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I finally found a dealer that would tell me the cooling requirements for a 40 watt Co2 laser tube
1. Cooling water temperature: should be 15 to 20
2. Cooling water flow rate: Above 6L / min

So with that information I have ordered a 50 litre / minute pump that will pump to a height of 3 metres. I reckon that before it pumps through the laser and a radiator and flow switch it should just about be about up for the job I hope! But I will test the flow before firing the tube.
What size of Silicone tube do I buy for the coolant is it 8mm internal diameter 10mm external.

I also found out about the air pump, they use between 35 to 70 litres of air a minute. So I have a 70 litre air pump ordered.

I just hope this will help anybody building a laser and save them hours of looking for this information.

In the last few days I have been cutting and threading the Aluminium Extrusions and have slowly been bolting it together so I thought I would post some pictures so that you could see the progress that I have made, but being disabled I can only work for short periods so it will be a slow build, and please excuse the mess. Once I get all the corner brackets on and tidy up a little I will get some better photos.

You want to cut some rc kit

alvaro wrote:You want to cut some rc kit

That's the plan.

It's been a few weeks since I posted any progress, but I have made sure it is perfectly square, and I have mounted the rails and started to cut-out some of the aluminium parts so here is a quick picture. I hope to cut-out some more this weekend.

Another quick picture of some of the aluminium parts being cut out. The heavy blue polythene is to try to keep the chips from flying everywhere, it helped but it did not cure, that's what I don't like about cutting aluminium it takes as long to clean the machine and surrounding area as it does cutting the parts out.

Look like it is working great. Well done!
What power spindle are you using?

Roby

That's only a 0.8kw water cooled spindle and a 1.5kw VFD for power. I don't do a lot of heavy cutting but I have cut 25mm thick aluminium with it and it never missed a step, I just take 1mm depth of cut per pass, I could probably take more but would be more frightened of stalling a stepper motor than running out of power from the spindle.

I believe the biggest spindle they have at inventables is 600W and openbuilds does not sell them. May I ask where you bought yours, if you have tried any air cooled ones and if you are happy with your purchase?
Tks.
Roby

Hi Roby 101
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you I bought the spindle from ebay the seller was in Germany that way I did not have to pay export tax also I was told that the bearings in the spindle are of a better quality than some of the china ones, I also bought the VFD from ebay from a seller here in the UK. I would not get a air cooled spindle as they are very noisy and when worked hard you have to let them cool down after a short use or they will fail. I have used my spindle for 5 hours constant and the spindle was stone cold. When I first built my router I had a new 800 watt router on it and I destroyed it buy cutting for 45 minutes. Buy a water cooled spindle, it may cost more for a start you need a pump and some tubing etc. But you will save money in the long run.