PDA

View Full Version : Help me confirm my tube is dying before I take the plunge



Matt Davis
10-16-2012, 10:02 PM
Hi all,

I have a 45 watt Epilog Mini 24 that's been serving me well for several years. I engrave a lot of acrylic, and over the last year or so I've been noticing the quality has been slowly declining...specifically with vertical lines. Anything that's between one and half a point can be especially problematic, requiring me to slow the machine down to a crawl in order to get them to show properly. Generally, that hasn't been such a big deal, but now I've come to realize I'm running jobs at 40 and 50 percent that I used to run at 100% speed. My guess is that my tube has become sluggish in its old age and isn't firing quickly enough as it receives its trigger pulse, therefore missing its hit, so to speak. That's all fine and dandy, and I've already called Epilog to price a replacement. But here's the thing that's bothering me. Most people seem to mention loss of power when their tube starts to fail, but mine still continues to vector cut beautifully. I can cut 3/8" acrylic all day long at 100% power and 4% speed with no issues. There are no dropouts in cut lines, and no gradual loss of power over time.

So I guess my question is this: Has anyone else experienced this mode of failure, and did a new tube solve the issue? Or could there be another culprit at work here that I'm not aware of? I'd really hate to swap out a good old tube that if anything cuts at higher than rated power for a new one that may not. All the optics and the encoder strip have been checked and cleaned regularly, and alignment seems to be spot on, so I've ruled those out as possibilities.

Thanks for your response!

Rodne Gold
10-16-2012, 11:12 PM
The laser has a "tickle pulse" kinda like a pre firing warm up to put it simply. If the laser is still cutting at full power at the same speed as before , its unlikely to be the tube going , the vertical line issue makes me think it could be too low a "tickle pulse" issue (the amount of tickle required can change over time) so ask your tech rep how to set it higher and see if that helps.

Michael Hunter
10-17-2012, 6:10 AM
My tube is 8 years old + and shows similar symptoms.
It started out at 60W and I guess it is now down to about 40.
Last summer I was having great trouble with quality - particularly engraved vertical lines and nearly took the plunge for a new tube, but it settled down and the quality went back up to nearly normal.
On my Epilog, tickle is not adjustable.

Rodne Gold
10-17-2012, 1:54 PM
There seems to be an adjustment for tickle for the mini according to epilog's firmware page..ask the tech about it..

Ross Moshinsky
10-17-2012, 3:47 PM
Make sure there are no issues with your bearings or rails. Sometimes it won't show in cutting because you are moving so slowly.

Matt Davis
10-17-2012, 4:58 PM
There seems to be an adjustment for tickle for the mini according to epilog's firmware page..ask the tech about it..

Actually, I've played a bit with the firmware tickle adjustment already. It can be adjusted between 0 and 3. I didn't really see a difference in engraving with any of the settings.

The plot thickens....

Mark Ross
10-19-2012, 11:05 AM
Matt,

You have an Epilog, if you replace the tube and that is not the issue, they will take the tube back and not charge you. When I have had to replace mine in that past, we get the new tube, install it, make sure that is indeed the issue and then send the old one back a get a core charge refund. If it ever happened that didn't solve the problem, we would put the old tube back in and send the replacement back and get a refund. They are really good at that. Epilog understands that troubleshooting in the field via phone calls and emails is a crap shoot at best. Give them a call.