How to Refill / Replace / Service Epilog Zing Air Cooled CO2 Laser Tube - Repair Your Laser

My Epilog Zing laser started losing power mid-cut. The beam had slowly become weaker, and now it would start cutting ok, and then lose power during the cut to the point where it no longer cut.

These symptoms are an indication that the CO2 laser tube needed to be refilled/refurbished. Considering that I bought this laser used about 9 years ago, and have used it a lot, I think I got my money's worth out of the tube.

Refilling the tube through Epilog would cost several thousand dollars. Don't quote me on this, but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $3000.

I found a Laser Tech service advertised on eBay that offered laser tube refill of many brands for $850. Here's a link to the Epilog tube refill service.

Through some internet sleuthing, I was able to determine that this company doing business on eBay as Laser-Tech (Laser Repair Services) is actually Evergreen Laser Corporation who claims to have been in business since 1984. Therefore they appear to be trustworthy. Also, they have a lot of positive feedback on eBay from people having their laser tubes serviced.

Carefully packaging the laser tube so that it does not get damaged in shipment was the most difficult part.

Inspect the mirrors after removing the laser tube. The periscope mirrors on the laser looked in poor condition. These are relatively inexpensive replacement parts that will improve the laser power.