Running a CO2 Laser in the winter/freezing temperatures

I get a forbidden message when I click it.

1 Like

https://www.prorankingi.pl/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/zamarzanie-wodki-wykres.jpg

It just a graph with % and freezing temperature.

Had to take the “s” out of https.

What kind of temperatures are we talking about. Would I also need the Antifreeze when the temperature is just below freezing point?

…water freezes at 0 degrees :wink:

:wink:

I should have been more clear, I have the CW-3000 chiller and it doesn’t get much below freezing point here. What I meant to ask was if there is a minimum operation temperature for the lasertube of would it be fine to use as long as the water is still in a liquid form? Or would water of, let’s say, 5 degrees be too cold for the tube?

When I think about it, a bit of antifreeze wouldn’t do any harm so i might just go for the safe option although it hardly ever freezes in my shed…

I always want to keep the temperature above the dew point, which here in Denmark in my workshop is approximately 15.8 C., so 16 degrees is my choice.

Clear, thanks. So there is no harm done to use the laser for example when the water is below that point (and above freezing point ofcourse) :wink:

Trotec says, not less than 15 degrees Celsius …
Morntech says 12 degree Celsius …
OMT - 16-21GRAD CELSIUS …

I think there are optimal conditions for working with a CO2 laser, it is not necessarily to the detriment of the tube to come under this area. But I will always stay at a minimum of 16 degrees room temperature for myself to work well enough :wink: , and to avoid condensation, typically I am at approx. 21 degree C.

You can get CPU coolant that’s meant to be low conductivity, I don’t think it’s cheap though, and it doesn’t say anything about antifreeze.
Also industrial TIG welding coolers are filled with a low conductivity antifreeze
This is available in the UK

What I did was put an aquarium heater in the water tank and used a small timer (based on an arduino) to turn on the pump and circulate the warm water through the tube for two minutes every 30 minutes. Works for me!

I had the same problem. My first tube froze. I bought some of this neat and then reduced it so it was good to -30 and no more issues.

I hope this helps someone else.

I use a portable propane heater

I use 2 5ft electric plant warmers. They are temp controlled pads and I lay them on my grate in the machine. I have a Pronto 60 so it’s big. I also put a blast gate on my exhaust almost at the end where it exits. I also close that and use RV Antifreeze

hi i am in the uk and i have aquarium heater and the pump, it runs fine as its in my shed and i have it coupled it to a frost stat and 5 degrees and below it switches both on, been running about a for 2 winters now and no problems.

I bought a submersible fish tank heater and dropped it into my CW-5200 chiller (hashtag irony). I was a bit leary about introducing antifreeze and other chemicals into the water reservoir of the chiller. I guess if others have done it suceessfully, perhpas it’s okay. But the aquarium heater I got had a variable temperature control on it and worked well in the Colorado mountains.

You should not rely on my experience, however, and do your own research about whether there are any other safety or equipment issues with this approach. If you try this approach, you will be doing so at your own risk (as I did).

The problem with water heaters is power cuts. Unless you drain the tube down each time you’re chancing having the water freeze during a power cut, and power cuts happen more often in winter.