What size 1400x900 do you recommend for cutting acrylics?

[Fooroogelm]

Hey guys, looking for advice on Chinese CO₂ lasers (around 130–150W, 1390/6090 size).

Main use: cutting acrylic up to 6 mm, plus some light engraving.

I’m considering Vevor / Omtech / Alibaba no-name machines — are there any actually solid options these days that won’t fall apart after a few months?

Questions:

• Which models are actually reliable?
• Is Ruida still the way to go for controllers?
• What are the critical things to check before buying?
• Any experience with service/support in Canada (Vancouver area)?

Budget: ~$4000–7000 USD.
Appreciate any real-world feedback (good or bad).

 

[tbullo]

I have a 100w Omtech and use it just like what you are looking for. Cuts 1/4" acrylic great and I do a fair amount of Rowmark. I think i paid it off with 3 jobs. I did all the upgrades like you see on youtube to it and it makes it better for sure. After the first job I was kicking myself for not getting one sooner.
Ikarasu makes good use out of an Omtech as well.

 

[Vassago]

They're virtually all the same these days.. All you're buying is the shell.. The mechanics and tubes, etc are all commodities as they just slap them together to get a working machine. As long as you make sure you get a ruida controller so it's lightburn compatible - that's the worst out of the way - some do servo drives and air cooled lasers, but then that's down to how much you're going to use it and price.

Now.. There is a new option..

Gweike have a few models with both CO2 AND fiber combined - so you can also cut metal (upto 10mm) .. And laser weld, etc.. That's a great option.. Only issue is that it's not lightburn compatible at the moment, but I believe it's being worked on. You'll have to do further research on that though.. As for price.. Yes.. More expensive (but not too stupid) , but they are servo based and you get 6 machines in one.

For me.. I'd spend the extra and go that route - I'm just saving my pennies.. Lol.

 

[White Haus]

They're virtually all the same these days.. All you're buying is the shell.. The mechanics and tubes, etc are all commodities as they just slap them together to get a working machine. As long as you make sure you get a ruida controller so it's lightburn compatible - that's the worst out of the way - some do servo drives and air cooled lasers, but then that's down to how much you're going to use it and price.

Now.. There is a new option..

Gweike have a few models with both CO2 AND fiber combined - so you can also cut metal (upto 10mm) .. And laser weld, etc.. That's a great option.. Only issue is that it's not lightburn compatible at the moment, but I believe it's being worked on. You'll have to do further research on that though.. As for price.. Yes.. More expensive (but not too stupid) , but they are servo based and you get 6 machines in one.

For me.. I'd spend the extra and go that route - I'm just saving my pennies.. Lol.

That sounds like an interesting unit. Not being LB compatible is a huge downside though, unless they're trying to force users to fall into their own SAAS trap for proprietary software? Lightburn is amazing, I can't believe they don't charge more.

 

[White Haus]

We bought a 130W from a Canadian company (not on your list), who shall remain unnamed, just over a year ago. It was priced well, but the price reflects the build quality/reliability in my opinion.

We chose this company because they are local to us and I thought that would mean reliable service etc.....but not so much. I'll keep my comments to a minimum here but professionalism is not a word I would use to describe this company. Ironically my other option that I really liked was Laguna, but went local thinking that would mean access to service, support local blah blah blah.

This was our first laser so learning curve was fairly steep, but after running it for over a year there are still some consistency issues that can only point to the machine.
We've finally gotten to a point where we can just fire it up and crank out engraved lamacoids when needed, but there are usually some hiccups along the way. (This is after months of testing and troubleshooting)
Cutting acrylic letters etc. is a bit easier - it's mostly the consistent engraving that has been a challenge.

I'm pretty sure most of the Chinese units use most of the same components, controllers etc but I would have to believe that they operate more consistently than ours, otherwise people wouldn't be buying them for commercial use.

We've certainly paid for the machine with a year's worth of work (sometimes only firing it up once a month) but it hasn't been the most enjoyable/profitable process. Being fair, we jumped into new technology without any sort of training or basic understanding, assuming it would be very similar to CNC / printing. There are similarities, but lots of other factors involved to achieve perfect results. (I want Gemini results, or what I've seen come off of Trotec and Epilog units)

If you're realistic about your expectations and are patient (don't pre-sell a bunch of time-sensitive jobs before even firing the unit up, like we did) then I'm sure you can find something that you'll be happy with in the end, without spending $60k on a Trotec.

FWIW, Lightburn is extremely well designed and easy to use. Pair it with a Ruida controller (which I believe most Chinese units use) and you've got a nice, user-friendly interface.

Hope there is some helpful advice in my ramblings.

<end rant>