Universal Laser ILS Drivers

[Lou Anderson]

We have a 24" x 48" Universal ILS and it seems like every driver release we find numerous bugs. So far within the past 1-day we have been through 3 different driver versions:

5.22.34.9 - Raster / Vectors are WAY off. Software adding white space where there shouldn't be.
4.21.28.19 - Machine stopped returning to home. Machine stops at 46.5" and thinks it's at home
4.20.28.16 - X-axis now doesn't register properly and grinds until i shut off the machine.

Now we believe we have a bad X-axis controller and our rep is thankfully able to help us tomorrow.

So my question is what version driver are you running and have you found it to be reliable?

[Mike Mackenzie]

Lou,

How old is this system? can you give me the serial number? There was a version of a home board that was not compatible with the new driver releases. We just set one up and we are running 4.21.28.16. However there is one that we have been testing 5.23.35.1. This version seems to be working good however it depends on the version of the Home Board.

You won't be able to tell what version this board is but if you give me the serial # I can find out for you. If you have the new version Home board then I would load up 5.23.35.1

[Lou Anderson]

Lou,

How old is this system? can you give me the serial number? There was a version of a home board that was not compatible with the new driver releases. We just set one up and we are running 4.21.28.16. However there is one that we have been testing 5.23.35.1. This version seems to be working good however it depends on the version of the Home Board.

You won't be able to tell what version this board is but if you give me the serial # I can find out for you. If you have the new version Home board then I would load up 5.23.35.1

Mike - thanks for the information. I believe we were one of the first machines to ship as we pre-ordered early. Although we didn't even get around to getting out machine hooked up for several months. I'll mention your info to our rep and see if he can dig up some dirt about it.

Sadly i've been extraordinarily disappointed with our machine - very sporadic behavior. ULS has already had to fly out here once to inspect the machine. The lead service rep couldn't find anything wrong but our rep found a loose set screw for part of the motion arm about a week later and about 10 visits later. We run into the driver crashing frequently and have been able to identify most software bugs so we can operate our machine. If support was able to return their phone calls perhaps ULS would be able to figure this out. Unfortuantely for my rep i end up calling him to help iron out bugs. The only good thing to come out of this is we have an outstanding rep but a very expensive and unreliable piece of equipment.

[Mike Mackenzie]

Lou,

I can certainly feel your pain I do believe that they have made huge steps toward improvement of the new driver. Due to this being one of the first ILS systems make sure that your rep checks to see if you have the updated driver cards as well as the homing board. Then have them use the 5.23.35.1 driver.

Your rep should be the one you should work with He/she will make sure that the factory does what they are supposed to do.

[David Dustin]

We tested the new driver briefly anfd found it could not open earlier version files. I think they can be edited to open in 5.23.35.1 if you know what you are doing.

David

[Mike Mackenzie]

David,

This is already being addressed, This only effects saved power settings and compared to other situations this is an easy fix.

[David Dustin]

Mike,
that is great news.
I thought it was a little odd that the driver could not open older files so the other day when I had some "down time" wink wink, I opened the .las files in notepad to compare them.
Turns out I had to remove an "unknown" reference and replace it with the model of my laser, then they would open in the new driver and all was right with the world.

David