Overheated Tube?

[Jerome Stanek]

mine is left side that's where it homes and starts

[Keith Winter]

Keith said lasers move left to right. You can not assume this as my laser moves right to left. My zero is the upper right corner.

True some co2 start in the right, left or right start regardless, it does not go in a circle or jump all over like a Fiber Galvo does. So it would not make sense for the middle of the substrate to be much hotter than any other edge. If it was a Fiber you can set it to engrave in circles so the middle would be hotter than the outside edge because the lines being engraved would be close to each other at the time of engraving.


Interesting it's working fine now Chris on a cooler day, sounds like you have your answer. 74 is coincidentally the same temp as we use in our laser room as I mentioned in my earlier post. No issues at that temp for us, never tried it hotter.

I would suspect air cooled machines like yours and mine might be more susceptible to room temperature than a water cooled machine that is constantly recycling the water around. I would think a clogged fan/broken fan on the laser could potentially cause issues too though, even on a cool day doing a heavy load, are those all clean?

[Ross Moshinsky]

I'd double check the alignment, open up the machine and clean out any filters and dust, and see if the problem goes away. 82* is warm but definitely should be within the realm of room temperature.

My honest guess is the laser tube needs to be serviced but it wouldn't surprise me if a filter or fan is the issue.

[Keith Colson]

Hi Chris

I had those exact same symptoms. Another symptom is the fans will hit full speed and stay there. A fan cooled machine should always be modulating the fan speed if it is "happy". During summer my laser would lose power about 30 minutes into a job. There are two things I have done to solve the issue.

1) Clean or replace the filters for the fans.
2) Run all jobs at 80% power. This stopped my laser getting to that point where it was too hot.

I have followed this strategy for about a year. My results are now very consistent. Before doing this my laser would lose about 15% power after 30 minutes or so.

Also check your nose cone is not on the edge of the beam. I was losing about 5% power there.

Cheers
Keith

[Chris Achtschin]

Thanks Keith,
Filters were the first thing I checked, they were dirty, after cleaning I did see some improvement.
All jobs at 80%, so you adjust speed for your final output?

[Keith Colson]

Hi Chris

Yes, that's all I did is slow the speed down "about" 20% to match the 80% power. I am willing to bet that the tubes will last much longer when not run at full power. When manufacturers set a 100% spec, that is the stress limit of that product. Running under that stress limit can only be good in my opinion. That spec is based on a new machine too.