GCC LaserPro Mercury III Laser wont fire problem

[lee burns]

Hi
I am having real issues with my GCC Mercury III
The laser wont fire.
The display LED is not lighting up.
There is no voltage output from the rca connector on the main board when it is supposed to be firing.
I cannot get the laser to fire from Hardware Test, nothing happens when I press the start/stop button.
I have disabled all the door safety reed switches by connecting the wires together. The Door LED light is off.
From hardware test, the emergency stop button works fine.

Sounds like a component has blown on the main board, any ideas?
Thanks for any help you can provide
Lee

[Bill George]

Hi
I am having real issues with my GCC Mercury III
The laser wont fire.
The display LED is not lighting up.
There is no voltage output from the rca connector on the main board when it is supposed to be firing.
I cannot get the laser to fire from Hardware Test, nothing happens when I press the start/stop button.
I have disabled all the door safety reed switches by connecting the wires together. The Door LED light is off.
From hardware test, the emergency stop button works fine.

Sounds like a component has blown on the main board, any ideas?
Thanks for any help you can provide
Lee

Power source at wall outlet first, machine power supply fuse or circuit breaker. Safety switches interlocks. Wires burnt or connectors bad or loose on main board or power supply. Do not assume anything, check it! Remove covers and with power off do a visual inspection. Don't make adjustments or turn things before seeing what is really wrong.

[lee burns]

Power source at wall outlet first, machine power supply fuse or circuit breaker. Safety switches interlocks. Wires burnt or connectors bad or loose on main board or power supply. Do not assume anything, check it! Remove covers and with power off do a visual inspection. Don't make adjustments or turn things before seeing what is really wrong.
Thanks Bill
Mother board running fine for everything else.
There is power from the PSU to main board and to the laser boards.
I have done door open/closed test from the hardware test and all ok (I have bypassed door interlocks)
No power from RCA connector on main board when laser is supposed to be on (no LED on display saying that the laser is on).
Question, is the main board expecting feedback from the laser via the data connector? If so then I need to check continuity of that lead. I was under the impression that the main board didnt care if anything was connected and would just fire signals off?

[Bill George]

Well I was giving advise from the information you provided. If you would have posted above I would not have bothered to reply. You best bet now is either a service manual for the machine or a call to the factory service dept.

[lee burns]

Well I was giving advise from the information you provided. If you would have posted above I would not have bothered to reply. You best bet now is either a service manual for the machine or a call to the factory service dept.
My thanks were genuine as I appreciated your thoughts and trying to help me. Sorry I didn't provide enough info on original post.
I do need to go over everything again, you are right. When you stare at a problem for too long you miss obvious stuff.

[Kev Williams]

Get some electric parts spray cleaner- I use CRC 'Lectra-Motive', red can, available at auto parts stores- I use it because it's electrically inert and completely non-flammable, I've sprayed the stuff into running electric motors to clean carbon dust out!

A soft bristle toothbrush may help-

Power down the machine, then one at time, disconnect every single plug that you CAN disconnect, and douse both sides of the connection, and lightly brush any male prongs (I didn't do this but couldn't hurt), then reconnect...

My GCC started acting up one day, the display went dim, and the laser started going thru the motions, but wouldn't fire, then eventually it quit doing anything. I found wiggling the plug connector on the display would cause the display to flicker. Checking voltages showed 'ok' everywhere. With nothing to lose, I did the plug cleaning routine. I even *carefully* pulled IC chips and cleaned those too. It's run perfectly ever since :)

HOPEFULLY your fix will be this easy...