I’ve received a new laser I purchased. It’s a 90W RECI W2 laser. I initially thought I had bought the best, but now I think I might be one of the unlucky ones…
It turns out it has what I believe to be a defective laser beam, as it outputs a laser beam in the form of concentric disks (TEM20).
This happens at both low and high power, although they merge at high power and the problem is not that visible anymore.
I’ve aligned the mirrors perfectly and it does focus on a point seemingly correctly, but it doesn’t have as much power as my previous 80W tube. Before, I could cut a 5 mm thick acrylic with 23% power and 6 mm/s, while now it barely cuts it with 38% power and 6 mm/s.
Additionally, the engraving quality on acrylic is terrible: the scan lines are interrupted (even when engraving at 19%, while the minimum that produces an output is 8%), not all the details are visible in white… the laser is very unstable. But I am using the laser within specifications, it should work fine! Some examples:
With this new RECI laser (19%), look how unstable and flaky the lines are:
And with my previous laser, look how stable and perfect the lines are:
The RECI laser again:
Was supposed to be this:
And a comparison of engraving with my previous laser tube:
I reached out to Cloudray and they have been requesting multiple videos from me. I sent them one, they replied that it’s not sufficient, and asked for another. This cycle continued for 2 weeks, and they ended up requesting around 6 videos.
They insisted that I send videos testing the laser at maximum power (28 mA). I explained that at this power, the concentric rings are less visible due to merging, but they are most visible at 36% power. Eventually, I sent videos at both power levels. However, their response is that they don’t see any issue with the laser: “The engineers and manufacturers have carefully reviewed the several test videos you provided, and it is indeed impossible to determine the problem with the laser tube from them.”
I also argued that I engrave at 14% ~ 5-7mA, and the problem occurs at this current, not at 28mA. They repplied: “Low power can also lead to incomplete combustion of the light spot. You can adjust the working power to 40% -50%”.
I understand that the minimum power the laser produces an output, which is 8% for this laser and my current power supply (DY-13), the beam is unstable, but I am using between 12% and 17%!
I am using the laser within specifications, it should work across the normal range. Nobody runs the laser at 100% power nor engraves acrylic at 50% power with a 90W laser!
I’m feeling quite disheartened. I just want a good laser tube. The best scenario would be to get a replacement tube. If I request a refund, they will only reimburse the product price, not the shipping fee (which was €200) nor the customs fee (150€). I’m losing 350€ + the cost of not operating for 3 weeks (for now).
Some more images:
TEM20 in acrylic in 3D. 50% power and 1.5 seconds:
Circular beam shape. 20% power and 140 ms:
