Update -- Thunder Power Settings Restored

[John_Marlow]

In case you missed these other posts, there is a new lens in the Thunder and your prior settings may not work.

Is Thunder working? (3/12/17) (Yes-new settings!)

The new lens has a different focal length. 18.5mm or there abouts. It’s cutting well and deep.

Do test your settings. They may not be the same.

On another topic

You need to adjust your power and speed for the replacement lens that’s in there. I did almost 4 hours of cutting on it last night and had to change from 35%@17mm/s to 50%@13mm/s to get the results I wanted from 1/8 acrylic.

We have some lenses on the way to restore it back to its original focus distance.

[talkers]

Yesterday I was cutting 1/4" florescent acrylic at 15mm/s, 95p. The etching I liked was at 400mm/s, 10-20p. Same with 1/4" MDF.

I did hear someone saying their cuts were having to go slower than before.

I’ll test it again today.

[CKraniak]

Would these lenses be around after the original style come in in case I wanted to switch back (or have someone else switch back for me if I can’t)? I’ve had some marking tests I’ve done where I wished I could set the laser under 5% at 200mm/s and never figured a good way to do so.

[merissa]

UPDATE – thanks to the amazing @lukeiamyourfather, the Thunder Laser is restored! The lens has been replaced with the factory focal length of 2", as it had before, and the laser has been aligned. The green focusing pucks are back out and should be used instead of the temporary sticks we made. This should resolve the recent reports of power and focal issues and the lens tube getting hot. Of course it’s always encourage to test your cuts and make sure your old settings work as intended.

Also please note, members should not change lenses or make alignment changes on the lasers without prior approval of the laser maintenance team. Even when well intentioned, inexperienced folks can create bigger problems that can lead to laser down time. Please notify the laser committee through submitting an “Issue/Request” here on Talk that we can resolve and do not try to perform maintenance on your own.

edit – I updated the topic name to reflect the current status. Hope that’s ok Chris!