2nd 60w OMTech arrives, 6 months newer, and they changed some things.
Please ignore the exhaust setup in the photo, this is a work in progress and only a day old…
The wood portions of the shipping crate were much better than the first. It had a more solid structure inside for the outer ply to attach to. That being said, I had a broken caster out of the crate. Ball bearings were exploring the crate.
The newer has an AC air pump compared to the old with DC. The AC air pump is quieter than the built in AC exhaust, although I already ditched both for my compressor and external exhaust.
The newer appears to have a 3" focal lens compared to the 2.5" on my original machine. Verdict not out yet on how this performs from an air assist perspective as the nozzle is farther from the material.
The newer has the logo, and weaker air struts on the lid, or the lid is heavier?
For anyone curious, I am running both machines in series through the chilled water pump seen in the middle of the photo. It works perfectly.
I adjusted my compressor to kick on at 30psi and stop at 60psi instead of the factory 90-120psi to reduce wear. I added a $50 11 gallon aux air tank to the built in 8 gallon to reduce cycles. I may add another. Both machines share the pressure regulator and water/oil trap, and have an individual solenoid for air assist.
I want to replace both laser heads. Machine 1 has a slightly broken tube bracket and it is not seated the way it appears the factory intended. I need to be able to adjust the laser head mirror vertically to get it perfect, and I want both machines to perform as similar as possible for obvious reasons so I want 2.
Can anyone recommend a better laser head for these?
Russ from RDWorks has a light weight head setup. You’ll read a lot about him around here.
Search for his videos on Youtube and check out his head design. It’s the next thing I’ll be doing once fully setup. You can e-mail him (once you’ve checked out his designs) at sarbarmultimedia@rdworkslab.com
I’m not able to upload the doc with parts/pricing list but send me a DM with your e-mail and I can send it over to you before you contact him and you can decide for yourself.
I am still doing my homework, but does anyone know if I have a bolt-on solution today for a new laser head for this machine that allows laser head Z adjustment, and preferably allows a better way to confirm I am hitting the center of the 3rd mirror?
The head without the tube. The butterfly holder for the tube is on the x gantry.
My short term experience is that it would be difficult to purchase a ‘bolt on’.
It would have to come from whomever manufactured the machine. I was advised the a pair of apparently identical machines, that the parts can be 10mm off of each other. They are based on a general Chines government layout.
Russ’ modifications are probably more general than any. Not to mention as a customer he treats me like ‘kin’.
I was hoping you’d reply with your setup. There’s a market for off the shelf heads and lightweight heads that one could simply purchase. I don’t know if the market would respond but it’s certainly a niche for someone with time to explore.
There are a couple of videos that Russ speaks about letting Cloudray market his parts. They did for a few of them but declined his offer for the one I have, along with the tube mount, I understand.
I don’t know what 90% is, if it’s down a week to ‘make’ the right spacer, is that within the 90%?
After the head and m2 were removed, I put the head on and realized it was too high. I realized I needed to move m2 up about 4mm. I reassembled my machine so I could cut a few parts for alignment. It’s that kind of thing you might possibly face.
I suspect one of the issues with producing this stuff is there is no kind of standard and the headache of supporting all the different machines becomes a major hurdle. Some machines have the x bearing on the top, others on the front for example.
