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Registered Member #1159
Joined: Fri Dec 07 2007, 02:10AM
Location: Hudson Valley of NY State
Posts: 84
Been playing with a Chinese 40 watt C02 laser, but was looking for an American made tube. Higher quality & they last much longer than the offshore tubes. I finally see a used one on eBay, American made, 40 watts.
I won the auction, but the shipping was very high. I got the tube cheap, so it wasn't the end of the world. Several days later, I get a card in the mail saying they have a package too large & heavy to deliver. Off to the P.O. .............the guy brings out a box 6' long, 50+ pounds. WTF?? I get it home & open it up. The fellow shipped the tube in its steel housing. Ok, but this thing is WAY to long for a 40 watt tube. A 40 watt tube is usually about 3' long.
I open up the housing and..........holy crap.......this tube is 5+' long and about 4" in diameter. This thing has GOT to be more than 40 Watts. I hooked it up to the 40 watt supply I got with the Chinese tube & it fired. My Synrad power meter showed it outputting 52 watts.
How do I determine the design rated output of this tube? I tried e-mailing several businesses that refurbish C02 lasers and they all replied that "as per their attorneys advice, they could not answer my questions". Damn lawyers. So how do I find out what this laser is capable of outputting? I don't want to overdrive it, as that will shorten its life.
Registered Member #56
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445
Probably the reason the american tube lasts longer is it is the size of a 80w chinese tube, but is run at half power I believe the general rule of thumb is 60-80w/meter for a well designed co2 laser, although a sealed tube will have lower efficiency then a flowing gas one (the well designed case), and if you are concerned about long life you might want to further derate the values. (although to the best of my knowledge a CO2 laser isn't like a diode laser in that lifetime is significantly increased by running at a lower current, although manufactures will often sell a tube capable of 100w as a 50w tube so that they can slowly turn up the power as the tube ages and maintain the rated power).
Registered Member #311
Joined: Sun Mar 12 2006, 08:28PM
Location:
Posts: 253
Try posting a message with any make/model info and links to pics etc. on the alt.lasers newsgroup. There are helpful people there who know everything there is to know about lasers of all kinds.
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40 Watt C02 laser ??
I believe the general rule of thumb is 60-80w/meter for a well designed co2 laser, although a sealed tube will have lower efficiency then a flowing gas one (the well designed case), and if you are concerned about long life you might want to further derate the values. (although to the best of my knowledge a CO2 laser isn't like a diode laser in that lifetime is significantly increased by running at a lower current, although manufactures will often sell a tube capable of 100w as a 50w tube so that they can slowly turn up the power as the tube ages and maintain the rated power).
