i think Epilog Helix is wayy too powerful and too fast... (lot of problems)

[jordan djeu]

well so after 6 months of owning the helix using it every day non stop, the machine start to create lot and lot of problem, dust build up really quick since the machine burn wood pretty quick, doesn't bother me i always clean them, 2 weeks ago i got the wavy kind of engraving which was really bad because it end up engraving on the ruler, clean the plunger(if i cleaned the right part) again now its working fine, start doing engraving again the laser keep knocking and knocking the left side of the carriage (pretty loud), it knock quite a lot and the machine stop itself with X/Y disable message, turned it off and see if there is anything wrong, don't see any do more cleaning since i have the machine apart, after the massive cleaning job the machine WON'T TURN ON :eek::eek::eek: i thought the machine wasn't plug but it was plugged in after i cleaned it, and the fan was running fine, just no screen no boot up music just dead :( I submitted a ticket to Epilog tech support hopefully they will get back to me soon but in the meantime i wanted to see if anyone here experience these problems :confused: I felt like my 30 watt Zing is more durable and reliable than the helix but 30watt is just tooooo slow and weak. anyone have idea for a quick fix? :confused:

Thanks

[Frank Corker]

The carriage banging to the left side is sometimes caused by the belt tensioner on the left hand side (just out of view). It requires you remove the left hand cover in order to get to it. it tensions the belt on the flying head. Have a look and you should see it, excessive play indicates that the tensioner has worked itself loose or the belt has expanded. It's just a case of easing the bolt holding it and moving it inwards a little but not tight! The screen not showing is most likely the motherboard has failed (happened to me last week and it was expensive to replace). Remove the right hand cover and you will see the motherboard quite clearly on the right hand side, if there is a red light on the board, it will be one of the components on the board which has failed.

[jordan djeu]

238596

yup, just like u said, only 1 red led lights up, so i think some parts fail -__-


238597

and for the belt side, what should i look for? i try to move them they don't move at all no free play and the belt seems pretty tight

[jordan djeu]

anyway, got off phone with Brian today, he said its the problem with the carriage and motherboards, he will go ahead and send me replacement. but my worry now is how reliable Helix are, sure i have 2 years warranty but after the warranty is over i can't afford to have these problem coming over and over again

[Frank Corker]

Jordan it probably is the same issue that has been causing your problems. If the belt is tight then it should be ok. I've had my laser since 2005, two power packs, one tube and one motherboard. Yes they were expensive but not everything goes forever, that's why you might need to adjust your pricing to deal with such eventualities. Overall the machines are extremely reliable. That's my opinion you understand, as with every machine made, some people have no problems, others have nothing go right.

[Larry Bratton]

EXT here, Helix's big brother. In 5 years, parts I have paid for amounted to 1 tube and 1 motherboard..about $2200.00. That's about $37.00 per month. If your running as much as you say and charging at a $1.00 a minute that is about 37 minutes of run time per month for these parts. Thats pretty cheap in my opinion based on the potential return. (oh I forgot, a lense too, wasn't much though, less than $150.00)

[David Fairfield]

Just a note regarding the plunger, many users, including myself, prefer to remove it. It was more trouble than it was worth, always knocking into things and jamming the carriage. If you do remove, it make sure to never select the autofocus in the driver! --Dave

[jordan djeu]

thank you all for the reply, Epilog did a really quick respond and ship me a motherboard right away, i really like how their machine can be easily take apart and easy to swap parts, anyway, my laser can finally boot up, but the carriages is still isn't working right, i uploaded a video of it so please check it out what could went wrong, Brian told me it could be the white ribbon encoding strip, i flip it over it does the same thing, i was thinking my carriage need to be lubricate.

Please gimme some advice

Thanks

Jordan

​http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozAAmNzukPU

[Scott Shepherd]

That jerking at start up would have me looking for a belt that wasn't tracking correctly. It's like it's moving, the belt is tracking wrong, and then it finally pops the belt back into the groove and the process starts again, 1 revolution away. I haven't seen that exact thing happen before, but I have seen engraving issues that was caused by the belt not tracking right. Take all the covers you need to off, turn the machine off, and manually move them and watch the belts where they go around drive pulleys and see if it looks like the belt is tracking dead in the center or moving up and down the flanges around the teeth.

Or, your air assist hose is catching on something.

I'm not Epilog tech, but my guess is that the extra pressure on the motors from one of the two things mentioned above would be enough to send the machine into alarm, to protect itself from damaging the motors.

When the machine is off, and you move the head by hand, can you feel that being a super smooth process or can you feel it "catching" on something?

[Anthony Welch]

I have a Legend 45 watt. I have the knocking or should I say it slams side to side quite often. With the help of Epilog tech support, we came up with the carriage cable being the problem and the reader strip. So now when it happens I clean the strip w/soap and water, flip the cable over. If cable has already been flipped, I install a new one. I usually have to do this twice a year. I order the cable 4 at a time and reorder when I'm down to one left. I figure since I cut and raster a lot of wood, that it is a soot problem on the strip but haven't found why the cable is bad so often.

[jordan djeu]

I have a Legend 45 watt. I have the knocking or should I say it slams side to side quite often. With the help of Epilog tech support, we came up with the carriage cable being the problem and the reader strip. So now when it happens I clean the strip w/soap and water, flip the cable over. If cable has already been flipped, I install a new one. I usually have to do this twice a year. I order the cable 4 at a time and reorder when I'm down to one left. I figure since I cut and raster a lot of wood, that it is a soot problem on the strip but haven't found why the cable is bad so often.


hey Anthony,

Thanks for the reply, that's what Brian told me at first so i flip it over, do you think a new reader strip will fix the skipping issue? I also raster a lot of wood but hardly any vectoring, i leave all vector job with my zing 30watt, the 75watt make a big mess for some reason. i am thinking if i should order a new belt new X axis motor and a few reader strip like you said here and see how my laser goes

[jordan djeu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inAcVX7xf1w here is the update video, clean the motor, belt, and reader strip again and seems like the problems got worse :(

[jordan djeu]

anyway, Brian send me a brand new linear head PCB, Xhead flex cable, new belt, and another encoder strip. i swap out all the parts in the end i think the problem cause was the motors,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_9SzU1sj1A

video might not show much but just some idea how the belt was rubbing against the motor mount and the noisy motor bearing giving out...

[jordan djeu]

ok update, after 2 weeks working with Brian, 2 different mother board, 3 different flex cable, optical strip, PCB board, X axis motor, finally figure out the skipping was actually from the worn out X-axis motor bearing...

finally when i get to change the motor, i short circuit the 2nd motherboard -__-

but finally its all fix now..


gotta love Epilog support..

going to order 2 more machines soon