Laser tube replacement

[Scott Boatner]

My Trotec Sp400/80, long out of warranty, has been gradually losing power (5+ years old), power supply seems fine, I'm Looking into first a tester for the tube wattage, any ideas? I have seen the Cloudray and the Doohickey mentioned, any experience with either of them. Also recommendations for a re-conditioning of my tube, thanks in advance.

[Kev Williams]

GRADUALLY losing power... have you done your due diligence with checking all the mirrors for guck, alignment, bugs stuck in the lens tube, etc.? My 16 year old Gravograph LS900's 40w tube went south last week- in all that time I never had to adjust any cut or engrave settings for loss of power. What happened with mine was I noticed while engraving Cermark one night the beam didn't look it's normal nice 'n bright. Then much of the Cermark washed off. Next day it could barely muster enough power to get thru white Cermark at full power and 30% speed. I went completely thru the 'light train' checking for problems, and tweaked the alignment. The tube is on its way to Evergreen laser as I type

I've been lasering since 2002 using 5 lasers, and this is the first tube that's ever gone bad on me, so it's my only source of experience. I HAVE had 'gradual' loss-of power issues with all my machines at one time or another, and it's always been a crud-on-the-lens or mirror, or something-in-the-beam-path issue.

[Brian Lamb]

I have an older ULS X-600 and when I bought it the tube was supposedly "freshly recharged". It lasted less than two years, actually started dropping power before the one year mark, but I ended up needing some surgery so it sat for quite a while longer before I got back to it. Had it re-charged in California as they are closer to me, worked great at first, started loosing power after the one year point, made it almost to two years before it wouldn't mark anodized parts.

Borrowed a 30 watt tube and it functioned fine, so know the rest of the machine is fine. Sent out my tube to Evergreen also this time, hopefully it will last longer this time around, at least they are cheaper than the last place, so we will see. I would love to have a power meter to hold people to their one year warranty... if I knew it started at 55w and dropped to 40w before the end of the warranty, I could get it re-done for free.

[Scott Boatner]

Thanks for the response, yes I’m getting pretty persistent at checking for dirty or misaligned mirrors and table level. Over the last year I’ve noticed that I’ve had to add power and lower speed for all cutting and do extra passes on raster engraving and a few weeks ago on my first job since Covid that I got light and dark streaks on hardwood tap handles, I’ve done hundreds of these with no issues so next week I’ll check my power supply and I’ve ordered one of Russ’s Doohickeys to test my tube. We will see.

[Kev Williams]

As to a 'power meter' to check for power loss... One of my fairly 'delicate' settings I've used since day one, is to cut tape, specifically that really good yellow-backed PVC tape. I cut a LOT of it. I usually cut 4" wide tape, I apply it to used postage label slickbacks...My cut settings are 61% power and 91% speed, took a long time to dial that in just right... While changing speed numbers is a bit more forgiving, at these settings the tape cuts thru perfectly without cutting thru the slickback. But at 62% power the slickback will cut, and at 60% power the tape won't be cut clear thru. Been cutting tape with these settings for at least 12 or13 years. If my power had ever started gradually dropping, I'd have noticed when cutting tape - I HAVE at times had tape not cut thru, always ended up a focus or dirty lens issue.

When I get my tube back from Evergreen first thing I'm going to do is cut some tape, I'll know right then if I have more, the same, or less power than before...