Advise Needed ASAP!

[Wayne Grecco]

To all...

I AM IN SUCH A BAD SPOT right now! I will just in the middle of starting a large order for a customer for an XMAS order (75 pieces) aside from all my other customer orders from my shop when my laser stopped firing!!!! There is no laser beam but the head keeps moving like it is still doing the job. My machine is a Helix 60W and was bought new in Sept 2012 so just over 3 yrs old... WHAT DO I DO NOW??? This is the WORST possible time this could happen!

Please let me know any advise you can think of!

Thanks!
Wayne

[Neville Stewart]

I know you've checked all these things but I've sometimes overlooked the simplest of things. All your interlocks are behaving properly, you haven't set the power so low or off that it won't fire? Your e stop has gone bad?

[Wayne Grecco]

Neville,

Thanks for the quick reply..... The lid safety seems to be working fine. The power was set at 20 speed and 100 power and was working fine until the beam went out in the middle of the job. What is the E STOP?

[Neville Stewart]

Sorry, emergency stop button. I have a different brand so can't really say what you're experiencing but that would be all the usual suspects. Possibly the laser source, can you make it fire at any power level?

[Keith Winter]

Call epilog. They should have someone who is on emergency call I would think.

Some dumb things to ask here so don't take offense but you said it's an emergency so I must ask about the basics.

Do you have the right lens in and the right focal distance set if you have multiple lenses?

Is your job the proper cut/engrave color for your lasers

If your software allows you to shut off layers, are all layers on?

Have you tried a test pulse at the head 2nd mirror and primary mirror to see if you are getting power at all those spots? If you have power at say the 1st mirror after the laser itself but not the second or third mirror you are out of alignment

[Wayne Grecco]

Hi Keith,

No offense taken! I tried calling Epilog also thinking that maybe due to the holiday that they would have someone available for emergencies but NO LUCK!

I was running a few jobs before this job where the laser quit and everything was working fine. I only have the original lens that came with the machine.

It was a basic cut job so I had the line at hairline thickness (black) and set to vector. I was using 20 speed and 100% power.

I even did test cuts by just drawing a square box on the sheet (I use corel) and it still would not fire.

As far as your last comment about the test pulse... I have NO IDEA what that even means or how to test it :-(

[Ross Moshinsky]

Have you turned the machine on and off?
Have you tried running a document that you know works?
Have you checked to make sure all the connections are tight?
Does the redlight work?

My guess is it's one of two things. A stupid computer/laser error that will be solved by putting everything on a new document and turning the laser on and off. That's best case scenario. Worst case scenario is it's actually something hardware related and you're going to need to get parts from Epilog.

[Kev Williams]

Boiling down the "if-then"s, it's pretty much has to be either a bad safety switch, the tube itself, or the power supply to the tube-

Most Western machines will throw an error message if a power supply or board goes bad, but the machine may not know if the tube is bad, or a connector or switch is bad. YOu may want to open 'er up and check the 'trouble' lights, and maybe take a volt meter to the power supply to insure the 40 or whatever volts that powers the laser is there--

I'd still be wary of the interlock switch or switches- if there's just ONE loose wire, connector or an open switch, your tube will be disabled-

[Bill George]

If its stopped in mid flight its not do to having the wrong lens. Do you have a over temperature switch, air flow, door open or any of the above? Kev has got it pretty well covered.

[Rich Harman]

Wouldn't a triggered/failed interlock stop the head from moving? He said the beam stopped but the head didn't.

A mirror cracking or somehow moving off position could do what he said - something that interrupted the beam path.

[Bert Kemp]

Have you check at the tube outlet to see if it fires to the 1st mirror

[Kev Williams]

Wouldn't a triggered/failed interlock stop the head from moving? He said the beam stopped but the head didn't..

Some will stop, some won't-- My LS900 DOES stop cold if the interlock is open; my ULS does NOT stop, instead the LED pointer turns on while the machine continues going thru the motions; the GCC also does NOT stop, the laser simply doesn't fire if the safety switch is open. Don't know about my Chinese Triumph as it has no safety interlock...

Someone with a similar Epilog could likely answer this question?

[Glen Monaghan]

Wouldn't a triggered/failed interlock stop the head from moving? He said the beam stopped but the head didn't.

Epilogs don't stop the head when the interlock opens/fails, just cuts the beam off.

[Keith Winter]

See if you can do a beam alignment, if you're getting anything when you do that?

http://support.epiloglaser.com/article/8205/12189/mini-helix-laser-beam-alignment


Hi Keith,

No offense taken! I tried calling Epilog also thinking that maybe due to the holiday that they would have someone available for emergencies but NO LUCK!

I was running a few jobs before this job where the laser quit and everything was working fine. I only have the original lens that came with the machine.

It was a basic cut job so I had the line at hairline thickness (black) and set to vector. I was using 20 speed and 100% power.

I even did test cuts by just drawing a square box on the sheet (I use corel) and it still would not fire.

As far as your last comment about the test pulse... I have NO IDEA what that even means or how to test it :-(

[Mike Null]

Is your machine supposed to vector on black? Many vector on red and black is reserved for rastering.

[John Noell]

There is a HUGE difference between Chinese machines and the Epilog Minis. Any color hairline out of CorelDraw will cut on a Mini(GOOD!), the interlocks (at least on mine) were very secure and unlikely to fall off but it only cuts off the beam, not movement of the gantry (handy at times). There is no "pulse" button (which I find very handy on my Shenhui).

Hopefully by now Wayne has had help from Epilog tech support. We are still waiting for a call back or an email as our Mini won't even boot properly. Sometimes their phone system won't accept a tone ("Press 1 for parts, Press 2 for tech support") from Skype and long times of hold are very expensive when calling from Fiji.

[Rich Harman]

Epilogs don't stop the head when the interlock opens/fails, just cuts the beam off.

So if you open the lid during a job the head will continue in motion - meaning that to resume you have to restart the whole job?

[Neville Stewart]

Yes, you'll probably ruin the part as it will start over again and recut/engrave or you can restart and hold the lid open til it's near the stopping point and close it to recommence firing.

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

Hi Wayne,

Did you happen to maybe accidentally turn on color mapping in the laser driver? You might want to see if the Color Mapping checkbox is clicked. With color mapping on, I thought I read on here at one point that the color black had been reserved. Just a thought.

[Neil Pabia]

If it will help save a customer, my Helix is in Bridgeport, CT right now, you are welcome to come down and run the job here.

Its been a while since I opened up my machine, but is there a breaker inside the right side cover?

[Neville Stewart]

We need a "Like" button. Neil Pabia.

[Wayne Grecco]

Ok all, sorry I didn't reply sooner... I have been going crazy trying to get this up and running and getting other orders filled as well. But here was the issue.... I called epilog today and they got me up and running! Apparently one of my fans is bad and it apparently is overheating the tube so the tube is shutting down. But they gave me a work around until I can replace the fans.

I appreciate everyones attempt to assist me in getting this resolved and to all that offered their services to help me or let me use their machine.... I SAY THANK YOU !

Wayne