My review of buying a Triumph laser.

[Rodne Gold]

Theory, albeit very interesting and informative , and practice are 2 different things

I use el cheapo chinese lenses in my "mainstream" machines , they do the job VERY well , they are ZnSE lenses.
I recently bought 10 lenses for $300 , LESS than the $350 GCC agents wanted for just 1 !!!!
Undoubtedly the better lenses DO work slightly better especially for cutting , but when running 8 lasers and having staff that are less than meticulous when cleaning lenses (despite training) , it is an economic decision as we treat lenses as "consumables"
In general laser engraving , the detail you get from these lenses is as good as any customer wants or needs , small spot sizes are a double edged sword too , especially when doing fills or large area solid engraving.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Exactly Rod

Wayyy too many variables to worry about optics in a production environment. Gaining $75 worth of production on a lens that costs $120 is pointless.

Rob is looking for perfection in machines not designed to provide it, the optical properties of a lens in Zeiss Bino's isn't a good comparison as the rest of the device is made to Zeiss standards, sticking Zeiss lens's in wallmart binos won't have much benefit.

The optical physics is great(technically interesting if you like physics) if it means anything and in the day to day running of a laser it means nothing.

cheers

Dave

[Pierre Brassard]

Hello Robert! I bought a Triumph laser cutter 50w via ebay two years ago. I'm having the same problem you encountered last year: I switched from Windows XP to Windows 7 64 bits, and Phcad won't work on the new computer. I tried contacting Triumph people through email (two different addresses) to get a compatible version, but they've been ignoring me so far! You said you had greater luck reaching them, and got a download link for a compatible version.
If you have any suggestion that could help me resolve this issue, I'd be very grateful!
Cheers,
Pierre

[Robert Silvers]

https://app.box.com/s/k39ff6z6sjed0yrqis04

[Kev Williams]

They have a version 7.01 now, cool. I've GOT to give it a tryout. I've been using the PHSOFT 4.47 version. I have PHCAD 5.76 but I've never been able to use it more than 3 minutes before it crashes or scrambles up all my saved parameter settings.

Thanks for the link!

[Kev Williams]

Seems to work okay, has a lot more features...

Now, if someone could just steer me to a plain english set of instructions or information that explains what the bazillion different parameters and their settings mean...

[Scott Shepherd]

Kev, it's really simple.

Step 1 - You find doger setting crawl 14 under advanced tabular mode change cutting power speed device stepping motor.

Hope that clears it up for you

[Kev Williams]

ha ha, you funny very man!

but seriously-- here's a screenshot of one of the parameters dialogs and their settings...



Now, from "control panel parameters" down, I have those pretty much figured out, although I'm not sure what "panel acceleraton" is, or why my panel needs to accelerate? But pretty much everything in the "crafts parameters" section is a ??

Like, "acceleration mode", there's a choice between S-type and T-type-- ?? What's the difference?

From there down, I have no clue...

If there's ONE problem I have with this machine, it's the (how to put this?) power difference between short areas and long areas being lasered, and this mostly applies to text, such as T's, where the top is long, and the shaft is short. The long expanses get substantially more burn than the short areas. This is the root of my Cermark problems on stainless issues; if I get the short areas to burn correctly, the long areas overcook, and if I get the long area's to burn correctly, the short area's don't get enough heat and the Cermark won't stick--

I understand much of this issue likely stems from the glass laser itself, but I 'm wondering if any of these settings I don't understand might help to compensate? I'm just an unedjukated dummy who'd love to understand what all (some) of this all means!