I want a laser! My own personal laser so I can do production runs (we are not allowed to do production runs on VHS’s laser). With the group purchase on shipping from Shenzen it got me thinking I might be able to swing it for less then <= $6k all in.
Anyone have any information on where VHS got its Redsail laser from? ( @rsim )
What was the total cost? What did we have to get after it arrived? what did we have to do to it to get it up and running?
As far as I can tell they are in Shandong on the northern coast. I think they would sell you with wire xfer and ship to Shenzhen. Looks like they speak English.
http://www.hflaser.com/contactus.html
ps love the photo
http://www.hflaser.com/aboutus.html
The laser cutter itself was about $3400 (back when the CAD was worth a lot more than it is today unfortunately), then an extra ~$1k of various charges and bits/pieces we needed to get it running. The laser cutter was an EOL product, so we got it on the cheap via their eBay store (the seller name is cnccheap, but it’s RedSail). Additional charges were for importing (needed to get someone to do various icky paperwork), duty, port fees, transport from the port to a shipper (most aren’t allowed on the docks), then the transport fee to VHS. It came with pretty much everything we needed to get it running (water cooler, extraction fan, etc) except for a 110->220 transformer and the laser glasses. You can probably get them to sell a unit pre-made for 110V operation (our laser cutter was new-old stock, so we got what they had available, which was 220V)
Try talking to Zen Maker labs, I think they have an extra laser cutter they want to sell.
Sounds like a screwd deal all round. Nice bit of history to fill out the picture. Thanks.