New laser here, Gweike storm500


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Thread: New laser here, Gweike storm500

  1. #1
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    Default New laser here, Gweike storm500

    Hi members of CNCzone.

    i've reading this board for years, learned tons of usefull stuff here. i guess it might be good time to join.

    I started my laser jorney quite some time ago with the cheap K40 that i got from automation tech (good to have them nearby), learned the shortcomings of moshi immidiately, upgraded to DSP control and added air while i was at it. after straightening, alingmnent and fixing some mechanical issues that small machine made good amount of parts. Lately I finally started feeling the limitations of the small work area. I would have loved to get an epilog or similar serious device, but since my purpose is hobby there is no way for me to justify this financially, so china machine had to be it. About two weeks ago i went again to AT and got the Gweike Storm500 device they were offering. I wasn't expecting a smooth sailing and things indeed went quite turbulent with first tube being cracked and second tube dying within several minutes due to internal water leak. I had very interesting email exchange with manufacturer, but at the end I really appreciate AutoTech efforts with this - their tech Taylor stopped by my place yesterday to oversee me installing yet another replacement tube and verifying it is working as expected. i guess it is quite remarkable level of service for non top brand equipment.
    I'm done re-calibrating stepper pulses, brought X and Y to within 0.05mm, at this point its my caliper and my poor measuring technicues that set the limit. there are still quite a few issues, like guides rails slightly out of square, laser head not exacly perpendicular to table, and table itself being uneven due to busted mounting of one of the corners underneath, but i'm well prepared to deal with everything (bringing the small machine to shape was a very good experience).

    your opinion is welcome on couple of items:
    *. Power settings. i have quite conservative approach to this, i never set power to over 80%,70% being my standart duty seting. digital amp meter on my small machine was always at 12-13mA. overall i find cutting performance similar, but i did notice that at 75% analog meter of the Storm500 reads 16mA and at 80% goes up to 18mA (which i understand is the max allowed operational current). i would guess the increased A is due to longer tube (800mm model vs 720 in the small machine) and I understand this is still within theparameters. i wonder though whats your take on power levels, do you go full 100%?
    *. while i will obviously need to realign after i re-square the X to Y guides, i wonder about acceptable levels of beam deviation. at the moment beam does not hit the very center of final mirror opening. its not clipped, there is still some mm to edge and it is consistent, meaning that exactly same spot is being hit through the entire range of table motion. is being off-center acceptable at all?
    *. beam combiner and red dot pointer, i'm heavily debating whether i shoud do it. machine already has a mount for laser pointer and combiner lense in place, so its easy and not to expencive of upgrade, but i'm getting torn on whether the benefit of pointer outweights another optical element between source and material to worry about.
    *. relay suggestions to start air assist. i run a tankless solution built around a compressor salvaged from some sort of medical breathing assist device. its not diafragm, has two pistons, intake filter/muffler soluition so it is relatively quiet.
    *. what is your take on DIY waterchillers? i have a functioning office water cooler and was thinking to incorporate that into closed loop system. do these things have anough cooling power to handle 35W tube on their own?

    regards,
    Anton

    Similar Threads:
    Last edited by agrasyuk; 03-11-2015 at 01:32 PM.


  2. #2
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    Default Re: New laser here, Gweike storm500

    Hi Anton.

    I myself bought 2 x storm 500 machines for engraving business middle of last year and they have been working great for the price paid..
    The laser power depends on what you want to engrave. i engrave slate with my machines (text & photographs) and i vary between 30% and 60%, i would never go above 60% as i do not need to and i'm concerned about the chinese tubes.
    For the allignment, it was a concern when i first purchased these machines as there is no allignment tool as with my LC6090 which is also from WKLASER. Which slots into the hole in the top of the lens mount just before the final mirror which has a steel cross hair to get the beam spot on, i try to get the beam to within about 1mm of center.
    I do not see the great need for a red dot pointer and the submersible water chiller from WKLASER is fine for the job.

    Although question for you.....

    I am having a major pain with my machine with the lasercutengrave 3.3 software that came with it... When i try to type any text in the software, if i put any spaces between words in the edit box they do not come out onto the design screen therefore if i type 'TEST TEST TEST' into the edit box, what is then put onto the layout screen is 'TESTTESTTEST'
    I have asked WKLASER and they are saying this is normal even though on my other machine with the Lasercutengrave 5.3 software it does not happen.

    Does this happen with your machine?



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    Default Re: New laser here, Gweike storm500

    Thanks for the reply V,
    the behavior that you describe is exactly as i have it. but i don't see it as issue since i don't do design in the laser software. why not prepare your text in say MS Word , take a screenshot save as bitmap and then import into laser software? its going to be engraved in raster mode one way or another



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