[Bill1959]

Hi
Totally new to lasers so can you please tell me do laser tubes loose power after a lot of use or do they just not work at all.

Cheers
Bill

[Bill1959]

Hi
I have asked a question that to me seems a fair question I have looked around but don't seem to find the basics on lasers. I see 87 people have looked at this question and nobody has wanted to answer the simple question do people not like to pass on information about lasers?? This is not a rant I just want to know am I asking in the wrong place is this forum just for experts?? I am 55 and been an industrial electrician all my life until a fall on my head 5 years ago and can not work now due to multiple seizures every day. My memory is very bad I get lost in our 3 bedroom house but try to keep my brain active. Having just built a cnc router I was considering trying a cnc engraver/cutter and finding it hard to find the basics to get me started.
Cheers
Bill

[Dennis Rech]

Hi
Totally new to lasers so can you please tell me do laser tubes loose power after a lot of use or do they just not work at all.

Cheers
Bill

Mine started by losing a bit of power (10%) and it also made a slight noise like bacon frying.
Five hours later, it was down to 50% power and one hour after that down to 10%.
My experience is that when they start to go, they go fairly quickly.
Others may have different experiences.
Dennis

[scrappyjedi]

I have had a whole range of experiences with failing laser tubes- I think that they're all different, and especially on the smaller Chinese tubes (40w is what I use), quality control seems poor at best.

I've had my cutter for about 18 months and have had 6 different tubes in that time.

- Tube 1- came with the cutter, but had been sitting dormant for a couple of years. I was not shocked when it died a couple of months later. It suffered a slow decline of cutting power, to the point where it wouldn't go through 1/16" wood. In the end, you could literally sit and watch the mode change in the beam, which had become bright white.
- Tube 2- purchased as the replacement tube after the original died. It lasted maaaaaaaaybe 2 months before going out in about the same way Tube 1 did. It was replaced under warranty.
- Tube 3- was in the machine a grand total of a week. It was mis-aligned out of the box (the mirror that is glued in place was not done so at the correct angle). It went back for replacement.
- Tube 4- my very favorite of them all. It was in the cutter for almost a year and probably had 2,000 hours or more on it. The beam quality in the tube started to turn bright white instead of deep purple and cut quality slowly declined. We just replaced it on September 1st.
- Tube 5- the jury is still out on whether this one failed or now (I still have it). We just swapped it this weekend for a new one because cut quality was deteriorating during a cut, but we're still trying to figure out if it's a power supply issue or if it was the tube.
- Tube 6- currently in the cutter. Having the same power loss issues, so ordered in a new power supply to see if that fixes things.

Long story short, the normal failure mode for a tube is usually to slowly (but noticeably) decline in power. Using them or not using them doesn't seem to extend their lifespan- they're basically all dying from the moment they're manufactured.

[laser tube]

Hi, if anyone need laser tubes and power supplies, please contact us. Our company in Canada which is very close for USA.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Anna Sun
Peak Glass Inc
Peak Glass Inc.
4635 Rue Fairway Lachine
QC H8T 1B7
514-409-7176

[cinematic2]

Hi
Totally new to lasers so can you please tell me do laser tubes loose power after a lot of use or do they just not work at all.

What kind of " laser tubes"?