Has anyone noticed a fall off of performance when using a diode laser.
I’m just entering my first winter and my laser is located in an unheated but lined and clad garage.
Since the temperature has dropped I’ve noticed a fall off in cutting performance, settings that would normally cut 3mm basswood cleanly are now struggling to make it all the way through.
HI Mike
I bought my 20w diode near the beginning of the year and it was cutting 5mm in six passes routinely. Then toward the middle of the year it was increasing past eight and as of most recent I set it to ten to be sure.
I put it down to varying quality within the sheets of birch ply. I also noticed some difficulty engraving on some areas of materials when pre treated with varnish.
I’ve been working solely on slate recently and haven’t been cutting since before the cold-snap.
Temperature, humidity, air pressure, UFO? I just encountered the same thing today on two different lasers. I am in a relatively stable environment, so I have no idea why.
When you have a problem its always good when someone else has the same issue; even if they dont have a solution.
Like you I’m a Sculpfun user so it would be good to hear from someone who has found the same issue with a different brand.
I doubt brand is the issue here. I had 2 completely different machines do it, and now on 2 different days. The only thing common to both machines is material and environment.
Had to research it, The relative humidity rises as temperatures fall and moisture is absorbed by dryer materials until equilibrium is reached.
Particularly in Co2 lasers, the increased moisture in the material uses more energy in being vaporised and so decreases the efficiency of the laser machines cutting ability.
Thank you Pete.
On reading an advert for a laser cutter / engraver I noticed that optimal performance can be expected when the ambient temperature is between 20 and 30 degrees!
Just thought I’d share this!
An old adage is “If it is not comfortable for people, it is not comfortable for electronics”.
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