NEED HELP: on basic operations.

[carlos alencar]

Post AGAIN without LINKS...

Hi all,

i spent last days reading and trying to learn the "misterys" of laser. I just Bought a foison chinese engraver. And i have ZERO support on it. I got a lame manual, and nothing more, so i got lots os questions... basic operations questions, that i hope anyone can help.

the machine is this. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (http://www.foison.net.cn/en/product3_1b.htm)
it has a 80 w laser, got a software from a cia that has no site, and i believe went bankrupt, conects by USB and have a external control. the control board is from vectorsoft dsp.

my first question - after spend some hours thinking and learning from web and got all mirrors aligned - is laser so slow to cut ?! the pgm that came with it has the veloc. in mm/s. all my tests are on a cas acrylic 8 mm.

- can only CUT properly it with 4 mm/s speed. i tryed increasing by 0.2 (4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5 mm/s) and the acrylic did not get loose. the power is at 75%.

the chinese guy said to put the power at most in 75%. He wrote (the only email they answered) that over 75% will decrese life of laser and THAT IT WILL NOT EVEN GET STRONGER TO CUT. i thought it is strange, but in fact when i put 80%, 90% 100% of power i still only could cut at 4mm/s. Is this normal !?

second: the laser when cutting 8mm acrylic did not seens to be straight, vertical, he is inclined. I can see that it is not ok... but i dont know how to fix or align this.

third: when cutting with 45% of power.. to not loose the piece, but to do a vector engraver, if i got more than 20 mm/s it gets all aliasing; it is far from the specs of the machine i got from the website.

some photos can help understand ? my english is very poor.

thnks a lot.

Carlos Alencar.

[carlos alencar]

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got these configs
from the lame software that came with the machine.....
anyone knows where to find their website ?! parrotsoft.cn ? vectorsoft dsp controller.?

can you help me with basic stuff like what could be the parameters to cut and to engrave ?! i read a lot in your posts about dpi setings and ppi, but i dont have these options, or maybe they are present with other name or tecnic ?! i am very frustated because it seens to be a very expensive TOY, impossible to work for money with this foison machine (at least not knowing how to operate it).

i already "discover" with your help about mirror align, and did it (getting laser focus in more distant case in the center of the mirror), get the knoledge of focus adjust (in my garbage it is manual) but other stuff is very difficult...

thank´s a lot !

[carlos alencar]

these are some photos of my problems....


this engrave below is the best i get. setting velocity at 40 mm/s and laser power at 50% max 50 % min. but still is very stange.
184464


this was pathcut (with i believe is to cut throw not to engrave) but with only 40% power and speed of 20 mm/s. see how de "s" get .



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this acrilic 8 mm had to be cut with 100% power max 100% power min and the speed of 2 mm/s

184463

note that in machine brochure they clame it cuts up to 250 mm/s and scam (i belive this means engrave) at 1000 mm/s. i only
could achive 5% of these and still not good results...

thanks,

Carlos

[Dan Hintz]

Why not post this in the thread you have already started listing the same problems and emails?

[carlos alencar]

dee had the thread removed because of forum policy about website links...

[Dan Hintz]

The thread was not removed, it was edited... here it is:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?160435
I suggest red-flagging this one for deletion yourself and add what you need to the original thread. This avoids spreading advice too thin or forcing people to re-answer.

[Dave Fifield]

Carlos, I'll take a stab at answering your issues.

a) You bought a Chinese laser, cheap. When you buy these, you shouldn't expect any support! There are lots of cautionary tales on the internet about them. If you want good support, you need to pony up and buy a brand name laser (e.g. Epilog). Sure they are more expensive, but you get exactly what you pay for!

b) For vector cutting 1/4" acrylic with an 80W (probably not that powerful in reality, maybe 40W?) you cannot expect any CO2 laser to do it faster than about 2mm/s!! My Epilog 32EXT has to go at 100% power (45W) and 6% speed, with a 500Hz pulse frequency, in order to cleanly cut through 1/4" of acrylic. At that speed (which I haven't measured, but I estimate is around 2mm/s), the cut is NOT vertical, just like you found. The cut kind of drags in the acrylic and does not produce exactly vertical edges when turning. Also, since the laser beam is focussed at a point, the edges are slanted a little. To get a more vertical cut, you need to use a longer focal length lens and go slower.

c) I don't understand the other problems you are having - something to do with rastering?

