Boss 65W CO2 Laser Tube 5,000 Hour Life

[Chris T Carpenter]

Boss Laser lists a 65w laser tube for $597.
https://www.bosslaser.com/60w-co2-laser-tubes.html

Its 1200mm which I thought was 60w. It states up to 5,000 hour life. Is that realistic? I'm looking for a long life 60w tube. Price seems high but I would be interested if it really was 5,000 hours. Anyone have experience with this tube? Any recommendations on 60w tubes? I have been using Automation Technology. I had been getting about a year but my business has picked up and I'm using the laser a lot more. I'm also looking a Light Objects. I know its cheaper but would it be better than the Boss tube?

Thanks!!
Chris

[Dave Sheldrake]

Each and every replacement CO2 laser tube must pass our watt reading station for both beam quality and maximum power. CO2 tubes are sealed, water cooled, with one of the best life time ratings of up to 5,000 hours.

What is a "Watt reading station" and to check beam quality you need a beam profiler (I have one here) which is great if you actually understand what the output is telling you

UP TO 5,000 hours...so anything between 30 seconds and 5,000 hours then

It likely has a new output of 65watts, that's not unusual for a 60 watt tube but that will drop back fairly quickly to the lower 60 watt figure once it starts being used for a while.

For a great 60 watt tube go with an EFR CL1200, very reliable, good mode and decent life expectancy.

Remember , engraving kills DC tubes a lot quicker than cutting due to the load placed on them by the start stop cycles

[Chris T Carpenter]

Thanks. I had thought cutting was rougher. So, basically your saying thats marketing hype. I need a new tube fairly quickly so I'm looking to source in the US. Between Automation Technology and Light Object which would you choose?

[Dave Sheldrake]

Lightobject every time :) and yes, it's marketing hype, none of it is untrue, but truth is a relative term when it comes to lasers. A tube that fires at 100 watts, may only actually provide a stable 80 watts over time but it is legal to sell it as a 100 watt because for an unspecified period of time when it fires it is indeed pushing 100 watts.

When a DC tube fires it's ignition current (the initial pulse of current that generates the plasma) is considerably higher than the nominal safe working current. The safe operating current for say a 100 watt RECI is 28mA but the initial trigger current could be as high as 32 - 34 mA, at that kind of current the tube will generate 120+ watts but if you tried to run it at that all the time the tube would likely die in a matter of hours or so.

This is where the above becomes a problem, a number of sellers will call that a 120 watt tube because for an instant it will generate 120 watts of lasing energy but that's not use-able energy for the above reasons.

Then think of engraving, at the start of each line of engrave it triggers that current to *ignite* the tube, now imagine how many times it's going to do that if you have a 0.1mm step on a 100 mm tall drawing, that's going to load the tube with 1,000 start ups of that higher current (and voltage)...this is why engraving wears tubes a lot quicker than just cutting where you may only have 2 or 3 startups on an entire sheet.

RF Tubes like Epilog, Trotec and ULS don't have this issue as there is no "peak" when they fire hence why for engraving they will likely outlast a DC triggered tube by orders of magnitude.

I generally base my tube life on 1 year for any DC tube used for engraving and 3 years for the same tube if only used for cutting. I've had engraving tubes go inside 9 months and cutting tubes last 7 years though, but there is always a big difference between the two :)

[Chris T Carpenter]

Lightobject every time :) and yes, it's marketing hype, none of it is untrue, but truth is a relative term when it comes to lasers. A tube that fires at 100 watts, may only actually provide a stable 80 watts over time but it is legal to sell it as a 100 watt because for an unspecified period of time when it fires it is indeed pushing 100 watts.

When a DC tube fires it's ignition current (the initial pulse of current that generates the plasma) is considerably higher than the nominal safe working current. The safe operating current for say a 100 watt RECI is 28mA but the initial trigger current could be as high as 32 - 34 mA, at that kind of current the tube will generate 120+ watts but if you tried to run it at that all the time the tube would likely die in a matter of hours or so.

This is where the above becomes a problem, a number of sellers will call that a 120 watt tube because for an instant it will generate 120 watts of lasing energy but that's not use-able energy for the above reasons.

Then think of engraving, at the start of each line of engrave it triggers that current to *ignite* the tube, now imagine how many times it's going to do that if you have a 0.1mm step on a 100 mm tall drawing, that's going to load the tube with 1,000 start ups of that higher current (and voltage)...this is why engraving wears tubes a lot quicker than just cutting where you may only have 2 or 3 startups on an entire sheet.

RF Tubes like Epilog, Trotec and ULS don't have this issue as there is no "peak" when they fire hence why for engraving they will likely outlast a DC triggered tube by orders of magnitude.

I generally base my tube life on 1 year for any DC tube used for engraving and 3 years for the same tube if only used for cutting. I've had engraving tubes go inside 9 months and cutting tubes last 7 years though, but there is always a big difference between the two :)

Thanks again. Really good info. Do you have any US suppliers of the EEFR CL1200? Is it better than the tube Light Objects lists?

Chris

[Dave Sheldrake]

Give Ray Scott at Rabbit laser a call and ask if he has the CL1200 :) most of the rebrand tubes on the market are YongLi, SPT or such like, not bad tubes...well most of the time but EFR for budget tubes (ie: stuff under $6-8,000) are likely the best option.

[Chris T Carpenter]

Give Ray Scott at Rabbit laser a call and ask if he has the CL1200 :) most of the rebrand tubes on the market are YongLi, SPT or such like, not bad tubes...well most of the time but EFR for budget tubes (ie: stuff under $6-8,000) are likely the best option.

Thanks I'll do that. Is running an engraving job at 600mm to fast? Is 300 better for longevity of the tube?

Chris

[Dave Sheldrake]

Thanks I'll do that. Is running an engraving job at 600mm to fast? Is 300 better for longevity of the tube?

Chris

Makes no difference Chris, the tube will still be triggered the same number of times in total