Robin Lankes
10-26-2012, 11:22 AM
Hello All,
My first post on this forum and it's about yet another tube issue, well at least I can introduce myself at the same time.
I got my Laserpro Spirit 40W in June last year (in Johannesbug, South Africa that is) and the Spirit itself has been running without fault. It's just the darn Synrad Firestar V40 that has waited till the end of the warranty period to start playing up, around 4 weeks ago that is.
I was cutting 300g paper in the evening and all seemed fine, the next morning I wanted to cut 3mm MDF and found that the laser didn't cut all the way through. The kerf seemed a little wider than usual so first thing I checked was all the optics. After some head scratching I opened the back of the machine and cleaned the mirror where the beam exits the tube, but there was nothing but a barely perceptible layer of dust on there.
The symptoms are that I have to reduce cutting speed by about 50% and the kerf seems wider than usual (as if the beam is out of focus by +- 1.5mm). I have moved the laser up and down 2mm and that defocuses the beam as expected. The edges after cutting also look different, as if the hourglass shape of the beam is exaggerated. When cutting a series of equal circles the place where the laser doesn't cut through is in a similar location on each circle.
So after some more head scratching I called the local agent.
The technician arrived a week later and replaced the bearings on the head (which were starting to show signs of wear). However when I asked if he found the cause of the loss in cutting ability he replied "It's doing something weird". Apparently the diagnostic lights on the tube checked out ok, and some poking around on the main board and other components with a volt meter didn't reveal any fault either. He left saying he needs to consult with the laser gods overseas.
Another week goes by and this time two technicians arrive. They undo the tube, open the top lid and say 'here's the problem'. In my head Beethoven's 9th starts playing. The technician flips a little switch, some more fumbling and then they test the power of the beam again. I hear "no it's still down on power". The music in my head stops abruptly, no applause. I ask about the switch and apparently it sets the tube to either 3Hz or 5Hz, they think it should be on 5Hz (mine was on 3Hz), but it ended up making no difference in any case. They close the lid of the tube, realign the mirrors and leave saying more consulting with the laser gods overseas needs to be done.
Two days later I'm starting to lose patience and call them up only to be told that there is a problem with the tube and that it's out of warranty. They suggest I can either carry on using the machine as is with less power and the tube might last another 5 years or they will send the tube to France for repair, but they can give no indication whatsoever on the cost involved.
I would think that using a faulty tube is risky since it could cause the darn thing to fail completely. Also running at half speed with reduced quality is just plain bad business. After reading up on some of the other tube related posts on this forum I'm hoping that an unstable electronic component could be the culprit.
What is interesting is that for a couple of weeks prior to the tube playing up I started to hear an occasional knocking sound when using the laser. At first I though it was the extractor fan or even the pc next to the laser as the noise would never happen while I was listening out for it. More recently I traced it to the back of the Spirit and I can occasionally even hear one or two knocks a minute after switching the laser off. Last night I opened the back of the machine and set up camp behind there to trace the mysterious noise. After about 10 minutes of waiting I heard what sounded like a cracking whip coming out the laser tube. That could mean something is expanding and contracting under heat in there and I'm pretty sure it's not normal. The led's on the back of the tube are Green Green Yellow Blue and Red (when firing), so according to the tech docs on Synrad's website there is no fault being reported. The agent never really took my report of this mystery noise very serious and one of the technicians told me it's the power supply of the Spirit, giving some weird explanation as to why it's making noises.
So now I need some advice on what to do...
Since starting to write this I received a quote from the local agent on the cost of shipping the tube from SA to France and back - $1500.00 ouch! ...and on top of that will be the cost of the repair work which is anybody's guess. Well knowing how generously distributors in South Africa calculate their own markups I'll end up paying more for the repair than what a whole new tube would cost.
So instead of handing the tube over to the agent I could get my hands dirty with a soldering iron and attempt the repair myself. I've done my share of building electronic gadgets in the past, so I'm not clueless, but also rather far from being an expert. I would also need quite a bit of technical info so I would know what to look for and how to trace the fault - is it possible to acquire that information?
The other option would be to handle the shipping of the tube myself, preferably to a place recommended by someone on the forum. I don't have much hope of finding anyone in South Africa who can repair a laser tube, so I suppose that means shipping it off to either the USA or Europe. At least in this case I would only be paying the shipping cost and the actual repair work, no crazy markups involved.
I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't just visit family in Germany for 3 weeks and take the tube along in my luggage (I'm so due for a holiday!). If there is a place that can do the repair near Frankfurt or Stuttgart I can drop it off there in person and collect when it's done. I think the Firestar V40 weighs in the order of 10kg so I just have to curb my acquisition of goodies over there and eat all the chocolates instead of taking them back to SA ;)
Any advise?
