Hi David,
Nice to hear from you. I really enjoyed meeting with you, and had a great time at the show and at the Beach Party. Met some really great folks.
As for which Engraver I bought..... Here Goes.....
After coming very, very, close to purchasing a Rotary Engraver, the learning curve fears finally got the best of me, and I ended up purchasing an Epilog 24" x 12" Mini 45W system including a rotary attachment and floor stand. The machine is scheduled for delivery the week of March 19th.
When I arrived at the show I was on the fence and could have gone either way (Rotary or Laser). I was so impressed with all the Engravers I looked at, but finally I figured that my experience is with Wide Format Printers, and Laser Engravers are somewhat similar to wide format printers, so in the end I felt that my learning curve would be less with the Laser Engraver.
I met with a tech at New-Hermes and asked him about my New Hermes IS400 with the Dongle problem that I had written about in another post and he helped me get set up with a New-Hermes account and told me he would help get the IS400 up and running again. I phoned him earlier this week and left a message but haven't heard back from him yet.
While at the Gravostyle/New Hermes booth, myself and my wife looked at a micro-engraver that they just came out with. I don't recall the actual model number, but my wife just fell in love with it. They were demonstrating engraved leather bracelets and tags. You could either plug it into a computer via usb, or you could use the PDA and Stylus that came with it. My wife wanted me to buy it and rent a booth at the Prescott Town Square during the Rodeo days in July, and also set-up at the many events we have here during the Spring, Summer, & Fall. I felt the machine was a little pricey for what it was, (but I was real tempted)It sure was cute, and it looked like it could produce some profitable income. My store doesn't get a whole lot of gift type traffic, but if I could figure a way to bring in the kids, I would be very tempted to hire a high school student or College student, teach them to operate the little engraver, and give it a go.
I'm sure I'll be spending the next year or so reading all the posts I can here at Engravingetc. as I try to learn the Engraving business.
Don |