Epilog laser tube problems

My laser (Epilog TT24 45 watt) machine went unused for three weeks and now the tube will not fire up, after running vector programs to try to stimulate the tube for about three hours I can now get enough power to just make a mark on a board. This is the second laser tube failure in a machine that is only two years old. The first one was covered under warranty. They say that this one will cost me $2250 to repair. When I bought the machine the literature said the life of a laser tube should be 10 to 20 thousand hours, I got about 300 hours on the first one and only about 500 hours on this one. Is anyone else having the same rotten luck that I am having or is this a problem with the TT24.

Wow, I had the same problem. My 24TT 45W was in storage for months before I bought it and the laser tube died. It would not fire up and when it did it it was putting out ~10Watts. I ran it for hours hoping it will get up to max power but had to shell out ~2250 to replace it. I am wondering how much does the off the shelf 45W laser cost because one might be able to modify the firestarV40 to replace the OEM by changing the heatsink and may be adding some mounting holes. I doubt the OEM would be drastically different from the ones available from Synrad. The next time mine dies I will get the standard FirestarV40 and make it work in my machine I just hope it is not $2K.
Just by looking into this forum for dead tubes I am not sure it is fair advertising for the laser companies to advertise the life time of their laser. They should atleast offer half life warranties to stand behind their product.

Also why is it much cheaper to replace the lasers head on other similar machines??. Signwarehouse, GCC,Gravograph and Tortec all use Synrad too.
Sorry for the ranting but for shelling out $2K often I rather find a cheaper solution.
Kim

I was told that the advertising concerning the number of hours that CO2 tubes would last means the gas and not specifically the electronics. Clearly the two must both be reliable or the tube is useless. It is understandable that people would consider a tube to be an assembly and the meaning of the ads to include the assembly and not its component parts.

There have been lots of posts recently concerning failed CO2 tubes. Those of you who are new to engraving or are considering an upcoming purchase read these posts carefully and learn. Remember to include a reasonable overhead charge in every engraving job to cover your cost of maintaining your machine. If all you engrave are trinkets for pennies you will undoubtedly be short of funds when your machine needs expensive repairs.

My $0.02

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When I sort out the new tube I'm going to keep some sort of log as to how long it actaully runs for, and if I am away agian, make sure someone runs it once a week, wished that has been in the manual.

Nigel,
When you say "run it once a week", do you mean to just turn it on, or to actually run a piece regardless of what it is (raster or vector)?

I think the tube must be exited once a week, so fired.

The same with me.
I have Epilog Legend Ext. 75 W, and the tube of this has broken twice.
We all know that the same laser tube is quite common in many different laser marks.
But still it's a pity, that laser tube is said to last more than 10000 hours when the truth is that it stands only about 1000 hours.
I should have taken better prices for engraving and laser cutting.

Or we should find a firm which repairs laser tubes more cheap.
I think that, there is only one electronic compoment (diode or condesator), worth 20 €, which should be changed. Of course special knowledge is needed for assembling and the tube should refil with gas, but still repairing should not cost more than 1000 €.

Does anyone found out if it really is possible to change the mark of tube.

Mikko,

Epilog tube repair is typically under US$1,500 these days, which would put it at or under your 1000 € figure.

RF is not friendly to capacitors, so they're typically the first item to fail. The next likely is one of the FETs. Inductors or resistors should never need replacement unless the unit is hit with a voltage spike. Gas leakage due to seals is a fact of life, and no manufacturer could guarantee a perfect seal for an extended period unless the operating conditions were tightly controlled.

Nevermind....:(

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Originally Posted by Peck Sidara

Nevermind....:(

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100 YEN for your Thoughts....:D

AL

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Originally Posted by Keith Outten

Those of you who are new to engraving or are considering an upcoming purchase read these posts carefully and learn.
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Yes I am, and it's affecting my judgement.

[QUOTE=Zachary Buckholz;1262889]Yes I am, and it's affecting my judgement.[/QUOTE

I have a Epiloge helix 45 watt since May of 2005. And I am on the same laser tube when I bought my machine. It has lost some power in the last 6 months, but I have just slowed down the travel speeds. For example 1/8 inch acrylic I now cut a 7 inches per minute instead of 10 inches per minute. I have used the machine, for both hobby and part time business
( big jobs some months running 10 hrs. a job, other months very little). So for a full time business running the machine daily I cannot say.
But I have the laser in its own sealed off small room in my workshop with a stable temperature environment. If I do not use the laser during the week I make sure that I fire it up on full power vector cutting for 15 to 20 minutes. And when I am getting ready to cut a job from a cold start in the
morning I let the machine warm up for 5 minuts before cutting. I really baby the laser.

Thank you for your expert information.

1500 € would be very good price.
I have to pay 3000 € for 75 W laser tube repairing, but now it works again OK. The whole process took about 5 days. They sent me first the new tube (by extra costs) and I did't loose a single day of work.
And they promised 2 years warranty for the tube :)

I have noticed that, that now, after change of the laser tube, laser machine start cutting without any delay.
But after an year it needs from 5 to 40 s before it starts to fire, when the machine is cold. The tempetature in my working space is 12-20 decrees Celsius.
There might be some feature that laser does not start to fire until it is warm enought, but I haven't observed any correlation between the delay and the temperature.
Is it possible that the delay on cut starting is an omen of coming fault of the laser tube ?

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Originally Posted by Dan Hintz

Mikko,

Epilog tube repair is typically under US$1,500 these days, which would put it at or under your 1000 € figure.

RF is not friendly to capacitors, so they're typically the first item to fail. The next likely is one of the FETs. Inductors or resistors should never need replacement unless the unit is hit with a voltage spike. Gas leakage due to seals is a fact of life, and no manufacturer could guarantee a perfect seal for an extended period unless the operating conditions were tightly controlled.

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Hi,

Where did you got repaired?

rgds,
saravana kumar

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Originally Posted by Mikko Manninen

But after an year it needs from 5 to 40 s before it starts to fire, when the machine is cold. The tempetature in my working space is 12-20 decrees Celsius.

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12C is not a good temp range to try and laser at... try to keep the entire system closer to the 20C range.

I usually sock away at least $50.00 a month, some months a bit more, just for surprise repairs. My first tube lased 4 years, my current one has been in a year, and still has time to go on the warranty. $50 minimum a month won't break the bank, and if this one also lasts 4 years my 'service bank' will have about 3k+- in it which should look after most repairs. I did the same thing when I put in my digital duplicator several years ago. I banked away a 1/4 cent per page printed, and when it needed it's first service it had 1.6 million imprints on it, and I had 4K in my 'print bank', more than enough to bring in a service guy to get it tuned up and running perfect again. Think of the future, salt something away..