1 Topic by ITman496

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Topic: Laser cutter repair

So!

Got a call from an old teacher.  My old high school apparently had a laser cutter, and now was getting rid of it because 'the tube died'

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140211_150530_415.jpg

So now I have a fully functional (except for the laser) laser cutter.

If anyone knows anything about these things, please reply.  It uses a metal, non-watercooled laser tube.  If its actually broken, I hope I can figure out the communication protocol to the laser driver and replace it with a much cheaper water cooled glass co2 laser tube.

More info such as names and serial numbers will come when I get the damn thing out of my car. It weighs 160 lbs.

2 Reply by Stevos758

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Re: Laser cutter repair

Nice!

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3 Reply by ITman496

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Re: Laser cutter repair

Got the laser itself out, starting to test it later.

It's a 40W RF excited Synrad tube

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140212_021505_850.jpg

everything inside looks okay, lets hope it works!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140212_024337_225.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140212_024346_014.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140212_024328_245.jpg

4 Reply by ronsii

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Re: Laser cutter repair

The synrad tubes can usually be recharged.... but it may still be cheaper to get one of the import replacement tubes.

5 Reply by ITman496

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Re: Laser cutter repair

Just tested everything but the tube.  The rest of the machine works.  This is good, because if the synrad tube is bad, then I can just get a cheap 40w watercooled ebay laser and slap it into the machine, plus driver for it.  So good news all around!

Testing the tube tomorrow with a piece of wood as a target.

6 Reply by DePartedPrinter (edited by DePartedPrinter 2014-02-13 19:52:36)

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Re: Laser cutter repair

ITman, you didn't get that from CO did you?

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7 Reply by ITman496

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Re: Laser cutter repair

No, got it from my old high school in NJ

No way in hell am I gonna pay to have a machine of this weight shipped from CO to NJ haha

8 Reply by ITman496

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Re: Laser cutter repair

Hey the thing works and I didn't even need to fix it!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140213_221330_336.jpg

9 Reply by grob

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Re: Laser cutter repair

Nice find - hang onto that synrad tube whatever you do - they're pricey little things to buy new, and can be recharged - a synrad for the cost of a recharge may be worth it, nice clean beam and good reliability/repeatability all without needing wc (for 40w anyway). Schools and unis throw out some really nice stuff sometimes, it's borderline tragic!!

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10 Reply by ITman496

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Re: Laser cutter repair

woo!  fixed!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140219_021104_727.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140219_022843_126.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140219_030455_116.jpg

11 Reply by ronsii

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Re: Laser cutter repair

Custom optics holders, Nice!!!

12 Reply by ITman496

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Re: Laser cutter repair

Got ventilation and stuff!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140220_241842_260.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140220_021237_640.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4963246/laser/IMG_20140220_011200_125.jpg

13 Reply by Stevos758

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Re: Laser cutter repair

LUCKY!

Website - http://rippsgaragetech.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ripps-Ga … 3131469591
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14 Reply by ITman496

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Re: Laser cutter repair

Does anyone know how to get these things to do vector cuts?  It seems to require special programs and formats..

15 Reply by adrian (edited by adrian 2014-02-21 07:41:45)

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Re: Laser cutter repair

ITman496 wrote:

Does anyone know how to get these things to do vector cuts?  It seems to require special programs and formats..

What you driving it with at the moment? LinuxCNC (formerly EMC2 CNC) is actually the opposite - will do vector all day but its raster is kinda lacklustre ..

Anyway... indeed it comes down to the control software

Heres some threads on the subject from over at CNCZone:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/general-l … d-dsp.html

And a writeup on reviving a 25w CO2 (but doing vector/raster as well)
http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/?p=laser_cutter

Mach3 also has some reasonable laser support for raster and vector...

anyway - no specific help - I have a CO2 one but not an RF Synrad - but theres some places to at least poke around.... *shrug*

16 Reply by ITman496

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Re: Laser cutter repair

the software to control the unit is.. just a parallel cable and printer driver?

The computer sees it as a normal printer.

Apparently it is supposed to see lines that are 0.001" as vectors but that does not appear to work..