Introduction - I’m trying to do my homework here as I’m about to drop $15,000+ on a laser engraver to start a new venture and it just scares the shit out of me! LOL so any feedback, thoughts, ideas, suggestions, rants, etc are appreciated.
Background - I have half-a-clue when it comes to anything technical (can you say uber geek) being in the IT and electronics arena for 30+ years, it’s time to start using the left brain for a change and become creative.
I’m not too shabby with PhotoShop and Corel 12 (under 2K/XP) among other graphics programs (like ImageMagick), and I’ll never be too old to learn something new.
Target - I mostly plan on doing photo engraving in black marble, acrylic, wood, glass (in that order), and eventually try my hand at some marquetry down the road.
No offense intended… but I don’t want to become a glorified sign and trophy shop. I will to pay the bills, but I would prefer to take the artistic path instead as much as possible.
Focusing on higher quality (time consuming) work, rather than the “I can do that job in 3.2 minutes and make $20″.
It this realistic?
I see zillions of text/vector engraving out there, but very few (specializing in) photo engraving.
Sure, photos take a long time to process, and that’s after the image has been processed in the computer. Is that the primary reason I see so few? Is there some other reason; Difficult for market to bear the costs? Technical aspects for quality photo engraving a lil too high for most folks? Something else I’m not aware of?
The Trade - Since I’m not directly competing with local shops, I made a few cold calls just trying to get a feel for the local industry, and opinions on laser engraver mfg’s (epilog, universal, gcc, etc).
The one thing I heard from all of them is this business is cut throat, and that shops will steal customers from each other in a heartbeat.
When asked “If you were to start over today, would you do it?” The ones that have been around 20+ years said no, even with existing accounts. While polite, you could hear the resentment in his voice towards “Instant sign/trophy shop, just add laser engraver”.
Another one that provides a WIDE range of services said he would start over today from scratch. He was nice enough to also say that during the “Dot Com” days, having accounts with places such as Cisco, did $3M per year, and now does around $300K per year.
Does this sound about right across the board? Or could it just be locally induced (San Francisco Bay Area) market?
Equipment - I’m looking to get a machine that will do 12″ x 24″ for a couple of reasons: Most raw materials seem available at this size without having pay cutting charges, Workspace is limited as will be running this out of my home office, and pretty much what my budget will permit.
From what I understand (sales and marketing propaganda) I’ll need a 30 - 50+ watt laser. I sorta have in my mind 35/40 watt depending on choices from model-to-model / mfg-to-mfg. Again, budget constraints as well.
I have always been leery of used equipment (no matter what it is), and to toss out such a HUGE chunk without knowing the caveats of the machine I buy, or some flaw in a particular model (say banding issues or limited driver functionality and no longer supported). If anyone has some first hand experience in this, please drop me a note.
I’m looking at EpilogMini (12×24) and Universal M300 so far.
Universal’s overall customer service seems very responsive, returning calls, answering questions, straight shooter, warranty replacement policy, etc.
Epilog seems very annoyed by my measly lil purchase. Not returning calls at all or only after leaving 3 voice mails. Numerous follow ups initiated on my part, etc. Local dealer not too technically savvy, and loads of lip service from dealer, corp sales, and corp sales manager.
After seeing GCC/LaserPro run, I kinda passed it by. Since it’s an import, I hear the warranty replacement can be an issue. The pass thru is nice for doing larger pieces, but I also noticed that the venting wasn’t really removing the odor from the room very well (poor venting design maybe) which is an issue for me.
I did notice the print driver for it had a lot of extended features that the Epilog driver was REALLY lacking in my technical opinion. It’s as if Epilog put enough into their software to get the job to the laser. Not anything like “look ahead” to optimize the job process itself or to deal with changing directions, etc (but I could be talking out my butt on this one).
I *think* I’ve been asking the right questions on which model to choose, but if anyone has feedback, I’d surely appreciate it.
Market - Assuming all goes well during installation, and I (basically) come up to speed quickly enough, I want to make at least $100 the very first week.
Since I’m focusing on photo engraving, I’m come to the conclusion that I need to hit markets that have “disposable income” and/or where the price isn’t an issue (like when people spend anywhere from $400 to $4000 on a wedding dress to wear once and never be seen again), within reason of course.
But I’m having a heck of a time narrow this market down, any thoughts are appreciated.
For what it’s worth… I’m also a photographer, so the photo engraving and photography compliment each other in certain aspects. As I can also provide the photography services to clients as a convenience.
