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To all those who don’t know me I own a small shop in Idaho and have been doing counter tops for for about 15-16 yrs like most of us care what kind of job I do and the quality of work done in our shop. We do S.S. and E-Stone and Granite and Laminate and always looking for better ways of doing the jobs and let me tell you all that it has been a fun go with these laser systems. I have had the privilege to now work with both the Me machine laser and the LT-55 laser temp and in my opinion the Me Machine laser is not worth a nickle. I have worked with this machine for two and half months and not one top has come correct and I have had to replace tops and repair tops because of it. When I first got the system I was told it would be as accurate or more accurate then stick temp. and when tops where not fitting I was all over my employees until I templated and fabed and installed one top my self and the top was perfect to the template but not even close at the job site (unless 1/4-3/8 is close enough).I then had ME come to my shop and we work on ONE stick temp (that was fabed and installed and fit perfect)for 9.5 hrs and with two tripods and two systems and not one came out the same or even matched the stick template. On the the up side the laser does measure a straight line to within 1/16 of an inch so if you need a really expansive tape that’s the one. I have since returned it for a refund and have purchased the LT-55 and boy what a difference in ease of use and accuracy not one top has had a problem fitting and the time spent doing a template is less then the other and editing is a lot easier on the job. Write out of the box I did the same L shape template the ME could not do and the LT-55 was exact to the stick template. So in my opinion and that I have worked with both systems the LT-55 is the better system and worth the investment and if you want more testament to both systems write back or call @ 208-237-4428 and I can tell you some fun facts on both systems
olivebranch,
Welcome to the posting side of FabNet.
I have just started using the LT-55 and will have a post on an older thread within a couple of weeks.
Although I have never used the ME, their web site alone made me rule them out.
The LT-55 seems excellent, so far, with the software lacking a huge amount of stuff that would help in the field.
One thing I have noticed is that you must level the tripod as well as the unit as acurately as possible. This is not spelled out well in the manual or on the instructional CD. If you are raising and lowering the unit it is crucial.
By the way, it would be helpful if you posted your name. If you have privacy issues, I understand, but it would be nice to refer to you by a first name.
Tom
Hey Chad,
That stinks you had to go through all that to get a digitizer to work well. Thanks to Gordon for getting you the unit so quickly.
By the way all, Chad used to work for us years ago until we ran him out of California (Just Kidding). He was a great employee and great guy. My Dad and Chad worked on the installations while I made the countertops. I remember when he first started at Olive Mill back in about ’92 he didn’t know his ass from second base. I got to tell you though he has come a long way and the entire Olive Mill family is very proud of his accomplishments up in Idaho.
Hope to see more of you on the FabNet.
HI TOM
I WAS NOT TRYING TO KEEP MY NAME CONFIDENTIAL OR ANY THING IT WAS JUST MY FIRST POST SO LAY OFF (JUST JOKEING) NO REALLY I JUST DID NOT THINK OF THAT BUT MY NAME IS CHAD PITCHER AND YES AS ANDY SAID I DID WORK FOR THEM @OLIVE MILL FOR WHAT SEAMED TO BE AN ETERNITY BUT IT WAS ALOT OF FUN. INFACT WHEN I HAD THE JOY OF HAVEING EMPLOYEES I CALLED TO OPOLIGIZE AND ANDY LAUGHED,I WAS A HAND FULL.
BUTT KNOW REALLY TOM WHAT SOFTWARE PROBLEMS DO YOU HAVE AND DID I READ A WHILE BACK THAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT A VYNIL CUTTER?IF SO WHAT ONE DID YOU GET ? I HAVE THE GRAPHTEC 7000 AND WAS LOOKING FOR OTHER SOFTWARE FOR IT
CHAD
Chad,
Thanks for the reply. Since I already broke stones on the name I won’t mention the caps lock = shouting thing. (j/k)
The main problem I have with the CAD software in the PLT program for the LT-55 is that it is radically limitted, and way over simplified. For instance, the rotate command only works one particular way and cannot be changed, so you have to be carefull how you take the first line measurement. Why? Any other program would allow you to select and choose how much of a turn you want to apply to it. This is not hard to add, so why isn’t it there? They take a meet two lines and call it a fillet. This way they can place radiuses (also called fillets), and angled corners (fillets) into one spot. Meet two lines has several valuable uses than just joining a corner. The save and close functions have very little in the way of confirmnation messages (“are you sure….?”) and will just do it. If yuou accidently click on the wrong file, it will go ahead and over write it. Ouch. There is only one way to establish a three-point arc (most CAD programs have at least three).
