Hi fellow makers. I’m in a bit of a situation and was hoping to get some honest advice and feedback.
I’m at the point that I need to purchase a laser to keep at my home design workshop in the garage. The main purpose of buying a laser is because I did a time study and found it cost me too much money in my time to drive, wait and setup cutting at the Maker Space. I would rather spend that time with my family.
My big question is: Should I buy a Nova63 from Thunder laser or look elsewhere? If the Maker space had to do it all over again, would we still purchase our lasers from Thunder?
I mainly cut 60” wide nylon fabric and thin plastic sheets. I’m an apparel designer that specializes in pouches, back packs and military gear.
In July I ordered an LC1610N laser (with Reci 80W laser tube, motorized up down table, red dot, auto focus, RD6442 controller, knives table and honeycomb table) from WK Laser (Jinan Weike), however it arrived last week at the rigging company in Garland, TX damaged. I’m in the process of fighting the insurance companies to get this resolved, however it may take months and I’m without a laser. Total so far, laser, customs taxes, delivery have equaled around $7,500 ($4,500 for the laser alone with chiller and blower).
The Options I’ve identified moving forward are:
A. Buy a laser from Thunder Laser (Estimated $15,000) or someone else in the US that has it in stock at double the price of a laser straight from China (even with the high tariffs you have to pay on lasers now coming in from China). Benefits of having a Thunder is I have a strong support network at the Maker Space and US support through Thunder Laser being 2 hours away from the Dallas area if there are any issues in the future. Thunder confirmed they have the Nova63 in stock at their California warehouse.
B. Buy the same laser from WK Laser in China and have a different company manage the entire pickup and shipping to my door process. I’ve been told it is rare what has happened to me with the crate and laser being damaged during shipping. A buddy in Utah owns the same laser and everything went smoothly for him when he bought it from WK Laser in China. If I do this, the soonest I would receive the laser is in 2.5 months from date of order and my busiest month is this December/early January.
C. Not buy a laser, continue to use the maker space laser and be the guy that sucks up 3 hours of time on the laser per each session (I was at the maker space Sunday doing several runs 3 hours at a time after the maintenance). The main purpose of buying a laser was because I did a time study and found it cost me too much money in my time to drive, wait and setup cutting at the Maker Space. I would rather spend that time with my family.
D. Buy a used plotter to print out our patterns that we then staple to the fabric on a table and do it old-school were we hand cut everything. Very time consuming and it’s what we do now in combination with going to the Maker space for things that have to be laser cut.
The Thunderlaser I’m looking at would be the Nova63 with a 100watt tube. I’ve requested a quote for the following from Clay at Thunder.
- Nova 63 100W (Does the Nova63 come with a blower?)
- Water Chiller
- Air Purifier (Can we vent the Nova63 to the Air Purifier and then vent the Air Purifier outside my garage through a window?)
- Heat Alarm Detector
Please let me know if I should look at a different laser, or if I’m not thinking of a better option, or if I’m missing something with all the different options listed above.
Thank you for reading.