Not really, I left after a row with the head over h&s (the extraction system that didnt work & they wouldnt fix) Hell would freeze over before i set foot in there again. But the machine was on its last legs anyway, I heard from an ex colleague that it is barely working now.
But on the bright side i went over to Kent yesterday & had a look at Kent lasers Solo range. Very impressive well built machines.
They are a small company with just 4 guys, Engineer salesman Tim hall, steelwork, case & stand fabrication guy, electronics specialist & a software engineer in Denmark. Machines assembled in Chatham. Laser tubes SPT & parts bought in using good quality components.
They build up the lot on a small batch basis. So its as near to a UK built machine as you can get.
Compact desktop machine with large bed size for its footprint. Software is Laser cad or their own APM, this is primarily intended for schools where plug & play simplicity is desired so machine will run directly from 2d design (most common cad software used in schools) It has full database of materials & speeds n feeds built in.
DC version of the Solo has its own watercooler unit built into the machine itself. Machine i saw was a 50w & cut 6mm hard maple with ease.
Unlike a lot of cheap lasers i was impressed with the low noise level of the machines really very quiet.
A far cry from the laserite machine i used to use at school, that frankly roared when it was running & was at the point where er defenders were advisable.
Now all i go to do is work out which version will do me!
