Some simple questions

[daniel coyle]

What advantages and disadvantages (aside from cost) does having dual laser heads have? can't find any simple info on this.
In general, how important is the water chiller? Is it important to get a very good one or are the mid range ones typically fine?

thanks

[Rodne Gold]

Depends on how the dual heads are configured , some split the beam and you get 2 heads at 1/2 the power and obviously 1/2 the X travel ..ok if you don't need the power or the full bed space and want to double your production.
The chinese way of 2 tubes is better IMO , as you get the full power for each head..which is also a double edged sword as you need to make sure both tubes are outputting the same power or you will get variations in engraving and cutting. The chinese machines double head is also easily removeable so you can get full bed coverage quick. The thing I like is that you also have redundancy built in with twin tubes , if one tube fails , you still have a workable machine unlike if you split the beam. I would definitly get dual heads if I were to order a really big bed machine , like a 1600 x 1200 as you would get 2 x 750 x 1200 machines in one..quite useful.
In essence, whichever laser you have , a double head is great if you are doing long runs of the same thing and can effectively utilise them.
Get the best chiller you can afford rated for your tube ..the cheapy Cw 3000's are utter junk , entry level is the Cw5000 which should be good for up to 120 watts or so or for 2 x 60w tubes in a double head machine (albeit I would rather get a cw5000 for each tube.)

[Mike Null]

The problem I had was alignment. That was a long time ago and we finally converted the machine (Epilog) back to a single head.

[George M. Perzel]

I have a dual tube 80 watt Shenhui and agree with Rodne's assessment and recommendation. Tube power does cause small variations in engraving but easily compensated for by setting different power levels for each tube (software) or adjusting power supplies (hardware). Double output-getting two of everything- has enabled machine to pay for itself in less than a year-on top of normal profits! Setup to one head-full table operation can be done in less than 5 minutes. I have one CW5000 chiller which easily handles both tubes.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[daniel coyle]

Thanks for the answers. Just what I needed to know. I had considered getting one 150W (dedicated to cutting) and one 80W laser (cutting/engraving - i think i have learned that it is more difficult to engrave with a higher power laser, is this true?) and the ability to pull a head off easily/quickly (is this true for a weike as well? 1300x900) would be great.

sounds like people have some variety of experiences/perspectives on what is adequate for a water chiller. my machine will be in an unheated space that doesn't get below freezing in the winter and gets warm, not hot, in the summer.