Lightobject.com Support Forum

Recently, I finish my new diy laser cutter.
The setup info as below:

AWC608 controller
60W glass tube
60W power supply from my old Chinese laser
CW3000 water chiller

The tube is pretty new, I think it worked below 50hrs
Even this tube installed in my old machine, the power % needed to be set higher than the oldest one.
After I put the tube and PS to my new laser with the awc608 card, the power is even lower.
It barely cut 3mm acrylic in 80/50% in 6mm/s.
After a few cut, the power dropped and it cannot cut through even I set it at slower speed.

There are few thought of mine.
Is the power supply doesn't fit the tube or it is almost broken?
Secondly, I know the temperature is another reason to make the cutting power dropped and the CW3000 is air cooled only.
The meter of the CW3000 always starts at 30degree. I am not sure it show the temperature of the tube but it works fine when I am using my oldest 60W tube.
Thirdly, is there any settings on Lasercad wrong? I set the frequency at 20000, except this, anything needed to be set?

Roy

Roy:

You shouldn't use CW3000 as a cooler for your system because CW3000 is NOT a water chiller but it is simply just an air-cooled water cooler. There is no compressor built-in so water temperature rise up quick. The contact point of lens inside the tube is higher than 30'C so if you can't supply cooler water like 20~25'C, you're running a problem. The higher temperature will shorter the life span of the tube quicker than you can expect.

What is the current during cutting? If you don't have a current meter to monitoring the current your tube, chance was that you may over current the tube and speed up the dying.


Marco