Shenhui 690 HELP - Comissioned but no lift off?

[Bec Fogarty]

Hi Everyone,

So our laser arrived on friday unfortunately I had to work friday and saturday so only just got to comissioning the machine today. We have installed all the correct attachments and they are all working and we are now trying to check the alignment of the mirrors. The thing is the tube wont fire? So this is what i did. I turned on the machine then turn on all the attachments last of all the laser switch. I moved the head to the back of the deck and to the left closest to the mirror hit PULSE and get nothing.

Question when you flick the laser swith on should there be a reading on the ammeter? also what is the grey knob infront of it for the perimeter?

Help please. The lady i have been dealing with at shenhui is away the next 2 days travelling and I desperately need this up and running.

Hoping someone can help,

Bec

[Clark Pace]

Pictures please ;). If you look at the tube when it's been fired does it light up?

[Bec Fogarty]

Pictures please ;). If you look at the tube when it's been fired does it light up?

Nope we get zero action. Not sure what to take picture of really? What do you need?

[matthew knott]

Hi Bec, make sure the 'key knob' is turned clockwise, it allows you to adjust the laser power up/down, clockwise is full power. Make sure the lid is closed or you have something to override the door switch, not sure of the pulse button needs the door closed, on second thoughts it might no need the door being closed. When you press the pulse button you should get a reading on the meter.
Good luck, they an be tricky to get going

[Bec Fogarty]

Matthew you ROCK the key knob did the trick! We now have fire! Its hard when the knob your looking at is not in the manual or any youtube videos! mirrors need aligning but at least now we can do it.

Can advice on a better way to do it other than estimating that its hitting the centre?



Hi Bec, make sure the 'key knob' is turned clockwise, it allows you to adjust the laser power up/down, clockwise is full power. Make sure the lid is closed or you have something to override the door switch, not sure of the pulse button needs the door closed, on second thoughts it might no need the door being closed. When you press the pulse button you should get a reading on the meter.
Good luck, they an be tricky to get going

[matthew knott]

should have said 'grey knob' but sounds like you worked it out anyway. I normally leave it fully clockwise, then what ever you program into the software is what is set for the laser. The knob just allows you to reduce the programed power. so if you set 50% in the software with the knob fully clockwise you will get 50% laser power.
Matt

[gary l roberts]

Cut a piece of thermal paper (like a receipt) and tape it to the mirror. Use minimal power to pulse the unit, check the burn spot. Should be a few UTUBE videos on it.

[John Noell]

Bec, this guide (http://www.rabbitlaserusa.com/manuals/beamalignment_flyingoptics.pdf)from Rabbit may be helpful.

[Clark Pace]

I use masking or transfer tape instead of thermal tape since its self sticky. The videos should you how to align the mirrors. If not i made video on how to do it on you tube. My you tube video name is hobbyhands

[Bill George]

When you move from one mirror to the next, have a little DNA (denatured alcohol) on hand to clean the last mirror.

[Bec Fogarty]

Alrighty. So I think we have the alignment sorted. my question is the laser makes a dot thats about 5mm in width is this right? how do i make it so it makes a small/fine dot. right for cutting?

[Robert Schmiede]

hi Bec,you should have a focus tool,rectangle piece of perspex. 21mm from the top of your substrate to the bottom of laser cone. that should give you a fine dot.do you have up and down table. bob australia. 80 watt 6090 laser.

[Bec Fogarty]

I got an orange focus stick with the laser i recon its longer than 21mm though more like 40mm will double check though. To use it i put it ontop of what i am cutting and under the laser head. correct?


hi Bec,you should have a focus tool,rectangle piece of perspex. 21mm from the top of your substrate to the bottom of laser cone. that should give you a fine dot.do you have up and down table. bob australia. 80 watt 6090 laser.

[Robert Schmiede]

Hi Bec, the piece is about 40mm long and around the 20 to 21 mm wide,use they width.that's correct,put it on top of what your cutting,and and the laser head.up the table slowly,don't jam it in between.good luck.by the way,where are you.I'm in New England nsw.

