Just dug the cutter back out...

Discussions on optics for laser cutter/engravers

Just dug the cutter back out...

Postby DasGrinch » Mon Sep 30, 2013 10:54 pm

Started this project a long time ago, had a lot of it assembled, bought the tube, put it in, fired up okay, put the tube away. I've finally gotten back to this project and I don't know what's wrong. I suspect the tube went bad, when I hooked it back up, my current meter didn't show any current coming back through the ground wire, and after a few test fires, it arced quite nicely from the positive terminal on the laser to the frame, blowing through four or five wraps of silicone insulating tape. So I'm trying to figure out, could a bad ground hookup cause this? If the tube were completely dead, would it behave this way?
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Re: Just dug the cutter back out...

Postby Speedythinker » Thu Oct 03, 2013 1:49 am

A dead tube won't cause the problem but a tube with leaking gas may cause the problem you had. When gas gone, you're trying to power up an empty "glass tube". Because no 'mediator' (the gas) to conduct the current, all power goes out from the Positive terminal to the chassis through the 'Arc'. Or as you said, a broken ground shouldn't be the cause as the charge on the Positive terminal diverse to the tube already. It is a fun question and I'll do some testing to proof that if I'm right

Marco
Lightobject.com
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