[nilrods]

I have an old Mercury (not II or II) laser engraver. It is the 12 watt version. While it has worked out pretty good for me over the years the laser seems to be in need of a recharge lately. I was wondering if anyone has upgraded the laser in one like this to higher power. I know the recharge would be cheaper but I would like to upgrade it to like the 40-60 watt range if I have to remove the laser.

Does anyone know what model laser(I assume it is a synrad) are used on the higher wattage ones? Also I assume there would need to be some power supply upgrades also.

Any thoughts from someone who has done this or has info on it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

[nt81]

Probably not cost effective at all I'm afraid.

New tube means you need the exciter to match (unless it is an integrated tube/exciter combo) and there were also a couple of laser tube manufacturers so you would also be looking at possibly a new signal cable and/or mainboard + firmware.

Not to mention that you're going to need more power supplies to fire it up - you'll also need more cooling fans and now you're looking at a new wiring harness to support all of that hardware.

Even if you do all of that, there's a good solid days work even for a qualified tech (of which I have been at one stage for GCC) not to mention the alignment and troubleshooting once you do get there. And once you have, your machine is probably getting on a bit anyway.

At the end of the day, you'll be much better off trading in your old machine for a new one and when you do, you should look at a GCC Spirit.

40-60 watts is great once you've been stuck on a lower wattage machine as well. Dirty / old mirrors really suck on lower powered lasers.

Just my 2 cents worth.