Laser Engravers

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Good evening all!
Just checking to see if anyone is using a Laser Engraver for marking barrels and designs on metal/wood/composites.
We are going to do some more upgrades to our shop and have several Laser Machines in mind.
It's another added expense and with our Home Water Well needing an upgrade looking for some information on Lasers as to not spend too much on the machine.
We are going to put up some firearms for sale to help pay for the Water Well/Medical Bills/Additional Shop Equipment so will be posting some deals on LRH Classifieds in the near future.
Thanks
Len & Jill

 

[Kmccord]

I have been looking around as well, a person on Sherman Wildcats FB has been showing how his 50w JPT laser engraver is working. It looks very nice, they are not cheap, his was 4400.00 with two lenses and a rotary.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

I have been looking around as well, a person on Sherman Wildcats FB has been showing how his 50w JPT laser engraver is working. It looks very nice, they are not cheap, his was 4400.00 with two lenses and a rotary.

Definitely expensive if you want a decent Laser. Was looking at ones between $3,500 and $5k.

 

[sable tireur]

From a different point of view, how much do you think you're going to be using this fancy laser engraving machine a day? Is your business THAT overwhelmingly busy that you can have one person devoted to running that machine every day? Or is it just that you want to have that toy like so many others, to play with?

I'm not trying to be mean, believe me. But sometimes I need an outside voice to pull me back from the overwhelming idea that I need to own all the machines and have all the toys to play with. While I am a strong supporter of the DIY attitude, there are simply some of those processes which can be put aside and let someone else attend to them, freeing up my time to be more productive.

I truly dislike the etching style machines. So I looked at the lasers to make sure I would use it enough to support the cost. No. No payback for years. But, I do have a professional with several laser engraving machines who can handle my work load for me. He is only a few miles away and I can drop off my barreled actions (he's an FFL) and pick them all up a few days later. He stores my programs and I call out the ones I need him to use.

Now this certainly won't work if you don't live near a supplier since shipping round trip would spoil the cost savings. But check around by searching out the engravers in your area.

Enjoy!

 

[2ClicksOff]

Yep,
I always wanted an epilog laser and had big plans to make it pay for itself. But like Sable Tireur says...How long to get your money back.
You will notice on Etzy people are selling the programing for projects to be done on a laser. Probably trying to get their money back. So if you have someone that has one (laser) and someone to program what you want reasonable you can just show up with your own program and negotiate the cost to do the job with your drawings and your parts. Hence not out thousands of dollars. Just one more opinion.

 

[Kmccord]

It is definitely a personal decision on a laser etching, they are not cheap, but neither is a Lathe or Mill, I would expect one would use the Laser just as much as you use the Lathe. Everything now days is expensive, the only cheap item to mark your barrel is letter/number punch stamps that requires a straight line and hammer.

 

[sable tireur]

but neither is a Lathe or Mill, I would expect one would use the Laser just as much as you use the Lathe.

I guess I have a different work load than you or your guessing. My primary lathe runs most of the day, 6 days a week. The secondary lathes, less, as the load for them is less.

My decision regarding the laser engraver is predicated on the number of barrels requiring engraving per week. This necessity is less than the amortized cost of the engraving and the learning curve. It's far simpler to make the delivery run to my engraver and the return trip a few days later. But as I wrote, he is more than reasonably close whereas there may not be someone as close for others. Then the parameters change significantly.

Have a great day!

 

[Kmccord]

Yes sir, not disputing what you do, just thinking out loud on how often will it be used, my point was whenever spinning a barrel, you need to mark it for cartridge.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

From a different point of view, how much do you think you're going to be using this fancy laser engraving machine a day? Is your business THAT overwhelmingly busy that you can have one person devoted to running that machine every day? Or is it just that you want to have that toy like so many others, to play with?

I'm not trying to be mean, believe me. But sometimes I need an outside voice to pull me back from the overwhelming idea that I need to own all the machines and have all the toys to play with. While I am a strong supporter of the DIY attitude, there are simply some of those processes which can be put aside and let someone else attend to them, freeing up my time to be more productive.

I truly dislike the etching style machines. So I looked at the lasers to make sure I would use it enough to support the cost. No. No payback for years. But, I do have a professional with several laser engraving machines who can handle my work load for me. He is only a few miles away and I can drop off my barreled actions (he's an FFL) and pick them all up a few days later. He stores my programs and I call out the ones I need him to use.

Now this certainly won't work if you don't live near a supplier since shipping round trip would spoil the cost savings. But check around by searching out the engravers in your area.

Enjoy!

Agree with everything you said. Everything we buy is hard to justify a ROI, but Having the Toys that you want and Hobby/Business is really a personal preference. I want to have a professional looking information engraved on a barrel and maybe expand for other engraving/designs on firearms. I hope to be Chambering/Cerakoteing/Engraving for at least 10 more years. If you buy good equipment it holds it's value when you want to sell it. I know that the machines/equipment we purchased one to two years ago is 30+% more to buy it today.
A good friend of our's had a saying to persons wanting to get into GunSmithing. "If you want to make a million $s in GS you need to have Two million to start with".
Thanks much!

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Update:
Finally pulled the trigger on a Laser after much research.
We just purchased a "CLOUDRAY - 60W JPT M7 MOPA Fiber Laser" with an extra F-theta Scan Lens, and LightBurn Software For Laser Cutter Control /Galvo Laser Control.
Almost limitless possibilities for marking & engraving Firearms along with anything else. This is much more machine than we really needed, but like all of our other equipment, it's the BEST. Buy Once - Cry Once.
Just another service we can offer from our business. I am sure we will do a lot of custom engraving on our personal firearms.
Last piece of the puzzle for our Shop.

 

[Kmccord]

Update:
Finally pulled the trigger on a Laser after much research.
We just purchased a "CLOUDRAY - 60W JPT M7 MOPA Fiber Laser" with an extra F-theta Scan Lens, and LightBurn Software For Laser Cutter Control /Galvo Laser Control.
Almost limitless possibilities for marking & engraving Firearms along with anything else. This is much more machine than we really needed, but like all of our other equipment, it's the BEST. Buy Once - Cry Once.
Just another service we can offer from our business. I am sure we will do a lot of custom engraving on our personal firearms.
Last piece of the puzzle for our Shop.

Did you buy it from Cloudray website or through Amazon?

 

[Muddyboots]

I am thinking a really good test would be on a ring for Jill?

 

[scpaul]

Chain of roses

 

[ntsqd]

Agree with everything you said. Everything we buy is hard to justify a ROI, but Having the Toys that you want and Hobby/Business is really a personal preference. I want to have a professional looking information engraved on a barrel and maybe expand for other engraving/designs on firearms. I hope to be Chambering/Cerakoteing/Engraving for at least 10 more years. If you buy good equipment it holds it's value when you want to sell it. I know that the machines/equipment we purchased one to two years ago is 30+% more to buy it today.
A good friend of our's had a saying to persons wanting to get into GunSmithing. "If you want to make a million $s in GS you need to have Two million to start with".
Thanks much!

Reminds me of a famous quote of Roger Penske's:
"The way to make a small fortune in racing is to start with a big one."

Not sure how it was done, but my wife had my Ti wedding ring engraved on the ID.