PSA: The narrower units aren't 40W

@donkjr As always, you give great advice!

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Although I’m a tinkerer, I did pre-order a 50 watt 5030 (20"X12") from them, because of customer satisfaction. I’ve dealt with the Chinese companies enough on small purchases. This being my first CO2 laser, I need to build a platform for it to sit on. I have a commercial chiller (3000 series) on the way also… I’m in the Arizona Phoenix valley area and it’s heating up, we’ll see how it works… We’ve already seen a few low 90s days. (8’)

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Which end is that?

I noticed, although hard to read that the milliamp meter pegs when you light it up. What is the supply ma rating? do you know… Just curious.

Living in the high country of Flagstaff AZ, I am lucky that the average summer temps are in the 80’s so I have not had any issues using a passive cooler. (3000). I was running a lab chiller for awhile but it needs to be fixed. It was causing condensation on the tube due to lack of a thermostat and died before I could add one. I only paid $5.00 for it!

the expected max running milliamps is 32ma under load. However with no load in an air gap you can see that it is much larger than that. This is why when the tube dies users will often experience violent arcs.

The supply is not highly regulated although there is some feedback. I suspect most of the regulation is due to the tubes characteristics.

The normal failure mode is the HV diodes that make up the doubler potted into the HVT. I suspect they cannot find diodes that can withstand the max vout for any length of time. In addition the winding on the HVT start arching.

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Built a few doublers, mostly cascading, and todays diodes are so much better. You are probably right about them not standing up. I suspect that’s why you have such a high surge as those caps in the doubler circuit are settling down to normal operation.

Is that video showing a standard lps with the lid off? Check out the video I posted on the laser earlier, when he takes the supply apart the groups of multipliers take up an entire board.

We’re trying to move about 1/2 way to Flag. Found I don’t do to well at altitude.

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Be aware that this is not a chiller. It’s just a radiator.

… Use a CW-3000 “water chiller.” There are lots of these on ebay for US$150 and up, marketed for cooling lasers. The problem is that they are not chillers. They are radiators that blow room temperature air over your cooling water. If your water is cooler than room temperature they will actual heat your cooling water. …

Well that sucks, I guess it’s going back. Don’t need a motorized radiator. Especially here since ambient temp might be kind of high… :frowning:
After really reading it, it sounds like it’s what you describe.
Thanks for the tip, the ones that’s coming is going back.

I do have a CW-3000 (probably a knock-off) which is definitely a radiator+fan (of course I took it apart to see), but I use it for my water-cooled CNC spindle where it just needs to keep it from cooking…

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Do you have a personal recommendation for a good power supply?

I generally suggest the cheapest direct replacement you can get because they fail like consumables.

That said I would look closely at OMT given @HalfNormal says they will replace burned-out ones. I had never heard (or listened) that OMT would honor their warranty.

The choice you make is influenced by what machine you are putting it in and how much you are willing to modify the wiring.

If it’s a K40 and the replacement does not have a 24V supply you will have to add a 24/5v supply.

@donkjr It always helps to go through Amazon or Ebay. If the manufacture will not help the big boys will step in. That was not the case for me. They responded on their own and had a replacement sent within days.
I am not sure why but the recent dealings with the Chinese companies have been very successful when parts are needed. Geeetech sending screws from China and my Mini 3018 CNC with the bad shaft where all taken care of within days.

Yea, I thought I read through it, but found this on the very last line

Note: This product can only be cooled to room temperature without cooling capacity.

Canceled the 3000, although it’s already been shipped. Thanks, saved me some grief.

Indications are the cooler the tube the more efficient? Most of the information I have sets the temperature between 15 c (59 f) and 30 c (86 f,) although most commercial units seem to indicate 20 c (68 f.) Top end seems a bit on the warm end of things, but with the internet is the source… The couple of commercial bits of information that I’ve found seem to want it to be at 20 c (68 f.) One actually stated the degradation of the output drops .5 to 1.5% / deg c rise… We’ll do it in centagrade so the numbers work easily, with 94 deg f as the tube temperature and 68 deg f for the ideal temperature… 34 c - 20 c = 14 c, 14 x 1.5 = 21.

On a 50 watt laser reduced by 21% gives us a loss of 10.5 watts at the top end and about a 1/3 of that at the low end.

Are their general guideline for this?

This is why I picked these numbers… We have, usually in June / July, broken the ‘low record’ here, last I remember was 94 f (34 c.) The daily high is in the triple digits. So for me this is least case temperature issue.

If this is too far off topic or may generate more interest as it’s own thread, feel free to move it… (8’)

I purchased a BIBO 3d printer ‘open box’ which worked out well. However the Chinese company warned me about open box items. Their ‘open box’ means it was shipped from china to a holding area (or intermediate warehouse) were it was eventually delivered. Upon return the warehouse, having no knowledge of the product gets a returned box. It is not checked verified or anything. When you buy the ‘open box’ you get whatever the customer returned, hopefully the original item and not a few bricks. I wasn’t about to gamble this amount of money, so I ordered one via OMTech.

They replaced at no charge (if I paid shipping) three parts when only one of them broken. Three pieces of Plexiglas they were going to ship to me I turned down because the part was 5 bucks and shipping was over 60. They also advised me on how to temporarily fix what was broken while I waited for the part. The fix is still being used, with the replacement part still in the closet…

Found a really cheap (low cost?) cnc 3018 type for $80 at one site. I got a small coin purse… They promised me it was a goof, but we’ll see.

I found mine on Amazon for $135.00. I was really surprised to find it at that price. It is the better one without a lot of plastic parts so it was worth the gamble and it paid off!

I ordered this, it was $70… Got a coin purse after a few weeks:( I have one and use it to death, been nice to have two… The ‘correct’ replacement is supposed to be here today…

Later I found this, so my expectations plummeted.

There is a thread here on a $300 SSL for $29. I bit because I could use PayPal. I did get a pair of 99 cent safety glasses as a result. PayPal did refund my purchase so it was not a loss. I knew it was too good to be true but I was curious to see what the end result would be.

This is where I purchased my 3018 CNC but unfortunately is not currently available.

Don,

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.

John