LaserUser.com Forum (formerly RDWorksLab)

Hi all, I searched the forum and couldn't find any discussions on upgrading to a higher wattage tube. Apologies if I've missed something as I'm quite new to the forum. Anyway my 60W KH laser tube has pretty much given up after a few months so I've decided to upgrade the power, at the same time as upgrading the quality of tube and chose a RECI W2 100W tube (90W) + power supply through Cloudray.

Would love to hear from anyone who has upgraded their machine to a 100W tube to understand any tips/tricks/traps.

One in particular is the laser frequency which is currently set to 20,000hz for the 60W KH tube. What should a 100W RECI tube laser frequency be? There is nothing in the RECI user manual for this tube that I could find nor anything on-line that I could find.

Thanks for any help.

20khz is the value you must have.....glass tube laser freq is not variable

From your intro post, it sounded like you do not have a proper chiller? This will be even more important with the higher wattage tube producing more heat. Upgrading a tube and power supply is actually a very simple and common process so you should have no problems other than, as Pete mentioned, the power % settings will be very different from the old tube. These machines are often built with second class laser tubes the last few years I am afraid. I think there is a topic in the FAQ discussing the different chillers BTW.

Hi Gene, thanks for your feedback. You commented that "Upgrading a tube and power supply is actually a very simple and common process so you should have no problems....". Well....I had thought it would be too and I was going to start making my extension box to accommodate the longer tube only to find that the Y axis motor is going to foul with the new tube. You see, I hadn't realised the motor was even a potential problem and combined with the existing tube being 55mm diameter and the new one being 80mm diameter, to maintain the same tube centre line the 80mm tube will sit lower than the 55mm tube. I'm really glad I found this now and not after I tried to mount the tube and cracked it.

I've attached 2 pictures with picture img-1778.jpg I think showing the issue best. The top of the motor is higher than the bottom of the tube mount which itself is only just big enough to hold an 80mm tube. Unless someone has found an elegant solution previously, I suspect I'm going to have to cut the motor base plate away and make a new mounting base plate that is recessed and thus lower, but that's a bugger to do.

Any ideas or experience from forum members would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Johnny.
Red/Black ebay 60W Laser with 700x500 table.

Mmmmm......I may have miscalculated as the current 60W 55mm tube is not centred in the mounts having been packed up with foam by the machines manufacturer. A bit of a re-evaluation and it's looking like I'll clear that Y axis motor by about 3mm. Closer than I'd like but probably doable.

Would still be nice to hear from anyone who has done this upgrade to confirm their experience and that it worked for them, but I stop stressing about it for now and just double check everything once the new tube arrives and the old tube is out of the way.

Cheers,
Johnny.

As long as the motor is solidly mounted, you don't need much clearance- it looks like the bracket sticking up behind the motor could be relieved a bit and if all else fails you could move the tube up a few MM ,which would probably require the mirrors to be raised too. It is not essential that the #1 mirror be exactly centered BTW.

When I read the first part of your letter I was surprised as I believe the cabinets are often/usually built by a different company and meant to be pretty universal as far as tube sizes. Moving the motor would be the last thing I would try.

Thanks again Gene. I think we are thinking along the same lines. I'll be getting things ready for the new tube this weekend as I should have the 100/90W tube next week so I'll know soon enough and can post the outcome for the benefit of all.

BTW, is "Upgrades and Modifications" the right place for this discussion or was this intended more for show and tell of finished mods?

This topic works fine and we will be waiting for your further experiences for the people following our footsteps.

Hi all, well I received my new RECI W2 100/90W tube (80mm dia.) & DY13 power supply to replace my KH laser 60/50W tube (55mm dia.) I purchased thru Cloudray's store in Amazon. The tube came from China via DHL and was well packed in a lightweight wooden crate. The DY13 power supply was shipped from Amazon locally.
A major concern for me was whether or not the new 80mm RECI tube would clear the Y axis stepper motor. After measuring the old tube centreline, I calculated that I had just enough. Ultimately it did, but not by much. You can see in one of the images above that the motor bracket extended slightly higher than the motor so I filed the excess down to maximise clearance. After all said and done I have about 5-6mm...not as much as I would like but enough. Of course I had to be very careful when mounting the tube that I didn't touch/hit the motor bracket or motor with the new tube. Other prep work included fabricating an extension to house the longer tube. I used the original cover plate as the end plate on the extension. All 4 sides are covered with sheet aluminium with 2 sides riveted in place while the other 2 use screws so I can easily access the end of the tube if necessary. Also I had to mount and wire the new power supply. My old supply was a model MYJG60W. The new power supply quite a bit longer and actually extended off the end of the electrical system mounting plate so I had to get creative and first mount a support that extended the plate so that the new power supply mounting holes could be used. The mains power is straight forward. The control wiring was as follows:
MYJG60W to DY13
Switch laser control active high not connected on either power supply
Switch laser control active low = Switch laser control active low
Water protection = water protection (note this is common with Signal Ground)
Signal Ground = Signal Ground (note is common with Water Protection)
Input Control Signal = Input Control Signal
Output power 5V not connected on either power supply

After mounting the tube I connected the high voltage positive (thick red wire) and low voltage black to the tube via the provided screws. For those with keen eyes may pick up that the DY13 low voltage wire is actually white but because I have an ammeter in series my wire colour changes to black. The below image of the low voltage end of the tube shows a crimp lug which I used on both ends to connect the wiring from the power supply. Next came cooling water hose connections. Again for the keen eyed, the water only cools the tube proper. There is no water cooling of the mirrors/lenses in the laser tube as is commonly seen on other brands. The user manual from RECI indicates that cooling water need only be between 10°C and 50°C. I'm going to be a little conservative and try to keep my water below 25°C which at the moment means I don't need a chiller as long as I monitor the temps and don't run the laser for long hours. Anyway, comments welcome as I don't want this tube to fail prematurely.

Once all was connected I placed a piece of ply between the laser and the first mirror, set my output power to 10% and pushed the pulse button.....holy shit what a relief....fired first time and produced a very nice circular beam.

OK, next was alignment of the mirrors. I purchased new mirrors and focal lens and to avoid getting any traces of adhesive or burned tape on them, I removed each mirror in turn and aligned the beam to hit centre before reinstalling each mirror. Took some time but patience paid off......let the BBQ begin. Wow, what a difference. Now cutting 3mm mdf at around 30mm/s, 3mm radiata pine plywood at around 35mm/s and 3mm poplar plywood at around 120mm/s. The poplar is the most expensive out of these materials (2x MDF and 1.5x the radiata) and softer, but it has a very uniform surface finish and is such a dream to cut.

Looks like I cant add any more pictures to this post so perhaps I'll do another one showing some simple mods I've done like a 3D printed swinging laptop arm and a couple of others.

Hope this is useful for someone as I had a heck of a time finding definitive info to help me with this upgrade.

That's all for now.
Johnny.

Nice work Johnny- and thanks for the extensive writeup- I know that can take some time. I will ask Pete to fix the picture limit and when you are done will copy the thread to the FAQ section as well. Gene