Things I wished I knew a month ago…
As you may have heard, I bought and got delivery of a brand new Trotec Speedy 400 flexx with a 100W CO2 and a 30W fiber tube, the machine looks great but I’m dead in the water till the end of the month. Why?
1) I live in an older house and apparently the power needed to run the Trotec and my other CNC machine is more than the panel can handle… that means having to upgrade all the ancient panels with one massive new one. This means hydro being cut-off by the hydro company itself, permits, inspectors etc… they are installing 3 x 240V and 2 x 120V with a breaker panel in the garage in addition to a new 200 amp full-panel in the basement.
2) If I would have bought a lower powered tube, I would have been fine but I went ahead and bought a 100W tube, which means here, in Canada, 240V power outlet instead of a 120V one. This alone requires an electrician to come and install it next to the machine(s).
3) I had assumed during the summer months electricians would be easy to get a hold of, nope. Half of the electricians out there don’t want to handle residential work, out of the half who do, half are dodgy and the other half of that half want to do something quick requiring no permits. I always believed that if you are going to do something, you to it right the first time – it’s always cheaper to pay once now than twice later.
If I would have known this a month ago, I would have gone through all this earlier and been in business RIGHT NOW but instead, I’m waiting till the 1st of August before I got power and everything set-up. Hindsight is great!
Not all bad
On another note, I’ve gotten lots of leads and achieved my goal of filling the gaps that the laser can’t – namely easy access to an industrial KW CO2 laser that can cut metal, got hooked-up with a fantastic acrylic supplier and found another company that can provide me with an endless source of “engraveables”. I’m actually getting some laser cut stainless steel blanks cut right now for a project that the Trotec will be engraving once it has power going to it!
Experience having a Trotec Laser thus far…
One thing I couldn’t have predicted is the experience I have once people and companies find-out I bought a Trotec Laser. The fact that it’s made in Austria is a HUGE bonus, right away, they know I didn’t go the cheap route – I spent money for quality and that gives them confidence in what I’ll be able to provide in two weeks time. I can’t tell you how many times companies have told me that they want nothing to do with somebody who runs a lesser known brand. Country of origin is VERY important in the industrial world.
The second thing that surprises me is that when I’m talking to suppliers, because I have a Trotec Laser, they send me EVERYTHING… from the acrylic company who just gave me a bunch of sheets for material testing without asking me for a dime (or order) to an engraveables company that shipped me tons of samples – not the cheap stuff – to make sure it was up to snuff.
When people find-out you have a Trotec Laser, they take you seriously and really put-in the extra effort that even I didn’t experience before having my own CNC laser.
To my family, it’s a big red box, to suppliers it’s a big yellow one screaming for attention and to me, a big green box just waiting to print me some money.
Trotec for CNCKing.com
I plan very much to be cutting every project here on CNCKing.com – it’s great fun and it shows people – with the new Trotec but it won’t be a full-time endeavor as I want to help bring the power of lasers to other businesses as well. As such, the split between this company and CNCROi.com is pretty straight forward – here you’ll learn how I design stuff for CNC machines with videos showing me cutting them up while the other will be focused on different applications, materials and workflows. There is a whole world of stuff needing to be engraved, marked, etched and cut!