The laser cutter was unplugged and the non-functional tube was removed. In order to remove the tube, the electrodes were removed, the cooling hoses were disconnected, and the clamps were removed. A 3 mm hex key is required to remove the cap screws holding on the clamp.

The new tube was carefully unpackaged and then installed. The horizontal distance from the exit mirror to the first mirror was maintained at 38 mm.

Tube installation instructions

After testing that the new tube was functional, the mirrors were aligned.

The inside and outside of the laser cutter was cleaned thoroughly. The rack was removed by unscrewing the 6 3 mm cap screws to make cleaning easier. Degreaser and scrubbing worked moderately well; scraps bits of wood helped removed the remainder of lased-on crud.

The panel locks were removed and modified to spin freely by removing the spring loaded tumbler. A blank key was designed and 3D printed to actuate the lock.

laser_key_drawing_v2_sheet1.pdf

The keys were printed in PLA on the Tinkerine at Ultra resolution.

A test pattern was created with 12 parallel lines, 80 mm long. Each line was set to a speed of 20 mm/s and increasing power levels from 5% to 60% in 5% increments. The cut was initiated and the current was recorded by hand from the current meter. The laser cutter file was saved in the Laser stuff folder.

After further testing, the minimum power level to initiate lasing was 6.7%.

The power meter was prepared by using the included wrench to set the power to zero using the nut on the rear of the gauge. The focus lens was removed from the laser assembly and the power meter mass was positioned under the unfocused beam. The laser was set to a power of 60% and manually fired for a total of 21 seconds using a stopwatch.

After waiting approximately 25 seconds, the laser power meter read about 78 W.