I have had my x20-pro for about 18 months. I would guestimate it’s had about 20h of runtime during those months. But even after only a few weeks it felt like it lost power and I was only able to cut 6mm MDF for the first couple of days, then it couldn’t cut all the way through. Now it’s become worse over time. I have routinely cleaned the machine, recently I even replaced the protective lense just in case. I run air assist and have a box with proper airflow while cutting. I did a new material test cut just to see how bad it had become.
The left one is from my first few days, and the right one is today. The lines are noticably thicker and it’s nowhere near cutting through the material. Ignore the difference in the text, I didn’t remember what text setting was used in the first test so they are different. My guess is that it’s out of focus some how or a diode is broken and causing problems. I have no clue how to troubleshoot this so any tips are helpful. I have reaches out to atomstack as well but apparently I bought it from atomstack.net (apparently just a retailer) and not atomstack.com so I need to go through them instead and see If they can help me.
To me, it also looks like the beam shape has widened. This is usually caused by a broken lens, but you said you replaced it. You can also do the wall test (point the laser to a white wall a few meters away, power it on and take a picture; be sure to wear goggles all the time).
Did you focus exactly the same way? You might also check if you need a slightly different focus height (but that should not change over time, of course).
When i do the wall test what exactly am I looking for? The height adjustment I just use the metal bracket that comes with the laser and I have used it the same way every time.
I can tell you when I see it It depends, but if you see only three diode sources, then one of the diodes has died which leads to a power loss (though, it should not lead to a wider beam). So, it’s just a check to exclude the module itself.
Here is a beam of a 20W Sculpfun laser head, I don’t have any Atomstack to check there.
To me, that looks broken. Two of the four diodes are still working as expected, whereas the other two don’t have a defined spot any more and are wider than they should be. Additionally, there is a reflection at the top. At a four diode laser, usually a pair of diodes is combined, and the beam is then combined again. I guess one path of the optical system is damaged, and therefore you only have 10W effectively and a wider beam area.
I assumed this could be the case when I saw the beams. I have sent the same images and description to atomstack support. Perhaps they can offer me a decent deal on a replacement module.
I want to say huge thanks for answering this thread and helping me out. I had no idea you could check the diodes this way. Hope you have a great weekend.
It depends, but if you see only three diode sources, then one of the diodes has died which leads to a power loss (though, it should not lead to a wider beam). So, it’s just a check to exclude the module itself.
