Troubleshooting Trotec Speedy400 Tube issue??

[William Vanderlaan]

Hi everyone,

For the past 2yrs we have been consistently cutting 1/4" mdf with our Speedy400 (80w) every day. Upon firing up the laser Monday something had changed - it was no longer cutting consistently throughout the whole job. Some areas would cut through while other areas barely, and some not at all. Slowing the speed way down didn't seem to help either. Just had the tech out today to check table for level and alignment which is all good. Power at the table was measured in a number of areas and is still where it needs to be. He is going back to check with the service manager to problem solve but I thought I would check in here to see if anyone has experienced this problem before.

fyi typically we would run jobs at 100% power, .30 speed. Now I can't even cut through at .12 speed.

Any thoughts/comments would be appreciated!

[Keith Outten]

Have you cleaned your lens lately?
Have you changed suppliers for the MDF you purchase?

[Kev Williams]

Check the optic 'train' for anything that could be blocking the beam. My first fiber laser, some bug got inside the housing, made his way thru the barrel between the laser's 'snout' and into the scanhead, where he got bar-b-qued on, and to, the top of my lens, which explained some weird results I was getting ;) -I also had a big miller moth sleeping in the lens tube of my big Triumph laser, when a job started flames- followed by one hot miller- shot out of the tube! He actually flew away, but that short burst of burning bug soiled up both the lens and the mirror above it.

But sadly, with the erratic firing you're getting, it sounds like your tube may be going. It's going around lately... ;)

[Scott Boatner]

I have the same laser, mine started doing the same thing and after much troubleshooting, cleaning, alignment and such, I’m pretty sure my tube is gone. I can’t cut 1/16 acrylic or raster engrave. I ordered Russ’s Doohickey
to test my power. Looks like The ceramic tubes can be re gassed for a bit over a grand plus shipping. Good luck.

[William Vanderlaan]

Thanks all. Material has not changed, and all mirrors and lenses were checked and cleaned if necessary. Trotec is back in the shop today replacing the tube, they have said there is something within the Laser Tube electronics that is affecting the characteristics of the beam without affecting the power - I will update once we have this solved!

[Kev Williams]

I know that a bad capacitor will cut the power in half, but what I don't know is whether or not these types of capacitors can 'go intermittent', which seems to be the problem here...

[William Vanderlaan]

Had a new tube installed today and our laser is back online - it was definitely something with the tube! Hopefully this one lasts a little longer!

[Jiten Patel]

Thanks all. Material has not changed, and all mirrors and lenses were checked and cleaned if necessary. Trotec is back in the shop today replacing the tube, they have said there is something within the Laser Tube electronics that is affecting the characteristics of the beam without affecting the power - I will update once we have this solved!

Did you update your software? We are having the exact same issues with the power showing at 82w but after the laser runs a few jobs it stuggles to cut simple shapes on 3mm acrylic. Trotec are stumped too. Fingers crossed they write off the machine and give me the new s400!!!

[William Vanderlaan]

Did you update your software? We are having the exact same issues with the power showing at 82w but after the laser runs a few jobs it stuggles to cut simple shapes on 3mm acrylic. Trotec are stumped too. Fingers crossed they write off the machine and give me the new s400!!!

Brutal! Yes, techs were in and updated software/firmware a couple months ago. With the new tube it's cutting great, no problems at all. After two years our output was down to 60watts for the last little while before we started having this problem. Needless to say I'm thrilled to have it back up to a full 80watts! Also we just took delivery of our second machine - a new speedy400 120watt - It looks like they made a lot of improvements on the older model for ease of use/cleaning. Apparently the software is also improved for faster (as if they aren't fast already) cutting/engraving.

[Scott Boatner]

What are you guys checking your wattage with?