Lost first 1/4" of X

[Robert Walters]

They sent you a bum one...

Good to hear, I just wanted to make sure they can't come back and say
"Oh, you didn't calibrate or adjust this or that" for the new tube is all.

[Brian R Cain]

Hey you guys, I'm on vacation and it's hot here. The Dog hasn't stopped panting AND the cat has been giving me no end of grief. Add to that I'm having to type with my sweetheart' s silly Kindle thing that has a mind of it's own what it I tends me to say.

Firstly, how are able to determine the new tube is way out of alignment? Did you check to see where the beam was hitting the#2 mirror in comparison to the previous tube?

When I were a lad, tuning compensated for backlash In the motion system so the bidirectional strokes lined up. As the belt and gear wears, it's possible to tweak the tuning to get cleaner engraving. Raster a black-filled rectangle at low resolution and compare how successive lines align. Tweak the tuning to improve it.

The reason for asking if there was a difference between right to left and left to right engraving was to see if you had an issue with the laser or the alignment or something else. I'm of the opinion that only a charlatan would intentionally send out duff tube, and if you've one, and know for sure, tell the world.

For expediency' s sake, I'd take Dan's advice and change it. You paid you money expecting a result. Let ULS sort it if your new tube Isn't playing ball.

[Robert Walters]

My old tube DID work, but at very low power (10% or less) and none of these things I'm seeing now.

In this pic, you can see the red dot is not centered in the window

IMG_20140622_184557.jpg


As far as I can tell, the red dot and main laser are aligned for the most part.

Due to being skewed from the source, I did the best I could in four hours to compensate and align all four corners to the center as best as possible, it's close, but not perfect.


I have emails into ULS and the rep with most of the photos I posted here.


Ah, so "TUNING" is actually software backlash compensation - that I understand.
Ok, I'll rerun at low resolution and see what I can see.

[Robert Walters]

A replacement laser cartridge order has been placed with ULS.
I'm guessing it will be here tomorrow.

Trippy though...
The tech said to be sure to have the old tube ready when UPS arrives,
as they will take it with them when they drop off the replacement.

I didn't know UPS ever waited around long enough to repackage an item,
I thought they just did drive-by delivery and aimed for the front door =)

[Dan Hintz]

The tech said to be sure to have the old tube ready when UPS arrives,
as they will take it with them when they drop off the replacement.

I didn't know UPS ever waited around long enough to repackage an item,
I thought they just did drive-by delivery and aimed for the front door =)

I would question this... highly. As you said, drivers don't wait around for you to unpack and repack... if the package isn't ready to go, they're on their way to the next set of rounds.

[Scott Shepherd]

Shouldn't be anything to repack if you have the box the old one came in. Just pack it up and have it ready. He brings a new one, he picks up the packed up old one.

[Robert Walters]

Dan, Steve,


There is no box, I had to return my original dying tube in that box, $1200 exchanged.

Since this is now a warranty replacement, I think they are issuing a calltag for the return unit at the same time they do the one day shipping. Which is kinda strange, but maybe it's to save on having an extra pickup fee.

I had a calltag once before on a laptop once. The driver actually had the shipping label and arrived at a specific time. Though that might have been FedEx for all I remember.

[Robert Walters]

*ARGH*

The order for the replacement tube was placed yesterday before noon.

I JUST found out ULS is just shipping it out today, NEXT DAY AIR.

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT

*heavy sigh*

[Robert Walters]

I would question this... highly. As you said, drivers don't wait around for you to unpack and repack... if the package isn't ready to go, they're on their way to the next set of rounds.

Dan,

I finally got a tracking number and I see something called "UPS Returns ® Exchange: Requested" on it.

Then I found this:

"With the UPS Returns Exchange contract-only solution, UPS delivers a replacement item with simultaneous collection of a return shipment--the UPS driver will deliver the replacement only after receiving the return item."

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/bus..._exchange.html

[Dan Hintz]

Dan,

I finally got a tracking number and I see something called "UPS Returns ® Exchange: Requested" on it.

Then I found this:

"With the UPS Returns Exchange contract-only solution, UPS delivers a replacement item with simultaneous collection of a return shipment--the UPS driver will deliver the replacement only after receiving the return item."

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/bus..._exchange.html

Sure, they'll take a package in your posession when they drop off the old one... it's no different than scheduling a pickup. But that's not the same as the guy waiting around for you to open up your new package, swap out the contents, reseal, and then sending him on his merry way. He's not going to wait that long, because he has his rounds to do. He may be kind enough to swing back by if his rounds take him along your path again, but he won't wait.

They are expecting you to have the old cartridge already packed up and ready for shipment when the new one is dropped off...

[Brian R Cain]

Sure, they'll take a package in your posession when they drop off the old one... it's no different than scheduling a pickup. But that's not the same as the guy waiting around for you to open up your new package, swap out the contents, reseal, and then sending him on his merry way. He's not going to wait that long, because he has his rounds to do. He may be kind enough to swing back by if his rounds take him along your path again, but he won't wait.

They are expecting you to have the old cartridge already packed up and ready for shipment when the new one is dropped off...

