Misleading product information (Cloudray)

[Alfred Petro]

Hi everyone,
Just a precautionary little story with my encounter with Cloudray Laser
You see, I recently purchased an E-Series (black) laser head set complete with mirrors and holders for my new build. After these were delivered, I decided to purchase whole bunch of extra tubes and focal lens. I looked around their website and came across the N02 nozzle (short) which is advertised for a 20mm 38.1mm FL lens.

N02.png

I received this new nozzle and there is no lip/ledge where the lens is supposed to fit. 14 emails later and I've been notified that they do not make a nozzle which fits a 20mm 38.1mm FL lens.

ReplyCapture.PNG

I asked why then do they advertise it as such because that's misleading information
Point is this nozzle was not an expensive product, and really that's not the issue.
The issue is they are willing to ruin their reputation over a <$10 product buy deceiving people.
They don't want to refund, because the product is not faulty!
Russ did mention another company (RECI) and how they use misleading or deceitful methods to sell you their products

[Marian Scheja]

Hi Alfred,

as far as i know there are no nozzles of this type where a D20mm Lens could fit inside the nozzle.
I.e. the compound engraving nozzle uses D18mm Lenses.

Your nozzle uses an M22x1 threat to screw on to the tube.
If you look up thread specifications the max. bolt diameter would be around D20,7mm. So a a D20mm lens with 20mm outer diameter would not really fit inside this M22x1 thread-bolt. (Not to mention the lens ring which would also need a slightly lager thread than the lens's diameter)

It is common, that the Lens is mounted inside the lens-tube.
I purchased the "Cloudray Air Nozzle for Dia.20 FL38.1 Lens N01F CO2 Short Nozzle"
I was curious on the exact dimensions, so i modeled it in 3D.
(I purchased my lens-tube elsewhere as Cloudray does not sell tubes with D21 outer diameter, but they should pretty much be the same)

CR_N01F_nozzle.png

The red part indicates a planoconvex lens fitted inside the tube.
As you can see, the advertised FL of 38.1mm is correct.
From top of the lens to the nozzle-tip it measures 32mm which gives you around 6mm between nozzle-tip and workpiece.

Edit: I understand, that the product description could be misleading. I struggled myself to understand how this all works out.
I just wanted to add some information which my be useful to someone.

[Alfred Petro]

Hi Marian
I purchased the N02 short nozzle with exactly the same intent. Problem is I trusted their wording of "N02 nozzle for 20mm 38.1mm FL lens" which they themselves couldn't explain why the page said that, but leave it there because it looks good.
In this instance both the sales people as well as Customer support showed their colors by ignoring or dismissing the problem when it got too hard.

I realized the fact the lens in no way could fit inside the nozzle after starting to measure the product physically.
Just really disappointing after thinking I would have a nozzle to fit a 38.1 FL lens on a short nozzle to give me the 6-7mm gap then to find out they kind of misled through their wording and also waiting so long due to shipping times.

Back to the drawing board

I'm sure I'll come up with a solution ... Unlike Chinese so called "Engineers" who can not and not allowed to think

[Marian Scheja]

Hi Alfred,

Yes i know this situation, where you must engineer your own solutions

I like to fit a 4" lens in my tube (OD 21mm).
Sadly i cannot use their D25 3-part-tube where you can fit all types of lenses just by unscrewing in different order or turning upside down (i really like the design).
So i end up purchasing a D18 4" lens and i will prepare one of my D21 lens-tubes on the lathe to seat the lens on the upper end.
I still have no idea how to fix the lens without internal threading.

If this tube fits your head (tube OD 25mm!), maybe this is something for you.

Regarding Cloudray, i am very happy with their support.
I purchased a new touchscreen controller wich has a bunch of problems with the early firmware, but within a week i got a new firmware update which fixed some of the problems.
Right now i am preparing a corrected translation (german) so they can make a new firmware update. (i offered to do so and they kindly accepted)
Sure this should not be the task of the customer, but this is not cloudrays fault and i appreciate that they are dealing with me and those issues.
Communication is good in my opinion (if not the best i experienced with chinese stores so far).

[Alfred Petro]

Marian
I purchased the E-Series (25mm black) laser head from Cloudray sometime ago and purchased 5 extra tubes (the flip ones) to permanently house different lenses.
That's why I purchased this nozzle, that would have completed fittings for all my lenses.
May have to design something to fit, and use my CNC lathe to make it out of aluminum stock.
Only problem if the Chinese Engineers see this design they'll copy it and make it their own ... They're very good at stuff like that