I have the Ortur LU3-20A 20W diode laser along with Ortur’s Air Pump 1.0. The diode laser comes with a conical nozzle that has an aperture of 2.8 mm at the end. Air goes to the nozzle through the laser module’s cooling element and into the cooling element with a 6/4 mm tube from the air pump. The air pump is rated at 50 l/min or 0.03 MPa.
I find the flow to be rather low, and would love the community’s suggestions on what to upgrade: a pump with the same stall backpressure but more airflow before (aquarium pump), a pump with higher pressure capability (airbrush compressor), or a different nozzle with smaller diameter (the nozzle goes around the laser beam, so not a lot room for making it smaller but maybe 1 mm). Ideas and recommendations are welcome.
The issue of reduced flow could be due to the pump being “tired” or dirty with residue after many hours of operation, or even the length of the 6mm outer diameter by 4mm inner diameter pipe (more than 1m in my opinion) from the pump to the nozzle, which wasn’t mentioned.
Thank you for the insight. The pump is in the same garage space as the laser, obviously, and it has accumulated its share of dust and soot, although I do vent out and use an enclosure. The pump is weak and insufficient to begin with in my opinion, and I have not seen any change in performance over time.
The length of the hose is 190 cm according to my tape measure. With some fiddling, I could conceivably shorten that by 30 cm, not more. 130 cm is the length of the hose path on the printer alone.
Let me share my setup with you, which has worked perfectly for cutting 3.8mm plywood.
Widely known air pump for air assist purposes. (I don’t remember the brand, but I bought it online)
Silicone tubing, 8mm outer diameter, 6mm inner diameter, and approximately 1m long.
Then, compressed air tubing (green) (I don’t know the material, but it’s flexible enough to maintain the necessary rigidity so it doesn’t fall onto the work area) with a 6mm outer diameter and 4mm inner diameter, total length around 1m.
Nozzle that I fabricated with a 2mm hole.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of the actual cut on this PC, but I have a photo of a kerf test that shows how the freshly cut object looks (without cleaning afterwards).
My mistake, sorry. (but it’s on my profile)
It’s not Ortur at all. The machine itself is Chinese but a LT 5.5(ish) w optical power laser was mounted on it.
Thank you. I can see from the image that you are using an air assist solution that has the hose going around the module, not through the module. My issue pertains to the LU3-20A, which has the air going through the module’s cooling elements and in the laser beam. There is no space below the module for strapping on an air assist that will confidently blow where the laser is and will not be lower than the minimal space available once the module is in focus.
Sorry for only replying now, but it was a busy weekend.
In my case, the module is cooled by a fan, and then I adapted the air assist so as not to compromise the module’s cooling.
From the quick research I did, the ORTUR module is also cooled by a fan (a more powerful one, for sure) and has a dedicated channel for air assist. I don’t know the internal diameter of this channel, but if it’s too thin and has any 90º elbows, a system will be needed to create the necessary pressure to overcome the air resistance caused by a reduced diameter and 90º elbows.
As a first step before investing in a new pump with higher pressure, I would try to reduce air resistance as much as possible by increasing the tube diameter and reducing the length (if possible), both to see the difference and to assess the need to purchase a new air pump with higher pressure. If slight alterations, as I mentioned, already make a difference, the pump won’t need to be much more powerful. But if the difference is insignificant, then yes, you will have to acquire a pump with significantly more pressure, which seems unlikely to me. The module (being from a reputable brand) is certainly designed to work with conventional air assist.
