Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 17

Thread: Trotec Speedy 360 in machine compressor replacement

  1. #1

    Trotec Speedy 360 in machine compressor replacement

    I'm getting A LOT of smoke/soot damage on my 1/8 ply that I'm cutting earrings out of.
    Wanted to see if anyone has bypassed the compressor in the machine and hooked up to a real compressor to get more air output?
    I've got a rotary that supplies air to the rest of my shop and hook up to a regulator for no more than the recommended 35 psi. But my thinking is that more air would push the smoke at the laser point away. Am I correct in this thinking?

  2. #2
    You don't want to push air "at", you want to push it "through" for cutting.

    Air assist is an exact science for cutting lasers and is a combination of pressure/volume/offset of nozzle and nozzle diameter
    You did what !

  3. #3
    I'm thinking that your exhaust system is at fault-not the air assist.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Suwanee, GA
    Posts
    3,686
    Quote Originally Posted by Sean Kirkpatrick View Post
    I'm getting A LOT of smoke/soot damage on my 1/8 ply that I'm cutting earrings out of.
    Wanted to see if anyone has bypassed the compressor in the machine and hooked up to a real compressor to get more air output?
    I've got a rotary that supplies air to the rest of my shop and hook up to a regulator for no more than the recommended 35 psi. But my thinking is that more air would push the smoke at the laser point away. Am I correct in this thinking?
    Try lower power and you may find less smoke/soot is produced than with higher power. You may need to make more than one pass, but the reduced cleanup may offset the extra time to run the parts. Also, if you are cutting parts out of a larger piece, leave them intact and clean while in the laser. It’s usually much easier to clean this way vs trying to clean individual parts.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    286
    Where exactly your air is blowing at? If it is within a cutting kerf try to increase air flow. The combination of a close nozzle, its diameter and air flow can cut out snoot free at the top of your material. The bottom part cleanness from soot depends on your table.

    I cut soot free with a fine nozzle(about 2-3mm hole), 10mm from a surface of a material and with 35psi air pressure. All pieces come clean from soot at the top. The bottom is also soot free if I use some kind of pins to raise a MDF panel above my honeycomb about 5-6mm. That's for 100W laserPro Spirit GX. My honeycomb is absolutely dirty and even with this a raised panel quite clean from the bottom.
    GCC Spirit GX Pro 100W(synrad)
    Laserlife Ezlaser LCW 300W(Yongli DLT-300)

  6. #6
    I was told that the built in air assist pump in my Trotec Speedy 360 maxes out at 10psi. I purchased the Gas kit to be able to hook my compressor up to it and get more air. That should get me soot free on the top.

    Now, to figure out how to get my 1/8 ply that is NEVER completely flat from getting burn marks from the honeycomb table. i have a good vaccuum that keeps the play completely flat on the table, but if I raise it....I'll lose the vacuum flatness

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    286
    Quote Originally Posted by Sean Kirkpatrick View Post
    I was told that the built in air assist pump in my Trotec Speedy 360 maxes out at 10psi. I purchased the Gas kit to be able to hook my compressor up to it and get more air. That should get me soot free on the top.

    Now, to figure out how to get my 1/8 ply that is NEVER completely flat from getting burn marks from the honeycomb table. i have a good vaccuum that keeps the play completely flat on the table, but if I raise it....I'll lose the vacuum flatness
    The compressors that are supplied with lasers by manufacturers are absolutely pointless. My Spirit GX has come with an airbrush one. No tank for building pressure up inside it and it turns on when cutting starts so it can give 10 psi top pumping air all the time.

    Regarding a non-flat plywood panel and raising it from a honeycomb table, that's probably will be very hard to do. You can try some sticky tape to fix plywood corners to the sides of the table. I am doing it sometimes when my MDF panels are warped.

    Another way to try it, you can build a slotted frame from aluminium profiles and let a plywood panel sit inside it. But the slot width inside the frame should be as close to your plywood thickness as possible.

    Magnets may also help but you will need a few quite big and strong magnets at the bottom of the honeycomb table and a few small ones on top of a plywood panel. I do not know though how strong they need to be to work through a honeycomb table. Mine honeycomb is about 20mm in height so a magnetic force should work through that distance and the material laying on top.

    I have 20 of 10mm in diameter so called earth magnets(iridium magnets?). They are about 2.5-3mm thick. They pulling toward each other only at 25mm distance. That's just one to one. If I use 10 of them on each side then the distance when they start coming toward each other increases to 50mm.
    GCC Spirit GX Pro 100W(synrad)
    Laserlife Ezlaser LCW 300W(Yongli DLT-300)

  8. #8
    Mike
    I don't know what your experience is with a Trotec Speedy 300 but my air compressor works just fine and I've never had the need to supplement it.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  9. #9
    I agree with Mike. For some reason, early on, I bypassed the air system and hooked it to our shop compressor. I could dump some pretty large numbers into it. In the end, it changed nothing from what the factory compressor was already doing. I pulled it all off, hooked up the factory one and have cut more than a million parts with it. Have never seen the benefit from anything more than they put in the Trotec.

