by TLHarrell » Thu May 31, 2012 9:05 pm
The larger the tube, the higher power needed to meet minimum to fire. At 100-120w, you're still in a decent enough range for engraving. Depends on the materials. Others here may have more input into this as I only have the 40w.
As far as combining tubes, I don't think anybody's done it or even looked at doing it as it's a massive complication. It brings in issues with switching power, mirror alignment, beam combining, cooling. All in a larger format laser which in itself is more difficult to align due to the axis lengths. It'd be simpler to build two lasers.
40w Full Spectrum Engineering 5th Gen Hobby 20"x12" w/ Rotary Engraver
South San Francisco Bay Area - Sales and Support Representative for Full Spectrum Engineering
408-47-LASER - Skype: whitelightlaser-thomas - Facebook: White Light Laser