My Chinese Laser Cutter is Faulty, no one is able to help, I am desperate

[Abdalla Safwat]

Hi, I will try to be brief as I can with my problem and I would really be grateful if you would help me with the troubles I am facing in the machine until it gets resolved hopefully.

I do have several problems in my machine:

1. The lines are wobbly and wavy in high speeds especially in the horizontal lines
2. The machine recently have been freezing, stopping before the order starts and I have to restart the machine so it would function properly
3. The LCD screen is acting weird

Let me talk about the issues from the last to the first as the first is the one that takes longer to explain, I need to say at first that I just started working the machine 1.5 months ago, didn't exceed 10 hours of work, I am from Egypt, I have no proper maintenance for the machine from the exporters who bought it from china, I paid around 7500$ for that machine as prices here are extremely expensive for anything and basically I am stuck with it. It is a 160x100cm machine, it is 100W which is probably 80W really.

The LCD Screen:
The LCD freezez, looses all the data on it, sometimes even flip horizontally, does weird things when the order is running, I send it from the pc or I re-run it from the machine, it happens over and over again. I contacted the maintenance guy, he told me to connect the pc via a stabilizer, I did, nothing has changes and the LCD still goes crazy, whether I press Esc, or any other button, nothing happens, it functions sometimes but with the weird looking screen, I have to restart for it to be proper again.
Attachment 340328Attachment 340329

The freezing of the machine:
I have noticed lately that sometimes randomly the machine would stop in different ways, either in the middle of an order and I have to restart and it asks me to resume, or it starts an order and immediately freezez with a loud noise as if the motor was stopped forcefully and the keypad wouldn't work, the arrows wouldn't work and I have to restart again, or it would just send orders with wrong layer colours and data, I have to restart for it to read properly the files, I contacted the maintenance guy he said that is a virus on the drive and I should delete every file on the machine and it will be fine, and that I should replace my new bought pc that I just got 1.5 month ago as it might be faulty.

The wobbly lines issue: The main pain in the gut
Attachment 340332I have noticed at high speeds a wobbly line that doesn't seem right, I made my research and contacted other people and the maintenance guy and didn't yet be able to resolve the issue. First of all I was told it might be the lens not held tight, I have never opened the nozzle before for cleaning so I wanted to do that, I found the lens shattered from the side, the center is fine and that's why it still cuts and works but 3/4 of a lens
Attachment 340330
I reinstalled the lens again and tightened properly and ordered another lens and still waiting for it to arrive, and tried again, still the same problem, I was advised to make some tests on different speeds, 50, 150, 300mm/s, so I did with the provided file and attached a link to google drive for all the results, in 50 it was a bit wobbly and it increased with speed especially when I draw letters, numbers, small shapes with lots of different paths, it still appears in circles and squares as I go smaller in size. To clarify this is for drawing which is Cutting in a high speed and low power, not engraving. I also noticed the waviness is tiny in cutting at low speeds but it is like teeth, not easy to notice for others but I can clearly see it (photo name: cutting wobbly teeth) I was told it might be a mechanical problem and here I started exploring my machine more (photos attached of the interior of the machine, belts, wheels, step motors, everything in case you need to check something) I tried holding the belts and comparing left to right, it seems the right equal tension, the laser head is not loose, the couplings and wheels are not loose, the lens is tight now, also I attached a felt tip pen to the laser head by tape to check if the problem is with the beam, lens, mirrors, and still the same problem ( attached an image for the pen where it was attached, and a piece of furniture that I keep testing, it is drawn in a floor plan where is wobbles and shows weird looking shape) I tried before that tightening the mirrors and realigning them. I was then advised to check the X and Y drivers and see the settings for the current, I was told to increase the current of Y a step if I found it to be equal in the same settings as the X as it is a heavier axis so I did and tried, no change whatsoever. Of course at the very end I called the maintenance again and he told me, I should buy from them another lens and the problem will be solved and if I didn't then it wont be fixed.


Sooooo, I am not sure what to do, I tried to wrap up the whole last 3 weeks, maybe I missed something, please ask if something I haven't mentioned, I will. I will put a link to the whole folder of images in my google drive of the machine so you can study well and maybe get back to me in case you found any solution. I use corel draw extension to send the files to the machine through usb cable, sometimes I use RD Words but I think it messes up the files already, so mostly I do use Corel Draw.


The link to all the images:
https://goo.gl/QbQjrL

I really hope you can help

Best Regards,
Abdalla

[Scott Marquez]

Abdalla,
Welcome to Sawmill creek, I'm sorry to hear about your machine problems. There is an "engravers forum" that you will find more help in.
After you ensure all of your mirrors are not loose and your final lense is in good order try some circle and box tests. Create them in RD works rather than importing from another program. You may find that RD works does not import from Corel very well.
The other problems sound like loose wires, which is very common in Chinese lasers, Unplug your machine and gently check every screw on the controller and controllers.
Scott

[Abdalla Safwat]

Actually I did, you can see my test results from Rdworks, the circles and squares, the problem occurs there clearly

[Richard McMahon]

There is definitely something loose somewhere. Looking at your pictures it looks like the belts are ok and the linear rails shouldn't have any slop in them either. Have you checked the laser tube mounts? Start at the laser tube then work your way along looking at everything from there, mirrors, mounts and especially the drive pulleys and couplings. I had something similar to this a few years ago with mine ( home built) and that problem turned out to be the power supply for the drives so if you have a spare power supply then you could try that as well. Sometimes it's right in your face but very hard to see. The wobble in the cut lines is so large it should really stand out when you find it.
Rich.
I nearly forgot, Make sure your machine is properly grounded as well. That makes a heap of difference if you are getting stray current running around the machine.

[Jerome Stanek]

Make sure your mirrors and lens are not loose.