Strange Problem - Epilog 35W

[Ed Maloney]

Tonight I was running a job with 1.5mm acrylic. A majority of the items didn't cut through as completely as usual. It almost goes through but I have to force the pieces out of the sheet.

But - 3mm wood is cutting fine (thanks Mike for the great Birch!) as well as the 3mm acrylic. I adjusted the settings to the same as 3mm acrylic and the same results! I don't feeling like spending $2K on a new laser tube if the problem is with the materials. As far as the speed goes for my 35W Epilog it is 25 (1.5mm) vs. 12 (3mm.)

I'm scratching my head on this one folks. Any suggestions?

Ed

[Doug Griffith]

That sounds like an acrylic issue. Have you cut this batch of material before? If you can cut through 3mm but not 1.5mm, what happens if you stack the 1.5mm 2 layers thick? That might give clues to a focus problem.

[Ross Lowry]

Ed,

Might want to check the mirrors and leans to make sure they are not dirty.
Call Epilog their customer support is awesome.

[Joe Pelonio]

If it still cuts a thicker acrylic at the same settings, I'd suspect the material. perhaps it's warped, and not in focus all the way across. It may also be some of that stuff made in Malaysia that doesn't cut as well as the more expensive U.S. brands (made in Mexico). :p

[Ed Maloney]

First thing I did was clean the lenses. Same supplier, same manufacturer that I have been using for years.

A correction - When I use the 3mm settings it works fine cutting the 1.5mm. Downside is it takes twice as long and I already quoted the job.

[Joe Pelonio]

When cleaning the mirrors/lenses did you inspect to see that the gold coating looked OK? That's another less expensive possibility.

Can you normally cut 1/4"/6mm? If so try that on the normal settings. If it won't cut through, then I'd start thinking about the tube starting to go. if that's it, then you will find that the settings have to be changed frequently
to compensate as it gets worse. That's the way my second one went out.

[Chris Mahoney]

The bed may not be level. If you are doing a full bed job and there is a similarity to the positions of the pieces that aren't cutting all the way, I would make sure your bed is level.

[Nick Michalares]

I wonder if the acrylic could be getting TOO hot and the parts getting reattached by the melted edges sticking back together. I know acrylic is tricky when using a rotary engraver. You actually have to go faster to reduce the amount of heat generated. Just a thought.

[Ed Maloney]

Of course Epilog got back to me right away. Dan "The Man!" sent me some documents on the alignment and table leveling procedures. Files are too big to post, so if any Epilog owner wants these please PM me.