As the header says.. What laser tubes are considered to be the best, and where do you get them? LightObject, which is about 90 miles from me, carries RECI and SPT. I am considering replacing the tube and power supply in my 50 watt laser with something between 75 and 100 watts. I am looking at a RECI W2 80-90 watt, but for just a little less, I can get an SPT 100 watt. There is however, a two month difference in the warranty. A RECI T1 75 watt has a 9 month warranty as does a RECI T2 90 watt, the SPT C100, a 10 month and a RECI T4 100 watt has a 12 month. All warranties are in house through LightObject.

However.. as asked are there others that are in the under $1000.00 price range as good or better? And if so, where you get them? The good thing about LightObject is it is drivable distance, and so no shipping of the tube.

SteveT.

Wow... nobody has an opinion??

SteveT.

Ok... I'll just talk to myself I guess, but I drove to Sacramento today and picked up a RECI 80-90 tube and power supply. Now I just need to make some tube mounts and swap the power supply out. and we'll see how it will cut.

SteveT.

Well, I guess you were just too itchen to get a new one. The RECI is a great choice. I have a W2, works like a champ.

235 views of my original post, and nobody had any comments to make? But yes, I was as my laser was no longer cutting as it should be, I and I do need to be able to cut material if sell any tug boat kits or any of the other things I sell.

SteveT.

Just out of curiosity, how thick of aircraft grade plywood can you cut, and at what speed and power settings?

SteveT.

Settings are all over the place. I have not tried a lot of thicknesses of different plywoods. Here are some samples settings for my machine,

1/8 light ply 60mm/S 55% power
1/8 medium ply 40mm/s 40% power
1/4 fibre board 20mm/S 70% power ( this stuff is dense )
1/4 acrylic 20mm/S 50% power
3/32 medium balsa 100mm/S 30% power

Most all of these can be played with, like the 1/8 medium ply would likely cut well at 80mm/S 80% power

I did cut clean through the short dimension of a 2x4 5mm/S 90% power

I adjusted my power supply so that 90% was 26ma

Settings are going to vary machine to machine. Ever time I cut something new, I put it in a spreadsheet.

Thank you Joel.

SteveT.

Metal laser tubes are generally better than glass. That's about as far as my knowledge goes...

And one heck of a lot more expensive also unfortunately.

SteveT.

Yeah. But you get what you pay for... they're more expensive for a reason - they're better.

RF laser can pule faster making them better for some applications. If you had a high volume engraving business, an RF laser might be worth the cost.

There are also same safety things that make RF lasers better, but I think those are easy to manage.

Beam quality wise, a glass tube laser is just as good if using a good quality tube.

For cost vs performance, glass tube laser is just fine for me. My RECI is rated for 8000hrs if I stay below 85% power ( for my PSU set up ). I can replace glass tubes the for rest of my life and not spend what 1 RF laser tube cost, heck, the one I have now might out last me.

I didn't think you wanted the best since they are out of your price range.

Coherent.

These days Epilog is also doing their own lasers/rebuilds.

I've used both.

charlie

price isn't an issue, sensibility,

You are correct Charlie. Yes, I would love to stick something like one of those in it, but then, if I could spend that much, I would probably just buy a whole new laser.

SteveT.