    Of course I'm sure there is some special case where more air is better, but cutting wood and acrylic, it hasn't meant anything to us.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    286
    Sorry Mike, I have never had Trotec machines so it is mostly about two brands I have. May be Trotec is better in this than GCC.

    A better compressor only helps to cut soot free from the top if it gives you constant 30-40 psi, airbrush small compressors cannot pump that much. At least mine that came with my Spirit GX can only do 10-15 psi.
    BTW, engraving is better with 40 PSI too as all this soot dries fast and instead of sticky stuff around engraving and on it it is just dry powder like stuff left that can be blown by air.

    I do not know if cutting with 40 psi is better than with 10 psi in terms of quality and faster cutting.
    GCC Spirit GX Pro 100W(synrad)
    Laserlife Ezlaser LCW 300W(Yongli DLT-300)

  11. #11
    Mike
    Things must work differently on the other side of the world. I have never found that engraving with air assist is better.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    286
    No really Mike, still the same laws of physics :-).

    I used to do a lot of engraved stained pine signs. With 10 psi from my airbrush compressor I got sticky stuff on an engraved area and around it with every sign. This could only be removed with some chemicals. However after I changed it to a normal compressor that can deliver 30 PSI or slightly more this sticky stuff stopped being sticky and became a layer of fine dry dust that can be easily removed with a dry cloth or by just blowing air it it.

    It is just that 10psi of air is only good for protecting optics from residue but it is way to low for clean cutting at least on my 100W Spirit GX. I may get away with 20PSI with a smaller hole on my nozzle but for my modified nozzle hole size 30PSI is a minimum.

    My other machine with 280W tubes has 60-70 PSI requirement for air assist. Unfortunately my compressor can do only 45 PSI max continuously. I guess it would be much better with 70psi especially on MDF over 12mm but it just has to wait till I have enough free cash to replace my compressor with a better one.
    GCC Spirit GX Pro 100W(synrad)
    Laserlife Ezlaser LCW 300W(Yongli DLT-300)

  13. #13
    Mike

    I know what you're talking about. You make a good point. I use mineral spirits to remove that sticky stuff although I usually refuse to engrave wood from conifers.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Sean Kirkpatrick View Post
    I was told that the built in air assist pump in my Trotec Speedy 360 maxes out at 10psi.
    Even though it's an old post, I just opened my Speedy 400 to see characteristics of the inbuilt compressor. It's a MEDO AC0401A compressor and it's specifications state a rated pressure of 1.42psi (0,1bar) and maximum pressure of 4.98psig (0,35 bar). This is way less than all the numbers discussed here. I am still not sure about the impact of the pressure on the cutting quality. In a German forum people are hooking up shop compressors to their laser systems with output pressure ranging from 29-145psi (2-10 bar) stating that pressure has huge impact on soot and burning when cutting ply.

    The operation manual of the Speedy 500 with gas kit option states "Intended for regulation of compressed air and process gas (free of mechanical dust, water and oil) Suitable for a max. flow rate of 150 l/min (40 gal.(US)) at max. 10 bar (145 psi) Pressure connection on product for hose diameter of 6 mm (0.236 inch)" what is up to 100 times of the pressure the small inbuilt compressor provides. I have no clue what the max. pressure for a standard Speedy tubing is, it might be different compared to a system with "gas kit". What I personally don't like about my Air Assist is the fact, that I can't regulate it without unplugging the maschine and unscrewing lots of screws to get to the compressor. Even Trotec recommends adjusting the Air Assist for different materials what isn't feasable at all. There is just the different nozzles to vary output pressure.

    Hope this information is to someones use.
    Last edited by Holm Linke; 10-30-2018 at 2:19 PM.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Holm Linke View Post
    Even though it's an old post, I just opened my Speedy 400 to see characteristics of the inbuilt compressor. It's a MEDO AC0401A compressor and it's specifications state a rated pressure of 1.42psi (0,1bar) and maximum pressure of 4.98psig (0,35 bar). This is way less than all the numbers discussed here. I am still not sure about the impact of the pressure on the cutting quality. In a German forum people are hooking up shop compressors to their laser systems with output pressure ranging from 29-145psi (2-10 bar) stating that pressure has huge impact on soot and burning when cutting ply.

    The operation manual of the Speedy 500 with gas kit option states "Intended for regulation of compressed air and process gas (free of mechanical dust, water and oil) Suitable for a max. flow rate of 150 l/min (40 gal.(US)) at max. 10 bar (145 psi) Pressure connection on product for hose diameter of 6 mm (0.236 inch)" what is up to 100 times of the pressure the small inbuilt compressor provides. I have no clue what the max. pressure for a standard Speedy tubing is, it might be different compared to a system with "gas kit". What I personally don't like about my Air Assist is the fact, that I can't regulate it without unplugging the maschine and unscrewing lots of screws to get to the compressor. Even Trotec recommends adjusting the Air Assist for different materials what isn't feasable at all. There is just the different nozzles to vary output pressure.

    Hope this information is to someones use.

    Can you advice what air compressor should I get? I just bought a SP500 49"x28" Trotec and research for get a working air compressor. Thanks.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •