Epilog Issues

[Martin Boekers]

I have an Epilog Legend EXT 36, I recently replaced an encoder strip. When I did
an issue popped up that you can see, the vertical lines were thinner than the
horizontal lines. I was told that there may be a tube problem or alignment of
the periscope. I was told to remove the periscope and fire the laser. This was
done to see if the beam may be bouncing of the sides of the periscope.

I did this test and it showed that wasn't the issue. So I checked alignment and it
was off a bit, so I did the adjustments, on the test burns it showed 2 distinct burn
holes, so I called Epilog back and emailed them the photos. When they got back to me
they said that the laser was losing power and that caused 2 burn holes to happen?

I am not an electronics geek, so maybe someone can share their experience on that
theory.

I also discovered that if they replace a tube under warranty you get no warranty after
the initial warranty is up, so basically there is no warranty on their tubes after 2 years
no matter how many you need within that period. So if you get a tube at the 23 month
spot and it goes bad at the 26 month spot you are out of luck. :(

[matthew knott]

Our tube did the same thing, i cant see how its linked to changing the encoder strip, just happened at the same time i would guess. Its normal practice that the waranty only last for a set period of time, if this wasnt the case and you got a new waranty with the waranty replacement tube then it could go on forever. But it does seem harsh and you would hope some deal could be done!

[Martin Boekers]

I guess they way I look at it is if you have 2 years on a tube, it ought to be 2 years on a tube.
It's the same tube so why not the same warranty? I can understanding pro-rating it, that seems fair.

[Martin Boekers]

Usually I can get this laser ailgned pretty quickly, today that ain't happening.

I get the home position and the far right without a problem, then when I move the I beam towards the front
of the machine, the laser beam goes out of the "live area" so it doesn't even reach the mirror in that position.
I have played with this tooo long, going to start fresh in the morning.

Any ideas?


Thanks!

[Bruce Volden]

Martin, I am wondering what led you to change out the encoder strip in the first place? Was the carriage "crashing", not homing, dead? Tube sounds fishy to me. Looking at your pics, vertical lines are narrower than horizontal lines which, to me, seems like the tube is firing but somewhat "lost". If you feel like putting the old encoder strip in it may be fun to look deeper into the problem. What were the initial symptoms prior to installing the new strip?

I'm not a techie geek guy either but I have stayed at a Motel 6 / Holiday Express... What happens in the vector mode?

Bruce

[Martin Boekers]

Martin, I am wondering what led you to change out the encoder strip in the first place? Was the carriage "crashing", not homing, dead? Tube sounds fishy to me. Looking at your pics, vertical lines are narrower than horizontal lines which, to me, seems like the tube is firing but somewhat "lost". If you feel like putting the old encoder strip in it may be fun to look deeper into the problem. What were the initial symptoms prior to installing the new strip?

I'm not a techie geek guy either but I have stayed at a Motel 6 / Holiday Express... What happens in the vector mode?

Bruce


I was running into some issues and the strip was a few years old, when I ran my fingers across it I felt some light crimping.
I have two machines and for what ever reason this one has to have the strip cleaned more often, maybe a sporadic reader issue?
I am really backed under and thought best to change it.

Symptoms, wavy text and some raster/vector slightly off.

Epilog felt that the lines (vert) were narrow (.5pt) and that may be a tube losing power as it's of and on, were as on the horz it
confiniously flashes. I ran it slower and with more power so that took care of that. Thought alignment may contribute so I delved
into that and now that's giving me a fit!

I haven't had an issue with 2 burns though, that is new. There may be a reflection I can't see.

Me personally I don't think it is a tube issue, I will order a mirror though as one has a slight aberation, although it seems out of the
"line of fire"

[Martin Boekers]

One thing would be nice on encoder machines, if it had an encoder test in the maintainance menu.
So that the head would move back and forth to see that the reading matches what the strip should.
Seems like an easy application that would be much appreciated. I think there should be more
self-testing things like this and it probably would eliminate or shorten service calls that run you
through a bunch of things.

[Bruce Volden]

The encoder is one thing, the reader (contrast reader) is another. Often times , plainly speaking, if a "hair ball / sewer rat" is residing in the contrast reader things can and will appear VERY sporadically which has no bearing on the encoder strip. The encoder strip is read by the reader which tells the servo's--I'm here now-I'm here now! Stepper drives don't have this problem but that is another "story".

Have you blown out the reader? Swabbed it with a narrow device? You did mention "crimps", which ain't good (on the strip) so I believe you're on the right path! I urge you to keep "playing / learning". Still seems to me you are on the right components. Electronics, anymore, are for the most part very reliable! But, they need all the input they can gather to function properly. Think about it---you slowed the machine down and saw an improvement---if the tube were giving up the ghost, things would prolly be different as far as engraving goes.

I saw uniform horizontal lines AND uniform vertical lines (albeit thinner), not MISPLACED lines. I could be way off base with anything I have posted 'tho. I find it "fun" when I have problems now---though at one time I panicked!!!


Bruce
DAN--are you here?

[Mike Null]

Martin

I had that happen with my old ULS machine but my best guess was that it was the art. If I stretched a rectangle it seems that this would happen. It's been years ago so I'm not quite clear but I fixed it without servicing the machine.

[Michael Hunter]

Think about it---you slowed the machine down and saw an improvement---

As the tube ages, so does the performance and slowing things down does help with this.

On my machine (with an 8-year old tube), the first pulse of a sequence is weak which leads to narrower vertical lines that have slightly fuzzy edges.
The recovery between pulses is also affected, so whilst the second pulse is strong, subsequent pulses slowly tail away in power.

Comparing my settings today with those I used when the machine was new, almost all jobs are being run much slower in order to get reasonable quality.

(I think that if I could adjust the tickle, I might be able to compensate for this to some extent, but my machine does not allow that adjustment).


When I bought the machine, I was told that the tube should last about 5 years and cost £1,000 to recharge - £200/year.
It has now done 8 years, but will cost £4,000 to recharge - £500/year.
Will probably have to bite the bullet soon, as the weather is warming up and the quality going down....

[Glen Monaghan]

I don't know where the beam enters the engraving area but start with getting the beam centered at the window/hole where the beam first enters the engraving area (on Legend TT's, that's at the front left; on mini's, I think it's back left). Once that's centered, move the gantry to the opposite side (e.g., check back left on TT's). Then check the other side of the bed (e.g., front right followed by back right on TT's). In an ideal world, the first mirror should be the primary tool on the first alignment, the second mirror for the second alignment, third mirror for third alignment, and the fourth alignment shouldn't need any adjustments. However, the second mirror would have to be at a "neutral" setting for the first alignment, and third mirror neutral for the second alignment in order to do that, so there is some iteration required.

-Glen