Testing the power of your laser?

[Jay Selway]

I have a 50w epilog, and despite realigning the lenses, leveling the table, cleaning the optics, and doing everything maintenance-wise – I feel like it's not cutting as nicely as it was. Is there a way to test it to see if the tube is losing power?

Thanks

[Gary Hair]

Rent, buy, or borrow a meter.

[Nicolas Silva]

you can rent a power meter from laserbits.com

[Jay Selway]

Thanks guys!

[Scott Marquez]

I recently purchased a Mahoney power meter from Bell Laser, it is a great tool for trending your power at different levels.
Scott

[Kev Williams]

I have so many power settings saved in my LS900 for cutting Rowmark and plex and tape that I'll never need a power meter to know if I'm losing power (although it would be nice to know just what the actual power output is).

Some settings I use regularly were made during the first few days I owned it, and they still work fine. In 12 years this machine hasn't lost a step (knock on my head!), and when I changed the silver mirror over the lens for a yellow mirror, it actually gained power. The obvious change I noticed was cutting double sided tape. For years it was dialed in to cut thru the tape but not cut thru the paper I stick the tape to (used vinyl backing or postage label backers). Once I put the new mirror in it blew right thru the tape and the paper backings.

Anyway-- Do you have any cutting settings saved that you can use for reference? If something won't cut with settings that used to work fine, then chances are your power's dropping.

[Ian Johnson]

You could use a set calibration test. Have a file that you use to raster a square at a particular speed and power into clear cast acrylic. Use a digital caliper to measure the depth of the square, and watch for changes in the depth.