Loss of Power and cutting quality

[Jiten Patel]

Hi Guys,

Had my galvo serviced by Trotec last week. After the service, we noticed a massive drop in power and cut quality. We were half way through a job before the job, running 7 passes to get a clean cut. After the service, it was taking 11-14 passes to go through and the cut was less than impressive (jagged!).

He tested the power and it came out at 27-28w which is great considering how hard we have worked it for 18 months.

The engineer was back today, took the thing apart and put it back together, but cannot figure out the problem might be. Focus is correct. As you can imagine, I cannot afford to be running at half capacity.

Any ideas?

Might need to get Trotec to give me a new machine with more power - wishful thinking may pay off!

[Rodne Gold]

Sounds like one of the RF boards in the tube has blown , typical symptoms are a sudden drop to about 1/2 power, inconsistent cutting....the other board won't last long if it is that.
The good news is that its not normally a very expensive fix.

[Jiten Patel]

Thanks for that Rodne - it is still under warranty so hopefully should get sorted. They said they will speak to Austria on Monday as they cannot figure it out and will get back to me. Just want a running machine! Also got a question to ask ya, will DM you.

[Richard Rumancik]

. . .After the service, we noticed a massive drop in power and cut quality. We were half way through a job before the job, running 7 passes to get a clean cut. After the service, it was taking 11-14 passes to go through and the cut was less than impressive (jagged!).

He tested the power and it came out at 27-28w which is great considering how hard we have worked it for 18 months. . . .

Jiten - I am a little confused as to the sequence of events - was the first service call preventative maintenance or was there an issue?

Is this correct?
1) laser was cutting fine before service - 7 passes required
2) laser was serviced
3) test showed 27 watt output
4) technician leaves; now it takes 14 passes for the same job
5) technician returns and can't figure out what is wrong.

Is this sequence correct? Did they test 27 watts on the first service call? Rodne suggested a bad RF board but if you are getting 27 watts on a 30 watt machine it would not seem to be the RF board.

Did the technican test the laser output on the second visit?

Kinda looks to me like they "broke" your machine during the service call . . . is it possible that an optic is in wrong or a mirror got damaged? It could be theoretically possible to be getting what seems to be full laser output but with very bad beam quality.

[Jiten Patel]

Hi Richard,

The sequence of events is exactly that. The service was just a routine maintenance - the first we have had on the machine since we got it.

He tested the wattage today and it was 27.6W. He took the whole machine apart and reassembles, but no joy. He said everything looks in order and could not figure it out. Austria are on a public holiday, so Trotec UK will speaking to the experts on Monday to find a solution. I am not best pleased as I am down 30-50% on productivity.

[matthew knott]

Trotec are quite new to galvo machines and as its not their 'bread and butter' the tech that cam to fix it might not have loads of experience with such a machine.The first thing i always did on a customer service was test the machine and measure the power before you do anything. The number of customers that booked a service and claimed that the machine was fine when in reality it was palying up was suprsing, guess they could say "it was ok before you touched it" and hope to get a cheaper bill. Plus for the very reason you have now its hard to know if you did break it or not!
Things you need to ask them to check!
1) where are the measuring the power ? should be out of the scan lens as the beam will have several components to go through !
2) what does the beam look like? with the scan lens removed it should be the correct size to fill the galvo mirrors without clipping the mirrors (need ir veiwing plate to do this)
3)Cheek the focus, how do you know its correct? If the spot size is to big then it will be much harder to cut, adjust the height up and down a bit, cutting should get worse (if the focus is correct).
4) If its been designed right (and from what i have seen of trotec stuff they are at the top of their game) i cant undersatnd why you would strip a machine down for a service. The beam path should be sealed, there are no serviceable parts in it (as such) and everything can be checked without taking it apart, our 30 watt galvo co2 hasnt been apart in 4 years, still works the exacty the same. Might want to check what the service schedule is, stripping surprises me.

Sure you will get an answer on monday and be up and running again. fingers crossed

[Jiten Patel]

Hi Matt,

They measured the power where the beam leave the scan-head (29w) and at the bed (27.3w). He did not check the machine before service therefore they have nothing to compare to (out word against theirs). In our favour, we have plenty of work cut before they came which shows the better cut quality and hundreds of settings saved which worked before but now do not.

Not sure if they did point 2 and to be honest, I would not know how to do this...

I have played around with the focus and it is exactly where it was before they came (we have a lock system on our manual bed and a visual marker to let us know if it has moved).

Not really sure why he took it apart but he only did this on his second visit when he tried to fix it - but maybe he thought he would be thorough. On the actual service, he only cleaned a few mirrors and the took the cover off and cleaned inside. Luckily we did not pay for this as it was included in the purchase of the machine, but they charge £500 for it - which to be sounds like the biggest rip off going!

[matthew knott]

I would think the machine has collimator and these are often adjustable, if it's been knocked or moved the focus height will be changed! You need to manually find focus, do a cut, adjust the laser height (1-2mm) do another cut and see if the line gets thinner, repeat until you have the thinnest possible line .

[Jiten Patel]

Ok thought I would post an update on this - Trotec spent an entire day on my machine trying to figure out what was wrong to no avail. Instead they offered to replace my tube with a brand new one - bonus! It arrived yesterday and just waiting on the engineer to come fit it.

I have to say Trotecs tech support were fantastic and the customer service second to none. First time we have had to use it and I can see why people pay the extra for these machines. I did ask them about upgrading the power of my 30w to a 45w which came in at £6000! Bit too much for 15w!

[Jiten Patel]

New tube installed - old tube was rated at 27W - got a lovely 39W output now! LOVE IT!

[Chuck Stone]

Great!
How's the speed and the cut?