I really hope this isn’t too long, and please excuse any typos or spellings.
A laser is a powerful tool able to process many materials, transferring a photo to a substrate is not creative or very difficult. Packages like Photgrav will enable a novice to do it with excellent results. You are scared of dropping $15k on a tool to accomplish an application that is marginal in terms of return on investment. You will be mostly doing one off’s, dealing with the general public and will be getting mostly poor quality photos and having to do the best you can with them. You say you are a photographer, well that might just help but it’s unlikely as customers won’t want to pay for the photo and the lasering. A lot of photos are of loved ones, graduations, weddings etc where you won’t have the chance to actually take it - the event etc has been and gone. Lasers do not really engrave photos with great resolution and can only work with greyscale images and what might look good in print might not with a laser. Do not rely on your photography as a major aid to getting work. You CAN be creative in photography but can’t really be so lasering that photo. Better skills are the ability to scan and clean up pics. Those with more experience in the laser, materials, effects, package etc are going to easily outperform you initially in photoengraving. This direction will not set you apart from the crowd.
A lot of it is related to local markets. Firstly if you had to ask me whether you should enter my market (make no mistake, you will compete against other shops) I would hardly give you an answer to encourage you to compete against me. Secondly there is far more creativity and money in creating awards and signs than lasering photos. There is little creativity in buying premade sign blanks or trophy blanks and engraving them apart from basic layout. In signage and Award designing and manufacture, there are many aspects to consider. The first to bear in mind is that both reflect on the user of the sign and the person giving out the award, not on the creator. Whatever you do, you have to bear that in mind. The second is to realise that both must accomplish the same thing for whomever uses you, increase their “bottom line” (might not jut be a money thing, especially for clubs and awards, but its got to motivate others to do better etc). You are the expert that is going to help them do that with your unique sign or Award. Thirdly, buying a laser does not make you Picasso, it’s how you use the tool that counts. Have a look at my site to see the type of stuff we do with our lasers and have a good look at the custom awards section, shows how creative you can be with a laser in this field.
I use 3x GCC explorers and are very happy with them, I live in South Africa with far less extensive support networks than the USA and the warrantee or replacement of parts issue, even here, is well nigh impossible to fault. The USA agents look pretty jackd up in this regard too and the pricing on the Explorer looks very sweet to me and it’s a blindingly fast production machine (we use ours continually up to 10 hours a day).
The laser uses USA made sources anyway, the platform is manufactured in China and is as good as any other out there. What has impressed me is the fact that the CEO of the co has called me to enquire about my dealer service, any niggles and problems and to ask about my wish list. Even though I’m really mickey mouse in the grand scheme of things, improvements and implementations of my wish list have actually happened!!!
As to venting and odor reduction, if you are thinking of not venting to outside, you are looking for trouble. The efficiency of the venting system relies on the way the ducting is positioned and the blower you use. The GCC drivers do have optimisation and are very good. I can work with just about any package directly to the laser and never have to jump thru hoops to accomplish any task, no matter how complex. Pass thur is nice, but bear in mind when doors are open, no venting system works and there are safety issues to consider.
Marketing is way more vital than the machine you buy. Market research before the purchase is the most vital. The Q you have to ask is why would anyone deal with you rather than another, and your ability to engrave photos is not a compelling reason. Pricing is also vital and the more competitors in the field, the less you will make and the harder it will be to break into the market. There will always be someone cheaper than you, whether they will deliver the quality and service is another matter. Marketing is going to cost you time and money. Firstly you will need a portfolio, so thinking of making money from day one is unrealistic. You will have to tinker around a bit, find the materials you are going to be working on and do STUNNING samples on these. Tons of resources on the web in respect of marketing strategies, but there are a few points to bear in mind.
You have to have a campaign of sorts, you need a database and a website and perhaps a mailing shot. You will have to cold canvass and leave freebies or useful samples at those you call on. You will have to line up suppliers and keep some materials in stock, have a dedicated line for your office”, print decent bus cards (or make em on the laser, a marvelous ad, shows what you do instantly). At the end of it all, being realistic, dropping that kind of money on a laser you are using part time might not be a good investment at all, and as I have said before, photoengraving is not very creative and is certainly not unique. Limiting yourself to this and adopting an attitude that you are an artist and will shy away from non artistic type pursuits is not a good strategy IMHO.
I could write a far more comprehensive reply to your questions, but would require a book.
Hope this helps and clears the waters rather than clouding them, any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.