Fuse in 60 Watt CO2 laser power supply

[Mason Atom]

Short Story: Anyone know what kind of fuse is used in a 40 to 60W laser power supply? I *think* it says 5A / 250V but I can't be sure, as the engraving is extremely faint.

Long Story:

I have an ArtSign JSM-3060N laser engraver. 50W / CO2 running on LaserWork 5.0.21

Last night when I fired it up, I heard a small 'pop'. Pulled up LW5 and made a small pattern to cut, tried to run it, and the laser didn't fire. Mechtronics worked fine, the motors are all working. Traced the voltages - the laser power supply is getting 120 VAC. I'm assuming that the problem is with the power supply. My first thought was fuse, so I tried to pull that out to see if it was blown, but it is a little hard to get at and very inconveniently located, so I inadvertently shattered the glass when I pulled it out. The filament in the fuse was disconnected, so it may have been blown, but I also might have severed it when I pulled it out. Soooo... I need to know what rating to replace this so I can test it again.

Also, I know that blown fuses are often (not always) symptoms of bigger problems. Any recommendations for a place to go for a replacement, should it come to that? I was thinking Light Object?

Thanks for any assistance that you can lend.

Mason

[Chad Fitzgerald]

Mason, i have laserpro spirit 40W laser. happened to me, it was a fuse, interesting enough i cussed the whole time trying to get to it to get it out. laying on my back, standing on my head one arm reaching behind my back, etc. wouldnt it be nice if they would put things thatwill need to be replaced somewhere that can be reached. any way mine was 5a/250v. mine was very short, think i found it at either auto parts or local hardware store, dont remember which. buss fuse.
hope this helps

[Chad Fitzgerald]

just remembered, my fuse only ran the cooling fans, not the laser.

[Rodne Gold]

Mine are 250v/5a..not sure if you can use a 110v/10a in its place , we also , like China , use 220/240V over here.

[Mason Atom]

Mine are 250v/5a..not sure if you can use a 110v/10a in its place , we also , like China , use 220/240V over here.

Thanks Rodney, your confirmation is much appreciated. I thought that was what was engraved on the base of the fuse, but I couldn't be certain.

Mason

[Dan Hintz]

not sure if you can use a 110v/10a in its place

No.........

[matthew knott]

Voltage is a bit of a red hearing (is that a uk only term?) if it had a 10 amp fuse before fit another! Maybe Dan can explain a bit more?

[Nick Michalares]

No.........

I love to read Dan . . . . .heh-heh:D

[Dan Hintz]

Voltage is a bit of a red hearing (is that a uk only term?) if it had a 10 amp fuse before fit another! Maybe Dan can explain a bit more?

The size of the fusible link inside is a function of the current through the fuse, so that's what you really want to match. The voltage rating determines at what point an arc will be extinguished when the fuse blows... too low of a voltage rating and the link may blow but the fuse will continue to conduct current due to the plasma that's created.

This is one of those cases where each rating matters individually, you can't consider them both just in terms of power (i.e., voltage times current)... one cannot be traded for the other.

[matthew knott]

Well put Dan, basically what I was trying to get at but failed is the voltage rating should be for whatever the mains voltage in your country is, to be honest you would probably struggle getting a 110v mains fuse anyway! Get a 240vac 5a fuse and off you go! Also bear in mind lots of different types of fuse, slow, fast, time delay etc but I doubt you need to worry at this stage.

[Mason Atom]

Thanks for the explanation Dan.

So I replaced the fuse and it just blew immediately again. I pulled the power supply last night. The PCB is for an MYJG-50W power supply from jnmydy.com. I pulled the board out and IC2 and IC3 were blown (so much so that the cap on IC2 was literally blown across to the other side of the chassis).

I'm picking up a power conditioner because I'm pretty sure that the issues that led to the failure are related to unstable line voltage.

It looks like IC3 is a Fairchild 5L0380R, easy enough to find and replace. The other one says Orient 817B on it... I've found a bunch of different 817B optocouplers on mouser/allied/digikey, but I want to be sure I buy the right replacement. Sent an email to ArtSign and the PSU manufacturer - wait to see if I ever hear back from them. My first step will be to try to repair the supply. If not, then Light Object for a new one.

Thanks again for the help guys.

Mason

[Rodne Gold]

You can use the RECI DY10 power supply for your tube , its $150 on this website, it's a quality power supply and is moire than adequate.
http://www.signsbus.com/dy10-laser-power-supply-for-reci-80w-co2-laser-tube-w2_p3316.html

[Mason Atom]

You can use the RECI DY10 power supply for your tube , its $150 on this website, it's a quality power supply and is moire than adequate.
http://www.signsbus.com/dy10-laser-power-supply-for-reci-80w-co2-laser-tube-w2_p3316.html

Thanks for the tip Rodne. This will work ok with a 50W tube? I guess I would have to check current to find where my max is because I'm assuming that the highest output from this would be beyond what my laser could handle?

I'm planning to try fixing my existing power supply first but will pick up a new supply if it doesn't work. $2.11 worth of parts is not bad, but I may buy a backup supply just in case this happens again, that way I don't lose time.

Mason