Fiber laser maintenance costs question

[Bert McMahan]

I'm considering adding a fiber laser to my CO2 laser to get some work marking some metal parts. I have a pretty solid idea on annual costs for running a CO2 laser (new tubes, chiller stuff, exhaust, etc) but I'm new to fiber lasers. The manufacturers claim crazy high life numbers for the laser source, and I won't need nearly the filtering or air assist cost as the CO2 laser.

What am I looking at to run a standard 20W fiber for a year or two? What replacement parts should I factor in? Are routine lens swaps needed?

Thanks for any help.

[Gary Hair]

So far, this seems to be one of the few times that the manufacturer claims are true! Other than cleaning the dust from lasering and the normal dust from the other surfaces of the machine, there has been nothing that I have needed to do to either machine. The lenses are far enough away from the item you are engraving that there is really nothing that gets on them, I've never cleaned mine. I do have the exhaust setup on both machines and run it all the time, that probably contributes to them staying so clean. So, in a nutshell, my maintenance time and costs are both zero! You can see the dates I got them in my signature.

[John Lifer]

I haven't set up an exhaust yet for mine, but I expect zero actual laser maintenance for the future. Several years. I listened to the trotec salesman/ engineer/ trainer at the NBM show in Arlington a couple of weeks ago. He stated they do last those 100k hours of Use, due to the internal crystals in the fiber being plenty enough to allow a large quantity fail over time and the laser will still lase just fine... We'll see!