K40 Laser Cooling Water Temperatures / What Temperature works best

This non scientific experiment shows how the K40 Laser performs when not cooled correctly.
There are some interesting (i seem to like this word) results coming at you.
However for those who can´t wait, in conclusion use at least 5 gallons of distilled water and keep it around 12-18 deg C (53-65 deg F) for best results, As every tube is a bit differend these test results may vary. This video is made for giving you an idea, not meant to be a scientific lab test, i´m a nerd, not a professional laser engineer by any means!
I hope you enjoy!
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[@nedgligich]

The laser tube temperature will realy affect its performance in short bursts, however under sustained firing it will heat the gas increasing its preassure. However I think the problem is more with the mirrors or the unions coupeling the lens to the glass body or more so the glue used, if the temperature was to get to high the glue will brake down. Also mirror alignment could get affected throug glass tube expansion.

[@benjamind1234]

I noticed when I was cutting with a temp of 71f-77f on the output of the tubes , the cuts were a lot better and all the way through. When the water was cooler around 65f and below coming out of the tube. The cuts did not go all the way through and the quality not as good. Over all I ran with the higher temps and had no issues. Ran for 3 days in a row at 10 hrs each day with no issues.

[@Emet-wd5mz]

When I was experimenting with temperatures i found out that when I was above 25°C to 35°C my chances to get a cut was 50/50 while when I was at 15-20°C my chances of cut was 100%. Also ur results was this becouse u did only short cuts. I was testing with cuts that lasted 10-15mins and my results was way more differet... I found out that in higher temps starting cut was mostly succesfull but in the proces it started to fail. for example: I was cutting parts for a box and some pieces was perfect while others was not. Or half of the part was cut and the otherone not.

[@SensSword]

Going with a larger 50 to 60 watt laser from Omtech you're getting about 2x the power and maybe 4x the work area (depending on model). They're great hobby lasers, but I'd highly recommend skipping past the K40 if it's in your budget.

[@blanktheunknown2735]

I bought a cheap ice maker and cut it open and bent the cooling tubes over into a 5 gal ice chest, works great.

[@johnathanrice4341]

I did something similar except I removed the ice basket so the ice would fall into the water reservoir and then added submerged pump

[@laharl2k]

you should use MDF instead of plywood, it has a more uniform volume, no air pokets or knots inside. I always give it like 25% extra power when cutting plywood just to be sure it cuts through otherwise knots or hard spots will ruin your day. Also you could make a laser power tester, basically just an aluminium heatsink polished and covered in soot (quite a thick layer) and put a thermocuple on the other side with thermal epoxy (and insulation so it only meassures the temperature from the other side), and put a fan on it (make sure the voltage doesnt fluctuate a lot) Then its just a matter of putting it on the beam path and meassuring the delta T between ambient and the heatsink. As the thermal resistance is constant, all you have to do is calibrate it with a resistor (pure heat power disipation) at a few power levels and thats it. Once you have the thermal resistance you can calculate the power being applied to the heatsink with only the delta T and the ambient temperature.

[@MancaveEffects]

This is very interesting 🤔

[@MancaveEffects]

Actually i never tried mdf in the k40… i should give it a try…

[@heinisinfobox]

Danke

[@nblynx2148]

Nice

[@urubrianm]

Thank you very much for this great video. I'm a beginner k40 user and I haver a question: I live in England and my garage temperature normally on winter is between 8º to 14º celcius. Do you think I should warm up the room before use the k40 ? Thank you again!

[@MancaveEffects]

Thanks Brian, in fact the colder the room and cooling water is the better the results. 8-14c is perfect

[@urubrianm]

​@@MancaveEffects That's great! I was worried about it, and thought it may break the tube because I read that it should be between 18 and 23 room temp.. I think I can keep it on my garage instead of moving it to the house. Do you think I will need a powerful cooler or with a pc cooler like yours will be fine ?. Thanks for your quick reply!

[@MancaveEffects]

As long it is not freezing it should be fine. I dont have any experience with ambient temperature lower than 10deg c. However as long you keep the cooling water under 30 deg c you should be fine without any active cooling. It of course depends on how much you are using the laser. A reservoir like mine will heat up when using the laser more than an hour in a row.

[@wahegurujikakhalsa84]

20w laser tube How many water Temperature need?

[@Cellgm2000]

my laser seems to sit around 26-30c ... seems to cut 3.6mm ply with 1 cut :/ i cant seem to lower it , so i dunno .lol

[@dutchminer247]

Did you frose the ice from tabwater?

[@MancaveEffects]

Yes i did. I know it would be better of course to use distilled water.

[@johnathanrice4341]

@@MancaveEffects Distilled but don't use deionized water because that will cause the water to become very caustic in its almost pure state and will attack and metal it comes in contact with. Distilled is basically water with all the particulates removed and Dionized is when you remove dissolved particulates

[@Alien_Switch]

maybe the resonant frequency of 40 degree of water start to interfere with the resonant frequency of the laser beam and give u the best result maybe they rename it k40 laser for that ۞

[@MancaveEffects]

Sounds legit 🤔😂

[@techiesteve9447]

How curious... Wasn't expecting an improvement with higher temps. (I'm sure that's at the expense of tube life)

[@MancaveEffects]

I‘m pretty sure too 🤔