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Adrian Hill
08-04-2011, 4:30 AM
I cut a lot of 3mm MDF but it goes quite slowly. Would I be able to double the cut speed by upgrading the tube from 70w to 150w?

What about acrylics?

One could conceiveably run multiple cuts at a high speed if charring becomes a problem.

Any thoughts?

Rodne Gold
08-04-2011, 5:20 AM
You can ugrade to a 150w tube easily , buy a reci + power supply , $1500 all in , the tube might not fit your enclosure and you might have issues with alignment if its optical output is higher than yours , but you can modify your laser machine to make it work. You might more than double thruput with a 150w on both mdf and acrylic and get less charring and better cuts , due to various factors

Adrian Hill
08-04-2011, 6:49 AM
Sounds good. I have spoken to the supplier and they said I need to upgrade the power supply, tube & cooling system. I can bring the whole lot in from China $1500 ex charges. Tell me more about the Reci tube.

Rodne Gold
08-04-2011, 8:52 AM
Adrian, there is a thread on the boards about reci tubes.

Richard Rumancik
08-04-2011, 1:33 PM
Check to make sure that the optics are rated at 150 watts. There may be margin on them - perhaps the manufacturer uses the same mirrors and lenses for lower and higher power units but there is a threshold somewhere. The mirrors mounts often act as a bit of a heat sink, as some power is lost due to less than 100% transmission. You don't want to overheat the optics. I assume you will have to use 220-250V if you are not already.

Dan Hintz
08-04-2011, 2:19 PM
Even at 150W the optics we use are plenty capable...

Adrian Hill
08-04-2011, 3:50 PM
I did look at the Reci website and they said that one should look at the optics - they say that some of the chemicals used in the manufacture of the cheaper mirrors can't cope with the added heat.

Dan Hintz
08-05-2011, 6:22 AM
Bogus... the only "chemicals" would be the front-surface mirroring and any anti-reflective coatings. The former will be practically perfect (for our purposes), and the latter isn't used in most cases.

Mike Null
08-05-2011, 8:21 AM
This site has some excellent information on lenses. http://www.iiviinfrared.com/tutorials

Dan Hintz
08-05-2011, 10:03 AM
This site has some excellent information on lenses. http://www.iiviinfrared.com/tutorials
Agreed... just keep in mind some are geared towards optics used in kW-level systems, so some of the warnings mentioned don't really apply to us.