Originally Posted by
Dave Sheldrake
How long do you have
The problem is the reflective index of the Mo mirrors, they are quite well below both copper and gold PVD coated so will get a lot hotter when running than a gold mirror does. They also corrode quite quickly and lose more of that index in a short period of time.(think 95% after a week or two) that 5% of the ERP adds up to a lot of power in a very small area so will raise the temperature of both the optics and the holder quite quickly.
Set the CW5000 to come on at 19C and go off at 17C, anything over 22C on a fatbody tube will cause problems even though the makers say 30C is safe (it is but it's unwise to say the least)
cheers
Dave
Hi Dave,
Good to know. I did read up on some discussion on mirrors but I wasn't sure what other mirrors would do OK at 150w so I just replaced the MO. I might order a set of the others to have. The mirrors would explain a some but I think the mirror heat was due to other issues - like the overall cooling (which I now have to 10C) and the fact I did not replace the head mirror (since done) and that I found a vibration on the #1 mirror near the tube from when I changed the plane.
I think another issue generally is that I had changed out the power supply once and forgot about it but did not check the new power output, so I have been running it in the red zone (31ma) if you will. Not above its max but above its happy long life levels.
So for reference I am now getting a speed of 25mm/s (power 50% = 18ma) on 3mm acrylic in the far corner during a test strip file lasting about 1.5 minutes on the 150w tube. Or this morning I was. I think 20mm might be more like it on a longer run.
I have some production parts to cut now so I'll see how that goes.
GF
Graham Facer
1530 Omni CNC router (run with Vcarve), Shenhui 1200 x 900 150W reci laser cutter (now with EFR F6 hopefully)
48" Generic Vinyl cutter, Roland engraver, and a dalhgren and vanguard on the project table.
...My pet peeve is a good thread with no conclusion because the OP solved the issue and disappeared. Either that or bus fatalities are much higher than reported.