[Peter Odell]

I have a 80 watt Rabbit I get great support and I didn't buy brand name machine I can cut 1/4 Acrylic at 25 speed and 50% power all day long with no problem. So that saying to pony up is not true you just have to watch who you buy it from

[Dee Gallo]

Carlos,

It looks to me like you have a series of problems which need to be sorted out one by one.

1. Have you tried cutting a thinner acrylic, say 1/8"? This test might show your machine's ability to cut without the angle problem or the "not cutting completely through" problem. As Dave said, cutting is slow in general (I would have to go at 4% to get through 1/4" on my Epilog/30w) so maybe you are just expecting too much.
2. Have you done raster and vector tests using combinations of speed and power from 1-100/100-1? Each of our machines has its own optimum settings which are something each owner has to find and document for himself.
3. Have you confirmed that you are using either cast or extruded acrylic? They perform differently from each other.

I'm not a techie, but from reading other threads, I want to ask you if you have checked for wiggles and loose belts or screws or mirrors or wires or whatever else you might have. It has been stated that the Chinese machines are sometimes out of whack after shipping and need to be checked over very closely. If you search through the Creek, there are people here who are quite smart and know their Chinese lasers well. You might want to get in touch with one on a personal message basis. There are also dealers who might be nice enough to help you out even if they did not sell you the machine. Your frustration is obvious and real, but you are not alone!

Lastly, it seems like you have learned the software enough to send a job to the laser. That's a huge achievement. You might check around to see if there are any other VectorDraw users out there who have experience to share with you. Most of the people here don't use that program, so we could be missing something big that could help you out.

So please don't give up. It took me a long time to become able to use my laser with predictable results. It is not a simple machine when you count up all the variables you have to account for.

cheers, dee

[Peter Odell]

A lot of time the wires that connect to the laser tube is not making a good connection that would cause a low out put from the laser

[carlos alencar]

i got very frustrated with this laser... i have a cnc router for several years and though that my work with acrilic could be more fast and i would not have to polish later. Big Mistake.

i bought this chinese machine because it was available right away, all other machines i had to pay and then wait a long time to receive, and since i had trouble with giants like HP and Mimaki in terms of receiving.. i went wrong with this one too.

i did check all the mechanical parts of the machine for loose parts or motor issues, learned how to and that was need to mirror adjust and focus, but i believe that the problem of power and speed is related to the software.

there are several configurations in that lame software that i could not understand and to make sure all combinations possible are used i could spend several months whithout the sure of achiving anything.

if you can help me translate this software to yours i could have a chance.... for instance, you all talk a lot about the DPI settings, and frequence what should be the values for a 80w laser ?! like in the printscreen below.

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[Mike Null]

Carlos

VectorDraw has an active web site so you may be able to contact them. I think your problem lies in the screen you posted last having to do with your settings. I can't be of any help there but maybe somebody else who has a similar machine will have a try at it.

I am also inclined to think that there are other machines like yours under different brands so maybe somebody will recognize it and offer some advice.

I don't think all is lost.

[carlos alencar]

Mike,

what would be the website for vectordraw ?! i didnt find any on google . tryed also for parrotsoft and for vectorsoft dsp controller (the dsp board for that machine ).

[Dee Gallo]

Carlos, if you do a search for Foison c24 you will see some discussion sites that might help you.

[Mike Null]

Carlos

Try this: http://www.vdraw.com/

[carlos alencar]

mike,

it is not thesame software.... vdraw is a CAD software.... i tryed alot to find anything about vectorsoft DSP or vectordraw3D or anything related to this machine...

[Robert Walters]

Don't know if this will help or not...

Found some samples with settings (for 60W machine) to try:

http://www.foison.net.cn/en/product3_1a4b.htm

http://www.foison.net.cn/en/product3_1a4c.htm



80Watt laser @ 75% == 60Watt;
I wonder if the laser tube is 80W, but the laser power supply/controller is limited to 60 Watt or some such combination.

[carlos alencar]

Robert,

they say that de power supply controller is not limited, but somehow there is no effect change in using more than 75% of its power and that the laser tube will have its life decreased if so. Very strange.... things from china !....

Carlos