Yeah. Sucks. Of my shortlist which would you choose knowing i dont have skills to tinker and remove or replace bits that arent safe?
What’s your ultimate goal for the machine? Do you intend this to be a part of a fabrication farm? Or this will only be used for hobby projects?
Do you have specific upper limits for size or required power?
If this is only ever going to be a serious hobby machine I’d suggest you take a look at the Thunder Laser Bolt. It’s an RF laser in an overall very compelling package. RF won’t be as good at pure cutting performance as a tube but has other advantages in engraving and no need for water cooling. I see glowforge type machines eventually moving to a similar platform. Price is comparable to a GF Pro with none of the baggage of that platform.
I can’t answer that, I don’t know enough about these brands and also believe that it won’t make it any easier for you.
I think that you or those who have to work with the laser machine must go through some kind of training. This is for safety and to be able to work efficiently with the machine. You must learn to setup and adjust the machine’s mechanical and optical components as well as solve minor problems such as mirror or lens change and recalibrate the laser beam. You must be able to handle these tasks, no matter how expensive or cheap the machine you buy is. If you have to pay others for these tasks it will be impossible to make money or have an enjoyable hobby. This also applies to the software, it takes time to be able to operate LightBurn efficiently and creatively.
I don’t mean to sound negative and I don’t want to complicate the matter either, it’s just my experience and honest opinion.
Thanks bernd. I learn fast and would be comfortable learning to make the adjustments you describe, as you say i recognise they are vital no matter what i buy. Similiarly i have lots of design experience and am not worried about learning lightburn. My only concern was not wanting to buy a machine which as you describe, is unsafe out of the box untill i replace certain components as this seems unreasonable for a new item, and would involve installig new components which is beyond the reach of my skills i think. Thanks again for your thoughts. I very much appreciate your considered replies
Hey thanks for the reply.
I want it to be a long term investment that covers me from serious hobby up to more hefty business use.
Im open to making more room for the machine, although my spouse may object lol
I did have thunder bolt on my longer list but scrapped as it is rf and as you say i thoughr rhat might not be as good or fast for cutting .
…buy an economically favorable machine, the money you save is your “insurance” or you can spend it on accessories 
p.s. I haven’t had a single serious breakdown with my machine and only one transport damage with my machine no. 2, (I changed the new CO2 tube myself) -
…go ahead, it will probably work, and here there are many in the forum who would like to help. 
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Thanks. Do you happen to know if the issue with the unsafe fan/extractor on omtech machines is limited to just the models i listed? Just seen an 80w one on ebay so wondering if that might be different OMTech 700*500mm 80W CO2 Laser Engraver Engraving Machine DSP Control Panel | eBay
If replacing a fan is beyond your ability, this is not a hobby, let alone machine class, for you. No offense intended.
Based on your aversion or fixation on said fan’s safety, this is DEFINITELY not a hobby for you. It is, after all, a literal killer robot with a laser you program to burn things in your home/shop.
Again, no offense intended. Just a reality check.
These are Chinese… they can and have shipped some questionable stuff.
I think the danger is likely, similar to mine, had issues where they grounded it.
They paint the cabinet, then drill holes for a grounding bolt. The paint isn’t removed and the ground becomes useless. I removed all the grounding bolts when I found this, ground off the paint and re-installed them…
Don’t know if this is common, but I suspect it is…
Doubt you’re going to get one and be zapped.
I’d suggest you check out what kind of upgrades you will want.
I could have saved a fortune in not only parts but time if Cloud Ray had Russ’ spec machine available. All of the parts are upgrades you’ll probably want and the price is lower than it was…
It will also run faster than any others in this price range.
I have a bunch of his upgrades, makes setup and alignment easy and quick. His design has adjustments that are not on the standard machine. Wish it would have been available when I purchased mine…
Good luck
Thanks jack thats really helpful (and hilarious that they go so far then fail to make use of the grounding like that, sigh)
I could def do as you did, reinstalling the bolts.just a bit of a pain in the backside but worth weighing up. Will think about upgrades as you suggest . Im sure itll be a rabbit hole and a half ill be down for a while!
High power lasers are inherently dangerous. In more ways than one. Pinch points, electrical shock, blinding, fires, inhalation hazard, etc.
Yep i get that. Thanks. Will report back what i end up going for.
True, but probably safer than getting in your car and going to the store…
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I suspect this depends on who is doing the driving, in either case.
Monport onyx is great too, I picked one up before Christmas and have had no issues not of my own causing. Definitely in the glowforge pro realm and 4 times cheaper.
Have you opened the cabinet on your machine? Can you confirm if the internals resemble the OmTech Polar or Gweike Cloud machines? I believe the Polar uses a stock Ruida 6442 while the Gweike uses a custom PCB based on a Ruida design.
From my research they are identical to the omtech polar and come from same factory. The unboxing is identical…rotary in same spot, machine packed the same…even same crate. There are some minor improvements like the rotary override is just a toggle switch and there are 3 arrows on the Y axis for the rotary alignment positions for the 3 physical configurations of rotary. I havent opened the internals but would be glad to …what exactly am I looking for?
That’s what I initially thought Gweike = OMTech polar… they operate differently seems to be firmware related…
This video is interesting…
It would be fairly obvious. If it matches the Polar there will literally be a standard 6442 controller visible in the cabinet.
If it matches the Gweike Cloud there will be an exposed PCB like this.
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It may be a nameless manufacturer allowing branding and light personalization of the machines to 3 different companies…or one big company owning all 3 creating staggering of models…sort of like the power tools racket.