Materials

[Shook]

That's a serious haul. You are my hero.

I don't even think I have room enough in my garage to store that.

[Jimf]

Nice. Lucky you. Time to make some edge lit signs.

[Atonwa]

Ha, thanks. Read through the CCL thread again and joined the Facebook users group. I'm about ready to pull the trigger on one, just trying to decide whether I get K40 or go with a bigger machine to start.

If anyone has a Macy's closing near you it's definitely worth the trip over. Went back again yesterday and added to the haul as everything is now 75% off.

[Jimf]

If you can afford it, go bigger on the laser. They are much better made. If you can sell a few signs, that will help pay for it. Have you priced cast acrylic in the size you got. That stuff is expensive.

I checked the Macy closing list and nothing in Michigan.

[Atonwa]

If you can afford it, go bigger on the laser. They are much better made. If you can sell a few signs, that will help pay for it.

Thanks for the tip. I am debating the Redsail X700 just trying to figure out the customs/shipping logistics. The CCL thread with your posts has been very helpful.

Have you priced cast acrylic in the size you got. That stuff is expensive.

When I saw them I did a quick check on Eplastics as I knew it had to be ridiculous...and it was. $250 a sheet plus freight at $10 a table for 3 sheets I figured I'd find a place for them

Yesterday I was able to pick up a few of these in black and white acrylic.



They are an acrylic hollow box with a heavy duty stainless steel base. Too thick to cut on the S3 but my larger CNC has enough Z. Thought they would make some neat standing lamps after engraving or I could always cut up and use the acrylic. They had decals on them and were throughout the store advertising brands. I never even noticed them before.

I checked the Macy closing list and nothing in Michigan.

Only a matter of time now for most of those stores unfortunately. I was hoping to give people a heads up to look for unorthodox ways to get their hands on materials cheap because after you pay for the machine that's where all our costs are. A lot of these store fixtures wind up on Craigslist for cheap too.

[Jimf]

X700 huh. Really jealous now. It's a nice machine from what I have looked at. Plenty of members on the Facebook group have them. I think you will get lots of help that group.

[twforeman]

X700 huh. Really jealous now. It's a nice machine from what I have looked at. Plenty of members on the Facebook group have them. I think you will get lots of help that group.

50W laser for $2300? Wow.

[Atonwa]

X700 huh. Really jealous now. It's a nice machine from what I have looked at. Plenty of members on the Facebook group have them. I think you will get lots of help that group.

50W laser for $2300? Wow.

Yea the price is pretty amazing. I've been selling off other things like my 3D Printing equipment, etc to fund it.

I could replace everything piece by piece as needed with higher grade components and still be way less than an Epilog or Trotec at $30-35K. For hobby/art/one offs this will be fine as I don't need a full production machine. I have no interest in doing 100+ of anything. Seeing what people do with this machine on the Facebook forum is pretty amazing. Having the ability to machine on the CNC and laser engrave would be a nice combination.

Looks like the customs broker and shipping is gonna cost me about $800-900. Anyone looking to get one to offset some costs? Maybe it's the same price to get 2-3 in the country if you can do it in one shipment.

[Jimf]

I think the 50watt is more likely a true 40watt tube. The k40 is somewhere around 30watt at 15ma. You can over drive the tube but the lifespan is shortened. Considering the cost of a replacement k40 tube, it's relatively cheap if you need to push them a little bit. For most of my work so far, I've been using around 10ma.

[Atonwa]

Thanks Jim. The ability to feed through larger stock through the machine and the 700x500x200Z work area is what's making me think of moving to this size from the start. Most of my stock is large and I would like to do bigger items. If I was doing small I would just get a K40 and be done with it.

Reaching out to them the 80W upgrade although it sticks out the side is a small price upgrade and the machine comes with a rotary engraver and upgraded cooler option. I understand like you said that they overpower the tubes to get rated specs so an 80 may be a 65W. I also have access to high quality lenses and holders which will bring my power up a bit over the standard lenses I've read.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how I would get it into my studio.