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Thread: Clean Your Optics!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
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    Clean Your Optics!

    I typically clean my laser optics on a weekly basis, unless I'm running a lot of glass, which requires more frequent cleanings. Well, the one time I forgot...


    4 - Q1 converted New Hermes C2000's
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  2. #2
    Ouch, looks like it started frying the mirror too Hopefully you can save the mirror.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
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    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  3. #3
    What were you lasering that caused that? Luckily mine have never got that bad. Curious -- I never thought of glass being a 'dirty' product to laser. Wood and acrylic cause me the most issues.

    Jeff in northern Wisconsin
    SawmillCreek.org
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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    JET 1014 Lathe
    Craftman 36" VS lathe

  4. #4
    I examine my lens daily. No replacement in nearly 18 years. Cermark gets a lens dirty in a hurry.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
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  5. #5
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    Brian were you doing raster engraving by chance?
    I was engraving ceramic tile about a year ago to try color filling and running full power (135 watts) and realatively slow speed and had something like the pictures happen. The tile was popping (?) and I didn't think too much about it until trying to cut 1\4" mdf afterwards and that went very poorly. Wide burn mark instead of cutting. My lens looked similar but maybe wasn't black as yours but a dark brown. I think a fragment of tile popped up and hit my lens cracking it. Then the lens absorbed heat from the beam and became very hot (very quickly too with full 135 watts in use) and started discoloring.
    Just curious if similar situtation with you. My lens was not damaged before the ceramic tile, as I had changed to it before doing the tile. Pretty sure the lens got damaged by popping fragments of the tile then the lens began absorbing heat from the beam afterwards in my case.
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Leavitt View Post
    I typically clean my laser optics on a weekly basis, unless I'm running a lot of glass, which requires more frequent cleanings. Well, the one time I forgot...


    Universal Laser ILS 12.150D (48"x24") 135 watts total, with 60 watt and 75 watt laser cartridges. Class 4 Module (pass thru ability). Photograv 3.0, Corel X6, Adobe Design Standard CS4 Suite, Engrave Lab laser Version 8, Melco Single Head Comercial Embroidery Machine, The Magic Touch System with Oki C711WT printer, and Graphtec CE6000-60 plotter.

  6. #6
    Wow. I look at my optics doing job that requires i turn off air assist. I also do routine machine cleanup including lubing the gears about once a month. But i do look at my optics often.
    Redsail x700, 50watt & Shenhui 350, 50 watt

  7. #7
    My air assist is always on. The only thing that comes off is the nozzle and that's only for Cermark and synthetic wood engraving. My lens barely gets dirty. Those lens/mirror units here in New Zealand are about 1000 bucks so I am really trying to avoid buying another one.
    Universal Laser VLS6.60, Tantillus 3D printer, Electronic design
    edns Group, Mairangi Bay, Auckland, New Zealand

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Keith Colson View Post
    My air assist is always on. The only thing that comes off is the nozzle and that's only for Cermark and synthetic wood engraving. My lens barely gets dirty. Those lens/mirror units here in New Zealand are about 1000 bucks so I am really trying to avoid buying another one.
    Are you saying you use engrave the cermark and synthetic wood with the nose cone off and the air on? If so, that's a sure fire way to break a lens. That's a known no-no so be careful, especially when you are looking at $1,000 to replace them in your country. It essentially create a vacuum and sucks debris up into the lens cavity. I've witnessed it many times. I'll walk by a laser, typically when someone new is using it, watch it cut and immediately notice something is not right. I look, the nose cone is off, the air is on. It'll fog up the optics in a very short period of time, so be careful.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    Nokesville, VA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Shepherd View Post
    Ouch, looks like it started frying the mirror too Hopefully you can save the mirror.
    The mirror is actually fine, thankfully. By the time I noticed something was amiss with the laser, the lens was smoking and some of the smoke residue got on the mirror. It wiped right off, though.
    4 - Q1 converted New Hermes C2000's
    Signature 8080 Plus
    Universal 50w X2-600
    Universal 60w X-660
    Epilog 60w Fusion 40
    50w 5070 China Special

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Belany View Post
    What were you lasering that caused that? Luckily mine have never got that bad. Curious -- I never thought of glass being a 'dirty' product to laser. Wood and acrylic cause me the most issues.

    Jeff in northern Wisconsin
    I think I was running acrylic awards when I noticed, but I was doing glass awards before that. When I do glass, it creates a very fine white powder that clings to everything, which is why I typically clean the lens after running glass.
    4 - Q1 converted New Hermes C2000's
    Signature 8080 Plus
    Universal 50w X2-600
    Universal 60w X-660
    Epilog 60w Fusion 40
    50w 5070 China Special

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Lassiter View Post
    Brian were you doing raster engraving by chance?
    I was raster engraving. I think it started to bake when I was running a glass award because the engraving didn't come out as clean as it typically does. I didn't really notice that there was an issue with the lens until the next job I was running. I nocited the engraving on the acrylics was getting lighter, and then nonexistent. Then I noticed the lens carriage was smoking! I don't think anything hit the lens. I believe it was simply because I had forgotten to clean it and it developed a layer of glass powder on the lens. I am typically on the ball with keeping the optics clean. This is the first time in fifteen years of lasering that I have had a lens go bad.

    This machine (X2-600) does not have air assist.
    4 - Q1 converted New Hermes C2000's
    Signature 8080 Plus
    Universal 50w X2-600
    Universal 60w X-660
    Epilog 60w Fusion 40
    50w 5070 China Special

  12. #12
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Fennimore, Wi
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    You got me very curious..... GLASS being dirty???
    I have never noticed anything when engraving glass. Never check optics after engraving glass either. Am i just lucky or not paying close enough attention????
    Thoughts??
    CHad
    Chad Fitzgerald
    Hickory Grove Cabinetry
    Custom Woodworking/Laser Engraving
    Laser Pro Spirit 40W
    ShopSabre RC4 CNC
    55x49 cut area
    with 3 1/4 PC Router, 10" Z

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chad Fitzgerald View Post
    You got me very curious..... GLASS being dirty???
    I have never noticed anything when engraving glass. Never check optics after engraving glass either. Am i just lucky or not paying close enough attention????
    Thoughts??
    CHad
    This is what I get, and have always gotten, when doing glass. This is running at 80 power and 30 speed on 50 and 60 watt lasers. I know some people say you shouldn't even need to use air extraction when doing glass, but in my experience, this is not the case. This dust gets on the lenses, belts, I-beams, etc.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    4 - Q1 converted New Hermes C2000's
    Signature 8080 Plus
    Universal 50w X2-600
    Universal 60w X-660
    Epilog 60w Fusion 40
    50w 5070 China Special

  14. #14
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    May 2008
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    Fennimore, Wi
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    wow, that is wierd. i think. thanks for showing the pic so i could see what you meant. nope, never have seen anything like that from glass. hmmm
    chad
    Chad Fitzgerald
    Hickory Grove Cabinetry
    Custom Woodworking/Laser Engraving
    Laser Pro Spirit 40W
    ShopSabre RC4 CNC
    55x49 cut area
    with 3 1/4 PC Router, 10" Z

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Englewood, CO
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    483
    Brian , does your machine not have the option to use air assist or do you not have it hooked up? Might be worth setting it up to use air assist if you can, there might be a kit you can purchase to retro fit it if you don't have it, there's a reason it comes as standard equipment on newer lasers, and would IMO solve the dirty lens problem.
    Universal PLS 6.120D 75 watt
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