[t6t8]

Hello,

I hope somebody can help shed some light on a problem i am having. I have been searching through the forum and can find lots about the life and death of laser tubes but can't determine whether a dead laser tube still produces visible plasma.

I have been using the same laser tube for over a year and it worked great until the cooling collar came disconnected from the business end of the laser tube.

So i changed the laser tube to my backup (which has been in storage for over a year).

When i test fire the tube the usual line of pink illuminates from its centre, but seems to exit its optic, it won't burn paper or anything. Basically i thought a dead tube would not produce plasma.

Is it just dead tube or am i missing something.


Machine: G Weike LG500 60W

Software: Laser Cut 5.3

I hope somebody can help,

Many thanks in advance,

Tom

[MonoNeuron]

If it isn't a RECI tube then I would assume the tube is pretty much dead. I had a tube I put in storage while I built my machine and 5 months later it was flat out cutting paper and that was a 30 watt tube.
You might get a plasma but it also might not amount to much more than a few watts.
Apparently the glue bonding the mirrors on the tube out-gasses into the laser and contaminates it as well as it leaking gas into the tube.
Rich.

[t6t8]

Thanks for getting back Rich.

Confirming my worst fears!

Looks like it'll be a replacement tube...

Was it silly to buy and store a replacement tube for so long? it seems sensible to keep one in stock so there is as little machine down time as possible. Especially when tubes can take days to get hold of.

[fixtureman1]

Thanks for getting back Rich.

Confirming my worst fears!

Looks like it'll be a replacement tube...

Was it silly to buy and store a replacement tube for so long? it seems sensible to keep one in stock so there is as little machine down time as possible. Especially when tubes can take days to get hold of.

I always say not to buy a spare tube for that very reason. You can get a tube shipped pretty fast for me it would be only 1 to 2 days

[MonoNeuron]

I won't get a replacement tube until I really need it. Mine hasn't suffered a catastrophic failure either. Luckily the tubes slowly reduce power, unless it ****'s itself, which gives you a bit of leeway.

There are a lot of people on these forums that had 2 tubes and ended up with dead ones after storage. It's a shame really.
Lasers really are about the cheapest they have ever been and the quality is getting better all the time but there are also a lot of really cheap and nasty sellers out there just waiting to palm one of theirs off to a customer.

If you can afford it try and get a RECI tube. They guarantee them for 8000hours but I think the smallest you can get is 80 Watts which may not fit your machine. You might be able to cut a hole in the side of your laser to fit one and just need to get a new power supply for it. Nothing else need be changed.
Mine has been sitting in the shed for ages and I just go out and use it about once per month now as I don't get much time to do any work on it except for requests. I still reckon it has 80% of it's life in it after about 2 years and 1200 hours operating time.
The tube and power supply I bought was through CNColtech on eBay and they sent it as a test/gift shipment so I didn't pay customs duty.
They are much cheaper now after 2 -3 years. You'll save hundreds of dollars. I won't go back to another tube as it's just not worth it.
I limit the power of mine to 80% so I don't burn out the tube prematurely. I have a 100 watt tube and can go right down to 8 watts and engrave paper with it.
Rich.