CO2 Laser Machine Maintenance and Repairs

CO2 lasers are powered by one or multiple lamps (tubes) those are considered consumables and need to be replaced time to time. 40w lamp life is shortest and in reality gives machine 50-200 hours at 100% power. 100W CO2 laser tube can leave about 2500 hours under 100% load. 400W CO2 tube usually yields 10,000 hours. Bigger machines such 2.5kW consist of multiple tubes, ex 5 tubes of 500W each they can live for 10k hours or so. If tube operates at lower power it will survive longer also proper cooling affects tube lifecycle.  Beside tube, next most commonly serviced part in Co2 laser cutting machine is focus lens, it gets dirty or burns out. Focus lenses need to be cleaned at least once a month. Most machines we seen have issues with focus lenses. In addition if material gets on fire it damages focus lens and air connector so both need to be replaces. In case of fires, those are usually caused by dirty cutting blades or honeycombs, direct creates a spark and cutting gasses get on fire. Next mirrors need to be cleaned and replaced regularly.  For cooling industrial chillers that come with machines usually leave for about 4 years and then start to fail. Additionally CO2 power supplies seams to fail in around 6 years of operations. Very often 10 year machine gest fully rebuild if it’s still in service.  Smaller machines usually need few hours and few visits to get them fixed, while bigger machines may need few month to diagnose and repair them. In general CO2 lasers require good amount of maintenance and attention to them in order to be operable and to ensure that machine can live long.