Just received G. Weike (Wklaser) 6090

[Eric Fuller]

Well, I went and picked up my spanking new 80W 6090 laser today...bought it on Ebay and it comes from the same factory as WKlaser sells I believe (G.Weike Science and Tech Center). I'll be hooking it up over the next couple days so I'll be sure to take lots of pics and share the experience with you all since I know there's a lot of interest out there in the Chinese machines.

So far I got it uncrated and positioned in the shop. I ordered it with two tubes - took a quick look and they both seem intact. The machine was very well crated.

This sucker is HUGE! The crate was 45x72" and barely fit into the back of my full size Dodge pickup (tailgate would not close). Once I got the crate out of the back, I was able to use the plywood sheets from the top and sides of the crate to make a ramp and just roll it right down.

Anyway, I'll post more as I get it up and running.

[Frank Corker]

Good luck Eric and have fun!

[Eric Fuller]

OK, got it fully unpacked and inspected everything. Observations:

-I was expecting a much rougher machine. Previous complaints I had read indicated that wires were run through holes without grommets, soldering sucked, screws loose and falling out, etc. Not the case with this one. All wires are soldered, heatshrunk, screwed down then hot glued in place. All wiring runs through grommeted holes. All fasteners look fine.

-The XYZ axis system looks really very nicely made. Everything is stamped Taiwan. Have only messed with the Z axis so far but it's working great and very smooth.

-Previous machines seemed to need a separate chassis ground. While it indicates so in my setup manual, I cannot find the wires they referenced. Power supply is a different model from the pictures and it almost looks as if they have upgraded to a model which will ground through the plug. I ran a hefty ground from a random chassis bolt anyway just to make sure.

-I did not have to align anything yet. With the head in the home position I test fired it and POW nice little hole in the scrap acrylic. Don't know how well aligned it is and I will check to make sure the beam is centered.

Overall I'm very impressed so far. Came home to pickup the laptop and will try and test cut something today. So far all my time has been spent looking for something wrong and coming up blank. Only complaint - thing stinks to high heaven with that new chinese equipment stench - almost smells like formeldahyde (sp?).

[Skip Weiser]

Eric,

The smell is from the new drive belts, mine was the same way. It will go away after you use it a few times.

These are well made machines. And WK is continually improving them, unlike some of the other "avoid like the plague" Chinese brands.

I still want a USA made machine though, and I'll have one eventually. This is kind of my training laser until I can scrape up the money.

Best wishes,
Skip

[Mike Null]

Eric

Glad all is progressing well. Very nice of you to give us a step by step on your experiences.

[Eric Fuller]

No problem Mike. I read a ton of info on here before I bought, so I may as well return the favor.

Got the laser up and running. Software is prehistoric but I expected that. Am able to cut/engrave fine; only problem is my kerf is really wide - around .02 as opposed to the .007 or so on my smaller laser. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of beam alignment/focusing issue I need to work out (i.e. user setup error). I tried moving the table up and down in .5mm increments but the smallest I could get it was to the .02. Even then it went through .20 walnut, but I had to run it pretty slow and at 95% power.

Amazingly enough the chiller water pump, exhaust fan and air assist pump seem to be decent machines. I thought I would have to replace them with more powerful units, but they work great as is. The exhaust fan especially impressed me since my vent run is probably 25-30 feet. Moves a ton of air and is quieter than the dust collector motor I was planning on using. The casing was screwed sheet metal and it looked like there would be a lot of leaks, so I disassembled it and sealed it up with duct tape and weatherstripping to make sure everything got pushed out.

Took a bunch of pictures but left the camera in the shop. I'll post 'em up tomorrow.

[Eric Fuller]

Thanks for the info Skip. I figured it was some new plastic/rubber component that would eventually outgass.

I agree that WKlaser seems to continually improve the product. The manual was surprisingly decent for a chinese import...not anywhere near western standards, but not bad and lots of pictures. I notice design changes between the referenced pictures and my unit so there have definitely been changes since the manual appears to be fairly recent.