Btw, I can't find where to add a signature to my profile.
My first post on this forum and it's about yet another tube issue, well at least I can introduce myself at the same time.
I got my Laserpro Spirit 40W in June last year (in Johannesbug, South Africa that is) and the Spirit itself has been running without fault. It's just the darn Synrad Firestar V40 that has waited till the end of the warranty period to start playing up, around 4 weeks ago that is.
I was cutting 300g paper in the evening and all seemed fine, the next morning I wanted to cut 3mm MDF and found that the laser didn't cut all the way through. The kerf seemed a little wider than usual so first thing I checked was all the optics. After some head scratching I opened the back of the machine and cleaned the mirror where the beam exits the tube, but there was nothing but a barely perceptible layer of dust on there.
The symptoms are that I have to reduce cutting speed by about 50% and the kerf seems wider than usual (as if the beam is out of focus by +- 1.5mm). I have moved the laser up and down 2mm and that defocuses the beam as expected. The edges after cutting also look different, as if the hourglass shape of the beam is exaggerated. When cutting a series of equal circles the place where the laser doesn't cut through is in a similar location on each circle.
So after some more head scratching I called the local agent.
The technician arrived a week later and replaced the bearings on the head (which were starting to show signs of wear). However when I asked if he found the cause of the loss in cutting ability he replied "It's doing something weird". Apparently the diagnostic lights on the tube checked out ok, and some poking around on the main board and other components with a volt meter didn't reveal any fault either. He left saying he needs to consult with the laser gods overseas.
Another week goes by and this time two technicians arrive. They undo the tube, open the top lid and say 'here's the problem'. In my head Beethoven's 9th starts playing. The technician flips a little switch, some more fumbling and then they test the power of the beam again. I hear "no it's still down on power". The music in my head stops abruptly, no applause. I ask about the switch and apparently it sets the tube to either 3Hz or 5Hz, they think it should be on 5Hz (mine was on 3Hz), but it ended up making no difference in any case. They close the lid of the tube, realign the mirrors and leave saying more consulting with the laser gods overseas needs to be done.
Two days later I'm starting to lose patience and call them up only to be told that there is a problem with the tube and that it's out of warranty. They suggest I can either carry on using the machine as is with less power and the tube might last another 5 years or they will send the tube to France for repair, but they can give no indication whatsoever on the cost involved.
I would think that using a faulty tube is risky since it could cause the darn thing to fail completely. Also running at half speed with reduced quality is just plain bad business. After reading up on some of the other tube related posts on this forum I'm hoping that an unstable electronic component could be the culprit.
What is interesting is that for a couple of weeks prior to the tube playing up I started to hear an occasional knocking sound when using the laser. At first I though it was the extractor fan or even the pc next to the laser as the noise would never happen while I was listening out for it. More recently I traced it to the back of the Spirit and I can occasionally even hear one or two knocks a minute after switching the laser off. Last night I opened the back of the machine and set up camp behind there to trace the mysterious noise. After about 10 minutes of waiting I heard what sounded like a cracking whip coming out the laser tube. That could mean something is expanding and contracting under heat in there and I'm pretty sure it's not normal. The led's on the back of the tube are Green Green Yellow Blue and Red (when firing), so according to the tech docs on Synrad's website there is no fault being reported. The agent never really took my report of this mystery noise very serious and one of the technicians told me it's the power supply of the Spirit, giving some weird explanation as to why it's making noises.
So now I need some advice on what to do...
Since starting to write this I received a quote from the local agent on the cost of shipping the tube from SA to France and back - $1500.00 ouch! ...and on top of that will be the cost of the repair work which is anybody's guess. Well knowing how generously distributors in South Africa calculate their own markups I'll end up paying more for the repair than what a whole new tube would cost.
So instead of handing the tube over to the agent I could get my hands dirty with a soldering iron and attempt the repair myself. I've done my share of building electronic gadgets in the past, so I'm not clueless, but also rather far from being an expert. I would also need quite a bit of technical info so I would know what to look for and how to trace the fault - is it possible to acquire that information?
The other option would be to handle the shipping of the tube myself, preferably to a place recommended by someone on the forum. I don't have much hope of finding anyone in South Africa who can repair a laser tube, so I suppose that means shipping it off to either the USA or Europe. At least in this case I would only be paying the shipping cost and the actual repair work, no crazy markups involved.
I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't just visit family in Germany for 3 weeks and take the tube along in my luggage (I'm so due for a holiday!). If there is a place that can do the repair near Frankfurt or Stuttgart I can drop it off there in person and collect when it's done. I think the Firestar V40 weighs in the order of 10kg so I just have to curb my acquisition of goodies over there and eat all the chocolates instead of taking them back to SA ;)
Any advise?
Btw, I can't find where to add a signature to my profile.