Do you need a laser or a CAM machine? Safety first! How easy are Universal Lasers to use? How much power do I need? What work area is ideal? What is air assist? Growing your system! Drivers for PC and Mac? Software compatibility! Can I incorporate different cutting parameters in one project? Can I re-access jobs sent to the machine without re-sending? How fast are lasers! How reliable are Universal Lasers? What maintenance do lasers need? How long can I expect my system to be supported? How long is the Universal Lasers Warranty? Training Why buy a Universal Laser System? Do you need a laser or a CAM machine? Back to Top
The honest answer is that both pieces of equipment are valuable to the DT curriculum when teaching CAD/CAM. Knowing that budgets for this type of equipment are usually a one off you need to consider your options. How often will you use the equipment, is it part of your planned delivery and what learning experiences are your students gaining? The Laser is the latest piece of "must have" equipment for DT, it is very easy to use. It will produce high quality graphics and 2D cutting of organic materials (not metals). Lasers will cut profiles and will engrave on a wide range of materials without the need to compensate for cutter width in the main. The laser leaves a high quality finished edge on plastics that do not require polishing. The down side is that they will not cut to set depths (blind holes) and running costs can be high when you come to replace the laser tube in the future. We also feel that a laser is mainly a KS2/3 curriculum tool as there is little educational value beyond this key stage. Remember the learning and creative experience is important. We do recommend that another priority purchase be a 3D router. A 3D router gives you the capability to engrave/cut profiles in 2D, as well as 3D modeling in a wide range of materials. Safety first! Back to Top
All Universal Laser Systems have a safety interlocked cover which shuts down the laser beam if opened making them completely safe for use by pupils of staff alike. ULS machines are designated Class I and Class III (a). Class I meets the same criteria as a CD drive, i.e. access is interlocked and the laser cannot be activated with the doors open. Attempting access during use will shut off the laser beam. The Class III (a) classification is due to the visible red laser light pointer and is the same classification used for laser pointers. Class III (a) laser devices are considered relatively harmless. Class IV machines (this doesn't´t apply to Universal Laser Systems allow lasers to operate with the access doors open are and are considered hazardous. It should also be noted using lasers without full enclosure allows fumes and dust into the workplace.
We recommend lasers should always be attended during use. How easy are Universal Lasers to use? Back to Top
The rule of thumb is if you can create a graphics file and use an office printer you will have no problem with the laser, the graphics package is far more complex than the lasers printer. In practice the project is drawn in your graphics package and different colors used to designate different processes, i.e. black for text and graphics, blue for inside contours and red for outside very similar to cut by color options. Each of the line colors can be designated laser characteristics such as power, speed and ppi, these are specified within the lasers printer driver. How much power do I need? Back to Top
Any of the ULS lasers will cover a huge spectrum of applications, you can choose from 13 laser platforms and 8 specifications of laser cartridge. Budgetary limitations may well make the choice for you and outside of this we suggest you look at the size of projects you wish to manufacture and how much power will do the job efficiently. 10 Watts - Lower power level for light engraving and thin material cutting.
25-35 Watts - Entry power level for standard engraving and cutting operations at moderate speed and high-speed low power engraving.
40-60 Watts - Moderate power level for deeper, high speed engraving and thick cutting operations at moderate speed.
65-80 Watts - Moderate high power level ideal for higher throughput, deep engraving and cutting.
