Hello everyone , i need some assistance. I bought a Co2 laser cutter made by Hanma. Is a old machine , 8 years old but not used. From the start the metal cutting head was missing so i had to build a new one on lathe from scratch. Used a 20mm lens with a focal length of 63.5mm and is cutting in a way.
The material i need to cut is zinc plated carbon steel sheet with a thickness of 0.25mm. I have used oxygen as assist gas.
Sometimes the laser will not pierce the material for some reason , but sometimes will cut and the cut is ok. I tried cutting with 2 Bar pressure of O2 but the cut is ugly , tried with 4Bar and same deal , 6 Bar better , 8 to 10 bar perfect but it eats loads of O2. I tried on a 2000x1000 mm sheet metal , cut like half of the sheet and consumed a 10L canister of high pressure O2.
The laser tube is a brand new RECI W8 with a new power supply. Before it had a brad new RECI W6 with an old supply and i presumed the tube or laser was faulty or simply not enough power , but with the new tube and power supply there is only 20% improvement.
The copper nozzle has a 1.5 mm hole , but ordered another with a 1mm hole , and building a new head to use a 50 mm focal length lens. I have brand new mirrors and perfectly aligned.
The autofocus controller is a CHC-300 with a ruida capacitive sensor on it. The original one is missing. The controller should have a auto calibration function by pressing up and down buttons for 2 seconds , but never made it to work so the nozzle was roughly 2.5 mm away from the material. i disassembled the controller and it has a potentiometer to adjust the height and set it to around 0.5 mm away from the material.
As for the assist gas , I think it had a electro valve to stop the gas when the laser is not firing , i have found the connector but the valve is missing. The connector has a led on it and lights up at the same time with the laser.
the laser controller is a Trocen AWC-608C.
What can i do make sure the laser pierce the material every time?
What pressure should i use for assist gas?
How do i mount the lens ? with the straight portion UP or down ( currently is down)?

Similar Threads: