Hi All:
Well I'm finally finished(almost) with my 2.x build. It has been a great learning experience for me and I enjoyed the whole thing very much.
I got to the point today of firing the laser for the first time, and to my surprise everything worked as it should.
I still have a couple of glitches that I need to iron out. I have two different water flow switches (Both from LightObject) and neither one of them function for me. The problem , I think is that I am not getting enough water flow to make the switches open and close. Once they close, when the water flow ceases they do not open. I bought an ECO 396 GPH pump which I thought I had read was more than adequate. I plumbed everything up with 1/4" ID X 3/8" OD tubing. The inlets and the outlets from the tube are the same so I would think that is the limiting factor. When I measure the flow rate it is only about 1 liter/minute. Can someone advise me as to what I would need to provide adequate cooling assuming normal usage. I have the pump in a five gallon bucket of water. I don't know if that is adequate but suppose I'll find out as I start using the laser.
At any rate neither flow switch seems to want to function properly at my flow rate ( I checked both switches and they are fine). Any suggestions would be welcomed.
I still have a couple of skins to cut on my mill and finish mounting the remainder. I think I will build a dedicated table for it and I still need to rig up the exhaust port.
I have included a few photos of the almost finished 2.x
Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way.
I appreciate it.
Regards,
Dick