Weike laser upgrades

[brian257]

Looks like I am buying a G. Weike LC6090 laser tomorrow that I found locally for a great deal. Can anyone tell me if those lasers come with the same crappy controllers and software as the other Chinese lasers or do they come with a decent control system and software?

What other things on that laser would be worth upgrading? I am not sure of the quality of the optics, tube, power supply, etc. and with only my K40 upgraded with Lightobject parts I really won't be able to tell if it will run as good as it could with upgrades. Any comments on what stock parts on the Weike could benefit from good Lightobject upgrades?

[brian257]

So turns out that I got the deal of the year on the Weike laser. Wound up paying $600 for an LC6090. The owner thinks that the tube is bad, but there is a brand new Reci 80W tube still in the box and a brand new spare power supply. The tube says has on the label that it was tested to 90.1W output so that is worth more than I paid for the whole system. It also has a chiller and a brand new rotary attachment so I am pretty happy with the deal. The laser has a power bed.

Of course this was not the perfect brand new laser ready to run. He had it in its own shed in the back yard that had not been opened apparently for a few years. The inside of the unit was full of leaves and acorns. We opened the side door with the electronics and about a dozen mice ran out of the machine. Looks like they had been munching on the wiring. The X axis bearing rails are good, but the Y axis rails are a bit rusted and I will probably just replace them. I will also have to replace all of the belts. Have not taken a good look at the optics yet. Software is lost and with the wires all chewed electronics might be bad so I will likely just put in a Lightobject new DSP. Looks like the stepper motors and drives are good, but if I have to replace them it is not a big deal. Might even replace them with servos.

So it will cost me some money and time to get it going, but still one hell of a deal. New tube and power supply, good enclosure, and will be a like new XY stage when I am done for thousands less and a lot less time than building one from scratch like I was planning.

[Tech_Marco]

Sounds a great deal to me!
Let me know if you need any help for retrofit the machine

Marco

[brian257]

I will call you this week Marco. Will need DSP and also thinking of adding beam combiner, maybe beam expander, and some other stuff.

[brian257]

Marco, having a hard time getting you on the phone so will ask here.

Looks like I will need to replace the mirrors. The machine has 25mm mirrors now. Are they big enough with an 80W Reci tube and a beam expander or should I get new mounts and larger mirrors? If so, what size. The machine also has a head with a 20mm lens. Is that large enough or should I upgrade to a head with a larger lens?

What beam expander would you recommend? I will do cutting and also small engraving. Looks like there is not enough room to put a beam splitter and expander between the tube and the first mirror unless I put an extension on the side off the machine and move the tube a few inches, but there should be room just after the first mirror. What is the best place for it?

While I am changing the electronics I was thinking of replacing the stepper motors and drivers with servo motors and drivers. Would that be a good idea or should I just leave the steppers?