Trotec Newly Recharged Tube Doesn`t Work

Hi folks,

I was hoping you can give me some help on an issue with my Trotec Rayjet 300 machine, so I`ll try to explain it thoroughly.

The machine is 6 years old and runs on an Iradion 156F 60W RF ceramic tube. A few weeks ago I started to get some issues with it`s power working with acrylic.

I had to bump up thw power and lower speed to continue cutting the acrylic sheets until it was struggling so much I decided to give it a goog clean up, change to new lens and check up the mirror alighnments, wicht I twitched a little bit, I was getting a small difference on the 4 corners and managed to adjust it a little.

Problem is right after that the power was completely gone, using the parameter to cut 3mm acrylic it actually only marked the protective film on the acrylic sheet.

At that point I assumed the tube needed to be recharged and sent it over to repair. Yesterday I got it back, it had been thoroughly tested and supporting an 60-63w on the tests, and before recharging it has been confirmed it really was running out of power.

I plugged everything back in and reinstalled the laser tube exactly as it was when I removed it, and turned the machine on to try and align it, I then put a masking tape over the first mirror entry and proceeded to pulse the laser bean to see what I was working with. It did not mark the tape.

I gave it a few more tests with no look and decided to run a small square to cut from a file, and exactly the same thing before I sent the tube to repair happened, it was able to only mark the protective film.

I spent a lot of time searching for an answer here and all I could come up to a possible reason is maybe a problem with the power suplly, witch I have no knowledge on how it works or how it would affect everything.

So I would like some help to shed some light on this problem and help me solve this, as the tech support I have available here can only come to take a look at things in 2 weeks, but every bit of time I spend without the machine is hurting our business right now.

Please help me figure this out and sorry for the long text!

I would try unplugging and re-plugging it back in, and make sure it is seated properly in place so that the beam can actually reach the first mirror.
When we had our ULS tube recharged, it similarly would not work - but I had it unknowingly unseated by about 1/16" which was enough to miss where the beam was supposed to go.
Luckily, an easy fix.
Now it needs recharging again - that was 5.5 years ago - and overseas postage is a killer...
I may pension off the M300 & rotary...

I just got a lecture from Photovac laser saying that the Iradion ceramic tubes, are not recharging well. They mentioned that maybe 20% last more than 3mo and highly recommended that I either swap or get a new tube directly with Trotec/Iradion. Evergreen will recharge one with a one year warranty and claims they had a lot of R&D into figuring out how to make them work. Apparently there is no difference between any of the Infinity series lasers except the power board, which is what controls the wattage, if the power board would permit you could turn a 50w into a 120w on recharge… too bad nobody has created a power board upgrade option. I have no clue who’s right but I did send mine off to evergreen because of the warranty. I would take a laser power meter directly from the tube before mirrors. Johnson plastics has one you can rent if you don’t have one or a rep should carry one.

According to Evergreen the issues with the Ceramic tubes is they use Epoxy for the connections and they sometimes leak. So recharging without finding and fixing leaks is the problem. So if its recharged and tested and you get it, more than likely its the electrical connections or power supply. A sheet of paper can be your testing medium. But you need to verify your power supply next.