George,

I am just outside of East Aurora. I know this is an engraving site, but could you privately e-mail me. (pangelp@aol.com) I would like to talk to you about sublimation. I believe you did say you were with Romark.

Your Profile is empty so it is hard to give you any direct assisatance but there is an Epilog for sale in NY ..

(JDLASERGIFTS) I am sad to say that I will be closing up shop due to a family illness. I will no longer be able to juggle my full time job and my part time business along with devoting my attention to my family member. I will be selling my Epilog Mini 18 25W(manufactured sept 05) along with the 600 cfm dust collector and 30 psi air compressor. The laser has less than 100 hours on it. If Only serious inquiries please!

http://www.jdlasergifts.com/

I would not use a laser to cut circles and holes in wood , its a bad tool for cutting wood unless you looking at 200w+ power , a small overhead router or shop bot would be better. You get charring and it dirties up the laser big time with vaporised resins or glues
In terms of what you could do , well 20-30 an hour would be reasonable with loading and unloading etc , say 200-250 a day.
But that depends on the wood and its thickness.

I run Gcc machines and am pretty happy , but all lasers do the same thing anyway so buy based on service and nearbye support not brand.
As I said , as a compliment to your embroidery , you cant go that far wrong with a nice 30 w system.
I would really try make a push into lasers and fabrics. We have cut a lot of diverse fabrics with ours and i can see how they can fit in with embroidery We have cut and engraved
Faux leather , faux suede , suede , leather, , polyesters , fleeces , denim , flock , aplique, lace , cotton , baise , felt , foams , t shirting material , leatherboard
There are not many ppl specializing in this and it can be a nice profitable niche market.

Patti,

This is primarily an engraving site, but the reason I named it "Engraving Etc." was to encompass all the processes currently being used in today's modern awards and engraving establishments, which are included in the long list of folders you see, on the left-hand side of your screen.

One of those folders is pertaing to dye sublimation and other forms of digital imagining.

If you think a person with over seven years experience in that field and a person who has performed an ARA presentation on "Sublimation Equipment and Supplies" could be of any use, I'd be happy to answer your questions. :-)

Edit: Oops! I should have read all the posts, in this thread, before making mine. :B

Chuck,

I would agree with that. I've worked my way through a couple of 30-watt machines over the past years and will be looking at a 40-50 watt the next go-around, which is coming sooner than later. The main reason for more speed is it will allow me to cut 1/4" acrylic faster and with a cleaner edge.

Patti,
I am the territory manager for Gravograph in Southern California and new to this forum. And yes "I am a salesman. That being said I will offer you my opinion. I have worked with the Embroider Me franchise and adding engraving to their business has been huge interest. When and if you decide to purchase either a rotary engraving machine or a laser engraver put as much emphasis on the person you are buying from as you do on the machine you are purchasing. You need to know you will have support after the sale. There are no machines that magically do something different then others. Kick the tires check the engine and buy from someone you feel will be there for you if you have a problem.

Randy

OK, 14,000 pieces would be a serious sized order. When you said "ornaments" I was imagining him trying to sell bags of them to local retail stores.

For that size order I personally would probably not cut them with the laser. I would either farm the whole thing out, or I would buy the wood already cut into circles. Their are sources for buying wood circles in that size.

The hole in most ornaments for hanging them can be drilled in a drill press, doing several at a time in a little fixture you make, or those could be cut on the laser at the same time you engrave. Using pre-cut circles would save a fair amount of time making the ornaments, and the edges would be clean instead of brown from lasering.

It also speeds up the whole process because you would make a pair of fixtures to fit in the laser to hold the circles. One that is holding the ones currently being lasered, and the other one is being unloaded and reloaded for the next batch. Plus the fixture can utilize the entire bed of the laser, while most thin woods come in sheet widths that only partially fill the bed (ie: 6" or 8" wide sheets) unless you use thin plywood, which usually costs more.

On the other hand, depending on the look you are after, you may want to clear coat the wood first, and that is easier to do with sheets than loose circles.

Lots of choices and trade-offs.

Dave,

I am sorry you lost me when you said " a pair of fixtures"? Is that something already made or is the some 'jig" that is created to hold the circles? I am new to this engraving - sorry.

Basically you set up the job with cutouts for the circles, then put the message properly inside the circles.

You then cut out a sheet of something thin, like 1/8 plywood. (Circles only.) Back this with maple plywood to prevent it from warping and also giving a back to the jig.

You then put your circular pieces in the holes and send out only the engraving part of the layout. (Be sure to save a copy or the cutout file to use as a template for later runs.)

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Patti:
I'm a newbie here, but I just went through the purchasing experience. I chose an Epilog EXT 24x36 40 watt. This kind of flys in the face of the folks that advocate more power and less space, but I too have a tendency to overkill. I chose this route because the laser can be upgraded for more power down the road but you can't make that table any bigger. Their's no fix for that except a different machine. I am like you, as I don't know exactly where I may end up with this investment (and it is a serious one) but I know where I have been. I own CNC router and a 16x24 large format Vision rotary machine. I make signage for multifamily developments and door i.d. plates are one of the items I make. I used to make them with rotary and to me it is a slow messy process. With the bigger table I can run a whole building plus some at one time..36 plates and at $8.00 a plate thats $288.00 per run. That can be done in a fraction of the time it takes to do in rotary. I can't report the times to you yet, because we just got the machine today, but I will.
I also chose Epilog for their service reputation. That was probably number 1 on my hit parade for buying from them. The distributor also is local to me and is a very experienced guy with a good rep. That's important to anyone buying high tech machines. Good luck with your decision! :-)

Larry,

Thank you for your response. I am glad I am not the only one that thinks "overkill". I am happy to hear there are more of you out there. You are right, I have some vision where I will be in the future...but I don't want to have boundries. (when my machine can't handle a job). I am glad you mentioned you have a rotary because I struggled for a while with rotary vs. laser. Congratulations on your purchase and I wish you all the luck and happiness in the future. Looking forward to hearing how you and your machine are getting alone.