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FrozenGate by Avery

assmbling a co2 laser for my shop

The fat red wire is your HV+ and the small blue wire is your ground connection for the laser tube.
 





the two white couplings connect together - it allows for a quick disconnect from the laser tube
 
now im confused. the wire comming from the back is the ground wire. does it conned to the front end of the tube... the partially reflective. can you show me to a picture of the set-up
 
Sorry, but if you can't even hook up a few simple wires by yourself, then I think you need to do a bunch more reading before playing with a laser capable of blasting holes in most materials, electrocuting and killing you..
 
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Thankyou things. that just what i did.. i found the hook up diagram in another thread Mario had written to. now it all makes sense. and what the ports were for and where the.5k pot will go.I just wnted to be sure. now to get the pump.. pot. and build a nice housing .. Ive see other have thes justerry rigged just to on and off. But. i didnt think that was kosher. I just want to take my time and have a nice set up.
 
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Its Alive. Got my water pump from Homo Depot and some quarter inch id rubber tubing..the kind they use in hospital. A large mop bucket makes a great cooling tower since it holds five gallons. I soldered some mini alligator clamps to the two lead wires to make hook up easy. For now the crate the tube came in serves as the housing until I can find a flashlight host for it. I just hooked it up in test mode and goggles on...fired away at some solid wood :-p I'm making an analog power control knob and foot control switch. Also a Power switch that shuts off the whole thing. once that's done, Ill start on the optical head and air compressorGot foot
control working..Variable power control knob works nicly

after re eiving a bad tube and getting a new one I reset it up. I made it like a scroll saw using a left hend mirror mount and f/2 .5 lens. works great on wood
 
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Very nice! What method did you use to eliminate air in the cooling lines when going to closed loop cooling? (Or is it closed loop with an open reservoir?)

I finally used my 15W "portable" unit today for something constructive. I successfully cut 4.5" OD 3/8" thick PVC pipe. It took a while as I had to rotate the pipe by hand, and as a result the kerf isn't fantastic, but it turned out good enough for my needs and was a hell of a lot easier than using a fine toothed hack saw.

Just watch out for reflections if you're going to be having workpieces at near 90deg from the axis of the beam. I try to have all the workpieces I work on angled so that any reflections are aimed away from me just as a precaution.
 
I turned the tube so the lines are on top. yes the home depot bucket is the reservour. if i want it closed... I just put the lid on it!!!! A couple holes though the sides for the hoses.
 
Ahh ok, so it is an open air reservoir. I chose a truly sealed closed loop system for the sake of portability and it has been nothing but an endless nightmare. No matter how I tried to purge the lines there was always trapped air in the system... in the radiator, in the pump, in the tube, in the lines. At best I could purge all but one of the segments but one would always retain air. I finally got enough air out to the point that the pump no longer stalls 99% of the time, but it still isn't very happy.

If I had space for a real workshop I would just forgo the portability and go for an ease of use set up like yours. Unfortunately I am severely limited on space and thus EVERYTHING has to be made portable and as self contained as possible so that it can be moved and stored when not in use. Quite the hassle.
 
Can you put a small resivoir on top and put a bleeder valve. it will always have air in it but on top. much likp a swimming pool pump system. the filter tank has such valve. can you post pics of your setup?. Get rid of radiater and just have a worm with blowing fan
 
Spinning blades in a closed loop even if always underwater will cause cavitation and bubbles :(

Truss, have you allowed for somewhere for that 18Kv (22Kv strike up) to go if the tube breaks down electrically? (it's on strike they usually fail when the higest voltage is applied) it may only be designed to run 20-23 Ma but most Chinese PSU's aren't usually current limited (read:cheap crap) and when a tube fails in most commercial systems they short to the nearest point of least resistance, on a laser cutter that's the earthed metal casing, on a freestanding box that's likely to be the person next to it.
While unlikely to be instantly fatal (I've had a few pokes from them) a hand held defib isn't something to be toying with.

I was doing some work with an 80 watt tube a while ago and just out of interest wanted to see what it would do, after some judicious modifications we were happily setting flammables on fire instantly 60 yards away without any lensing past the beam combiner in the actual tube.

No bright lights or pretty colours,no black baloons or match heads...just click.....fire starts.A DC excited China tube isn't polarised so scatters even when in a machine.

cheers

Dave
 
I have psu grounded properly . the cooling system is separate from the psu .but they are all on a switche outlet so cooling psu and laser head blower all come on. the head and blower do not touch. as you see the frame is wood. if the tube goes it won't get me.

the devergence on this tube is a onehalf inch burn mark eight feet away un focused.
 
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