I purchased a Rabbit Laser USA (China import) model RL1290 80 watt 36x48" over three years ago and I am very pleased with it. I have students using it on every project for cutting, inlay work and engraving text, logo's, images, etc..... We make a lot of Ukuleles and Electric Guitars and all of our fret boards and kerf lining is made on this machine. It will cut through 1/4 material, such as wood, plexi glasses, leather (stinks to high heaven), card board, paper, etc... just no metal. Before we will mount our maple neck boards onto our ShopBot Alpha for craving/routing, it will go into the laser cutter/engraver to locate the mounting holes and draw/laser the necks profile--bit of an over kill, but it makes it almost fool proof.

Yes, it is imported from China. But the Ray Scott of Rabbit Laser USA goes through each one of his lasers cutters and will support you when something goes wrong. After three years of use I have only replaced the Chiller unit, emergency stop button and a bearing on the x axis gantry. My glass tube is still going strong, but I am starting to notice it is degrading---not cutting as deep as it first did. Cost to replace the tube with a new RECI tube is around $875---much less expensive compared to Epilog or Universal tube replacement.

Ray Scott the owner of RabbitLaserUSA flew out to my school and setup the Laser Cutter/Engrave and gave me a training session on how to use it. I was already a CAD user so creating the files were as easy as saving to a dxf. Bitmaps and DXF will import directly into the LaserCut 5.3 software and with about three clicks of the mouse I am either cutting out a part or laser engraving an image or even a photograph.

My students are using this machine very day. I am thinking about getting a second one as it the price for my 80 watt, 36" x 48" working area laser cutter was right around $9000. Upgrade our Shopbot Alpha to and ATC or purchase a 2nd laser cutter---tough decision..... Don't expect Epilog or Universal quality and the software is an inbreed Chinglish thing. With that being said, the Epilog nor Universal produces a large laser cutter that will match this in size of work area 36" x 48".