Another tube bites the dust - not a rant

[Joe Pelonio]

Just sharing the news, that's all. Maybe looking for sympathy. The first died after about a year, while on warranty, this one lasted 18 months and it'$ on me. After starting to have problems a little over a week ago I've gone from easily cutting 1/4" acrylic to needing 2 passes to cut 1/8". Finishing some badges and nameplates today with a lot of extra effort, then yanking it out in the morning.


Keywords: Laser Tube Failure

[Keith Outten]

Ouch!

Sorry about the tube Joe, you already know the drill and are famillier with the pain
I have just about accepted that I will need a rebuilt tube every 12 to 18 months and I charge enough overhead to each job to cover my tube replacement plus a bit more.
Tell us the make and model of your machine so we can keep some stats.

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All you new Engravers heed this advice and make sure you are charging every client a fair overhead % on each job. When your laser tube fails you will need to fork up the big bucks to replace it and they are rarely cheap. Low end laser work will often become very unprofitable when the final bills come in so plan ahead. It would be a good move to contact your laser manufacturer and ask about the replacement cost of your laser tube right now, you can reduce the sticker shock and save a few pennies from each job so you'll be ready.

[Joe Pelonio]

Keith gives good advice, since mine went out the first time and Keith mentioned it in another post I have been doing that. I debated whether to extend the warranty but then forgot when the date came and it was too late, but the difference between warranty extension cost and new tube is not that much.

Again I have to say that Epilog tech support has been very cooperative and helpful. It's a Legend 24tt 45 watt, 2-1/2 years old.

[Ed Maloney]

I thought I read somewhere that some of the lasers were rated at 30,000 hours which is anout 3 1/2 years. Is this a static (idle time) rating with no load on it?

[Joe Pelonio]

Rating is hard to define. I know there are representatives of most laser manufacturers on this forum all the time, maybe some will chime in. One of them once said in a post that they were finding most tubes to last 5 years, but that would include folks that use it as a hobby, maybe a few hours a week. So it may well be true but you can't go by it.

When I bought mine I was told that the tube was rated 11,000 hours, which is 3 years at 10 hours a day 365 days a year. There have to be some assumptions based on averages for that rating, for example 1/2 power rastoring is going to have much less affect on longevity as full power cutting. Someone doing 90% engravable plastic (rowmark, ipi) would get a lot more time out of it than someone like me where 80%
of my work is cutting 1/4" acrylic.

Comparing replacement costs as Keith suggested would be a better consideration in choosing a machine than the rated hours. Of course balancing that with other features, customer service and support etc.

[Mike Mackenzie]

I can help out the ULS customers with some numbers.

For replacement completely refurbished ULS tubes the pricing is listed below.

25-30 watt tubes $850.00
35-40 watt tubes $950.00
45-60 watt tubes $1,050.00

of course this does not include shipping, Hopefully this will give you folks some numbers to plan ahead with. From all of our statistics that we have gathered over the last 10 years or so the ULS tubes are lasting between 3 to 5 years.

Most laser tube mfg's rate the hours on a bench they turn the laser on and shoot it at a brick and wait for it to die they have test equipment to measure the time. But it does not make any difference whether you run your system at 100% power or 5% power whether you run the system 1 day a week or 7 days a week.

[Frank Corker]

jeez Joe, so sorry to hear that mate, it's so frustrating something like that happening, have they given you a price on a replacement?

[mike wallis]

Ouch!

Sorry about the tube Joe, you already know the drill and are famillier with the pain
I have just about accepted that I will need a rebuilt tube every 12 to 18 months and I charge enough overhead to each job to cover my tube replacement plus a bit more.
Tell us the make and model of your machine so we can keep some stats.

-------------------------------------------------------------
All you new Engravers heed this advice and make sure you are charging every client a fair overhead % on each job. When your laser tube fails you will need to fork up the big bucks to replace it and they are rarely cheap. Low end laser work will often become very unprofitable when the final bills come in so plan ahead. It would be a good move to contact your laser manufacturer and ask about the replacement cost of your laser tube right now, you can reduce the sticker shock and save a few pennies from each job so you'll be ready.

Keith I think you may be on to something here. Allot of places have customer ratings/reviews on products...Why not have a unbiased place that rates lasers? People can give a review and rating on there model. Man I wish something like that was around when I was shopping for a laser. Maybe a forum edition?

[Keith Outten]

Ed,

The 30,000 hour figure is based on the CO2 gas and does not include the electronics part of the tube. The figure looks great in print but seems to be extremely poor advertising practice to me. I have inquired about adding an hour meter to lasers, this would provide real world numbers on the lifespan of CO2 tubes but the idea isn't real big with the manufacturers.

I believe that we can put together some numbers based on our own experiences concerning tube replacements and other types of machine failures. This would be a huge benefit to those shopping for a new laser engraver both newbies and those who are considering switching manufacturers. The cost of tube replacement is a real number that everyone needs to be aware of and it affects your bottom line. So many of the new owners are unaware of the real cost of ownership and many will be heartbroken when they finally figure out that they weren't charging their customers enough to pay for maintenance and repair.

What we need is a three year 100,000 hour warranty on a machine that often costs more than the car or truck we drive.

You guys keep supplying the data and I will put some kind of database together to track the information.


.

[James Stokes]

I just had a 30 watt universal tube recharged. It lasted 6 years. No guess on how many hrs. I ran it a lot the first 5 years not much at all the last year. Most of what I did I ran at full power. I think what finally killed the tube was non use. Universal was suprised it lasted that long.

[Joe Pelonio]

jeez Joe, so sorry to hear that mate, it's so frustrating something like that happening, have they given you a price on a replacement?

The replacement is $2,300, but if you send it ahead of time, and they wait until they have the old one to ship the new, it's $2,100

Keith, perhaps you could include in your data the replacement cost too.

I'm estimating the hours on this tube at about 4,000. Would be nice to have the machine track that.

[Mike Shauer]

Sorry to hear that Joe but is good and right that you set aside the replacement money.
My Versa has a USB port on the back to run the air compressor and maybe a filter thing anyway it turns on when the tube starts to fire. My son is a robotic engineer and he thought he could make a circuit to drive a hour meter from this port. He lives in the city about 125 miles away and is extremely busy so I expect to have it about the time I need a new tube. Hopefully not till mid to end of next year. Cheers, Mike

[James Stokes]

Just for grins I just called epilog, To replace my 100 watt tube is $2900. I hope I do not need to replace it very soon

[Joe Pelonio]

Just got a call from Epilog, my tube was down to 13 watts (from 45).

[Frank Corker]

No wonder it wasn't working well Joe. I just wish there was some more ways of indicating what the condition of the laser actually is. Is there anyway of finding out exactly what your laser does pump out without using specialist equipment?

By the way Joe, here in the UK the last quote I was given for a replacement laser was £11000 GBP so when you think it's bad, they are kicking the heck out of us!