Today the laser tube was unboxed and mounted into the main chassis. Progress!
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- The laser tube out of its box at last.
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- Paul mounts the chassis extender needed to fit the extra-large 150 watt laser tube into the already-huge chassis.
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- The laser tube unwrapped. The beam comes out the right end. The innermost tube is the laser. The surrounding tube and spirals is the water cooling system. The outer tube is just for support and protection, as far as I know.
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- The high voltage end of the tube, surrounded by the chassis extender (with the lid off). The high voltage wire hasn’t been hooked up yet. There is a cylindrical plastic shield to guard the high voltage end.
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- The tube mounted in the chassis. The big white tubes are water in (on the left) and out (on the right). The high voltage wire still isn’t hooked up.
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- The beam output end of the laser tube shines through a beam combiner (greenish gold circle) and is then reflected toward the front of the machine by the diagonal mirror (at right). The third thing (mounted on two black plates with two spring-loaded brass screws) is an ordinary red laser pointer, which is combined with the invisible main beam so you can see where it hits the work surface.
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- The laser cutter head. The beam comes in from the left near the top and is reflected downward by the diagonal mirror. Lower in the vertical black tube is the lens, made of a special material that’s transparent to infrared light. The black rubber hose on the right delivers compressed air, which sprays out the black nozzle at the bottom, along with the laser beam. The golden contraption on the left is a mechanical height probe for autofocus.