Buying a K40 – how to choose

First part in our article series about buying, installing and upgrading a K40 laser machine.
This article is not a full buyers guide – we have a deeper one here. This is only what and how we choose the K40 for this article series.

What you want to decide before buying.

Think about color and add-on¨s, do you need wheels on it? Most of us have it on a bench anyway and wheels just add more irritation if it moves around on the bench.
Set a max-price you want to pay, of course lower is better but sometimes it´s valuable to pay a few extra tens of dollars to get it delivered quicker.

How to find the seller

I suggest using Ebay, Aliexpress or Amazon. Whichever you prefer.
If you buy it locally from a seller in your country, make sure they have fixed the electric in the machine. By EU laws the seller is responsible for the machine fulfilling the regulations around safety and function.
When you import it yourself you are responsible, and that is what this article series is all about helping you with – minimizing the risk and damages that might occur from the K40 machine, it´s really dangerous in the state it is in on delivery.

What to look for in the advertising

There is a lot of different versions of the K40.
Color: Choose whatever you like.
Case/box: There is 3-4 different chassies/cases for the machine, they are similar in volume and only the outside is different.
Controller: Do NOT buy a machine where Moshi, MoshiDraw, LdDraw is presented – this is a old controller and really slow. You want support for CorelDraw or NewlyDraw.
Other addons: Lights, buttons, emergency stop, wheels and other addons vary between sellers. Choose what you like, there is no benifit from choosing a machine with lighting than without, you have to re-wire it anyways if you want to stay safe.

What is a good price?

A K40 often has pricing from 200-250 USD and up, you can find it cheaper on Black Friday and closer to Christmas.
The K40D is pricier but it has much better hardware, we won´t go in to details about the K40D in this article.

Reviews

Most negative reviews are about damages in shipping, this is often not the sellers fault and can happen to anyone. Focus on other things the reviews mentions, for a example how they helped buyers with issues.

Delivery methods

Many sellers has “sellers shipping option” and similar, it does not say anything on how quick it will ship or if it´s delivered by camel, air or boat.
Some sellers ship it to your closest harbor, you have to pick it up and pay the custom fee´s upon pickup – check this before!
Choosing DHL or TNT is a good choice, you know when and how quick you get it!
If the seller doesn´t support DHL or TNT or similar quicker shipping options, ask them – or look for another seller.

So, how about the machine we ordered?

I was looking around on Aliexpress to find a good option. I have been doing business with most of the bigger sellers and they know me due to this website, so i choose a seller i never dealt with before to make sure i don´t get any special treatment from earlier business with them.
I want this article series to reflect a buying experience you, me and others can relate to. I was asked if a seller could sponsor me with a machine but i rather want to make it the ordinary way – as you would do, and experience any issues and problems you might experience for myself.

This is the machine i bought. Right now the seller has just shipped it and i expect it to be delivered within 10 day, or around December 10 at latest.
When it arrives we start on the next article in the series – inspecting and installing the machine.
If you want to buy the same machine – click here!