Bill Cunningham
05-31-2008, 8:32 PM
I was doing some cutting, and I Thought the laser had lost some power.. Most of what I do is raster, and on easy stuff to mark, like granite, marble, and glass, so the power drop was not all that obvious. I knew it was down, so I figured I would do some tests just to see how down it was.. When I first got the machine, I burnt some sample text at various speeds.. So I dug out the old board, and ran the same text at the same speed.. Jeeeeze.. was it low..My steering mirror also had a slight bad spot.. So sent a email to tech support at epilog, and Dan called me back in about a half hour.. He told me to burn some tape on the target to check the alignment and get back to him.. I did that, and there was not enough power it would seem to even put a burn mark on the tape.. I could barely see it in the #1 and #2 position, and in the #3 and #4 positions, 15 seconds at 50% power 100% speed would not even mark the tape..
I emailed Dan again, and I sent him pictures of the target, and the left mirror, and the sample burn next to the one I did 4.5 years ago.. He called me back and suggested I replace the mirror, and by the looks of it I was going to need a new tube.. So, I bit the bullet and ordered it.. this was 2pm Thursday afternoon, and the tube, mirror, and alignment tool was in my grubby hands at noon on Friday.. (their in Colorado, I'm 50 miles north of Toronto Ontario.. Thats FAST) .. I Just finished installing the tube, mirror, doing the alignment and testing the new tube.. WoW.. What a difference, even compared to the original tube when it was new.. Looks like I got a good one.. Ran the same raster burn test on the pine that I did 4.5 years ago, on Thursday, and now today.. .The burn on the left is the original new machine, (1mm deep) the middle is obviously the dead tube burn, (abt. 1/4mm deep) and the right (2 mm deep :D )
There, now I'm all set for the next 4.5 years.. (Dan told me the new tube has a 2 year warranty, so I'm OK for 2 years anyway) Like I said in the "Hows business thread" We live on the "tread water law".. I had a fantastic April, a Great May, and made money. Sooo Along comes the bill to absorb some of it.. As it is, I lucked out that the thing didn't crap out during a slow period.. I won't lose a minutes work, and I'm currently booked up for for at least the first two weeks of June.. Even though it cost me 1200 bucks (including overnight shipping to Canada) It could have been a lot worse I guess... That old tube paid for itself many times over...
I emailed Dan again, and I sent him pictures of the target, and the left mirror, and the sample burn next to the one I did 4.5 years ago.. He called me back and suggested I replace the mirror, and by the looks of it I was going to need a new tube.. So, I bit the bullet and ordered it.. this was 2pm Thursday afternoon, and the tube, mirror, and alignment tool was in my grubby hands at noon on Friday.. (their in Colorado, I'm 50 miles north of Toronto Ontario.. Thats FAST) .. I Just finished installing the tube, mirror, doing the alignment and testing the new tube.. WoW.. What a difference, even compared to the original tube when it was new.. Looks like I got a good one.. Ran the same raster burn test on the pine that I did 4.5 years ago, on Thursday, and now today.. .The burn on the left is the original new machine, (1mm deep) the middle is obviously the dead tube burn, (abt. 1/4mm deep) and the right (2 mm deep :D )
There, now I'm all set for the next 4.5 years.. (Dan told me the new tube has a 2 year warranty, so I'm OK for 2 years anyway) Like I said in the "Hows business thread" We live on the "tread water law".. I had a fantastic April, a Great May, and made money. Sooo Along comes the bill to absorb some of it.. As it is, I lucked out that the thing didn't crap out during a slow period.. I won't lose a minutes work, and I'm currently booked up for for at least the first two weeks of June.. Even though it cost me 1200 bucks (including overnight shipping to Canada) It could have been a lot worse I guess... That old tube paid for itself many times over...