We have a 120W XL12000 from ULS here. Now our other ULS, a 60W PLS660, that uses a 19mm ZnSe output lens.

But the XL12000 is a huge 1" dia lens. This is expensive, hard to find- esp since I want to build a 4" focal length lens holder. The supplier I was looking at didn't have 4"FL at all for 1" dia.

So wait... if I'm building a holder, WHY does it have to be 1"? Why was it EVER 1"?

Well, it's a 4ft x 2ft bed, so the possible alignment error by the end of it is higher. But you'd already have to be totally invalid setup to have 0.5" of alignment error here.

I can make a holder take a more available lens. I don't see why not.

Is there something I'm missing? I've done alignment tests which mark from the beam before the lens- and it's only a 2mm wide or so. It doesn't use the whole lens or anything close.

I don't see how a larger lens would handle more power. Like I say, the beam's only 2mm or so. I'd expect a larger lens to have poorer power handling actually, since it's further to the rim where the aluminum frame can conduct heat away.

Now if I were using an HPDFO carriage, it MIGHT matter, as they use a beam expander prior to the lens and has larger beam diameter on the lens.

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