Trotec's Ceramic Technology

[Mike Null]

My local Trotec rep sent this info recently. It appears to be a big step forward for Trotec.

http://www.troteclaser.com/en-US-US/Laser-Machines/Accessories/Options/Pages/CeramiCore.aspx

[Kees Soeters]

Wow! stable from less than 1W! Time to change my glasstube.. see who sells the units, besides Trotec..

Kees

[Dan Hintz]

Interesting concept. Sealed RF lasers are typically made from aluminum, because the oxide layer inside is easy to create and serves as a great inert barrier.

[Jiten Patel]

That's what we have got with our new machine. One of the benefits is it is supposed to last longer as the aluminium ones Dan mentions break down over time due to corrosion, hence why the tube fails. With Ceramic, it is meant to last longer due to less wear on the rod inside....bit like ceramic breaks on high end cars.

[Richard Rumancik]

I tried to find the website of the company that makes the laser (Iradion). Not much there for a technology company - just a welcome page and map.

I did find that Synrad doesn't approve of the new product - as they have initiated litigation for patent infringement. Not sure of the nature of the complaint.

I can see the advantage of having no electrodes inside the cavity - but there really should not be "wear" inside a laser tube. Trotec claims that differential expansion inside the cavity on a metal laser causes "scrubbing" - seems a bit of a stretch really, but maybe a few particles here and there will eventually contaminate the gas. My take is that the fewer parts inside the cavity the cleaner it will be, but I really have a hard time attributing particle generation to "wear". It is probably just easier to keep the cavity clean during the manufacturing process when you don't have to install subassemblies.

[Paul Phillips]

What I found interesting is how the aluminum tubes can leak through the welds and gaskets over time, to a lay person their concept sounds good, I'm sure a company like Trotec doesn't make a decision like that without much research and consideration, will be interesting to see how well they perform for the end users.

[Walt Langhans]

Sounds cool, I wonder how much it's going to cost?

[Jiten Patel]

As far as I am aware, the tubes are cheaper to make than the Metal RF tubes as they are made from a mould rather than individual machined parts, but due to the cost of R&D etc, will be priced similar to the metal tubes initially.

[Keith Outten]

I was sworn to secrecy when I purchased my Speedy 300, it has the new CeramiCore technology. At the time Trotec was not in a position to announce the changes and I was not given all of the details until recently. Now I like my Trotec even more :)
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