What happens when you think you are paying attention to what you are doing

[Mike Lassiter]

Changed the lens out from 2" to 3" to cut some 3/16" hardboard for jig. Never have much luck with cutting it - it's always burnt a lot more than I like, but going to make a jig to engrave some cork coasters to take to the show Saturday we are going to. Cone was on with 2" lens, but for some reason I didn't see it and put the sweep on like I always do when cutting with the 3" lens. Cone too short to direct air good, and as I found out tonight the beam hits the inside of the cone with the 3" lens. Ran the file and didn't cut out completely, so I ran it again. Still not cut thru, so I slowed speed down for 3rd time 100% power 60 & 75 watt cartridges together. Still not cut so I'm thinking time to get something else for jig. As I removed the 3" lens I noticed it felt warm. Never has before. Kind of wondering why, then I removed the air sweep and bumped the cone as I was doing so. Bottom of cone is discolored - almost a dull silver color. I always thought it was made of plastic with a very small magnet in it that tells the driver it is installed. I believe it is anodized aluminum now. Anyway, cone seized in holder. I thought best to try to remove holder and cone from carriage and work on it rather than while on laser. Got it off and removed circuit board on back of carriage and the holder appears to be plastic and also seized. Afraid to use a lot of force, dipped cone in water with ice in it while holding carriage housing to keep from getting circuit board still in it wet. Cannot remove it, seems like screws holding it are under housing holding cone. Figured this would be a good time to submit a help request to ULS and tell them what a dumb thing I did. Then come here to share with everyone. I am anal about attention to details. It often is the difference in fixing something and not, between a good job and a so so or poor job. I guess I will mentally be smacking myself in the head all night tonight. So - pay attention to what you are doing. :(

[Walt Langhans]

I feel you Mike... I too am a bit on the overly attention to detail side and worry about things that some times don't make a difference or that no one will notice but me. I try to consider every possible situation and make plans for the outcomes to meet my needs, and yet things still go wrong at times no matter what I do. For what it's worth I've learned that no matter what you do or how you do it, some times the best way to learn something is to mess it up. When this time is seems to be at the whim of the universe, but it always seems to come at the most inconvenient time for us. Perhaps that's the universes way of making sure we learn the lesson that only experience can teach us. Keep your head up, learn, carry on, and know that there are other people in the same boat :D

[Mike Lassiter]

Yea Walt, I am not real proud of myself right now. This mistake is going to hurt pocketbook - and pride. I have learnt a great deal from others here sharing their knowledge. Sometimes good, sometimes bad experiences. We all hate to tell our screw ups yet doing that could help someone here. Experience is experience. Learning from someone else's mistake is much cheaper and better than making them yourself .

[Dee Gallo]

Sorry to hear this story Mike, but you prove that we can't be too careful or vigilant. We've ALL done something wrong once or twice, and your story will help someone else hopefully avoid making that mistake too. I have an apprentice who is trained to be as OCD as I am about checking and re-checking everything... then we STILL make mistakes sometimes! Thanks for sharing!

[Tim Bateson]

I hope you get everything fixed quickly. Always a pain to have down time.

I'd say I never make mistakes, but those who have done this for any length of time would know otherwise. Seems I've made the worse mistakes on jobs I do most often. Take these common jobs for granted 1 time and... ouch!

[Mike Null]

Make haste slowly.

[Mike Lassiter]

Here is picture of the damage. Note the air assist cone is suppose to be black, and now a dull silver color.

[Jeff Belany]

FWIW -- I've been laser engraving since 1998 and it's still not unusual for a dumb mistake to creep in. But then again, I am getting old -- maybe just blame that!!

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

[Gary Hair]

FWIW -- I've been laser engraving since 1998 and it's still not unusual for a dumb mistake to creep in. But then again, I am getting old -- maybe just blame that!!

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

I've been alive since 1960 and it's unusual for a dumb mistake not to creep in every single day... I try to mitigate the damage done, that's about all I can do.

[Mike Lassiter]

Update: Didn't hear from ULS, so I called them. As it is turning out - so far it looks like there is a BLESSING here. The very small circuit board you can see in the carriage is the auto focus device. "going to set you back a good bit...... about $800". There is a gasket between the cone holder and the bottom of the carriage made of thick (for it's size) clear plastic. The gasket got hot enough it seems to have melted or softened and basically glued the cone holder to the carriage. When I spoke to David at ULS I figured I would try prying them apart. Plastic ripped as it was melted to holder on one side and carriage on the other. Got the cone and holder off the carriage. After doing a little happy dance, I took my pocket knife and cut/scrapped the plastic off both parts and looked at the holder and cone closer. I think the plastic got hot enough that it has stuck them together by melting into the gap between them. I have them in a small convention oven heating them now to try to remove them when hot and the plastic would be softened. So unless I have unknowingly damaged something while taking things apart (or do putting back together) right now it looks like at worst I will need the cone holder, cone and a gasket to go back together.

[Dan Hintz]

Here is picture of the damage. Note the air assist cone is suppose to be black, and now a dull silver color.

I can't say I've ever seen anodized heated to the point of losing its color... sorry to hear about that, but impressive nonetheless.

[Mike Lassiter]

Oven didn't work. And almost made another bobo. Was going to hold cone with pliers and twist it out of the holder. That would have been expensive. Anyway, I realized my folly before I mangled something. Small and hard to hold. Ended up finding a metal bushing the holder would fit into, and air chuck end that would fit inside the cone. Took electric heat gun and heated the holder and pushed the cone out of the holder. Took about a minute to remove. Sure enough, plastic melted into top part around cone. Scrapped clean with pocket knife and will slip together again easily. Called ULS back and talked to David in support again. He told me he would send me the gasket no charge, all I would need to do would be cover shipping. How awesome is that. I screw up and they still take care of me. Over night delivery. Had 3 happy dances and now going to put it back together and use it until gasket arrives. It is just to prevent air leakage around the cone. Actually seems to be overkill but I am finding things I thought were plastic are in fact metal. Much better quality than I thought previously and I have been very impressed with quality of my laser even before this. Thank You ULS !

[Mike Lassiter]

back in business! happy dance :-)

[Dan Hintz]

back in business! happy dance :-)

Congrats, Mike. I know what you mean about some of the pieces feeling like plastic... they trimmed the aluminum so thin in spots it doesn't have enough heft to feel like metal. But making any of that out of plastic would have been asking for trouble.