[Bec Fogarty]

Perth Western Australia :) Hubby and I are 2 blind people poking in the dark. We are trying our best not to ask stupid questions but the you tube vids and the manual that came with it leave alot tobe desired.


Hi Bec, the piece is about 40mm long and around the 20 to 21 mm wide,use they width.that's correct,put it on top of what your cutting,and and the laser head.up the table slowly,don't jam it in between.good luck.by the way,where are you.I'm in New England nsw.

[Martin James]

Stick sidewise.
m

[Bec Fogarty]

Hi Guys,

Thank you so much for all your help. Got it focused correctly tonight and made our first cuts. I am cutting leather of a thickness of 1.2-1.5 to get it to cut all the way through on the first pass we used speed of 20 power of 90 do these number sound right? We got beautiful engraving with speed of 100 power of 20.

Earlier today I want thinking oh my what have I done now I am thinking AWESOME

Bec & Adam

[Clark Pace]

So the bean will be around 5mm from mirror to mirror until it hits the focus lens. Then you can refine the size with your focus tool. In my case a piece of acrylic the company sent with laser. On some lasers you will get something a bit more fancy.

[Bec Fogarty]

I can not seem to add an image but when running a 40mm x 40mm graphic on scan/engrave last night it stopped 1/3rd of the way through and I go this message "No Enough Extended Space Please Esc" Any thoughts? Can not find anything about it in the manual.

[George M. Perzel]

Bec;
Make sure image is within work area and green square is not outside boundary. Where is your home position-upper left or upper right?
Home position may be set too close to Machine zero so head does not have enough overrun extend space.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[George M. Perzel]

Bec;
Another thing-machine speed may be too high-slow it down a bit.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Bec Fogarty]

Bec;
Another thing-machine speed may be too high-slow it down a bit.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

Thanks for the info George we are currently cutting leather in 1 pass with speed at 20mm and power at 90%. Does this sound right? we are getting a beautiful engraving at 100mm and 15%power

The engraving appears to have jagged edges is this because I am using a jpg? I have it in eps but laserworks does not support that file format.

bec

[George M. Perzel]

Bec;
Settings sound OK --is it still stopping?
Convert it to an .ai file which is supported by Laserworks. If your original image is a low resolution jpg or bmp then the only thing you can do is perform a clean trace. It's the old adage--garbage in-garbage out.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Martin James]

Ben when you click the scan layer in laserworks the window that opens to change the settings... Look for the one that says scan interval or something. Try .1 or .2 mm, then click the icon on the menu bar that looks like a TV, that will open the simulation window, click simulation and then zoom in to make sure the vectors and engraving jive.
then make your scan size relate to you patience. .1 takes twice as long as .2mm
fyi .2 is about 127dpi. Probable a good place to start on leather.

400mm/sec 60 power works.

the reason it stopped is because while scanning the carriage needs exrta room on the sides, set the origin, by pushing the origin button, close to where you can reach. I have a piece of silicon sheet i set on the bed as a locater fence, it is lower than the head. Put the next piece in touching the fence and push the restart button.

cheers marty

[Bec Fogarty]

Thanks for the info james is SUPER helpful. It has not stopped since I think it was because I have placed the image just too close to the edge. We have been running .1 on the interval. I will try upping the power and the distance to see if we can get her moving faster for sure.

Another question. The edges of my laser cutting has always blackened even when I was outsourcing. However I bumped into a lady today who hacked her machine and hooked it up to larger air compressor and as a result when cutting 3mm wood now gets no blackening at all. She also said it enables her to cut faster. Is this correct? Can you hack a shenhui like this. Cleaning up time is huge for leather and you have to be so darn carful not to get it on the leather or its super hard to get off so the ability to lessen this would be amazing.




Ben when you click the scan layer in laserworks the window that opens to change the settings... Look for the one that says scan interval or something. Try .1 or .2 mm, then click the icon on the menu bar that looks like a TV, that will open the simulation window, click simulation and then zoom in to make sure the vectors and engraving jive.
then make your scan size relate to you patience. .1 takes twice as long as .2mm
fyi .2 is about 127dpi. Probable a good place to start on leather.

