Hi folks,
I bought a CO2 laser. With it, I have a 5200 chiller (so with a compressor, not just a pump), which has dual inlets and outlets. Are there reasons why I shouldn’t use it to cool both my laser and the HDM instead of the stock HDM chiller? I most likely won’t use both at the same time, but who knows…it might happen.
Is it possible to set a temperature on the 5200 chiller?
Spindles need to warm up into operating temperature before doing hard work, i.e. to warm up the bearings so that the grease can do it’s thing.
Usually spindle manufacturer specifies a max temperature of 35°C. If yours is getting that warm or above, active cooling is required.
Otherwise I would be more concerned about condensation forming on the inactive spindle while you are cooling your laser. You do not want water to drip from the spindle down on the bed/waste board. More so rust forming on the spindle, z carriage, lead-/ballscrew or linear rails.
Yeah, the temp can be set. It looks like most people are setting it around 18C for lasers. I’m not worried about condensation, as it’s not cold refrigerant going through. Aside from the space saving, the main thing is that I’m in Arizona and this is all in a hot garage. Currently, the stock cooler on the HDM shows 36-37 temp, and I haven’t run long jobs yet, so this seems definitely insufficient. I think I’ll try it and keep an eye on everything.
Ok, with those ambient temperatures and dry climate you have, you’re better off running the 5200 on both.
Just a bit of feedback…this seems to be working well so far, temp set to 19C, which seems really cool to the touch when ambient temps are almost 100F, but really not that cold. I had to swap the connectors from the stock cooler to the new one, because of the size of the HDM’s cooling hoses and how they fit. A tip for anyone doing that: do not just twist off the brass connectors from the outside. You need to open the unit and put a wrench on the other side.
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