We got a brand new toy in our lab recently: a Chinese laser cutter. Why do I need to specify that it is a Chinese laser cutter and not just call it a laser cutter? That should be obvious.
We still are not totally sure what "Limerick maintenance time" is, but it must mean that we need to tell dirty jokes to get it clean.
Purchase and Arrival
My postdoctoral advisor and I spent some time going over the options for getting a laser CNC machine for the lab. We spent so much time down at the Innovation Hub on the south of OU's campus that we decided it would be nice to have our own. Now we don't have to stand in line and wait for the machine to open up. The machines that the iHub uses are quite nice, but they cost >$10,000, money our lab does not have. The solution to the cost issue was to purchase a cheap knock-off from China. After scouring eBay for the finest machine we could get for ~$2,000, we ordered the machine.
We were all super excited when the big crate arrived. There is no more magical a sight to behold than nerds with a dangerous new toy. After dusting away all of the annoying little styrofoam bits that had become statically stuck to the machine, we inspected what was included. None of us speak much Mandarin, so we were thankful that the suppliers had taken the time to include a very detailed instruction manual with some of the most broken English I have ever encountered. Some day we hope to decipher the strange tome, but until that day arrives we will be basing most of our decision on the images and technical specs.
URL slug: chinese-laser-cutter
Originally published: 2018-06-07 20:00:12
Content last regnerated: 2024-09-22 16:59:04
