LaserUser.com Forum (formerly RDWorksLab)

I just picked up my first laser this week (80W, 700x500). I did opt for a Ruida controller but bare-bonesed the rest since I dunno nuthin' and figured I'd waste the money on upgrades rather than waste it out of the gate.

At first glance I thought I maybe got a slightly better tube than I expected simply because the ends had a bit of metal and the label showed both rated and peak power instead of just "power". Another look today seems more underwhelming than I thought yesterday. The dimensions are correct for 80W at least (1250mm x 80mm).

But since I still don't know, anybody feel like tossing in their $.02?





I think even this tube will work well enough to start to learn how to set up & run a laser. I don't mind upgrading whenever it becomes necessary, so I guess if this is a cheapie, time will tell me how soon that has to be. Thoughts on the upgrade priority of the tube are welcome too. I'm thinking when I eventually do upgrade, I will step up to 100W as well unless there's some good reason not to. I know the power supply has to be up to the task, but that's not a deal-breaker either. Of course the difference between 80W and 100W needs to be significant enough to make it worth whatever the additional expense is.
On my wish list is the ability to cut plywood often (like 1/2"), but since I don't know much in the first place, I might have unrealistic expectations already. We'll see.

Thanks for any input. This should be a fun year. Also doing a CNC plasma cutter in a few weeks and a sawmill later this summer. Gotta stock up on Red Bull or something.

Yeah, I would say that is an econo tube- there are not many mfgrs who actually put their names on their tubes- and some of those are counterfeits. Finding quality tubes is going to be a problem in the future I am afraid, finding someone who you trust is a difficult thing. Cloudray seems dependable but their shipping for a 130w tube is just under $1k. I just ordered from LightObject in Calif and have had good luck with them and will be posting my experiences.

...LightObject in Calif and have had good luck with them and will be posting my experiences

I for one will be very interested to hear how that goes. I talked to the guy who runs LightObject last year and he seemed to be pretty sharp. I remember he recommended a different brand tube than Reci that he carries (he carries both) for more reasonable money and it made sense.

To date, I have yet to order anything from them but so far LightObject seems like the most solid local source. Hadn't thought of this until now, but I'd bet this forum is a good place to maybe find some opinions regarding trading with LightObject, which would help lift the fog of unknowing about them either way. Over the past year or so, I have heard or read a couple people who have bought something from them and it went OK, but it's pretty vague in my memory.

I did a little minor test cutting thinner stuff yesterday at 22mA and this machine of mine seems to do fair, but it also seems like trying to cut 1/2" might be a stretch. I dunno. Is it possible my budget tube would perform dramatically weaker out of the gate than a good quality tube would?

Thanks for any replies & advice.

It's been a few years, but I have bought stuff from Marco at Light Objects. Fast shipping and got what I ordered. Called and asked some questions and he was very knowledgeable, also.

I have two Reci W6 tubes here [130w agreed power] that have bad beam patterns and a lot of divergence- to the point of being almost impossible to align as the beam is so large at the laser head.
I got a document to sign from Lobject stating that I had an adequate chiller [CW6000] in case of warranty issues. Seems like a very professional way to go about selling tubes. Marco seemed to have seen the beam pattern problem with Reci tubes and Russ is a believer in SPT tubes so we will see. I also have bought with good experiences from Automation Tech altho they do not seem to have a very large stock of higher watt tubes from their website. They have Reci and EFR tubes but not a large variety of sizes.