Do we know why Blitzen and Thunder suddenly can’t cut much beyond 1/8" ply? It seemed to happen to both at the same time and fairly suddenly as well. I was just curious as to whether we knew why and if it was a repairable issue. It’s a far cry from when it’d slice through 3/4" maple no problem.
Most likely cause of decreased power is fouled / dirty lens and mirrors, could take the lens tube out and inspect to see if its cloudy
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We measured the power on Thunder at the last maintenance day and it was 120w at the exit of the tube. My guess is dirty mirrors, mainly because I really don’t care for the fume extraction design… at all.
On that note I am down to assist on the air assist I would like to install
Air assist over the lens to keep them clean
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Testing after every surface will tell you where the power is being lost and how much is being lost. Testing only at the tube isn’t telling the whole story. By the way this is dangerous. Be careful and don’t have people standing around watching. I’m happy to help someone with this.
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I think people have already tried to clean the mirrors. I know they get dirty again but I was listening to someone talking about it (and I think it’s mentioned on the painters tape on the machines themselves) that it did no better after cleaning of the mirrors.
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Just as a curiosity, do you know how many mirrors/lenses are in the optical path?
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Off the top of my head…
-Exit of Tube into Chamber
-Left side of gantry to carriage
-Top of carriage into lens
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Tube, beam combiner for visible red laser, first mirror, second mirror, third mirror, lens.
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