Hi Phil, I had a problem with my 80W chinese red and Black laser after 1 year got a water leak, prior to this laser was working fine. pulled the door of where the water is supplied at back of machine through a flow pump and found the leak, replaced flow pump and alarm came on my CW3000 cooler, tried a second flow sensor same problem, so bought a new Kogan ice maker and in the stage of installing, any suggestions for install, am removing cheap CW3000 cooler temp goes up to quickly here in Queensland Aus,, at the moment its winter and weather is cooler time to change.. hopefully it was just the water leak,, some are saying maybee a hose kinked, maybee but water leak started the investigation and machine was still working prior to pulling flow sensor out,, appreciate any helpfull coments on installation Regards Sam Saturday 23rd July
Personally I removed my flow sensor and bypassed it by connecting the wires together. I have a visual flow sensor instead. This doesn't restrict water flow as much compared to the original ones
Hi Phil thanks for sharing,i have a Reci w2 100w max 90w recomended power, i checked with Reci on the water cooling Temperature they came back with 10 to 50 Degees which i find that a huge variation. I run a S&A cw 3000 cooler i bought this with the laser, think i paid an extra100 dollas as im over in ireland. temperature isnt a problem and dont really run the tube more that 60% power, the cooler never goes past 24 degrees which is in the middle, i like cw300 is it has a good flow rate and completly sealed ,i would agree with you running the tube at close to max the cooling makes a big impact on life span,but when you google cooling for lasers everyone gives a diffrent answer.i also use di ironized water with 2 caps of bleach added its been in there 4 months and its clear as a bell.i think you make great videos and great products please keep up the great work
Thanks David that's some great information. That is definitely a huge variation on tube temperature. I have to admit though, the tube on my 50w will get to around 30-35 while running (that's the collets that the visible beam hits) they cool down pretty quickly too. A sealed unit is definitely the best way to go if budget allows and would remain clear as no contaminants will get in. Just needs to be run pretty often. I'm glad you enjoy my videos. I will definitely be continuing to make more in the future as I learn
I've stopped using a commercial cooler because it wasn't a refrigerated chiller and it was letting my laser go very hot during warm days. So I switched over to the ice maker and the cheap aquarium pump. Now my laser water temperature stays in a respectable range. And if I need to I'll pause a job to let the water cool down. With light burn it's not an issue.
Nice one I’ve been doing the ice bottle method and have to stop after an hour or so when I run out of bottles, I’m going to give this a go👍 thanks for sharing
Optimum temperature for a Co2 Laser tube is 22C for long tube life with a range of 15C to 25C for best results. With a commercial water chiller it's easy to maintain a constant thermostatically controlled temp.
Phil, you are awesome. Thank you for this literally cool idea. I am on the fence about buying a laser because of the upfront costs, but your advice really helps motivate me to get one.
Best advice I can give is to get the biggest you can. Power isn't such a huge issue to start but you very very quickly need a bigger bed. I started with a 2w diode, upgraded to a k40 within 6 months (found that cheap on Facebook market place) now I have run the 50w (50x30cm) for almost a year. I still want bigger 😅
@@philscraftcorner thanks for the additional advice. I am actually looking at an Omtech 50w as I feel it's a good middle ground starting point. Saving a few hundred on a chiller definitely helps. Plus the Halloween cut you did gives another idea of many with laser projects.
Hello first of all, if you do not use distilled or demineralised water your tube will break in a week the anode will be contaminated with the metals contained in the tap water, another thing to take into consideration is that the laser tube should not work at very low temperatures that can cause thermal stress and produce the fracture of the glass, I always work with my cooling equipment between 25-30 degrees centigrade, you should read what the manufacturer recommends. I have worked for 20 years as a technician on these machines and I have seen all kinds of home-made solutions that have resulted in expensive breakdowns.
All the water does is cool the laser. When you use distilled water you get less algae growth then tap water. If somehow the high voltage reaches the water in your laser it's not going to matter if it's distilled or not.
