Strong acrylic smell on small rastor and vector?

[Chuck Stone]

I'm wondering if someone installed a fan backwards in the machine..

[Keith Upton]

Now that that file is cutting, the smell is super strong and I was able to pin point it to this location...

[Keith Upton]

With exhaust fan outside and sucking from inside there shouldn't be any air that can get out inside laser & room. Maybe try laying cigarette lite inside cabinet with unit on and exhaust off and see if cigarette smoke is getting draw by laser cooling fan thru a leak inside cabinet.

I'll give that a try!

[Keith Upton]

So should the cutting chamber be completely sealed off from the lasers cooling fan area in the back? When I first had this odor problem, I called Epilog tech support and they said it was not a completely sealed area. Meaning that if the exhaust is not strong enough, some smoke/odor would come out the cooling vents. Does that sound right?

[Matt Davis]

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If it helps, here is a look at the area in question with the rear cover removed. From what I could tell while changing my tube and other supporting parts the other day, it's reasonably well isolated from the engraving area.

[Keith Upton]

Thanks Matt. So there were not direct openings from the engraving area to the back side? There has to be a "leak" in mine. I just can't imagine this much odor with that much exhaust flow being normal. I mean, when I when to the Epilog factory and we did some test cutting on acrylic and foam, there was not odor at all until we opened the lid and pulled the parts out.

[Matt Davis]

It's pretty much a solid wall. The screw holes for mounting the tube do seem to go all the way through to the exhaust cavity, but obviously they're blocked by the screws themselves. I generally get a touch of smell when I'm cutting, especially extruded acrylic. But, I don't generally worry about it. My wife, on the other hand....that's a different story.

[Keith Upton]

Thanks again. I'd not worry about a touch of smell either, but I have a lot of odor

[Mike Lassiter]

Thinking out loud - what about hooking your first blower up to blow into the exhaust port with the back cover off and see if there is a leak. Cigarette smoke would locate a draft to help isolate problem area.

[Keith Upton]

Thanks everyone for the help on this. I'll be calling Epilog this afternoon with I get home from work, but in the mean time could one of you guys with a Mini 24 please check these things for me...

With the laser turned on, but your exhaust system off:
Do the round cooling fans on top of the laser pull air into the laser tube area or push it out?
Do the slots on the back of the laser let air in or let air escape (in red in the photo below)?



With the laser turned on and your exhaust system running, does the airflow direction change for either the round top fans or the slots on the back of the laser?

With my laser on and no exhaust running, the top fans pull air into the laser tube area and the air escapes out the slots along the back. When I turn my exhaust system on, the top fans continue to pull air in, but the slots on the back also suck in air.

That tells me that my exhaust system is strong enough to pull air from outside the cabinet through the back (how I'm able to smell orders coming out there is beyond me) as well as the vents in the front door.

[Tim Bateson]

...
With the laser turned on, but your exhaust system off:
Do the round cooling fans on top of the laser pull air into the laser tube area or push it out?
Do the slots on the back of the laser let air in or let air escape (in red in the photo below)?
...

Pull air in -I use a very breathable mash over these to filter dust.
The slots in the back do let the cooling fans exhaust.

[Keith Upton]

Thanks Tim. Do the slots still exhaust the cooling fans when you have your exhaust system turned on, or does air get sucked in then?

[Tim Bateson]

I'll check tonight, but I doubt it. You may have a weld crack somewhere in the exhaust internally (in the cooling fan/laser tube compartment). You may want to check with Epilog Support. A quick phone call may resolve or confirm an issue there.

[Keith Upton]

My first call to them a week or so ago was "it's an exhaust issue, that's not our area". So I wanted to make sure I knew more about how it should be working for when I call them this afternoon. Thanks.

[Mike Lassiter]

I bet you are fit to be tied! Going to be very aggravating to have gone thru all of this to find something in back wall of cabinet allowing cooling fans to pull fumes out of cutting area into room