Glass china CO2 laser retrofit

[ITman496]

I have a uls-25e. the synrad on it died. the synrad was expensive. So I decided to retrofit it with a 60w glass co2 laser, new optics, water cooling, etc.

I know the RF tube needed a tickle pulse. Does the glass co2 tube need a tickle pulse? It seems to be working okay without it, but I want to know if I can get even more performance.

My googling isn't yielding much helpful info.

 

[DashApple]

The HV PSU will generate a high voltage to start the tube , once the discharge is going then that's it .

 

[ITman496]

The HV PSU will generate a high voltage to start the tube , once the discharge is going then that's it .

The laser driver from my cutter appears to send rapid pwm. For raster and vector. So it's rapidly turning the tube on and off, no steady state max power from it. From my understanding, with rf tubes this makes them more powerful as they emit a burst of power when first coming on so rapidly pulsing them works well?
Will this driving method hurt the tube? It seems to be working quite happily right now. Is tickle unnecessary?

 

[Cyparagon]

Google tells me the tickle pulse is mostly to refine the cut pattern, and not for the benefit of the tube. I don't think it is needed in an electrically pumped tube because the excitation has a much faster rise time.

 

[ITman496]

Google tells me the tickle pulse is mostly to refine the cut pattern, and not for the benefit of the tube. I don't think it is needed in an electrically pumped tube because the excitation has a much faster rise time.

Ah. Okay. Makes sense. Does rapid ignition of a glass co2 tube wear it down at all? Me and a friend were playing with the tickle and managed to get the tube to have a faint glow and stay ignited but not lase. Would this save anode/cathode erosion from rapid 500-1000dpi ignitions? Or will it harm it? I want to find out whats good and known to work now before its too late and we fry something.