Amada F1 Laser

[Lazer Lozer]

My Amada F1NT is due for the blower / vacuum pump change. Costs around 25k then another 4 k on internal optics a month later according to Amada. Anyone just let it ride? If so how long? I'm curious as these are highly engineered parts & pieces from the start. I would think that alarms would be popping up left and right if the blower starts having issues? Vacuum pump, I don't foresee issues with letting it do it's thing. looking for feedback as I am down to less than 300 hours.

 

[LASERNINJA]

Sometimes there is a warning. The machine will generate a "blower oil low alarm".

The problem is that it spins at 60,000 RPM with .001 clearance on either side of the fan. Maybe a little bigger but not much. When the bearing fails, it happens so fast, there isn't time to stop anything before it's really bad.

There are other solutions I can do it for less than fifteen thousand and include all the internal mirrors.

What ever you decide, I think you can go maybe 1000 hours over but you would be pushing it.

 

[Lazer Lozer]

LaserNinja,
Have you ever seen one just go & go? Have you seen any that have come apart while in operation & what was the damage other than oil contamination? By the way when I said I had 300 hrs, that's taking into account the core return fee window. I'm already 200 hrs. over 24,000. My understanding is Fanuc will still accept the core as long as you do not exceed 500 hrs past their stated life. I'm going to verify with Fanuc today.
You service these machines?

 

[Lazer Lozer]

LaserNinja how can I contact you?

 

[LASERNINJA]

https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=379246

 

[LEIPRABA]

Turbo blower and vacuum pumps will work beyond specified life time too. The only risk factor is unexpected breakdown time after period of time like we can say after 35K hours of run hour. So if you can bear the risk factors then you can run as long as the turbo blower and vacuum pump is running and you can replace. Or else you can simply repair the same turbo blower at fraction of the new unit cost and you can run like new.
We have seen turbo blower that ran upto 50000 hours in customer places. Major point is frequent monitoring and replacement of turbo blower oil

Prabakaran
Laser Experts India LLP

http://www.laserxprts.com

 

[Lazer Lozer]

LEIPRABA,
I'm running as is. I'm at 24,300 + hours on my 24K blower with no indication of trouble. Personally I believe it's a tactic that the Manufactures use to get you to spend money on new parts & SERVICE.$$$$$ These are high precision parts. Like you said as long as you maintain the equipment it should perform fine. My oil is changed at the recommended 2000 hour mark. Now that being said there's a lot of money in that blower core. Exceed the hours that Fanuc states and $6100.00 gone if the unit fails. Laser I bought right at 2 years ago. No previous experience. I've still got a lot to learn. I'm definitely no expert and I continue to have problems with the thicker gauge materials. It's insane how inconsistent the conditions can be but that's a whole different story.

 

[LEIPRABA]

Lazer loser,
As i said the turbo blower can run further without causing you any problems for another 10k hours . To reduce the maintenance cost get the help of freelancer who knows the servicing part very well. Buy lens, optics from II VI directly so that you can reduce the cost considerably.

For time being you can ask your local laser engineer to have a optics cleaning and alignment one time and check whether any foreign particles observed in your optics cavity and on optics. If
Turbo blower starts failing then ypu can find small foreign particles in your cavity and you have to change the turbo immediately once it starts failing. Untill that you can run Turboblower without any issues. But again these are all the risk factors you are willing to take to save money. Mirror cleaning will help you to get good cutting speed and finishing. In freelancing market a 24 k turbo blower will cost you around 7K USD. After super cleaning of optics you can run for another 4000 hours. What is your oscillator model and power offset value in machine now?

Prabakaran
Laser Experts India LLP

http://www.laserxprts.com