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Thread: Epilog 24TT HELP!!!!!!

  1. #1

    Epilog 24TT HELP!!!!!!

    Can any one please give me some guidance. New to lasering and the forum. I have just bought a used Epilog 24TT. Had it for nearly three weeks. On Friday eve I was rastering some acrylic when it started to miss out some bits of the image text I was engraving. Checked all connextions, resent image, restarted Corel draw and PC. RRestarted laser.Still no change.
    I tried repeating the same job to see if the same bits were missing. It missed out bits at random. Then on the 7th or there about time it worked OK. Tried the rotary fixture, 3 glasses came out OK the the next ones missing bits again.

    Any one out there had the same problem? Any suggestions please. Going nuts at the moment. Got jobs to do and a dodgey laser. Cant afford to mess up more work.

    Thanks,
    Pete T

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Alabama
    Posts
    2,395
    Pete:
    Have you contacted Epilog Tech support? Have you cleaned your optics? Many times weird things are caused by dirty lenses and mirrors. That's the first thing to look for if your quality is suffering. That's probably the first thing tech will ask.
    Epilog Legend EXT36-40watt, Corel X4, Canon iPF8000 44" printer,Photoshop CS6, Ioline plotter, Hotronix Swinger Heat Press, Ricoh GX e3300 Sublimation

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Sammamish, WA
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    7,630
    Clean the encoder strip. It's located under the x axis bar cover. Remove the cover and it stands up along the top, less than 1/4" high. Use a q tip with windex or alcohol to wipe it down, dry, then try again and see if that helps.



    Sammamish, WA

    Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.

    "One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." G. Weilacher

    "The handyman's secret weapon - Duct Tape" R. Green

  4. #4
    Thanks Jo,
    I will have a look at the encoder strip. Should I expect to find it visibly dirty?

    Just tried it again on some scrap glass. If I move the image along 4 or 5 inches it seems to work fine. Would that point to the encoder(what ever that does?). Also guess the mirrors must be OK.

    I have contacted Epilog but guess they will not be about at the weekend.

    Still puzzeled.

    Pete T

  5. #5
    I agree with Joe, encoders are dirty. Might not be visibly dirty, but you should see residue on the cotton swap you clean it with.

    Very easy to do. Just take that cover off, and wipe that long thin clearish strip down. Just be gentle with it.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
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    Sammamish, WA
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    That strip tells it where it is, on the x-y axis. If it thinks it's in the wrong place it will not fire. It's the most common reason for that problem. If that doesn't do the trick then you consider the ribbon cable attached to it, mine has had to be replaced, but there's an easy way to check it. Let us know what happens after the cleaning.



    Sammamish, WA

    Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.

    "One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." G. Weilacher

    "The handyman's secret weapon - Duct Tape" R. Green

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    SE South Dakota
    Posts
    1,538
    Pete,

    Also when you are cleaning the encoder strip, look at the black assembly the strip rides in. I have found "fuzz balls" in there which will mimic the exact same symptoms you describe! This assembly reads to contrast lines on the encoder strip. The strip has 300 lines per inch, now imagine having some dust/dirt/fuzz adding a line here and there and you can understand how it misses/gets lost.

    Bruce
    Epilog TT 35W, 2 LMI SE225CV's
    CorelDraw 4 through 11
    CarveWright
    paper and pencils

  8. #8
    Cleaned the encoder strip. Was not bad at all. Tried again. First two attempts had lines. Been OK since.

    The laser stops firing for the whole of its movement for several passes. some times 1/16" sometimes1/2". It does the same with the rotary attachment also. Don't think it could be the encoder. All a bit new and very frustrating.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
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    Obviously Epilog Tech Support is the best place for information, but we are speaking from our own experiences. You can try taking that white ribbon cable off, and reversing it. There are several wires in it and only a few are used, so when you reverse it you are now using different ones. This worked on mine, stopped the symptoms, so I ordered a replacement.



    Sammamish, WA

    Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.

    "One only needs two tools in life: WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop." G. Weilacher

    "The handyman's secret weapon - Duct Tape" R. Green

  10. #10
    I had a similar problem once and after pulling out my hair and the teck's I found the trouble was the magnets/switches on the lid (Legend 24ex 35watt.) were out of adjustment and would sometimes interrupt the firing of the laser. some times I'd close the lid slowly and the magnets would not pull the safety switch completely and would cause the laser to go on and off. I placed two magnets on the switches and no more trouble, then I worked on the lid magnets and no more problem. Hopefully yours will be as simple to repair. Good luck. Terry

  11. #11
    I had a problem with our Epilog similiar to that on the rotary. It would work fine and then just skip a line or several lines. Had to replace the motor on the rotary axis to resolve the issue.

    Could be a motor (or motors) problem. Tech support is going to have to resolve it, I think, as Joe mentioned.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  12. #12
    It gets worse--- seemed OK so I put on the rotary to finish the job. Problem--would not "print". Took off rotary back to table--would not print then. Re installed driver for laser- still not working.

    Depressed.

  13. #13
    Would not print, in my limited experience was user error. Either the page size in Corel doesn't match the page size on the driver. With a mismatch in page sizes between Corel and the driver, the printed item is outside of what the driver is seeing as the page size (only know because I did it about a zillion times).

    Not sure if that is the problem, but it's stopped me dead in my tracks more than once.

    Check that and report back!
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
    Printers : Mimaki UJF-6042 UV Flatbed Printer , HP Designjet L26500 61" Wide Format Latex Printer, Summa S140-T 48" Vinyl Plotter
    Router : ShopBot 48" x 96" CNC Router Rotary Engravers : (2) Xenetech XOT 16 x 25 Rotary Engravers

    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Innisfil Ontario Canada
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    4,019
    When you send the job to the laser, you should be able to select 'view' in the job dropdown menu. If you can see the job, it went to the laser ok, but something else is preventing the tube from firing.. Check the magnets in the lid (there are two little ones near the leading edge one on the left, and one on the right..) I had one fall out, and the laser kept working ok, but if their both gone it won't fire..
    Epilog 24TT(somewhere between 35-45 watts), CorelX4, Photograv(the old one, it works!), HotStamping, Pantograph, Vulcanizer, PolymerPlatemaker, Sandblasting Cabinet, and a 30 year collection of Assorted 'Junque'

    Every time you make a typo, the errorists win

    I Have to think outside the box.. I don't fit in it anymore


    Experience is a wonderful thing.
    It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.


    Every silver lining has a cloud around it




  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    The Jersey Shore
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pete Thomas(UK) View Post
    It gets worse--- seemed OK so I put on the rotary to finish the job. Problem--would not "print". Took off rotary back to table--would not print then. Re installed driver for laser- still not working.

    Depressed.
    Pete - Does the job get to the laser?

    A few times I sent a job to the laser and had the print driver set to vector, but it didn't have any hairline curves in the job. I would press Go and the display would say Done right away. Check your artwork, maybe all (or part) of your graphic is hairline and you are trying to raster.
    Epilog 40W Mini24, Corel X8 (64-bit), and two big fire extinguishers.


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