DSP board and Synrad RF tubes ?

[Dr. Evil]

hi folks,
has anyone any experience in running the DSP controller with a Synrad RF tube ? It's just I have a beached whale of a ULS25E with a dead driverboard. The Synrad tube uses a standard 5v TTL signal, however it also needs to be " tickled" constantly to keep it on the boil, any thoughts ?
best regards. DR.E

[baccus61]

Hi Doc,
I have used a 30 watt Universal RF laser with the DSP and its a great combination. There is a setting for tickle pulse in the manufacturers settings. I can't foresee any problems you will have with it.
The DSP board is really good and has become my favorite over time and Mr Lei does a great job attending to most suggestions. He's a very good programmer. (shameless plug for Marco)
Rich.

[Dr. Evil]

Thanks for the reply baccus, It looks like the "tickle" issue has been addressed, so i can run the Synrad Rf tube without problems .... Great, a solution at last !

[liaoh75]

Hi All,

Can anyone explain the purpose of the tickle pulse and is it necessary in a chinese glass laser tube for engraving?

Thanks,

David

[Dr. Evil]

Dear David,
The "Tickle" is a small pulse sent to the laser to keep the plasma inside energized.
This pulse makes the laser respond quickly and strongly which aids fast raster engraving and cutting.
A typical pulse lasts for 5 uS ( microseconds) and is at a frequency of 5KHz. As the tube ages this setting has to be tweaked - both frequency and duration. Adjusting the pulse is usually done after a warm up period, say 20 mins from cold, usually it will not need resetting unless the tube is on the way out , or has not been used for some time.
It is said that playing with the tickle can bring old tubes back from the dead, it is my experience if a tube needs extreme amounts of tickle, it will work, but power output is probably way down, and time for a re gas. Too much tickle and the tube will appear to stay on all the time, i.e if vector cutting two separate paths, they will become joined at the end / start nodes. Too little tickle and raster engraving becomes patchy or offset. Please note I am sure this tickle is only for RF excited tubes and not required by the non RF CO2 chineese tubes. NB. I am not an expert on this, just stating my own personal experience of running a Synrad RF on a ULS 25e, so folks please feel free to comment. regards Dr. Evil

[Hermes]

I just recovered my bricked gravograph LS600 with a ACW-608 DSP from lightobject, it has a Synrad Firestar v40. It took me less than a day and I just needed to follow Marko Wong's instructions. The manual from synrad's site also worked marvels for me.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1749&p=8541&hilit=Synrad#p8541

Gonna try that again, since I have another identical tube.

Hermes Sandoval.