LaserUser.com Forum (formerly RDWorksLab)

>>I got my SPT C130 tube<<

I see you decided against the version with a built in red laser for aligning. Did Marco steer you away from these for some reason? Theoretically, the red aligning laser sounds great but I have not heard whether they actually deliver in real-world usage.

They don't have them [at least in stock online] or I would have. They seem to run $200 more which seems a bit high and I had already bought a combiner lens and housing from them [ I like their setup] for this machine.

The latest on the tube saga is the SPT 130w broke internally and leaked water into the outer glass jacket. Marco at LightObject suspects that it was thermal shock from too cool water pumped into the hot tube. After much thought, I agree with him, it was on one of our first cold days and the chiller was not run to circulate the coolant and perhaps a hidden flaw when the glass envelope was made.. LO no longer had the 130w SPT in stock so we bought a GSI 130w tube- the technician who checked it at LO sez it develops 130w at 23mA and 147 at 28mA- which seem very low to me compared with all the rest of the tubes I have worked with- Marco said that 25mA should be safe for the long haul- this is a quite a cutting rig now. The GSI is a very quality looking tube.

Gene

Would you mind posting a picture of your new tube?

I was going to send the pict from LO website but it is a little different from my tube- very quality looking IMHO. Gene

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Gene

I would agree,it looks to be a well made tube.

F

The four grub screws on the output adjust the beam I believe- I know I saw a video of Marco tweaking them but I cannot find it now. I have 3 tubes here now [Reci] with bad beam patterns and it make sense to me to be able to adjust them somehow after the tube is sealed. I don't know if that is what they do but I like to think so anyway.