Low CO2 Laser Power Output and using Lightburn? Solved!

I have now solved the problem of low laser power on my RDL4040 CO2 Laser. The problem was being caused by Lightburn and the Ruida controller! It seems that the Ruida controller will select the Laser Minimum setting you entered into it if the speed you selected is below a certain speed and will not ramp up to the higher power that you have set in Laser Power Max. This is set in the Ruida under Machine Settings/Start Speed. I tried cutting 5mm acrylic again at the maximum current of 16ma for my 50 watt machine. But the meter only went to about 3ma, this equates to 5% power and that is what I had set as Lightburns Laser Minimum. Of course setting the laser minimum to 65% solved the problem. I assume this is a sensible safety feature. That has cost a few days but I am now very familiar with the machine, aligning everything and the importance of having a milliamp meter fitted. This will apply to anyone using Lightburn on a CO2 laser. The settings stored in the Ruida controller are mostly over ridden by Lightburn and appear to only be useful for Pulse firing for alignment etc. But not the Start Speed!!!

I can't stress the importance of knowing your tubes milliamp rating and fitting a milliamp panel meter.

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