60W CO2 Laser cutter tube extension for SH-G350 machine

thingiverse

You can find a comprehensive guide to upgrading on my website at http://lensdigital.com/home/?p=1498. The SH-G350, also known as the 50W Chinese Laser cutter from eBay, comes with an 800mm CO2 tube that fits snugly inside the machine. Nevertheless, you can upgrade your tube for more power by replacing it with a longer tube, but this will no longer fit inside due to its extended length. Fortunately, the machine features a cover on one side that can be removed, making way for a longer laser to be fitted. This enclosure easily accommodates a 1250mm/49" SP 60W tube with plenty of room left over! I'd like to credit Jeff Body with this design idea; all I did was modify it slightly and create a 3D model using Sketchup before sharing it with the world. To recreate the enclosure, you will need to cut out several pieces from 1/4-inch (5.8mm) acrylic material. All components were assembled using JB Weld #16. Once dried, I attached an extension to the chassis using four short machine screws and corresponding nuts. I also added a grounding strip inside the machine made from aluminum tape used for HVAC purposes. One end was secured with a soldered wire tied to a paper clip; then it was screwed into one of the machine screws, thus grounding itself to the chassis. As some users had raised concerns about UV light escaping through the clear acrylic material, I designed and built a UV detector which detected no UV emissions at all! Interestingly, a fluorescent bulb within the machine produced more UV radiation than the clear acrylic enclosure. Check out this video for more details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxJ3ikYPjuM