Laser Tube Replacement - Epilog

[bill harmon]

Has anyone had recent experience with laser tube replacement on an Epilog Legend engraver? I recently replaced mine and I am having an unusual situation, in that the laser does not immediately fire on the first job of the day. I must run a vector job and stop the job when the laser eventually fires. After that the laser performs as expected.

I'm concerned that I may have received a substandard laser.

Comments and advice are appreciated.

Bill

[Joe Pelonio]

That's typical, it's just that the cold tube takes a while to warm up. The latest drivers from Epilog will "tickle" it so that it starts right up. Otherwise, the longer it sits off, the longer it will take to fire on the first job.

Have you been using it less since the replacement? I only had that problem a few times when away for a long weekend, normally I run it very day so it wasn't a problem.

[bill harmon]

Thanks for the quick response, Joe. I had never experienced the problem before the tube replacement, so it was quite a surprise. I guess I should make sure I have the latest drivers

[Martin Boekers]

Bill,

You timed this right (at least for me)

I just replaced a tube this morning in my Legend, I haven't had a chance to run through the allignment, but I did manually fire the laser to see how close it was to previous alignment.

It did take quite a bit longer to fire, now I know I might expect that a bit.

Thanks for the question.

If you have any other unusual occurances please post and I'l do the same.

Thanks,

Marty

[Peck Sidara]

Bill,

The slight delay in laser fire you're experiencing is within the laser source itself. After long periods of idle time (overnight, weekends etc.) the laser requires a few seconds to fire upon receiving a laser signal.

On recent models, (Zing/Mini/Helix/EXT) we've implemented adjustable settings within the laser system to prevent the delay. These settings are Laser tickle, mode & intensity. These settings aren't available on previous models.

The delay is very minimal if any. One thing you can do to address this is to leave your machine turned on w/ lid/doors closed for 1-2 minutes upon boot-up to allow the laser to "warm-up".

Marty,

What I believe you're seeing is different then what Bill's seeing. You're firing the laser in aligment mode which is a very low-level signal and may require holding the button down for a few seconds before you'll see a burn mark on the tape during the alignment process.

If you do come across a slight delay in laser fire on the first job of the day, please contact technical support for assistance on adjusting said settings.

HTH,

[Martin Boekers]

Thanks Peck!

Marty

[David Fairfield]

Yah, mine sometimes needs a little warm up period too. Not a problem. A while back, some people here acted surprised when I mentioned I wait a little before running the first job. Apparently not everyone's laser needs the warm up.

Dave

[Tim Bateson]

My Mini24 does this when it sits for a couple days and the basement is cold, such as in the dead of winter. Turning it on for 1 minute or 1 hour does nothing to fix it. The fast solution for me is to throw a scrap piece of wood or cardboard in and start the job. This takes 2-30 seconds before I have any beam. I then hit stop, and I'm good to go. At least 95% of the time this isn't an issue.

[Peck Sidara]

You're very welcome Marty, anytime.

David/Tim,

Both of your machines have the laser TI & TM settings. Please reference the latest manual and/or contact tech support to access and adjust these settings. HTH and let me know if I can be of any assistance.

[Bill Jermyn]

I recently replaced the tube on my Epilog Legend 32EX and had the same problem. I had to vector at 100% power for 5 minutes before it would fire. Fortunately my problem turned out to be something else, so I sent it back.

[Bill Cunningham]

My 'original' tube fired first time, every time, the replacement 'does' have a delay in the morning.. The longest it has taken is 30 seconds before it fired after a weekend.. As Peck says, just turn it on when you open the shop, and after warming up, it will fire within a second or two.. I just let it hit a scrap board in the morning on first fire.. After that it fires first time, every time for the rest of the day..

[Bob Cole]

I don't have an Epilog but that is discouraging to know that a replacement laser cartrige might not fire right off.

Just curious why the previous cartrige worked fine but a new one did not.

[Bill Cunningham]

I don't have an Epilog but that is discouraging to know that a replacement laser cartrige might not fire right off.

Just curious why the previous cartrige worked fine but a new one did not.

For a 3-30 second wait for the very first fire after the laser sits in a cold shop for a weekend (I keep my heat @ 54degf when the shop is closed) is no problem. I doubt many machines, even if they fire, are not a full power until the tube warms up a bit anyway..