Cincinnati vs Mazak

[QSF]

I am thinking about purchasing a Cincinnati CL-6 2500 watt laser with a dual-pallet 10' X 5' bed. I was wondering if anyone had experience with Cincinnati lasers and could tell me any praises or problems with them.

We currently have a Mazak STX-510 and are not happy with Mazak policies concerning purchasing parts. Mazak is making it very difficult to purchase anything from them that goes in the resonator cabinet or anything that has to do with high voltage.


Gary L. Ellis Jr.
Quality Steel Fabrication
Sidney, OH
gellis@woh.rr.com

 

[BAM14]

Try MG Laser in Chicago. We have an STX and they are very economical and knowledgeable service techs. They also have alot of parts(new). We also own a Cincy CL-707. The effiecincy of the dual pallets will blow your mind coming from a hybrid machine. It did mine. The maintenace will be much more intensive. It is really not difficult, but if you don't want to learn how to clean internal and external optics and do beam alignments, you may want to refrane. The externals will have to be done every 1000 hrs. About a 1-2 hour ordeal after you know how. I have only one person in our shop besides myself that I trust with this task. The first time we tried it took 12 hrs. Depending on the resonator you may need to clean the output coupler between 600 to 1000 hrs. What we find is that when cutting with nitrogen shorter pm's and with oxygen longer ones.

 

[QSF]

Thanks, BAM14! Actually, we have been using Mike Garner for quite some time to supply us parts. He is a great source for parts for a resonator rebuild. If you come up with some odd parts though, sometimes they are difficult to get.
We are actually now in a dilemma between purchasing a Mitsubishi or a Cincinnati. I am very impressed with the cross-flow resonator on the Mitsubishi and the minimal maintenance. On the other hand, Cincinnati's price is much better.

Gary L. Ellis Jr.
Quality Steel Fabrication
Sidney, OH
gellis@woh.rr.com

 

[ifin]

Hello QSF - have you decided between a cincy,mits or mazak yet?.

BAM14 - how long have you had the machines you have and did you get them used?.

 

[QSF]

We actually have decided on the Cincy with a Fanuc resonator because of simplicity of design. The machine itself is so simple; the simpler the design, the less stuff there is to break! Also, they use a Fanuc resonator which has been around long enough that GE has worked all the bugs out.

I do like the crossflow resonator in the Mits, that doesn't have an expensive booster, but I have not heard enough about it to make a decision for it. Their machine has quite a bit more moving parts and I also don't know enough about their rack-and-pinion movement vs. a ballscrew drive which is tried and true (for the most part).

Gary L. Ellis Jr.
Quality Steel Fabrication
Sidney, OH
gellis@woh.rr.com