Customer Introduction

Hi, I'm Colby Sechelski. My journey into laser engraving began with a simple side hustle creating hat patches, but quickly grew into a passion. After experiencing the limitations of entry-level machines, I made the strategic decision to upgrade to Thunder Laser. This move not only transformed my production efficiency and quality but also empowered me to transition my creative pursuit into a thriving full-time business, offering both professional fulfillment and precious family time.

What inspired you to buy a laser?

Before this, I actually started with a small tabletop diode laser, but it was incredibly slow. It would take me 15 passes just to cut a single piece of real leather. That definitely wasn't going to cut it for serious production! So, I upgraded to another Chinese brand, an Omtech laser – the red and black one. I used that for about two years, but eventually, it started showing its age. The machine wore out quickly and seemed to need frequent adjustments; it felt like I was repairing it almost every week. The laser tube also had a shockingly short lifespan, only about 100 hours instead of the promised 10,000. With all these persistent little problems, I knew it was time to start looking for a higher-quality, more reliable machine.

Why did you choose Thunder Laser?

I then came across Thunder Laser and saw how incredibly popular the Thunderbolt series was. I had heard a lot about the powerful performance and reliability of RF laser tubes, and after my previous experience, that really appealed to me. So, I made the decision to replace my Omtech with a Thunder Laser machine.

How did Thunder Laser help you overcome those challenges?

My old Omtech laser has a much larger work area, but honestly, considering my current needs, the Bolt is more than sufficient. I can comfortably fit 30 hat patches on a single leather sheet and complete them in just 28 minutes. That's twice the speed of the Omtech! As you can imagine, my production efficiency has skyrocketed. In fact, the slowest part of the process now is actually the person sitting in front of me, whether they're doing the hat pressing or packaging them – that’s become the bottleneck in our workflow.

The Bolt can run at speeds of up to 1000mm per second, and I almost always push it to its limit, running it at 1000mm per second for practically everything I do. This allows me to achieve much finer details in a significantly shorter amount of time. I can even set the line density to 0.05, which captures many tiny details that were previously impossible to achieve with the Omtech. For instance, I have a customer who owns a boat insurance business, and their logo features a large sportfishing boat with many intricate lines, like gears and the upper tower structure. The Omtech really struggled to capture these details, but the Bolt handles them with absolute ease. The engraving quality has improved dramatically, and every time I finish a hat, I can't help but think, 'Wow, this looks amazing.'

On the Omtech, it took me about five to six minutes to make a single hat patch, but with the Bolt, it only takes around two to two and a half minutes. So, the Bolt is about twice as fast. Even though I invested heavily in upgrades for the Omtech, like an upgraded air assist, an APC lens kit, an external air compressor, and a better exhaust blower – all of which cost me a lot of money – it still made the Omtech noisy and smelly. The Bolt, on the other hand, is much quieter, and I don't need an external compressor blasting in my ear. I'm sure my neighbors appreciate the quieter work environment as well! Plus, with the cooling system and air pump built right into the Bolt, it's far more convenient to use, and I can keep it right on my desk. It’s a complete game-changer.

How has your business grown or life changed since buying a laser?

The biggest achievement for me has been transitioning this from a side hustle to a full-time job. This is now my main source of income. While I still occasionally do some boat-related work because I have an established client base for it, my boat business has essentially become more of a side gig, and this is now my primary focus and full-time job. That's probably the coolest part of this whole journey.

I have two young children, a two-year-old daughter, and a newborn who is only 9 days old. Being able to work from home while supporting my wife in taking care of our two daughters is incredibly important to me. I'm still able to work and make money to help cover the family expenses, which is just fantastic. We’ve been in business for three years now. The first six months, I was using that diode laser, and honestly, I don’t even think it lasted six months – maybe just two before I realized it wasn’t going to work for what I needed. So, I bought a CO2 laser, and I used that Chinese brand machine for about two and a half years, until recently when we switched to the Thunder.

In the first year, I did a summary of our sales because that’s the easiest way for me to track progress. The first year, we did about $48,000 in sales, which I thought was awesome since it was just a side gig working from home for fun. It was a nice extra income. In the second year, we did about $80,000 in sales, and last year, it was the same. Looking at the numbers now, we’ve already grown 48% over last year. So, this year, we’re hoping to hit six figures. We’ll see how the end of the year turns out, but we’re already very close. To be honest, I set a goal to go full-time once I reached six figures in revenue, so I could leave my decent-paying day job. Now that we’ve reached that point, we decided to make the jump and go full-time and do it even better. It’s been an incredible journey!