David Takes
05-19-2012, 6:29 PM
Well, wouldn't you know the first time I have ever had an issue with my 4-year-old laser it would have to be on a Saturday with some very tight Monday and Tuesday deadlines. I'm pulling out all the stops trying to get some help from my industry peers. My machine is a Universal PLS 4.60, which has been one sweet machine.
The machine was running a simple walnut plaque rastering job and it was about 90% done and then stopped burning. The laser head was continuing to move as normal, but the laser appeared to have stopped firing. I checked all of the optics and everything was clean and undamaged. The red dot diode would display as normal when opening the machine lid. The job was still in proper focus. I thought it was odd for the cartridge to just stop firing like that, so I thought the issue may have been the driver, so I updated to the latest driver. The update went flawlessly with the exception of where I was to "Home Z" and calibrate the 2" lens. The engraving table was not moving up or down. I was not even able to move the table up or down using the on-machine controls.
I did try running a job with the new driver from a new Corel file with a substrate that was in focus at the current table height and was able to get it to engrave, so I know the cartridge isn't an issue now. My new problem is the focusing of the table. I have manually uninstalled the driver and UCP, and have tried three different versions of the driver, but all versions present the same inability to "Home Z" the table. Any advice from anyone would be helpful, otherwise I'll try contacting ULS support on Monday.
Thanks!
The machine was running a simple walnut plaque rastering job and it was about 90% done and then stopped burning. The laser head was continuing to move as normal, but the laser appeared to have stopped firing. I checked all of the optics and everything was clean and undamaged. The red dot diode would display as normal when opening the machine lid. The job was still in proper focus. I thought it was odd for the cartridge to just stop firing like that, so I thought the issue may have been the driver, so I updated to the latest driver. The update went flawlessly with the exception of where I was to "Home Z" and calibrate the 2" lens. The engraving table was not moving up or down. I was not even able to move the table up or down using the on-machine controls.
I did try running a job with the new driver from a new Corel file with a substrate that was in focus at the current table height and was able to get it to engrave, so I know the cartridge isn't an issue now. My new problem is the focusing of the table. I have manually uninstalled the driver and UCP, and have tried three different versions of the driver, but all versions present the same inability to "Home Z" the table. Any advice from anyone would be helpful, otherwise I'll try contacting ULS support on Monday.
Thanks!