Ali Kemp
03-12-2016, 11:38 PM
Hello all
New user here but long time lurker, my recent purchase has compelled me to get some serious advice. Please forgive the long post as I want to give some background on my issue and setup. I’ve recently purchased a speedy 400 along with an Atmos Mono Plus to add to my arsenal of tools at my shop. The setup is about a month old, and I have run into my first serious issue with about 40 hours of laser time.
My machine is an 80 watt C02, and I have been cutting primarily Acrylic and Plywood of varying thickness up to ½”. The setup has worked flawlessly up until a few weeks ago. I began to notice a sweet smell coming from my Atmos that was actually fairly irritating on my senses. I’m not normally overly sensitive to this kind of stuff but this smell irritated my nose and eyes.
Needless to say I called up Trotec the first tech had never heard of this issue but his boss told him that what is most likely causing it is the glue resins from the wood I was cutting hitting the Carbon. As most of you are aware each 20lb bag of carbon from Trotec is $250. Considering my carbon was reading only 3% saturated I was less than thrilled at a potential $500 purchase.
Naturally the first thing I did was come here and read every post I could find regarding carbon in an Atmos unit. The most relevant ones are below. The problem though is that none of the threads came to a conclusion on a suitable replacement.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?222745-Activated-Carbon-for-Atmos-(Trotec)&highlight=atmos+carbon
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?220326-Trotec-Atmos-Duo&highlight=atmos+carbon
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?218310-Filters-on-an-Atmos-duo-linked-to-Speedy-300&highlight=atmos+carbon
Well I went ahead and ordered the GC C-40 from General Carbon that was mentioned in one of the threads, this is the stuff they sell for laser cutter applications. I can say it does not work as well at filtering out all the odors as the Trotec carbon. The pellets themselves are roughly the same size but they are not the same shape. Trotec’s carbon is like gravel or rather granulated around the 4mm size mark, while the General Carbon stuff is in the same size its actually pelletized so little cylinders.
My theory among other things is that the shape is an issue causing less resistance and the vapors are not getting as much surface time before they exit as they do with Trotec carbon. The other thing I’ve read is that the Trotec carbon is treated with something to further help remove odor? I haven’t been able to validate this either as none of the inquires have come to a conclusion.
To bring a long post to a close I have still been unable to find a suitable replacement. I will end up getting carbon from Trotec because I need to use the engraver. If anyone here has been able to find something that works as well as the OEM carbon from Trotec I would love to know. My plan is to try and air out the new old stuff over time and hopefully reuse it later on down the road. I have zero experience with carbon so I’m not sure how well that will work. But it’s been barley used and seems ridiculous to throw away.
Has anyone else ever experienced this sweet smell? I have since setup a pre-filter in the box before my comfort box to further filter the air. This was something I should have done to begin with because I quickly saturated my main filter in the 40 hours of laser time. Ill chalk that up to nooby learning. Luckily I was able to blow it out with compressed air. I’m hoping that this setup will catch more of the resins before they get to the carbon.
Any insight into this is greatly appreciated!
New user here but long time lurker, my recent purchase has compelled me to get some serious advice. Please forgive the long post as I want to give some background on my issue and setup. I’ve recently purchased a speedy 400 along with an Atmos Mono Plus to add to my arsenal of tools at my shop. The setup is about a month old, and I have run into my first serious issue with about 40 hours of laser time.
My machine is an 80 watt C02, and I have been cutting primarily Acrylic and Plywood of varying thickness up to ½”. The setup has worked flawlessly up until a few weeks ago. I began to notice a sweet smell coming from my Atmos that was actually fairly irritating on my senses. I’m not normally overly sensitive to this kind of stuff but this smell irritated my nose and eyes.
Needless to say I called up Trotec the first tech had never heard of this issue but his boss told him that what is most likely causing it is the glue resins from the wood I was cutting hitting the Carbon. As most of you are aware each 20lb bag of carbon from Trotec is $250. Considering my carbon was reading only 3% saturated I was less than thrilled at a potential $500 purchase.
Naturally the first thing I did was come here and read every post I could find regarding carbon in an Atmos unit. The most relevant ones are below. The problem though is that none of the threads came to a conclusion on a suitable replacement.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?222745-Activated-Carbon-for-Atmos-(Trotec)&highlight=atmos+carbon
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?220326-Trotec-Atmos-Duo&highlight=atmos+carbon
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?218310-Filters-on-an-Atmos-duo-linked-to-Speedy-300&highlight=atmos+carbon
Well I went ahead and ordered the GC C-40 from General Carbon that was mentioned in one of the threads, this is the stuff they sell for laser cutter applications. I can say it does not work as well at filtering out all the odors as the Trotec carbon. The pellets themselves are roughly the same size but they are not the same shape. Trotec’s carbon is like gravel or rather granulated around the 4mm size mark, while the General Carbon stuff is in the same size its actually pelletized so little cylinders.
My theory among other things is that the shape is an issue causing less resistance and the vapors are not getting as much surface time before they exit as they do with Trotec carbon. The other thing I’ve read is that the Trotec carbon is treated with something to further help remove odor? I haven’t been able to validate this either as none of the inquires have come to a conclusion.
To bring a long post to a close I have still been unable to find a suitable replacement. I will end up getting carbon from Trotec because I need to use the engraver. If anyone here has been able to find something that works as well as the OEM carbon from Trotec I would love to know. My plan is to try and air out the new old stuff over time and hopefully reuse it later on down the road. I have zero experience with carbon so I’m not sure how well that will work. But it’s been barley used and seems ridiculous to throw away.
Has anyone else ever experienced this sweet smell? I have since setup a pre-filter in the box before my comfort box to further filter the air. This was something I should have done to begin with because I quickly saturated my main filter in the 40 hours of laser time. Ill chalk that up to nooby learning. Luckily I was able to blow it out with compressed air. I’m hoping that this setup will catch more of the resins before they get to the carbon.
Any insight into this is greatly appreciated!