400mm/sec 60 power works.

the reason it stopped is because while scanning the carriage needs exrta room on the sides, set the origin, by pushing the origin button, close to where you can reach. I have a piece of silicon sheet i set on the bed as a locater fence, it is lower than the head. Put the next piece in touching the fence and push the restart button.

cheers marty

[Dave Sheldrake]

However I bumped into a lady today who hacked her machine and hooked it up to larger air compressor and as a result when cutting 3mm wood now gets no blackening at all. She also said it enables her to cut faster. Is this correct?

Yup correct, the higher pressure air assists in the cutting action and blows the much through the cut rather than on to it.

cheers

Dave

[Bec Fogarty]

Dave have you done this by any chance? Anyone help out here? How do I make it happen. What do I need?


Yup correct, the higher pressure air assists in the cutting action and blows the much through the cut rather than on to it.

cheers

Dave

[Khalid Nazim]

I have a Shenhui 690 RECI as well and use it to cut/engrave leather very frequently. For Veg Tan leather use the following settings and see:

Engrave: Speed 500mm/sec - Power 24%
Cut : Speed 60mm/sec - Power 60%

Regards
Khalid

[Khalid Nazim]

Buy a Air Brush Compressor used by Nail Salons and hook it up to where the Shenhui Air Compressor is connected to. In my experience i have to ALWAYS use the compressor otherwise i get soot on my lens and ruin it.

If you are using Veg Tan leather and are going to dye and finish it in different colors, make sure that you first dye and finish the leather before you engrave and cut it. Also engrave from bottom to up ( start engraving from the side away from the back of the machine where the exhaust is). Finally you can remove the soot from finished leather by first using a shop vacuum and then using Tandy's ECO FLO Professional finish (put a few drops on a sponge and wipe the soot away with it)

Regards
Khalid

[Bec Fogarty]

Hi Khalid,

Thanks for the info its very helpful. I always use the compressor that came with the laser. I cover all my leather before I work on it save the heart ache then clean with water and dry wipe when finished before removing the tape. I was just hoping there would be a better way so I can bring down the man hours of cleaning work.


Buy a Air Brush Compressor used by Nail Salons and hook it up to where the Shenhui Air Compressor is connected to. In my experience i have to ALWAYS use the compressor otherwise i get soot on my lens and ruin it.

If you are using Veg Tan leather and are going to dye and finish it in different colors, make sure that you first dye and finish the leather before you engrave and cut it. Also engrave from bottom to up ( start engraving from the side away from the back of the machine where the exhaust is). Finally you can remove the soot from finished leather by first using a shop vacuum and then using Tandy's ECO FLO Professional finish (put a few drops on a sponge and wipe the soot away with it)

Regards
Khalid

[Dave Sheldrake]

Use a full blown compressor at 15 - 20 psi when cutting Bec, air brush compressors don't flow enough air and usually have reduced duty cycles (they will burn out quickly)

You will need something that can supply 10 to 14 CFM at 30 psi

cheers

Dave

[Khalid Nazim]

I dont use a masking tape to cover the leather surface being engraved. Its too much work to remove it later on. I found out after a lot of experimentation that the process i listed above gets me the best results and I only have to spend a few minutes in cleaning up the soot with the Tandy ECO FLO finish. The trick is to apply the dye/finish before engraving.

The compressor that comes with Shenhui is crap. I took advise from the forum here and got an airbrush compressor and it works really well for the work that I do. If you intend to use your laser for 3-4 hours a day or more then the Airbrush compressor is not recommended. You would need to then invest in a shop compressor arrangement. Make sure that the compressor is oil free.

One more thing, one of the most difficult thing in engraving cutting leather is keeping it flat. I solved that issue by using a double sided tape on the back of the leather (I use a seam team) and fix the leather directly to the bed of the laser. This arrangement improved the engraving/cutting and reduced setup time.

Regards
Khalid