My 60W Co2 laser (Aeon Mira) was not in use for a month… And now I’m having issues with it!
It does score but does not cut like it did before (like it has lost all its power…). All was fiine last time it run… The Co2 tube is firing (pulling around 16-20mA from the HV power supply), the water level is normal and the water temperature is under 25 °C. All mirrors are somewhat aligned (the laser does hit the last mirror around the middle of the hole). Don’t know what else to check? Or what else can I do to troubleshoot the laser…
Do the mA correspond to the settings in LightBurn’s old settings? i.e. at 50% - 14mA (just an example)
Troubleshooting, I would always start by looking at the tube’s output to M1. A short pulse with the lowest possible power, but still enough to see a reasonable result, preferably a dark brown round dot that has not burned through the test target. If it’s ok, I will visually check the mirrors for dirt, spiders and long-missed children’s toys. If it’s ok, I’ll dismantle my nozzle, clean the lens and check if it’s broken or if it’s loose.
If it doesn’t help and you are sure that the LPS is ok, I would start over by checking and aligning the mirror/lens system.
…forgot to say, it’s never enough for serious laser operation, in my opinion. The laser beam must be on all mirrors and the lens, exactly in the center, and the nozzle itself must be at 90 degrees to the X and Y axes (machine bed).
No changes were made from the last run (a month ago) to now… That time I had no issues with power or cutting any material I use.
I do clean all mirrors after every few runs, same with the lens (it’s clean and with no visible marks). Nozzle has no dirt/debris in it. The laser path is almost spot on on the last mirror so I think alignment shouldnt be an issue here (nor do I know how it would change on it’s own when the laser was not in use).
It is not abnormal on a Ruida specific system, below 10mm/s that is min power setting, set min power up to the desired value and everything should be ok.
That’s a lot of power for a test shot. What is your mA reading at this setting and how many ms is your test shot at?
The spot itself should be between 4 and 6mm, if I remember correctly that the M1.
Most of them I see that are not resonating in TEM00 mode, are round… it doesn’t tell us anything except it is lasing… Can you post a photo of the dot on m1?
Sounds like it’s operating properly…
If the speed is <= to the start speed of the controller, you will never get anything other than minimum power… I think it works something like this…
The Ruida will allow you to control how long a pulse is… it’s generally defaulted to continuous, reduce it to 10mS or something… you can always pulse it multiple times.
