can you vertically mount a Chinese Water cooled Glass tube?

[Joe Walmer]

I was thinking of making my first laser and vertically mounting a cheap glass tube and having an xy table below it. I am going to post more details later but for now is there and problem with mounting it vertically?

[Dave Sheldrake]

?? You mean have the tube vertical above a focussing optic? I'm guessing it will be the table moving then and not the actual tube?

The flow system on most cheapo tubes is designed for horizontal use to allow bubbles caused by cavitation to escape, trying to mount it vertically will probably result in a busted full reflector mirror.

[Joe Walmer]

Yes I would mount the tube stationary and the table itself would move. Later on I could add a second tube and double my output and cut my time in half. Then I wouldnt need any mirrors at all theoretically just a focusing lens right out of the laser tube.

I wont be engraving so slow vector cut moves should be fine with a xy table.

If I cant mount it vertically I guess I would still plan on having it above the table and use a regular laser head assembly with 90% mirror and lens in one unit right out of the laser source.

I know this isnt too common but for me it would work out great I believe. Instead of getting a second laser machine I can literally double the output and cut time in half just by adding another laser tube spaced 6 inches from the first one etc effectively making a second laser for the price of a tube and power supply. This could even scale for me adding 4 and 6 tubes and work out great. The same Idea as ganged plasma cutters etc for making ship parts etc they have a table that moves with 10 cutting heads etc. or the heads all move together same idea. I believe its also more common on ganged embroidery machines.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Makes sense Joe, I think the issue will be bubbles though, the outlet of the tube for the water flow isn't right at the end so the chances are bubbles caused by cavitation in the chiller will likely pool at the top(end) of the tube.

There are probably ways round this though, if not then the horizontal tube idea with a fixed optic would work (my old Vytek was a half and half, 50% scan and 50% bed movement.)

[Rich Harman]

I think you know that creative people have been finding ways to use things outside of their design intentions for hundreds of years. I say give it a try, it will probably work. If it doesn't, don't expect to make a warranty claim.

[Dave Sheldrake]

True Rich but some things are just a bad idea from the start :) using a house brick as a parachute is outside of the design and there's a pretty good chance it won't end well :)

[Rich Harman]

True Rich but some things are just a bad idea from the start :) using a house brick as a parachute is outside of the design and there's a pretty good chance it won't end well :)

That analogy is a long, longs ways away from using something 90 degrees from it's intended orientation. Now if he were asking to use the laser tube as a cricket bat, then no, that probably wouldn't work. :)

[Dave Sheldrake]

Now if he were asking to use the laser tube as a cricket bat, then no, that probably wouldn't work.

You mean they aren't?? dam... I knew I was doing something wrong and my tube budget did seem high :)

[Joe Walmer]

Some of the benefits other than scalability would be mounting a "vacuum tube" right below the laser head and I mean 1-2 inches away directly below the vector table. I would also use a photo sensor or laser sensor etc. and a micro controller to tell when the laser is actually cutting through as I use a lot of mirror acrylic. This way I can tell how long after the laser starts to fire it penetrates allowing me to adjust the power more or less and also an alarm if it stops cutting through midway in a cut for some reason. This would be more important when I scale up to more than one laser head and can easily be automated with custom alarms etc telling me if a certain laser is not going all the way through. This would be hard to do with a laser head that moves. the "vacuum tube" is scalable also just put one under each laser head. 90% of everything I cut has a twin cut, AKA I cut it twice, so as I know it may not make sense for everyone it is all in the bonus category for me.

I am kind of obsessed with PC cooling and I am sure if I needed to mount it vertically which I probably wont at this point the PC water cooling market and experts would be the next step and that is where I will get most of my my water cooling info and parts from.

In theory later I should be able to implement a beam combiner setup to use the power of both lasers when cutting new products and thicker materials. There is lots of room for improvising and it all seems sound in theory.

As far as the vacuum tube I would need an "open frame" XY table and it would look a lot like this when I am done except there would be a third frame on top holding the honeycomb table instead of the white platform. All should be no problem with just the weight of 1/8" acrylic on the table. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZZHzAymPwM

If I was rich this would be the perfect table. http://www.aerotech.com/product-catalog/stages/linear-x-y-stages/ats3600.aspx

I plan on using the smoothiebard for the control unit. http://smoothieware.org/

[Dave Sheldrake]

Humm it would cut down on a lot of the issues with flying optics that's for sure...

[Joe Walmer]

Yes part of my inspiration was hassle with mirrors of course but I wanted the laser to not move so I could make it straight as possible. I don't like the way my epilog mini and GCC mercury cut at weird angles let alone power loss at far corners etc. call it my OCD.

[matthew knott]

Something to possibly be aware of that any debris created inside the tube, and they will be some as the electrical arc will produce debris will all fall down onto the front mirror, you cant clean it as it sealed for life and the power inside the tube is way higher than what comes out. I was involved in a fast axial flow laser with a vertical resonator and the whole project was canned as we could find no way to keep the mirror clean, it had to be done every morning by hand.