85-120 Watts - High power ideal for heavy cutting and deep, higher throughput engraving
150-300 Watts - Extreme power for deep engraving at high speeds; faster cutting for very thick materials. May not be suitable for light engraving and marking. Outside of the VersaLaser systems the M, V & X systems can take advantage of laser tube technology that allows you to change the available power by changing the tube; this allows you to grow your system with your needs. What work area is ideal? Back to Top
The work area you need will be decided by how large your projects are and how much depth do you need to load them? Work areas are detailed on the product pages. ULS machines access the full cutting area we specify! If at all possible buying a machine with a little more coverage is always best, you´ll always grow into it. What is air assist? Back to Top
Air assist affords some protection for the optics and helps suppress flaming, its recommend it for cutting/marking high-debris materials such as rubber stamp sheet and on the X-series machines. Air assist works by sending a pressurized stream of air in line with the laser beam. The air-flow can be tuned to high or low settings or turned off if not required by computer control on all but the M-300. Growing your system! Back to Top
Outside of the VersaLaser systems the M, V & X systems can take advantage of laser tube technology that allows you to change the available power by changing the tube; this allows you to grow your system with your needs and is a definite advantage of the Universal lasers range. As an alternative we will always part exchange your machine against a new or second hand model. Drivers for PC and Mac? Back to Top
Drivers are available for Macs as well as PC's. Software compatibility! Back to Top
The laser uses the color from your graphic to link with the settings in the printer driver so you must specify the exact colors that the laser responds to (you will appreciate many shades are possible). If your software allows adjustment of the colors then you should be able to tune them together; we have plenty of experience in this area you can call upon. CorelDRAW is used by laser professionals the world over and represents good value for money when you consider the programs ability to handle vector and image files, you can even create 3D effects using shading. Can I incorporate different cutting parameters in one project? Back to Top
ULS systems can make use of eight individual power, speed and PPI (resolution) settings plus raster or vector settings within a project. Can I re-access jobs sent to the machine without re-sending? Back to Top
Professional platform machines can hold up to 99 files in memory, these are all accessible from the LCD display on the machine. To repeat any of these jobs you can specify it through the display and run the project repeatedly leaving your computer free to design on. The VersaLaser driver keeps a copy of the file on the hard drive which can be re-sent from the VersaLaser spooler rather than re sending from the graphic or CAD package. How fast are lasers! Back to Top
Regardless of the cutting speeds lasered jobs are discernable by their ease of use rather than speed of cut. M-360, V-460 and X-660 all have speeds of 190 cm per second, the X2-660 and the X2-660 Super Speed have speeds of 254 cm per second. The X2-600 Super Speed uses its multi-beam and multi-laser technology to deliver up to a 500% increase in productivity. The Super Speed can engrave dual lines on each pass making it the fastest laser engraver in the world. Other factors can affect speed too; ULS use special features to improve image quality at lower resolution settings; on any laser the higher the resolution the longer the job takes.
Dual head machines allow you to produce (two) identical parts simultaneously providing excellent productivity. How reliable are Universal Lasers? Back to Top
ULS are unique in that they manufacture or control the manufacture of the complete laser system, they are now one of the bigger players in manufacturing and supplying laser tubes to other laser manufacturers, a strong reinforcement of the quality of their products. Being a total manufacturing company ULS users can always rely on access to spare parts. The running gear is lightweight and designed to handle the high speeds the systems run at, careful attention has been given to making the machines easy to access to carry out periodical cleaning and engineers access. What maintenance do lasers need? Back to Top
The laser should be regularly cleaned for it to operate to its designed parameters and ULS have designed their lasers to be easy to clean and maintain. The running gear should be cleaned with a clean lint free towel together with an alcohol or light soap solution and the lens with an optics or camera lens cleaning kit (include with the system). How often you carry this out will be dependant upon the amount of use and/or type of materials you process. The customer can easily service most parts of the machine. How long can I expect my system to be supported? Back to Top
Like Suregrave ULS promise to provide parts and engineering support for their products for a minimum of a decade. In all likelihood this is a minimum period and again like Suregrave they can still provide parts for every variant manufactured. How long is the Universal Lasers Warranty? Back to Top
The standard warranty provided is 1 year for the machine and 2 years for the laser cartridge. The cartridge warranty is extendible up to 5 years. All consumable parts are included. Training Back to Top
Suregrave will provide installation and training, ask for options. | 