@@DueyMiller-rk9dr I do not agree with you, distilled water is almost not conductive, while tap water is highly conductive and that is what causes the breakdown in the laser tube, I give you some values so you can see: Distilled water: 0.5 to 2.0 µS/cm. Water for domestic use: 400 to 800 µS/cm. Maximum conductivity levels in drinking water: 1500 µS/cm. You do what you want with your machine, maybe one day you will find frogs swimming inside it.
@@patriciomoragomez7756 I am wrong. The problem with the laser is the voltages so high it generates electrical fields cooling jacket but it can short through. Those electrical fields shorting out will decrease the power.
@@DueyMiller-rk9dr still wrong the laser arcs inside the tube because the electricity conducts off off tap water . much like they old static lightning bolt machines that followed your hand as a ground. Can actually watch the inconsistency of the arc inside the tube using tap. Its all over the place. As soon as its removed the beam aligns perfectly. Give it a shot and record the beam fluctuations with a go pro.
It still works great. Even on red hot days when the ambient temp is like 30°c it takes about 15 mins before letting the laser run to get the water temp from 24 to 16
That could work well, the only thing I can think of is that there might be a bit of condensation introduced along the pipe somewhere and with copper being conductive it might cause a few issues with arcing at some point
Hello friend, I want to do this for my PC's processor, are you using distilled water? Is the machine motorized or does it use peltier cells? thank you.
I'm not entirely sure how the ice machine works but I use plain tap water. This does not affect the laser tube in any way as far as I can tell. It's been 18 months and nothing has made me think any different. I'm not sure I would recommend this for a PC processor though. Generally they are a closed system with specific cooling liquids
After a couple weeks of working my machine very long hours, I have found after 6 or so hours it can't keep up so a couple of the small ice packs that you put in a cooler bag help lots and they last a good few hours working together
It would depend how long you run your machine and what power you use on there. I have been running for around 2 hours now doing some engraving at 20% and cutting at 60% started at 8°c water temp and it's at 10°c now. If it's hot days and I'm running the machine all day I stick a couple of those re usable ice packs in and it keeps me going
@@philscraftcorner Well, just let me think, please. If I'd use icemaker producing cca 10 kg of ice per day to cool down 50W tube, then to cool down 100W tube I'd need icemaker which produces cca 20 kg of ice per day. There are some, like Klarstein Icefestival Cube ICE5 or Guzzanti GZ 124A. I'd most probably prefer Guzzanti, since it has lower power consumption (resp. higher efficiency?) and bigger water reservoir. And it's also quite cheaper 🙂
hi there , great idea i have just got my k40 and i am doing a few upgrades to it at the moment but i think i am going to run with this off the bat instead of going with frozen bottles . Anyway what water are you running in this is it distilled or deionized? cheers Dazz
Made some experiments today with a similar device... For engraving everything is fine, water stays cool around 22°C at 30°C outside temperature inside the garage. But as soon, as I start to cut acryl or wood, water temp is going up, far beyond 28°C within 5 minutes... 40W Laser tube... This is really not a replacement for a chiller...
Thanks for letting me know what your experience has been. Personally I am still using this chiller and it stays constant between 15-19°c. The ice drops every 4 minutes and the temp lowers very quickly by 4-5 degrees and then creeps back up. My machine is a 50w and I run it at 70% power while cutting (around 18-20MA) for up to 2-3 hours at a time without issues..... Unless a power surge turns off the machine which can happen on a rare occasion. Every machine and set up is different as is the use of the machine. It's a shame this didn't work well for you though. I hope you find a good solution.
My waters room temperature is about 33 degrees Celsius so I've been freezing 600ml and 1l bottles of water and chucking them in the bucket a few minutes before use and drops down to 25 degrees but gets to 30 degrees again fairly quickly so I'm hoping I can find a cheap ice maker like this