Even the tubes are fresh - manufactured in 2/08.

Not sure if I need an American machine (with the caveat that I don't need epilogue resolution capabilities). I really am impressed with the value of this unit. I plan on using it in a production cutting environment so we'll see how it holds up. If it's reasonably trouble free I really do think the smart call would be to buy 3 of these instead of one (probably smaller)American unit. Productivity would soar,and if one went down for a period of time I'd still have two more up and running.

[Skip Weiser]

Hi Eric,

I wonder what focal length lens came installed on yours. Mine came with a 100mm lens installed, but I also purchased two 50mm lenses. I would get a .007 wide cut with the 100mm and .005 with the 50mm.

Did you find the focus gauge in your accessories bags? Was there a size marked on the side of it?

Also, if you can't get the beam focused smaller than .02, you might want to remove the lens tube and make sure the focus lens isn't upside down. Just a thought.

Thanks for the updates.
Skip

[Marc Myer]

The machine is from Taiwan? That would explain the good build quality and finish. The Taiwanese exports, by and large, are far superior to those of Mainland China; after all, they've been making products for the US market (and partnering with US companies) for many years.

[Eric Fuller]

Skip - Lens is in the correct direction. I played around with it a lot more today and got a better kerf by fully aligning the beam. It was a bit off over the travel of the entire table. Still seems fairly wide when I cut through say .25 walnut. A bit thinner with acrylic. Are you getting a .07 overall kerf when you cut thicker materials?

The alignment system is a vast improvement over my little artsign laser - three adjustment points and two spring mounted hold downs with very nicely knurled brass adjusters and lockdowns.

Marc - the laser is Chinese but the stepper system looks like it came from Taiwan. That's where it's stamped Taiwan anyway. Controllers are the 305 chinese ones, as is the rest of the unit. No way the whole machine is - not for what I paid for it

[Eric Fuller]

Well, got it running like a top now. The beam was not completely centered at the nozzle after the lens, and my focus was off. Centered the beam and found out that the focus point is 68mm. Just left the shop where I was zipping through .25 BB ply, yellowheart, canarywood and cast acrylic like butter. Rastering works well also; much quicker than my benchtop unit.

I'll be working on the drawings tomorrow for my first product. As I mentioned before, I plan on using this as a production machine, so I'll keep this thread updated with long term reports.

Final conclusion: amazing machine for the money. Everything worked perfectly out of the box except the chiller. My setup time (about 12 hours all said and done) was me being picky and looking for faults, getting the machine physically uncrated, moved, and located, aligning the beam, and lots of test cutting/software familiarization.

As for the chiller, it does actually work as it should, but it only cools to ambient from what I can tell. My shop gets pretty hot in the summer, so I am going to buy another chiller with temp controls that will actually cool the fluid. Looks like a decent aquarium unit will run me about $400 on Ebay. If you're in the market for one of these machines and dont live in a cold climate, I'd pass on the factory option and buy one yourself.

Feel free to drop me a PM if you have any questions. I was also very involved in the importation so I can give you tips there.

[Eric Fuller]

Some Pictures:

[Robert Ray]

Just a note on cooling, and most people probably already know this, but it's best to set your temperature to warmer than ambient.

At my day job we set ours to 27C, or 80F so the beam stays stable, and by being warmer than ambient, we never have to worry about condensation.

At my night job, the lasers are air cooled.

[Sandra Force]

I run 2 lasers with water cooled systems. One is an ambient temperature and the other is a chiller. With the chiller I have to keep track of the current temp and set it to near that. No more than a few degrees lower than ambient temp. If the temp where you are working get too hot SHUT IT DOWN. I have to shut down any time the building gets over 90 degrees and it is not insulated. Better that then to mess up the tube with condensation and cost us money replacing it.

[Eric Fuller]

Hi Robert,

Well, I didn't think of that! Thanks very much for your input. Guess I'll run the ambient cooler and see how long the tube lasts. if it craps out quick I'll have to do something drastic like buy an air conditioner