Think I'm going to go mad soon..

[llamalasers]

Day one I was able to cut 3mm Perspex at S:20 P:50, then I started to get a few bits that weren't cutting through so I bumped the power up to 60 and that has been cutting fine until today it wasn't cutting through so I upped the power to 70. Also checked all the mirrors and lens are clean.

Now even at 70, in certain areas of the bed it's not going all the way through the material. I'm getting that dreaded dotted line.


Not what you need when big jobs are looming and you've just bought a new machine.

Any clues? Alignment is dead on.

[Spooky]

what power tube?

[llamalasers]

60W, never goes over 20 degrees water temp.

[Spooky]

60 watt when it's settled down should do 3mm acrylic at 22 speed / 80/85 power reliably.

The bed issue will be focus, the beds are good but not optically flat and the further from the tube you get the less power you will have available.

Acrylic can be cut a lot quicker but reliability can be an issue, I tend to go around 10% lower on speed to get a reliable cut all the way round. (cast acrylic also varies in thickness) it will go to 24 @ 80% power but that's on the edge of a reliable cut so sometimes less is more

[llamalasers]

Thanks Dave, I reckon that's madness averted. All my power/speed settings on the old machine were through trial and error, I wasn't expecting to have to go through so much of that with this one, will set what you suggested tomorrow and see how I get on. I'll go S:20 P:80 and that should do it. I was just a bit surprised to have to jump from 50 to 60 to 70 only in a matter of days but really it makes sense when it's explained so thank you again

[MathewHPC]

Hi The Recommended speed settings in your HPC Manual are 8-12 at 40-100% power .
Above this is a bonus and depending on cast or extruded and the thickness tolerance depends on the speed you will cut at.
Thanks Chris

[llamalasers]

Hi The Recommended speed settings in your HPC Manual are 8-12 at 40-100% power .
Above this is a bonus and depending on cast or extruded and the thickness tolerance depends on the speed you will cut at.
Thanks Chris

Of course you are right, I was just enjoying the speed.

It's going well overall, thank you

[llamalasers]

It's been working well and stable at S:20 P:80 so will stick with that.

[Tom]

[Spooky]

In all the years I have known Chris he has never blown his own trumpet he will tell you HPC machines are *good* ...I can tell you they are Great!