Laser engraving

[black2002ls]

Well, I got the Nova up and running tonight. This thing is a work horse. It is built to run and is much faster than our Muse. It is twice the power, so that accounts for some of the speed. One of my more popular items has been vertical paint racks for hobby paints. On the muse, it was taking 30-45 minutes to cut a rack. On the new machine, it is about 10 minutes. I can probably run them faster when I get the settings dialed in.

Here is a shot of the gantry and drive system.

If anyone is interested in a Muse, riser, and rotary, ours will be for sale soon. As efficient as the new machine is, I can't justify keeping it.

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[black2002ls]

Weighing in at almost 700 lbs, meet Bertha. 80 watt CO2 laser, 25x35 cut bed. I can't wait to get this thing fired up!



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[black2002ls]

We just got tracking info for our new laser! It should arrive next week. More power, larger cut area, greater speed! I've had to change machine formats so many times in the last two weeks since we started marketing tumblers that it is going to save me several hours just in machine set up time!

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[black2002ls]

Congrats on the success...it's good to hear in these trying times.

Changing setups is a pain and something id hate to do. I guess if you have the cash to buy a new machine then that helps a lot. For a typical machine shop, it's a bad sign to have a machine sitting idle...how much idle time do you expect to have if you scale to 3 lasers?

I can definitely understand that. Adding the larger format machine does put us at 3 lasers. The second laser I have now is a smaller format purchased almost for the exclusive use at trade shows and fairs for on site hat patches and personalization, it will pay for itself 10 fold at the first event we are able to use it at. The larger format machine would become our primary machine. In terms of machine time, It should reduce machine time per sheet of material by at least 1/2. It takes me 2.25 hours to cut an entire sheet of hat patches (approximately 50 patches). That is the largest time suck for hat production. It should increase wooden cut out production speed by more than 1/2. Increasing our production capacity, not only in the size of material we can cut, but also the quantity of items that we can cut in the same amount of time. It may leave our original machine idle for extended periods of time but it is a necessary evil at this point.

So, the original machine would be dedicated to rotary device/cups, prototyping, and customs

Machine 2 is our traveling machine

Machine 3 would be the work horse.

Right now our tumbler/rotary business is minimal, and they always pop up in the middle of running large quantities of hat patches or wood items. requiring me to break the machine down, set up the rotary, change device/software settings, and run the job. So being able to leave the rotary set up, and run smaller jobs in a quadrant of the machine that doesn't contain the rotary, would alleviate a lot of the trouble with have with machine time. Machine time and these equipment changes is a lot of what has my custom orders out 1-2 weeks.

[Ruffdaddy]

Thank you. Honestly, we needed to upgrade lasers 2 months ago, but I have fought it, even before the corona stuff. Now that people are sitting at home, and shopping, the need for 2 larger format machines, as well as a bigger machine is getting worse. We currently run our original machine for 3 types of products. When I run cups, I have to tear the machine down, change settings, re-adjust everything, etc. To have a larger format machine to cut our flat items (wood, patches, acrylic, etc) and a machine set up for just cups, will greatly improve efficiency! I have a few steady clients that are good for $800-1500/month just with our hat business. We keep a pretty solid margin on hats, even when we sell them at what we are calling wholesale or bulk pricing.

Congrats on the success...it's good to hear in these trying times.

Changing setups is a pain and something id hate to do. I guess if you have the cash to buy a new machine then that helps a lot. For a typical machine shop, it's a bad sign to have a machine sitting idle...how much idle time do you expect to have if you scale to 3 lasers?

[black2002ls]

Congratulations on some good months and building the cash reserves. It sounds like you guys are doing pretty well. Keep on track and do your expansion at the speed of cash. Slow down your expansion plans if that is what it takes.

I've been involved in several businesses that kept outdated equipment long after they should have upgraded to newer, more efficient machines. I've also seen businesses that were always buying the newest machinery on the market. The ones that have seemed to be strongest over a period of time were the ones in the first category.

Glad to see that it is a prosperous time!

