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View Full Version : GCC Spirit 30w slowly dies during vector cutting (losing power)



Scott Anders
07-12-2011, 8:05 AM
Hey all,

My GCC spirit had a problem about a week ago where it rastered a few jobs (700 x 400mm) then when vectoring it lost power, this started after about 500mm then continued losing power until about 750-1000mm till it completely stopped cutting altogether. I found that i could rest it for 5 minutes then retrace over the area and it would cut fine.

Since then i have been doing normal jobs (smallish 2 ply plastics) and it has been fine. I let my local GCC rep know and he first suggested it was the power supply then he let me know a few days later it will be the tube that needs replacing, this is all without seeing the machine and applying any power meters or gadgets for testing (so i'm a little sceptical), i'm still waiting for a price but i thought i'd put it out there and ask if anyone has either had a similar problem and knows the solution or if anyone may have some suggestions. I would rather spend $1200 on a power supply than $!!!! on a refurbed tube.

By the way, what does happen when a tube "goes bad" that needs a recharge?

Dan Hintz
07-12-2011, 9:00 AM
If it's truly in need of a gas mixture change, you'll see an overall reduction in power output (you may have a nice spike in the very beginning, maybe 30-60 seconds), and this will continue to reduce as the tube warms up. Kind of like with a battery that's nearly dead, but you can get an extra bit of oomph out of it if you turn the device off for a second or two.

Needing an actual mix replacement is not common, however, unless there is a leak or the tube has been used heavily over a long period of time.

Richard Rumancik
07-12-2011, 3:14 PM
Did they actually quote you $1200 for a power supply? If it does turn out that you need a supply, it should not be that expensive. You may also have luck sourcing one from a distributor. Mine is labeled "Meanwell" and I think there are international suppliers. Should be less than $350 I expect.

Kay Bengtson
07-12-2011, 5:52 PM
My laser tube did a similar thing. It would cut fine initially for about three minutes then it dropped down to ~1/3rd the power. If I shut it off, then wait an hour or more, it would again cut for a while but still drop down again. I sent the laser into Photovac for repair/recharge based on the recommendations I got from ULS and others here and Robert Bosworth.

Kay

Scott Anders
07-12-2011, 7:54 PM
Did they actually quote you $1200 for a power supply? If it does turn out that you need a supply, it should not be that expensive. You may also have luck sourcing one from a distributor. Mine is labeled "Meanwell" and I think there are international suppliers. Should be less than $350 I expect.

yes he did, i must be too trusting. He told me that is what GCC charges him so i was under the impression that they are a GCC factory made item. But i looked into it and found underneath the power supply the part number ADS-15548 from Mean Well. Best price i could see is $130 in the US or i can get one from a supplier in Australia for $150. Wow almost a tenth of the price. GCC are obviously making a significant markup on that one ;)

Thanks Kay, I actually contacted them soon after i made my original post and Chris from photovac got back to me almost immediately with prices to recondition the tube, which were quite reasonable in my mind.

Luckily i purchased an old Trotec C25 to get me out of trouble if i need to send my tube away for a month or two.

Richard Rumancik
07-13-2011, 8:12 PM
Scott, I priced one a long time ago but guessed higher here as I didn't want to get your hopes too high as prices can change. If you ever do replace the supply you might have to move a harness - I can't remember for sure - but it should be straightforward if the P/N matches. You will have to adjust the output voltage on the power supply - there is a pot on the supply. The output voltage must match the voltage at which the tube was tuned (it might say "tested" at xx volts on the tube.) Generally it is either 30V or 32V. GCC made two flavors I believe. If you set it wrong it will reduce the tube life.

Scott Anders
07-13-2011, 9:34 PM
Well I ran a multimeter to the terminals while running the laser at full power till it died again and the whole time it showed 29.7 Volts even after the laser had died, so i guess all i can do now is pack it up and ship it to photovac and wait. I estimate we got about 1600-2000 hours out of the tube. Luckily i got the little trotec when i did.

Richard Rumancik
07-13-2011, 11:30 PM
Yes, I would tend to agree that if you have a constant 29.7V under load then the power supply would appear to be okay. So it tends to point to the tube, unfortunately.

Albert Nix
07-14-2011, 9:04 AM
Hate to see one go out so soon...I quess all of the sales folks stretch it as much as they think they can...When I bought mine the rep. told me I could look for 6k - 10k Hrs out of the tube. Is there any way to pull up a menu that will tell you how many hrs are on the machine?

Rodne Gold
07-14-2011, 9:30 AM
You can sort of work it out , around 250 work days a year , and if you real busy, you would have around 5 hours of tube operation a day , thus 1250 hours of tube operation a year. As an aside , we have never had the claimed 8000 hours of tube life , our average is about 3000 hours or less.

Shaun Jackson
07-14-2011, 6:33 PM
Dont pay 1200 for a power supply thats an absolute joke.

Without looking at the laser an educated guess from what you have described it is the laser source. If you are able to do your own mirror allighnment then you could change the source yourself. It takes maybe 1 hour to do the job just need someone to give you a lift to hold it up while you unbolt it. When you put the new source in take mirror 1 out and enter the service menu. Fire a shot onto a piece of card about 1 - 1.5m away and adjust the mirror that puts the "red dot" to the same point the laser hits then adjust the rest of your mirrors around the machine.

What model spirit is it?

Scott Anders
07-14-2011, 7:06 PM
Yes Rodne, ours doesn't get too busy so i worked it out to be about 2 hours a day over 4 years.

Thanks Shaun, yes i thought it was a bit high but i was under the impression that it was a custom made item from GCC. It's a Spirit GX