The beam exiting the RF source may be 2 or 3mm diameter compared to the 6mm of your more powerful glass tube but that 2mm "fine" beam is not what's hitting the lens The 2" ZnSe lens is the same in both machines and I have seen TL videos explaining that,you need a 4" lens to cut thick material. I note you are still experimrenting with the Odin and the great thing about RF technology is that it is still 10.6micron wavelength, That means that your 25mm clear acrylic will clearly show the diameter and intensity distribution of the unfocused beam that arrives at your lens. Just remove the lens and with full power fire the beam at a piece of 1" acrylic (on the bed) and time how long it takes to penetrate 25mm. Do this first test in back left corner and then at the right front corner of the machine do the same test for the same time.. I think you will find the results interesting especially when you compare it with your glass tube.
Sorry, you make a great laser, but if this RF model is the same power at a 60W "glass" CO2, then it wouldn't struggle so much cutting wood approaching 1/4" wood. The speed suffers greatly with wood that is 1/4", so much so, that I've seen a 40W Diode laser go through way thicker than 1/4" in one pass and faster. We are not talking about clear acrylic and diodes, I'm talking about wood.
Is there anything in the works of a retrofit swap from Glass to an RF tube in the Nova series? Is that even possible? What wattages are available with the RF tubes?
Thanks this is very useful
The beam exiting the RF source may be 2 or 3mm diameter compared to the 6mm of your more powerful glass tube but that 2mm "fine" beam is not what's hitting the lens The 2" ZnSe lens is the same in both machines and I have seen TL videos explaining that,you need a 4" lens to cut thick material. I note you are still experimrenting with the Odin and the great thing about RF technology is that it is still 10.6micron wavelength, That means that your 25mm clear acrylic will clearly show the diameter and intensity distribution of the unfocused beam that arrives at your lens. Just remove the lens and with full power fire the beam at a piece of 1" acrylic (on the bed) and time how long it takes to penetrate 25mm. Do this first test in back left corner and then at the right front corner of the machine do the same test for the same time.. I think you will find the results interesting especially when you compare it with your glass tube.
Ordered it today! 👍🏻
Great explanation!
Your idea of keeping up is cutting 4x as slow?
0.5mm/s vs 2mm/s
That is not even a comparison
25mph vs 100mph
1 hour of cutting vs 15 minutes
Sorry, you make a great laser, but if this RF model is the same power at a 60W "glass" CO2, then it wouldn't struggle so much cutting wood approaching 1/4" wood. The speed suffers greatly with wood that is 1/4", so much so, that I've seen a 40W Diode laser go through way thicker than 1/4" in one pass and faster. We are not talking about clear acrylic and diodes, I'm talking about wood.
Is there anything in the works of a retrofit swap from Glass to an RF tube in the Nova series? Is that even possible? What wattages are available with the RF tubes?
Okay, but where's the glass?
If y'all need help testing the bilt y'all can send one to me. I don't mind.. really..
Give me that