Newbie with G Weike 1200

[muzzcuts]

Hello, so glad to have found this site. Newbie with G Weike 1200 60w based in Sydney looking for super urgent help with laser issues.

I run my own little homewares biz but also offer the service locally. We cut MDF, 3mm acrylic and veneers. Till recently she worked like a dream and we had no issues. Lately the cutting is getting progressivly more difficult with the speed having to be lowered and the power raised on all jobs. Mr Muzz has changed the mirrors and lens (replaced it the right way up too - lol), spent a day re aligning the buggers and still no better, in fact problems are getting worse with today the laser at nearly 100% only cutting right through on part of a job.

Any ideas on what the problem is? How can I trouble shoot further? I understood that the tube doesn't degrade it just dies in one go, please correct me if Im wrong. I have an 80w tube but am worried it wont engrave on the acrylic as well. Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Mrs Muzz

[Exsecratio]

Hi Mrs Muzz,

Just the opposite, tubes do degrade and will give just the symptoms you describe in the last section of their life.
A tube getting killed by overheating or damage will fail instantly but a tube just wearing out can take some time.

best wishes

Dave

[muzzcuts]

oh bugger!

Thanks Dave. No spare 60w (oops) and orders up the wazoo! We've had the machine for a year but really only had it pumping over Christmas with ornaments. I didn't realise the tubes don't last that long.

I do a lot of engraving on the reverse of mirrored acrylic. Do you think an 80w tube would do a good job?

Cheers

[Rodney Gold]

You would probably do better with an 80w Reci tube or the like , but you might not fit it in your machine (same goes for the cheaper 80w tube) and would most likely have to get a new power supply too. could come to over $800 us and you would most likely have to do some fettling and fiddling to get it mounted. Rather just order 2 cheapy 60w tubes at under $200 each.
DO NOT run your tubes at 100% , it may shorten the life appreciably , limit it to 90% power and make sure your chiller/cooling setup is good .
The CW3000 system sold with most 60 watt lasers is junk. Open yours up , most are just a water container and an aquarium pump , if you lucky you get some fan directed at the water surface or maybe if you really lucky a small radiator, Modify it with a much better radiator (a heater /oil/gearbox cooler core from a scrapyard) and decent fans (a few puter fans attached with cable ties or radiator mount cable ties you can get at any car performance shop) or the like).
You really want a cw5000 chiller - but this will cost you about $500 - the radiator fix is a lot cheaper.

[Exsecratio]

Solid, accurate advice from Rodney as always

You could also consider an aquarium chiller as an inline cooler to add to your current set up, a bit cheaper than the CW5000 and if you get a good one from say Ebay it will outperform any budget laser chiller on the market.

best wishes

Dave

[muzzcuts]

One more question please.

We've got the 80w hooked up, new psu, mirrors aligned, everything appears to be as it should.

When we pulse the laser useing the keypad on the machine we get a beautiful, clean and neat dot cut through and through - yeeehah.

When we run a simple square through lasercut 5.3 we get a messy scored fuzzy line at the same speed and power we used for our 60w - this should at least cut through right?

Cheers
Leanne

[Exsecratio]

Hi Leanne,

Your focal height is out, with a new tube the focal point will often change due to a difference in beam size going into the optical train.

Use a ramped piece of wood to check and calculate the new focal point.

best wishes

Dave

[muzzcuts]

can you believe it, out of shear frustration, we turned the lens convex side down and it now cuts like a hot knife through butter.

As an aside, this is how the machine was shipped but with all of our research we decided to turn it convex side up during our troubleshooting as per many diagrams and info found on the net.

Thanks again guys for your help and tips, much appreciated. Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to get it right lol.

I can sleep tonight.....

[Melody-gweike]

Hi, Leanne,

We have returned from our holiday. Glad to see your problem has been solved. Any question, you can still write to me.

Melody
li@wklaser.com

[muzzcuts]

oh my!!

A curly one perhaps?

after all the whoo hah of changing the dead tube, we ran the new 80w perfectly yesterday.

Today it ran fine for the first job and then has progressivly gotten worse, again only cutting right through on part of a circle, just like the 60w right before we changed it.

The photo shows what I mean, sorry, I popped it on a random page on my little website - right down the bottom. I don't have any other photo hosting . I have no idea why it decided to cut 3 circles fully - very strange. I had also just engraved each of the little circles too - wasted materials and time....

Contact Us - muzz..... Laser cut Products and Services
(There'll be no products or services if I can't get this fixed hmph)

Hoping you can help.
Cheers
Leanne

[Exsecratio]

Water temperature.... make sure you have no bubbles in the tube

best wishes

Dave

[muzzcuts]

Hi Yopin

Yep new psu in.

Beam was not hitting the middle of the 1st mirror. The height was fine it was a little out to the side..... Watched Melody's video, tightened a screw here adjusted a little there and now (5 hours later) we are cooking with gas!

Thanks again all for your help.

Cheers and have a great weekend.

Leanne