Epilog 36EXT Laser Trouble

[Shawn Handley]

Greetings!

I have a 50Watt EXT that is suddenly having issues. I was doing a pretty heavy job of 1/8 plastic cuts. About half way through, the laser only has about half the power it once did. It's very strange.

I checked alignment of everything and the table is indeed level. I tried different material with the same result.

I fear the tube may be gone/going.

I noticed that the cuts are causing way more..... dusting than normal (residue left behind as dust).


Any ideas?

[Tony Lenkic]

You have verified that alignment is fine but have you checked mirrors and lens?
With heavy cutting these parts are in frequent need of cleaning.

[Shawn Handley]

Thanks for checking but yes, I clean them regularly (when needed) and there is almost no issues with the optics (a few very minor scratches on one mirror but it's been that way since I received it).

[Tony Lenkic]

Shawn, where are you located in "GWN"

Next thing to do would be find a laser meter and check what output does tube give out.

[Shawn Handley]

A Suburb of Vancouver
Laser meters are... more expensive than I thought they would be. The tech in our area (who has a meter) wont be able to come until the 20th.

[Jerome Stanek]

Is your cooling heating up

[Shawn Handley]

Well, the fans are ramping up as jobs are being done, yes.

[Tony Lenkic]

Shawn,

Does Epilog have a rep in BC now days? Bruce King use to be the one.
If you contact Epilog and ask for rental meter it may be way to go before replacing the tube.

[Shawn Handley]

They seem to only have a distributor who also have techs. It's called Synergy Products.
I thought I could send my laser tube to epilog but now it seems I have to go though a middleman markup. Odd.
This machine has been nothing but trouble for the amount of hours I have used it (It would be awesome to know how many firing hours are actually on that tube).

EDIT:
I just received a quote to replace the tube: $ a few hundred over $3,000.
Seems kind of steep, doesn't it? Especially since the cost was $1,400 3 years ago?

Anyone want a broken 36EXT? It may be sitting on the curb by the end of the day.

[Darren Wilson]

Hi Shawn,
I have an EXT36 75W that had a weak tube, and got a refurbished replacement from Evergreen Laser in Connecticut.
Phil fixed me up with a refurbished C70 Coherent tube outright for around $2600UDS. Repairs/regas or swap are about half again. As I'm in Australia, I chose to buy a refurbished tube outright due to shipping cost. A tube from the Epilog distributor here in AU would have been more than $7k AUD!! With conversion, shipping and duties buying from Evergreen was just over half that figure. Tube was a breeze to install, and just followed instructions for alignment and am a happy camper. I'm heading state side in July and plan to bring my old tube to have it serviced by Evergreen while I'm there. Can't hurt to give them a call, they are very pleasant and helpful. Best of Luck, Daz

[Martin Boekers]

I know this may sound stupid, but check to see if the air assist tube may have got knocked and is partially interfering with the beam.

[Kev Williams]

$10 sez you blew a capacitor in the tube. My BIL's LS800 40w tube did exactly the same thing awhile back. In the middle of a job he found the second half of his wood engraving exactly half as deep as the first half. Our rep tested his power at just under 20 watts. It still works fine, but at exactly half the power.

I've read on these pages that it's an easy and inexpensive fix to replace the capacitors...