Wear parts of a laser marker and a 3D inspector

On inline marking with the S350-X, S450-X and S500-X, and on 3D glue-path inspection, the protective window, the filter and the fan usually fail before the source. Once fume from PCB, housing or aluminum-shell marking dirties the window, the 2D code goes soft and the bead-height reading drifts. Both look like a failed laser.

On stations with the S350-X, S450-X, S500-X and the SL-U or CO2 marking heads, what is used up first is smoke, not the source.

Marking PCB, FPC, plastic housings, notebook shells and aluminum shells loads fume onto the protective window, the scan-head cover and the extract filter.

3D glue-path inspection is the same: dust pulls the 0.0025 mm bead-height reading off before the laser diode is tired.

Cleaning the window every week and checking the filter differential pressure prevents most calls that the laser has gone weak.

Keep a spare protective window, a filter set and a focus gauge beside the station.

Replacing those parts is a planned stop. Waiting to replace the source is not.

When UV marks fine characters or 2D codes on glass, coatings, ceramic and plastic parts, look at the window more often: dirty optics make the code unreadable first, while the source itself is often still within its life.