That’s the sort of thing that gets me about the software. There are several examples of this, and I will try to put them all together in some kind of review. Regarding the PDA itself (not really the LT guy’s fault, except choice of unit), it is remarkably unstable. It will lock up at start up more often than not. You can always work around it, but it makes the unit awfully user unfriendly for someone resistant to using hight-tech tools and gadgets.
So far, the accuracy is very good. Once I import it into a CAD program I’m used to, I can very efficiently finish sorting the top for toolpathing and out to the CNC. As fort the vinyl cutter, I do not have one yet, but there are several times I wish I did. That’s one for down the road. Aftre learning what to watch for, I can see a half-hour template, if not sooner. That’s pretty good. I am excluding talikg to the customer, but including checking dimensions. Not bad at all.
I also noticed a situation where the LT would give me better info than any of the photo guys could. We had a product here in the 70’s / 80’s that was very popular for awhile called Z-Brick, and another called Barclay Brick. 1/2″ pieces of real brick that would be set in a mortar compound on the wall as cladding. The LT very accurately gets in between the bricks to get me as close to the actual wall surface as I’m going to get. I measured differences in thickness of no more than 1/32″ from point to point, compared to doing a complicated math procedure to figure out what I need to allow for the thickness. That was very interesting at the time.
Finally – to all these “place the point on the drawing” programs: find a good way to curve between the points if we are trying to get scribe accuracy, or if we are templating an irregular arc. Please note that there might be a way which is above my pay scale. I would love to here from those that know.
I hope that helps.
If you have any dirt on Andy I think we’d be willing to pay hard cash money…
Tom
hey Tom I do see some of those ” ” problems but for a guy that was using a diferrant system for two and half months this one is a peace of cake . The rotate thing if you turn on the laser when it is pointing at the back wall (some what close to a right angle to the wall)do the temp. then in the edit mode and laser off hit rotate and tap both sides of the back wall it puts it straight.As for your save feture I wil take the LT vs ME any day the ME you would do the temp then save in a file then shut the system down then start the cad program then open, then start editing ,then save again in another file, then download to a zipe drive, then load to desk computer and finish doing tool paths and bla bla bla, so you can see to just pay a little atention when saving is not that bad
Like I said if you realy want some hard core comparison you can call I am just of coarse giving my oppion on the two systems I have used.
Hey Gordon do you have any other software for the graphtec ?
As for Andy where’s the bidding begin
Chad,
You know what put me off the ME? Seriously: the website.
The vid didn’t show much, except the computer bobbing the unit around like a seven year old wearing a fireman’s cap It just didn’t look right. The pics section was a walk around the unit snapping pics. Not of the unit working, mind, but just sitting there.
To read the things you wrote makes me a happy camper I followed my gut (to see my gut, that’s not actually hard to do).
Still, there are so many things that could be done better with the LT.
Don’t get me wrong, I am so far very impressed with the unit. I’m pretty sure that it will do most of what I would like it to do. I’m pretty sure that the difference between this and the photo guys is flexibility, but there is no comparison with the ease of use. It also is an awesome introduction into what can reasonably be expected from a templating sytem (at least those that are currently on the market). Thinking in 2-D helps you get the theory behind it.
Bidding will need to be based on the quality/embarassment quotient of the item. How do we solve this problem? For instance, if there’s anything that can tie Andy, a minivan, and a grocery trip, that’s not so much. Andy, a pygmie pony named Sid, and a picnic along the Champs D’Lysees? That’s worth some skin, right there.
Tom
Hey Gordon do you have any other software for the graphtec ?
Chad,
I am checking with my tech support to see if the Allencad tile software is compatible with your plotter. Allen cad Tile is the best out there, it automatically tiles (nests) your pieces for you with a push of a button, it also gives you 3 different layouts if you don’t agree with the first layout. I will post my findings.
Tom,
Get your software wishlist to me and I will get it to the developers for their review, we make our improvements based on customer request.
Thanks to both of you for the kind words on the LT-55, if anyone else needs literature that includes demo dvds then drop me a note.
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