I'd be extremely cautious about buying a cheap chinese laser if you plan to use it to make money. I run a laser cutting business, Jumbie Industries, and I can tell you first hand if you are using a laser to make money, that customer service and access to parts (quickly) are absolutely critical. We own an Epilog 50w and a Kern 500w. Both purchased because of their incredible customer service. The longest one of our machines have ever been down had been 24 hours. Kern and Epilog lasers aren't cheap, but they really are worth the extra expense for customer service if you are trying to use it for a business.halfnormal wrote:It's time you start making money on the CO2 lasers too!Picengraver wrote:Tempting, Larry, really tempting.
I've heard plenty of horror stories from other people that own lasers that ordered lasers from china either to have them never arrive, arrive broken, arrive with the wrong parts, arrive with parts improperly installed, get stuck in customs/shipping (for months), and be almost impossible to get service and parts for.
That being said, there are some domestic companies that import chinese machines and resell and support them stateside. I believe Boss lasers does this, and there is another one based out of California (the name is escaping me right now).