CO2 Laser Power Meters

[Kev Williams]

Since the most expensive part of a 'western' RF-C02 laser is likely the price per watt, the want to know your machine's output seems reasonable to me! But I agree it's unlikely you're getting shortchanged...

My recent LS100 acquisition comes to mind- My rep explained that Gravograph moved from Synrad to Coherent tubes just because of this issue; Synrad tubes would hit their stated wattage, but with very little headroom. Coherent tubes tend to run over stated wattage by quite a bit...The 35 watt Coherent tube in the LS100 was measured at 47 watts, and it's very noticeable in comparison to my 30 and 40 watt Synrad machines.

It's a shame the measuring equipment is so costly...

[Scott Shepherd]

I have no issues if someone wants to know the output of their tube, but the concern by the OP is that his tube is a jacked up lower wattage tube, done in the name of cost savings by the manufacturer. They have 1000's and 1000's of these tubes in the wild. They are out there and very dependable. There's zero reason to suggest they have made a cost savings decision that's shortchanging the end users of power. You bought an 80W. It's producing more than 80W. Be happy with that. My 80W Ceramic core tube cuts better than my 75W Synrad tube. The beam appears to be higher quality and cutting the exact same materials gives a noticeable difference in quality. The Ceramic Core on acrylic leaves a stunning edge. We've moved all of our acrylic cutting to that machine because the cut quality is superior.

Just run it and don't worry about what model tube someone lists on their website. It's completely irrelevant. You paid for 80W, you've got 80W.

[John Goodrich]

This is the first time I've seen a moderator come down so hard on someone for asking a question. Is it possible that Steve may have some monetary connection with Trotec that he is slamming the asker of the question?

[Scott Shepherd]

This is the first time I've seen a moderator come down so hard on someone for asking a question. Is it possible that Steve may have some monetary connection with Trotec that he is slamming the asker of the question?

Not hardly. The OP is the one who posted that he questioned the actual wattage of what he purchased, not me. I posted where he could rent a meter. I also believe he is dead wrong on his belief.

I’ve asked several times if he is having an actual issue and he has yet to answer me.

I don’t get a penny from Trotec, but my question is valid, is he having an actual issue with his laser or is he worried about something he doesn’t need to worry about. If it’s an actual problem with his laser, Trotec can help him.

[Mike Null]

You're accusing him of being a shill because he stated the facts. I also don't see that he slammed anybody.

[Jerome Stanek]

What happened to the post with the size of the tube

[Scott Shepherd]

What happened to the post with the size of the tube

Post #4, it's there.

[Joe Lanucha]

The concern is this, brand new machine output between miror 2 & 3 is 80.5W average (measured 3X), by trotect rep. No where near 90W.
Im suprised as a new memeber you are telling me not to worry about it, or I should not be concerned about verifiying I got what I paid for. It is a huge investment for me. Yes, I will be springing for a meter. The data now shows it bareley meets the 80W spec by 1/2W.

Would anyone else be concerned?

Thanks,
Joe

[Scott Shepherd]

You left that part out. If I had an 80W that was putting out 80.5 at the install, I'd probably have a conversation with my rep. Not a huge deal, it's under warranty. However, it's not like they did something shady by cranking up a 60W to 80W and trying to pass it off as 80W.

Being that we're about on 10 years now on our original Trotec tube on 1 machine, I'd still not be too concerned. If you've ever seen the bell curve of laser tube failures, they don't really lose 1-2 w every so often, they tend to have pretty steep declines all at once.

[Bert McMahan]

Why would you expect your 80W laser to output 90W? It's an 80W tube. It should output 80W. If you're outputting 90W, you're probably overdriving something and prematurely damaging the laser.

[Kev Williams]

That's true of DC-glass lasers Bert, not so much with RF-metal/ceramic lasers. Manufacturer's firmware in RF machines handles all that stuff, and they're not going to overdrive tubes and risk a lot of warranty issues---

In Chinese machines, the user is the 'firmware'...

[Rob Damon]

So the actual question in my mind is where is the measurement taken by the laser tube manufacturer when they don't make the whole machine and can't possible figure in the hundreds of potential combinations of mirrors, lense, focus tubes?

Seriously, Reci certainly tests the output at the end of the tube and not after it has travelled several feet bouncing off three mirrors through one lense and at the correct focus distance from the tube end. Doing so would be a useless test unless your laser came with the exact bed size and exact mirrors, lense and focus tube.
So if the tube is rated by the manufacturer as 80w, it should be 80w at the end of the laser tube and not at the end of the run where it does the engraving UNLESS the manuf. of the overall piece of equipment actually states thier machine is listed as a 80w and they guarantee 80w at the point of focus where the burning occurs.

[Bert McMahan]

Yes definitely Kev, I was using the "royal you" there- I meant to say that in a general sense, a tube that is outputting more than its rating is being overdriven, either by a sketchy manufacturer or a reseller who managed to jigger the firmware. My point was that you shouldn't expect headroom on top of the rating. While I haven't used an RF tube laser I assumed it's the same as most any industrial grade component; in other words, the spec is the spec, and overdriving is frequently (but not always) a bad thing.

[Mike Null]

Bert
I am not in agreement with your comment,

I meant to say that in a general sense, a tube that is outputting more than its rating is being overdriven, either by a sketchy manufacturer or a reseller who managed to jigger the firmware.

It has been fairly common for CO2 tubes to test out a bit high when new. That is not due to "sketchy" anything. Early on in my engraving life both Synrad and Coherent explained that tubes are not manufactured so precisely that a 40w is always a 40w. It could be 44w or 50w. If it tested less than 40w it might be sold as a 35w or a 30w.

Since the Trotec Iradian tube is ceramic I have not bothered to investigate whether the variations exist there as well.

[Jerome Stanek]

Bert
I am not in agreement with your comment,

It has been fairly common for CO2 tubes to test out a bit high when new. That is not due to "sketchy" anything. Early on in my engraving life both Synrad and Coherent explained that tubes are not manufactured so precisely that a 40w is always a 40w. It could be 44w or 50w. If it tested less than 40w it might be sold as a 35w or a 30w.

Since the Trotec Iradian tube is ceramic I have not bothered to investigate whether the variations exist there as well.

But if Iradion says it is a 60 watt tube it is a 60 watt and should be sold as a 60 watt even if it puts out more