Laser cutter engraver questions.

wedgeman said:

I can't speak for Thunder (pretty sure they're fully made in USA) but OMT is....dogsh!t, from my experience.. we've got 7 Boss decks, and they pay for themselves pretty well.
you're paying a bunch for support, but it's well worth the cost.. phenomenal support.

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Fairly certain thunder is just assembled in US... but I could be wrong.

What do you hate about the omtech? Honestly, a laser is a laser - The omtech is more of a learning curve, and more for technical hands on people. If you're not someone who will align their own mirrors / level their own bed, and you want a tech to do every piece of maintenance... Than you pretty much need to buy a Trotec or an Epilog. Thunder, Omtech, all the other brands you need to get your hands dirty because you become the tech.

I've had my Omtech for a little under a year now - I cut half inch acyrlic all the time, and every cut is perfect - I've engraved a few thousand Lamacoids... A few thousand stainless steel tags... We use it to do print and Cut on coro Since it cuts with a nice clean edge, and does print and cut 100% (More accurate than our Multicam router does even...). I've cut 1" Thick acyrlic on it perfectly.... No edge clean up, flaming, anything. My buddy with the Trotec actually gets me to do some things for him since his trotec isnt strong enough, or has too small of a bed

There hasn't been 1 thing I couldn't do on mine, that he can on his.... However engraving on his is way, way better due to how the trotec is built - But now Omtech pro came out with the same motors...and their new machines should be just as fast... ontop of it also cutting metal. Albeit it, thin metal - and I havent seen it in action, so maybe its garbage at metal cutting.


https://omtechlaser.com/pages/proline-landing-page


I originally bought the omtech thinking it'd be a cheap machine for me to learn the ins and outs of lasers and break it in the process, before I upgrade to a Trotec - But honestly... For the price of omtech, and the pro line coming out, I think when it comes time for me to replace this one... I'll be getting the pro. The ONLY downside I've seen is the Camera system on the Trotec is way better. I bought a Camera for my Omtech... but it goes on the lid, so everytime you raise or lower the bed, its out of focus and isnt perfectly accurate. I never use it because it sucks, I learned to get around it with the dot and framing system, but maybe if I had a good camera I'd find it useful.

Either way... If youre the hands on type that does your own printer maintenance, and you dont mind getting your hands dirty... Lasers are 100X Easier to fix and diagnose than printers are. If you can change your cap tops, you can align your own mirrors, or replace your own motors on a laser... I wouldnt hesitate to recommend Omtech. My machine showed up with a bad red dot laser, and a broken limiter switch... I emailed them, and they sent brand new ones no questions asked. If you buy direct from Omtech, not from their Ebay store... Their support is great. Very happy with my Omtech, and it's paid itself off 5X over now, If I had the space I'd buy the pro right now!

Fairly certain thunder is just assembled in US... but I could be wrong.What do you hate about the omtech? Honestly, a laser is a laser - The omtech is more of a learning curve, and more for technical hands on people. If you're not someone who will align their own mirrors / level their own bed, and you want a tech to do every piece of maintenance... Than you pretty much need to buy a Trotec or an Epilog. Thunder, Omtech, all the other brands you need to get your hands dirty because you become the tech.I've had my Omtech for a little under a year now - I cut half inch acyrlic all the time, and every cut is perfect - I've engraved a few thousand Lamacoids... A few thousand stainless steel tags... We use it to do print and Cut on coro Since it cuts with a nice clean edge, and does print and cut 100% (More accurate than our Multicam router does even...). I've cut 1" Thick acyrlic on it perfectly.... No edge clean up, flaming, anything. My buddy with the Trotec actually gets me to do some things for him since his trotec isnt strong enough, or has too small of a bedThere hasn't been 1 thing I couldn't do on mine, that he can on his.... However engraving on his is way, way better due to how the trotec is built - But now Omtech pro came out with the same motors...and their new machines should be just as fast... ontop of it also cutting metal. Albeit it, thin metal - and I havent seen it in action, so maybe its garbage at metal cutting.I originally bought the omtech thinking it'd be a cheap machine for me to learn the ins and outs of lasers and break it in the process, before I upgrade to a Trotec - But honestly... For the price of omtech, and the pro line coming out, I think when it comes time for me to replace this one... I'll be getting the pro. The ONLY downside I've seen is the Camera system on the Trotec is way better. I bought a Camera for my Omtech... but it goes on the lid, so everytime you raise or lower the bed, its out of focus and isnt perfectly accurate. I never use it because it sucks, I learned to get around it with the dot and framing system, but maybe if I had a good camera I'd find it useful.Either way... If youre the hands on type that does your own printer maintenance, and you dont mind getting your hands dirty... Lasers are 100X Easier to fix and diagnose than printers are. If you can change your cap tops, you can align your own mirrors, or replace your own motors on a laser... I wouldnt hesitate to recommend Omtech. My machine showed up with a bad red dot laser, and a broken limiter switch... I emailed them, and they sent brand new ones no questions asked. If you buy direct from Omtech, not from their Ebay store... Their support is great. Very happy with my Omtech, and it's paid itself off 5X over now, If I had the space I'd buy the pro right now!

In addition to feeds and speeds, there are some other potential issues with the project you link. Whenever I do a project created by someone else, I have to analyze the project and usually make significant changes.

The first issue is stock thickness. Anytime you have tabs and slots like this project,
it is assuming a specific stock thickness to work in the slots. Often your stock will not match the stock of the project. Even if the project specifies a specific thickness of plywood (like 1/4"), the 1/4" plywood I come home with may not be 1/4"&#;and it does not take much difference from the ideal kerf size to either make the tabs too large to fit, or to make the fit sloppy. Plus, you will need to use Kerf Offset in order to cut inside/outside the lines:

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See also:
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What not to do after Q-switch laser?
Fiber Laser Cutter Top 10 Concerns That You May Have

The second issue is kerf compensation. Often these projects have built-in kerf compensation specific to the laser the project was designed for. When I take a look at this project, the slots are around 0.6mm to 0.7mm bigger than the tabs. I think you will find the tabs sloppy with this much compensation&#;but maybe given its size, the glue-up will work okay.

I recommend you take a piece of scrap and cut one slot and one tab (just the tab), and see how they fit. In addition, I recommend cutting one circle to see how the bearing friction fits in the circle.

Edit to add: You can figure out your burn/kerf offset using this tool. The &#;Burn&#; and &#;Kerf Offset&#; are 1/2 of the kerf. I find a value of 0.1 works well in 5.4mm plywood, and settings a bit tighter (0.095mm) for thinner plywood. These values make a kerf of about 0.2mm for my laser.

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