Thank you. Honestly, we needed to upgrade lasers 2 months ago, but I have fought it, even before the corona stuff. Now that people are sitting at home, and shopping, the need for 2 larger format machines, as well as a bigger machine is getting worse. We currently run our original machine for 3 types of products. When I run cups, I have to tear the machine down, change settings, re-adjust everything, etc. To have a larger format machine to cut our flat items (wood, patches, acrylic, etc) and a machine set up for just cups, will greatly improve efficiency! I have a few steady clients that are good for $800-1500/month just with our hat business. We keep a pretty solid margin on hats, even when we sell them at what we are calling wholesale or bulk pricing.

[slow84lx]

Congratulations on some good months and building the cash reserves. It sounds like you guys are doing pretty well. Keep on track and do your expansion at the speed of cash. Slow down your expansion plans if that is what it takes.

I've been involved in several businesses that kept outdated equipment long after they should have upgraded to newer, more efficient machines. I've also seen businesses that were always buying the newest machinery on the market. The ones that have seemed to be strongest over a period of time were the ones in the first category.

Glad to see that it is a prosperous time!

[black2002ls]

Well, I haven't updated this in some time so here goes.

February was a banner month for us. I had high hopes for March, but all of the madness struck and we didn't perform as well as I had hoped. We still had a very strong month, and April is shaping up to be just as good, if not better.

Thankfully, between January and February I developed a decent network of fashion boutique owners to sell items to at wholesale. I have focused on maintaining cash reserves to keep the business moving if things fall off. We are planning to launch a Children's hat/lifestyle brand by the end of April which should drive sales even more in the coming months, slow economy and all.

We are at a point where we desperately need to upgrade and add equipment to ease some of our production issues and develop new products, but I've tried to maintain those cash reserves so that the business doesn't go under, or require support from our personal account.

All in all, this little venture is doing extremely well for being right at 6 months in. I am excited for where it is headed!

[black2002ls]

Yeah I definitely think you've proven the added capacity is a good idea. I was just genuinely curious about the fair happening. It seems like all these events are trying to force themselves into happening and then being forced to close at the last minute fucking over all the vendors and ticket holders. See SXSW and houston rodeo.

Yeah, it is a definite possibility. I spoke, at length, with the PR rep for the fair earlier in the week, however, the climate has shifted DRAMATICALLY since then. The fair starts 4/17, almost a month away, so hopefully things ease up by then.

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[Ruffdaddy]

As of last Monday, yes. We just got word this morning that a vendor market we were scheduled to attend next weekend has been cancelled. It is held monthly at the fair grounds, but is not controlled by the fair board. The fair is about a month away, so things can change dramatically in that time, one way or the other.

We needed the laser either way. This allows me to run smaller projects while the Muse runs bigger stuff. I am waiting on other big purchases, such as the canopy and other branding.

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Yeah I definitely think you've proven the added capacity is a good idea. I was just genuinely curious about the fair happening. It seems like all these events are trying to force themselves into happening and then being forced to close at the last minute fucking over all the vendors and ticket holders. See SXSW and houston rodeo.

[black2002ls]

Is the fair actually going to happen?

As of last Monday, yes. We just got word this morning that a vendor market we were scheduled to attend next weekend has been cancelled. It is held monthly at the fair grounds, but is not controlled by the fair board. The fair is about a month away, so things can change dramatically in that time, one way or the other.

We needed the laser either way. This allows me to run smaller projects while the Muse runs bigger stuff. I am waiting on other big purchases, such as the canopy and other branding.

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[Ruffdaddy]

Is the fair actually going to happen?

[black2002ls]

Ended up picking up a second laser. This is a small, featureless unit. I primarily bought it for the fair, and other events we may attend and do custom stuff on site. 12"x8" cut bed. Perfect for running hat patches on one offs

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[black2002ls]

Well, we are confirmed for the Hunt County Fair. 10 days, outdoors, trying to fill custom orders on site! :/

I picked up a second laser today. A small K40 12"x8" cut area. Now I have a machine to run patches for hats and a machine to run cups on. I am contemplating buying another one. Hopefully we are busy, and we can keep up!

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[black2002ls]

It is big business! I'm putting patches on hats every night! Shipping 8-10 packages a day some days. I finally hired my neice and nephew to make hats to try and increase production capacity!

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