
Walnut

Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 4:21 pm
Posts: 19
First name: Kevin
Last Name: Fast
City: Delta
State: BC
Country: Canada
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
We have an 80w Chinese laser. Took much tweaking to get it to work right in the beginning. Also many workarounds to get the controller and software to do what we want. But it has cut thousands of parts for us and we've figured out what it's good at and what it's not.

For us, it's great at wood inlays, headstock plates, drop top caps, plastic and wood inlays, control cavity covers and simple pickguards.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 2:51 pm 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo
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Joined: Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:44 pm
Posts: 471
Location: Australia
First name: Allen
Last Name: McFarlen
City: Mt. Sheridan
State: Qld.
Zip/Postal Code: 4868
Country: Australia
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
I've got an Epilog 12X18 Helix. 40 watt. Along with a 2' x 4' gantry CNC. They work great together.

Besides the obvious uses of acrylic templates etc. on the laser, I found that cutting inlay on it, and the pockets on the CNC go hand in hand.

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Allen R. McFarlen
Barron River Guitars & Ukuleles
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Cairns, Australia


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 8:20 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:15 pm
Posts: 7219
First name: Ed
Last Name: Bond
City: Vancouver
Country: Canada
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
I contract out, but all my faceplates and logos are lasered.


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:42 am 
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Koa
Koa
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Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:05 pm
Posts: 1567
Location: San Jose, CA
First name: Dave
Last Name: Fifield
City: San Jose
State: CA
Zip/Postal Code: 95124
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
I've had a 45W Epilog 36EXT for about 10 years, and several smaller Epilog's before that.
I use it for all kinds of artistic stuff like marquetry, inlay, templates, tools, guides, etc.
I've also made templates and cut headstock inlays for several well known luthiers.
I love the machine and would have a hard time giving it up now, I'm sure.
If I could change anything, I'd buy the 60W model (even 120W maybe).
If I ever do sell it and get another, I'll probably go for one of the new Epilog Fusion models.

Cheers,
Dave

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"


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