Pat's MicroMount Review!! - microlaserlabs.com

[planters]

John,
The difference with the matched bushings is that the high precision thread cutting machine that makes the screw also makes the bushing. Your general purpose thread tap (God forbid hand tap) will not give the same creamy feel. The bushings come with either a press fit or an outer, coarser thread. You can also get even more extreme threads up to 200/inch for not much more cost. There was a small precision tool maker presenting @ last year's Photonics West Expo that sold a nice variety of these. I'll look and see if I can find the name of the company. You can still tap your holes (the way I've done it) and thread the bushing in TIGHT. It wont move then even if you had cut a loose thread fit

[Laserman532]

John,
The difference with the matched bushings is that the high precision thread cutting machine that makes the screw also makes the bushing. Your general purpose thread tap (God forbid hand tap) will not give the same creamy feel. The bushings come with either a press fit or an outer, coarser thread. You can also get even more extreme threads up to 200/inch for not much more cost. There was a small precision tool maker presenting @ last year's Photonics West Expo that sold a nice variety of these. I'll look and see if I can find the name of the company. You can still tap your holes (the way I've done it) and thread the bushing in TIGHT. It wont move then even if you had cut a loose thread fit

you can probably get those in China for 5 bucks - haha seriously - just trying to lighten things up...But really...you two should get a room so you can discuss the difference between apples and oranges, whether US or Chinese because this thread is about piss easy cheap laserman532 micro mounts.

see I can have a sense of humor under the most adverse conditions...

[absolom7691]

Look at it this way, Pat, at least none of use told you that we had a completed LS conversion doing 40W of 532nm in our daddy's shop!

[Laserman532]

Look at it this way, Pat, at least none of use told you that we had a completed LS conversion doing 40W of 532nm in our daddy's shop!

I would ask to see the power meter and its calibration date

[edison]

I,m stunned really. Here you have a guy that tried selling a professional made product with a decent quallity for a reasonable price and make a living out of it. He explains why he no longer want or can do it and in a couple of posts this thread turns in a mudfight where its about what the price should be. Cheap of course!!!

Pat , you can,t win even though your right. The market has shifted that much that the low end market now prefers to buy a china box instead. The price of a lasershow is now determined by the total amount of power what they can offer. So its either buy as many china boxes as you can or buy less of them with the most amount of Power they can afford. Why build and pay for a 30usd mount if you can buy a 3 watt RGB for less then 1500usd. People here are not willing to support you in anyway. They don,t build anymore to be proud of what they adchieved. You see it also at the Lem we have in the netherlands. 80 % of the Lem people have a projector bought from china.

If its cheap enough they buy it and since china can do things cheap they run off to buy from china. There are a few that are willing to pay for support, service and good quallity but the majority here goes for the cheap route. That is the result of where the market is going. The chinese moved upworths and overal prices dropped. China is now nr 1 economy in the world and that is because they can do things cheap......

Lets be an asshole and buy from china instead of supporting the local metalshop where the neigbour is working.He gets payed to support his family and make a living....... but who cares as long as i keep my money and get richer every day. Its all economics it really is......

I refuse to let my parts being manufactured in china, if i have ever have to go that route i will stop just like you and people can try to buy from Arctos. Oh no they don,t sell to hobbyists.... what a shame. But then again who cares that quallity we don,t need since we only do beamshows........

[andy_con]

this is to Pat.

having looked at my other post again i can see why you have taken it differently to how i meant it, my second post explains what i should have said better. i wasnt having a pop and saying its a cheap shitty mount but just in machining terms that design is very easy to make, there is nothing complex about it.

you could knock those out very easily on a cnc machine and very quickly.

if you want some more made and at a very good price drop me a PM and ill give you some details on "china". i had a two part mirror mount made in china and it was dirt cheap, cheaper than i could make it. there machining work was first class and just generally a good service.


to edison,

ive invested a lot of money and time in my cnc machines, all the tooling needed and learning how to write all the code. and you are very wrong, i dont do things cheap, this is why i dont sell much at all on the forum cos people are not willing to pay for it.

all you do is draw something up and send it to someone else to machine and pay them. so ive invested far more money and time than you, all you have to do is invest in buying the parts and paying someone to machine stuff for you.

cnc/milling is just as expensive if not more expensive than lasers, but you wouldnt know this as you dotn do it.

this is not me being big headed or anything but as ive invested my time and money into cnc machines i will always have an edge on people like you cos i can machine stuff when ever i want in small numbers and if im not happy just tweak the design and start again. i dont have to buy in large numbers and if there is something wrong deal with it. i also understand what can and cant be machined far better than you.

get ya facts right and stop telling everyone how perfect you are

[norty303]

Wowzers, one of the first AndyCon posts I can fully agree with!

I get upset at the constant 'China' bashing on the forum - I understand some stuff is crap and that's because its built down to a budget, they're simply servicing a demand, which is simple market forces. But to suggest it is all crap is simply misguided. 'You get what you pay for'. And they seem to have good technology, and skill available.

And then there's the customer service...

[andy_con]

lol good to hear.

on the metal work front, if you send them the design they are only going to make what you have told them to. so they cant go wrong.

and they have really really good cnc equipment

Wowzers, one of the first AndyCon posts I can fully agree with!

I get upset at the constant 'China' bashing on the forum - I understand some stuff is crap and that's because its built down to a budget, they're simply servicing a demand, which is simple market forces. But to suggest it is all crap is simply misguided. 'You get what you pay for'. And they seem to have good technology, and skill available.

And then there's the customer service...

[masterpj]

Being cheap is bad.. being "affordable"/A good deal is what you want.. minimizing production and development costs while remaining your profit margins should be a goal!
Not china here.. not rocket science. Sending your products off constantly for small run prototype modules or productions is a huge money pit

CNC milling is indeed expensive but a milling company adds a lot to the cost to avoid doing constant small "one offs".. kinda like me wanting to buy in 1 krypton gas tank from a big gas supplier now but one bottle *big startup fee yes*.

Take your contacts *then be it not china* to do the small one off.. small quanitity runs for your products... when a big order comes in you hit up the bigger company as when you surpass their startup costs and look at price per unit produced.. you could be saving money without sacrificing quality... It's not about cutting corners at that point but rather playing it smart.

Edision why do you not make use of people like andy? Get in good terms with him.. pay him for small one-off runs for testing.. He doesn't need huge start-up fees as he is one guy and has all the tools for himself.
You'd save enormous amounts on development costs which means you can make the profit margin but at a more competitive price! That is what it's all about to me..providing a better deal without cutting corners.
It's not being a cheapskate at that moment.. but more like common sense economics. You aren't using anybody that way.. you are providing people here with work just like you wanted.

And stamping chinas products all as bad is ignorance.. they have most factories and tools there now... they can do pretty much what we do here minus the development.. a lot of that happens here.
Heck most components these days for DPSS lasers are made in china.....

[norty303]

lol good to hear.

on the metal work front, if you send them the design they are only going to make what you have told them to. so they cant go wrong.

and they have really really good cnc equipment

I already get some bits made in China. The only cock ups have been through me making assumptions that they'd do what was logical, rather than me saying specifically what i wanted. Lesson learned, but still cheaper than buying my own mill.

I might get a 3D printer to make cowls and odds and sods though - seems logical to make module covers and things that way if they only need to keep dust at bay and moderate protection from dropped tools inside the projector! Unless of course they also fulfill some heatsinking function!