VLS 4.60 Problems

[matt aiken]

I know that I need a new rail for the X-Y, it is really worn down in certain places and produces a wobbly character. This is most likely from not cleaning out the rail often enough.. What I am struggling with currently is I get "Motion Packet Misaligned Type 3" error messages and I was told that I needed a usb hub that was self powered to make sure enough voltage was getting to the machine or something along those lines. It helped but I still get them once and a while, that really isn't an issue as I have gotten pretty good at dealing with them.

Now it has started in the middle of a raster job slow way down and put down a vector line down for a little ways then stop and just burn into whatever I have in there..
Also it has been in the middle of a raster job and it jumps about a quarter inch to the left and keeps running which ruins the job that I am running. There are no warning signs to these problems it just does them randomly. Are they related to my rail or are they a problem with the on-board system.
It has been driving me nuts!

I will attach photos soon!

any tip or ideas are appreciated.
Thanks

[Dan Hintz]

Those errors are comms-related. If they're still showing up from time to time, you need to get that sorted, else any other suggestions we offer will be worthless. If your USB connection is underpowered (are you running this from a laptop?), definitely use one that is properly powered. The USB connection should have no problem supplying 200mA, an order of magnitude (or two) more power than needed for reliable comms at a meter's distance or so. If your power is low, I can only assume you're running a number of items off of the same channel (e.g., a self-powered multi-port hub plugged into a single port but powering several devices), and this is a bad idea.

[matt aiken]

It is a Desktop PC that I am using. the USB cable goes into a Hub that is powered by a plug-in to the wall and the only cable going out of it is to the VLS 4.60. When I called Universal this is what they told me to try.. it has cut it down tremendously but I am more concerned about the other two issues.

[Mike Mackenzie]

Matt,

What version of software are you running?

Have you shut off all of the Windows power save options?

These problems you are reporting have nothing to do with the rail, However your jumping when raster engraving could be related to the rail or most likely the Idler pulley.

The stopping issues are related to communication between pc and laser.

[matt aiken]

All power save options are off and performance options are set to best performance.
The software version I am using is 5.28.52.2

how hard is it to replace the rail? / what would the cost be?

[Mike Mackenzie]

Matt,

The X Rails p/n 700035700D 24" X Axis rail are $204.00. At the same time you should change the X axis belt and Idler pulley $60.00. You must remove the arm from the system and the change the end caps from the old rail to the new. It is not that difficult, you will have to go through an alignment once all is back together.

What I would do with the software is UN install the software then do a registry clean out for the Versa software then re boot and re install. I think the important thing here is to clean the registry and start fresh. The service department can get you the instructions on how and what to remove from the registry.