I suspect they are a bit more relaxed than you imagine. A few years ago after a bomb was sent via one of the couriers they wouldn't collect anything unless the driver could see that the contents matched those on the paperwork. Packages had to be left unsealed before collection. It's anyone's guess how the driver would know the difference between a laser cartridge and a bomb mind...

[Robert Walters]

the guy waiting around for you to open up your new package, swap out the contents, reseal, and then sending him on his merry way. He's not going to wait that long

Actually, he is...

"Your customers don't have to worry about finding proper packaging or prove that they sent the item back. We reuse the delivery packaging for the return item and the driver scans the return package at the point of exchange."

[Dan Hintz]

Actually, he is...

"Your customers don't have to worry about finding proper packaging or prove that they sent the item back. We reuse the delivery packaging for the return item and the driver scans the return package at the point of exchange."

If that's true, I'd say "It's about time!". I've never seen them wait, so if they are, I wonder what kind of premium price their placing on such package pickups...

[Robert Walters]

Ok, here we go...

Well, the UPS driver came, waited till I replaced the box's contents and left.
He said that was the very first one of those he has ever seen/done.
There was a return label and even a strip of sealing tape in the box.

After the fact...
ULS Support told me it's 1-2 days for processing an order, THEN 1 day shipping.
So instead of waiting around the next day, be sure to get that tracking number first.

Well, it seems that my diode (red dot pointer) was NOT aligned with the laser on both of the replacements I had received, and actually worse on the 2nd unit; 0.020" off in the TL corner, and 0.050" off on the BR corner.

So while I had been attempting to align the mirror based upon the diode (the only thing I can actually SEE),
that mucked everything else up and why I was seeing most of the artifacts that I was.

I ended up hitting the limit of the "pivot" screw attempting to align everything to compensate for the offset in the laser beam not being centered. I ended up backing off the pivot adjustment screw a huge amount and starting the entire alignment process all over from the start. Honestly, it made it MUCH faster; from 4 hours to 30 minutes.

Instead of putting tape over the outside of the carriage, put it on the inside. This way you can always see the sharp edges of the opening insead of having to guess as your eyes go blury on you when you've been at this for a while.


To align what you can't see...
Move the carriage to the TL corner (near field) and burn a small dot. Align that burn so it's centered.
Move the carriage to the BR corner (far field) and burn another small dot.
Keep doing this till you can align both burn marks to as center as possible.
Then, verify the TR and BL (diagonally opposite) are in alignment too.
I got all four corners aligned within 0.010" of each of them being centered.


Left and Right Edge Artifacts
Well, that's by design as I found out. They actually train their techs that the laser can't respond lineally when it's about to hit a brick wall, so it begins tapering off, spikes (the dark band I have been seeing), another taper off, then a waterfall drop, all WITHIN the working area. So basically you can't "bleed" to the edge of working area.

Solution?
Offset your material/artwork by an inch on the X-Axis (shift to the right by an inch).

What I plan on doing is ordering another X Ruler ($30 english, metric, or blank) which is EXACTLY 1" wide, and has the notch in it for the autofocus, and just place it up against the existing rulers. If I have to, I can tape them together so it doesn't shift as I un/load material or just bump it, and remove it completely when I don't need to raster/bleed to the very left/right edges.

There is no way to tell the machine it is only 23" wide (to compensate for the offset).
The right-side limit switch is only active during the homing sequence.


M300 vs M360
Wiring harnesses are the same in both.
Drivers are the same for both.
No way to automate blower (when jobs start/stop) on the M300, needs a M360 CPU to do so.
No computer controlled air-assist on the M300, needs a M360 CPU to do so.
Serial port control of the Z-Height, needs a M360 CPU to do so.
Color coded Height control (ALT+SHIFT+1), needs a M360 CPU to do so.

Well, there goes my ideas for automating the blower and the color coded LaserOrigami thing.

I'm going drinking tonight

[Scott Shepherd]

Robert, that's exactly what I talked about, the thing not be aligned right from the factory. Bizarre how that can happen, and happen repeatedly.

We can't engrave full blown, 100% speed right to the edges either. I offset everything about 3/4" in on the Universal if I plan to run at 100% speed. If I have to do anything that requires precut blanks, then I always make a fixture that starts at 3/4", or I'll do just as you said, I plop down a 6" acrylic scale I made that's exactly 1" wide and I bump the work against that. VERY irritating and for the life of me, I don't know why ANY manufacturer would make a machine that doesn't engrave to the full advertised table dimension. Telling me I have a 24" table is meaningless. They should say it's a 24" table but you can only engrave 22" wide pieces. Like you, I found out the hard way.

Now you now why we own a Trotec. Not saying that to be a smarty pants, but honestly, a lot of things went into getting us where we are today and many of those things took experiences like yours and looked at other machines to see how they were working. I still remember seeing the Trotec at a trade show engraving at 100% speed, the complete length of the travel of the machine and it was razor sharp. I'm not saying Trotec is perfect either, but they do solve some issues other people seem to ignore.

Go have that drink. If I were near you, the first round would be on me as we swapped laser alignment stories