Big chinese laser ID and power question

[Chris Corwin]

Here is the underside of the switch panel. I had to replace the keyed switch because it was completely broken.

[Bill George]

My guess there was a lot of tampering going on when that transformer burnt out. Trying to get things to work, I'd look for jumpers or bypasses to remove. I wonder if Ray Scott has a wiring diagram of a Rabbit machine that might be the same?

[Chris Corwin]

I checked for jumpers or blatant wiring changes. I had to Rewire the on off switch because it was originally broken and bypassed. I can see no non factory jumpers.

[Chris Corwin]

Ray to the rescue!!! Thank You for all the schematics. I should have this laser up and running in no time!!

Lets hope the power supply and tube are good.....

[Chris Corwin]

And it's good! The laser fires! The machine moves! Ladies and gentlemen, we have success! I have to replace the remote start module that I took a picture of. The coil on the inside was burned out and wouldn't pull close the contacts. $25 shipped from Amazon. I hot-wired it in the meantime.

I still have to get the machine to accept new jobs. If anybody has an old lasercut dongle let me know... Yeah right!

I will be replacing the DSP with a lightobject 708.

[John Noell]

Ray to the rescue!!!

It is really great to have someone like Ray on this forum. Too rare to find someone both really knowledgeable and truly helpful.

[Ray Scott]

THIS IS A 220 VAC LASER MACHINE.

The IEC connector needs to be wired to a 220VAC, single-phase plug.

[Chris Corwin]

THIS IS A 220 VAC LASER MACHINE. The IEC connector needs to be wired to a 220VAC, single-phase plug.

You are correct! I have wired up a 220v plug and connected it to a 220v outlet. This was probably one of the original problems that the previous owner did not address correctly.

Thanks to your help this laser is 100% functioning(when the new part comes in).

[Ray Scott]

I am pretty sure you have a 6515 controller with 4.1.3.0 firmware. Your system just needs a USB dongle... White with blue stripe.

I have played with software a bit.. I still prefer the LaserCut. And the Leetro controller.

[Chris Corwin]

I talked with the person who works at the company that donated the machine. He said he still has the dongle and would mail it to me.

The guys at the highschool are running a couple of machines that run Lasercut. I had a chance to play around with it. To be honest, it seamed like an old outdated version of LaserCAD. I'm sure I'm biased, because I have used LaserCAD for two years.

The two seem to be based on the same software with some layout differences and features based on the controllers. The biggest (and possibly the most important) difference is the lack of the whole dongle mechanism with LaserCAD. Oh yah, PPI is nice too.

[pete hagan]

Chris, I hope you know that before you run the laser for more than a second or two that you have water running through the tube, that is if it is a water cooled tube.

[Chris Corwin]

Thanks for the heads up, but this isn't my first rodeo. I rebuilt a laser and fit in a AWC-608 and a reci 80w tube with chiller. I have also used a glass tube in the epilog legend in my sig.

[Ray Scott]

Chris, I hope you know that before you run the laser for more than a second or two that you have water running through the tube, that is if it is a water cooled tube.

Hello....

The laser machine should have a chiller interlock. The interlock assigns that the chiller must be in a safe mode of operation before it allows the laser to fire. This means that water is flowing, the temperature is above XX degrees, and the temperature is below ZZ degrees.

The laser machine should also have an internal flow sensor. The internal flow sensor should be red plastic cap with a brass body. This sensor is typically located on the left side of the machine... in the middle door. Because of the chiller interlock, some laser systems did not include the internal water flow sensor.

As for water protection devices... I have seen some laser systems with water pressure sensors. This is a bad idea. It doesn't really prove that a cooling system is working.

I have seen some flow sensors that use a spring loaded flow resistance "thing" with a magnet inside. A magnetic reed sensor is mounted outside the plastic housing ... While the spring tries to keep the magnet upstream, the reed switch is activated by the magnet moving downstream. This style is very prone to getting jammed in the activated-downstream position.

The red-plastic and brass body is the style that I have seen the most. This style uses a spring loaded flap to resist the water flow. Once the flow is strong enough, the flap is pushed out of the water path. A magnet is mounted to the back of the flap.... and is pushed toward the reed switch. This style has its own faults. If the plastic is cracked, the reed switch can fail. After many years of usage, the spring can rust. One major benefit.... This sensor is easy to take apart and clean.

There is also another style of flow sensor. I have only seen it on one laser machine... I can only speculate how it works. Water turns the little impeller with minimal flow resistance. A magnet is mounted on one of the impeller blades. A Hall effect sensor detects the magnet passing... And the Hall effect sensor flashes on and off. There are two great advantages here. 1) There is very little resistance to the flow rate or water pressure. 2) detecting actual flow means that the sensor must keep flashing. The disadvantage is that the motion controller logic must be expecting a flashing signal.... Or the signal must drive an off-delay relay. I really like this flow sensor style, but I would expect it to be significantly higher cost.


In any rate... Use a water flow sensor to protect your laser cooling system.

Ray Scott