Why does CNCROi.com have an Austrian CNC laser?

There are A LOT of choices out there in the CNC laser world, so why did CNCROi.com buy an Austrian CNC laser… and not just any Austrian CNC laser but best-in-class dual sourced industrial wide-format Austrian CNC laser?

The quick answer, for our customer, the long answer… as follows.

First Option: Cheap Chinese CNC Lasers

Starting a custom CNC shop in the middle of a global financial crisis without any customers, you’d think that cutting corners and saving A LOT OF MONEY by going Chinese would make absolute sense. Wrong. Yes, I could have bought 3-4 comparable Chinese CNC lasers for the price we paid for our Trotec Speedy 400 flexx… the reason why you need 3-4 is that one will work and the others will be used as spare parts to keep the main Chinese unit running. How do I know this? I have friends and customers who went this route, they swore NEVER AGAIN. I learned from their mistakes and vowed not do the same.

Going Chinese mean deadlines? We will try to make them, if we have problems, might take a few weeks to get things fixed (if ever) and yeah, the machine will work wonderfully and be very cheap, WHEN it runs. And that’s the problem. I couldn’t start a business, regardless of the savings, fearing that every project might be a crap shoot because I tried to save money buying the wrong machine for my clients.

Truth be told, in the CNC world, you truly get what you pay for (invest) and CNCROi.com needed a bulletproof solution for our customers. How bulletproof? We’ve been in business over a year, ZERO problems, ZERO deadlines missed and ZERO headaches. That alone, for my clients more than myself, is worth the ultra-Austrian premium we paid.

If my clients are looking for a dependable provider they can count on with absolute precision, repeatability and highly optimized equipment meant to run 24/7/365, Chinese CNCs simply aren’t something I can afford to have in my custom CNC shop.

Second Option: American/European CNC Lasers

There are lots of other CNC laser manufacturers out there beyond the Chinese, some great brands all across America and Europe but they problem was their specs didn’t suit what I was after. I NEEDED a dual-sourced machine, which meant I can do fiber work (annealing metal, color changing plastic) and CO2 for cutting just about every other material out there from polycarbonate to wood and laminates. This requirement alone cut out a lot of the market from my money.

The other issue was I was purchasing an industrial wide-format industrial engraver that could cut, and not the other way around (that will come later). The point is, I knew from past experienced that I’d be doing a lot more engraving than cutting and that I needed something that was FAST as a result. My Trotec Speedy 400 flexx right now moves 3.5 meters a second while engraving!!!

If I bought a cutting machine that could engrave, this speed would be dramatically less as the head is so much larger (more momentum). I also needed a machine that I could open up the front AND back to allow larger pieces through. I don’t often to larger pieces, but when they do come my way, I like to be able to at least do them!

Only Option: Austrian CNC Laser

That leaves me with the only company that could provide my company with exactly what I needed. Trotec Laser out of Austria.

Their precision, repeatability and accuracy is world-class leading and it had all the features I required from the onset. I needed a large working area, 1 m x 61 cm is plenty big especially when I can open up the front and back to feed larger pieces (1 m x infinity is my work area now). It had a very strong company behind it, Trodat, which is the world’s largest stamp manufacturer in the world (they founded Trotec Laser as they themselves couldn’t find a good machine that was precise and strong enough for their needs) and most importantly, from all the feedback I got from other laser manufacturers, Trotec Laser was a class above anything else in the market.

You go to any engraving shop or supplier and tell them you have a TROTEC LASER, they take you seriously right off the bat and bend over backwards to provide great service to you. Why? They know you are successful, they know you have some money for their supplies and know that they need to get right to the point. It’s like driving-up to a casino in a chauffeured Bugatti Veyron, you have an instant reputation from the get-go.

Caveats

One thing I knew for certain, is that there are many “manufacturers” out there from America and Europe that sell nothing more than a rebranded Chinese or Indian CNC lasers, they import a few machines, rebrand, double the price and ship it out. I knew some of these companies and didn’t even put them into consideration. Again, I needed a machine that was plug and play, not plug, call tech support, wait a few weeks, play and then breaks again.

With many of the customers CNCROi.com has, telling them that their deadline is shot because I bought the wrong machine is the quickest way to demonstrate incompetence and they will get another company that is dependable for their projects. It takes so much time to gain the confidence of a client with their products that anything that could be used to damage that confidence should be avoided like the plague.

Buy the right machine for the right application

I’ve always believed that, in order to succeed in the CNC world, you must buy the right machine for the right application. As an extension to that, you must also know how to USE that machine for its intended application as well, having a fantastic machine with an awful operator is no better than an awful machine with an awesome operator, both will produce junk by default.

CNCROi.com invested heavily in the best machine the world has to offer, and that’s what we offer our clients. We didn’t cut any corners and as such, you don’t have to deal with any consequences that going that route would have caused. Our software both to design through to production is highly flexible and bulletproof as well, having a great machine with a great operator is a good start, having dependable software that’s optimized for the process at hand is all the more efficient.

There you have it, now you know why we invested in the best machine in the world on our customer’s behalf. Looking for a passionate company that can help you with your CNC needs? Contact CNCROi.com today!