Laser engravers

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I don't know lasers but the people that I have do all of my engraving are great. They can go about 1/3 around the barrel. Tell them that Dennis (ST John's Pens) gave you there number. It is K & L Laser engraving in Belleville, Michigan. They have a website. www.klcustom.com.

Dennis
Pine Lumber
 
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I bought an Epilogue Helix 24" x 18" 50W machine about 8 months ago and have to say this is the highest quality piece of equipment I've ever owned. It is so easy to set up and use. They are a bit spendy, but they are made right here in the USA and they use an air cooled CO2 Laser Tube vice the water cooled many of the models made in China use.

http://www.epiloglaser.com/

Good luck! I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Jim
 
I wanted one a couple years ago. I went over to sawmill creek forums as they have an engraver section that is pretty popular. Those guys can give a lot of advice on the subject. I ended up getting a couple samples from two different places along with some literature. I never bit the bullet as they were expensive but in the end I wanted to get an epilogue. I think they have a 'small' model that's under around 8 grand now.
 
I think that if you were going to buy a laser engraver that you would have to engrave more than pens and such. One of the schools in our school district has a epilogue and it works great (they even have an add on tool that will rotate a cylindrical project to engrave all the way around).
 
Canadian_Kid said:
I think that if you were going to buy a laser engraver that you would have to engrave more than pens and such. One of the schools in our school district has a epilogue and it works great (they even have an add on tool that will rotate a cylindrical project to engrave all the way around).
Click to expand...

Yeah, that add on is nice but was over a grand last time I looked into it. I think someone did do a DIY for it though... might of been on youtube.
 
Heading over to Sawmill Creek is a good idea. The Engraver's Forum
is full of laser owners who swap techniques, tips, help, ideas..
Many people go there before 'pulling the trigger' to see what problems
they can avoid before they get started, see who to talk to and find
out what people recommend. (or course, most people recommend the machine they have)
The majority of people in that forum have businesses related to engraving,
so they aren't casual users. And they often combine the engraving with
other products so you can see how they fit together.

Hard to imagine anyone anyone engraving enough pen barrels to
survive only on that, so seeing how other products can mesh with the
laser should be a big help.

As for the rotary ( ± $1,000) You will find that this is one of those
accessories that a large percentage of laser owners don't use. It will
sit in a box somewhere in the closet with other things that came with
the laser package like lens wipes, service manuals, the wrench for the
leveling legs etc. It's there, they know it is there but they never quite
get around to using it. You could probably pick one up for a song.

Using the rotary isn't as straightforward as doing flat work, and many
people don't take the time to figure it out, so they may think the results
are 'sub-par' and think it is a piece of junk. Or they might think it is too
difficult to bother with.
Check around and see if you can pick up a used/un-used one for a couple
hundred. It's worth checking..
 
Wow Charlie, I'm surprised by your comments about the rotary attachment. I didn't use it in the first couple of weeks, but once I got up to speed engraving flat stock, I quickly wanted to learn how to engrave everything from Beer Mugs to Flashlights. It really isn't that difficult to learn how to use and while I'm just a hobbyist at the moment, I can see this being 50% of what I do. I'm very much inspired by the kits that Constant and Ken make, and that is a bit more difficult but I have successfully made some simple inlay kits already.
 
I recently bought an Epilog Helix 60 watt laser and it is a great machine. I did a lot of research and spent a ton of time talking to others that have machines to find the right one for me. The tech support was very important to me as I have seen others who bought less expensive machines and had no support and no manuals, they are spending a lot of time trying to get going while my machine was set up in my shop and the rep spent a full day going over everything with me. He also was going to bring a demo machine to my house to check out while another dealer wanted me to drive 2 hours to look at their machine. The little things made the decision for me
 
woodgraver said:
Wow Charlie, I'm surprised by your comments about the rotary attachment. I didn't use it in the first couple of weeks, but once I got up to speed engraving flat stock, I quickly wanted to learn how to engrave everything from Beer Mugs to Flashlights. It really isn't that difficult to learn how to use and while I'm just a hobbyist at the moment, I can see this being 50% of what I do. I'm very much inspired by the kits that Constant and Ken make, and that is a bit more difficult but I have successfully made some simple inlay kits already.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong.. I have one and I use it extensively (3D pen blanks)
but the majority of laser owners aren't doing the kind of work that we
do, and they might on occasion drag out the rotary to do some wine
glasses or a beer mug. Other than that, they tend to sit off to the side
or under a table. (this comes from their comments, not me guessing)
I've seen people offer their rotary attachments to someone if they
just pay the postage.

I agree that it isn't that difficult to learn, and if the laser owner is
someone like us who deal with round, shiny things a lot .. the rotary
is pretty much a must. We're just not the average users of that
equipment. Most that I see tend to be using them for flat work
(signs, plaques, ID tags, bar codes etc.) or craft type work (signs,
plaques, ID tags, bar codes etc. :tongue: )
 
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