Bruce Clumpner
09-12-2012, 6:21 PM
I'm looking to the collective mind for opinions on what's happening to my mini. I'm working out of the house/shop now so I have not had the chance to contacted support with this latest issue while I can sit over the machine. So I thought I'd poll the members before I start digging into my wallet.
My mini-18 35 has been losing power slowly over the last year or so. It's a used machine and when I bought it I was cutting 3/16" plex all day at 6-speed and 100-power. Now I'm down to 3 speed and can't cut longer than 20 minutes without it shutting down. I'm seeing a cycling or rhythmic pulsing in the power as it starts to cut a sheet. The glow of cutting the backing paper fades between bright and nothing in about a 1 second cycle. There is also small uncut bridges left one the first couple of pieces at a regular interval.
I just replaced the I-rail on my x-axis and when talking with Epilog, ran the 75-dpi test on a piece of aluminum. The result showed the tear-drop shape of the "dot" which support says is an indicator of the tube going. So that's something definite.
I'm also concerned with the system shutting down. It seems to be a heat issue, but last night was not too warm and it only lasted 20 minutes of vector cutting. But it can run all day in raster mode.
So my question to the forum is... from your collective experience, are these symptoms of a tube failure, the motherboard or both? How painful will this fix be?
Thanks in advance Oh Great Laser Collective!
My mini-18 35 has been losing power slowly over the last year or so. It's a used machine and when I bought it I was cutting 3/16" plex all day at 6-speed and 100-power. Now I'm down to 3 speed and can't cut longer than 20 minutes without it shutting down. I'm seeing a cycling or rhythmic pulsing in the power as it starts to cut a sheet. The glow of cutting the backing paper fades between bright and nothing in about a 1 second cycle. There is also small uncut bridges left one the first couple of pieces at a regular interval.
I just replaced the I-rail on my x-axis and when talking with Epilog, ran the 75-dpi test on a piece of aluminum. The result showed the tear-drop shape of the "dot" which support says is an indicator of the tube going. So that's something definite.
I'm also concerned with the system shutting down. It seems to be a heat issue, but last night was not too warm and it only lasted 20 minutes of vector cutting. But it can run all day in raster mode.
So my question to the forum is... from your collective experience, are these symptoms of a tube failure, the motherboard or both? How painful will this fix be?
Thanks in advance Oh Great Laser Collective!