It's alive! :d

[Kev Williams]

I finally got around to cleaning the bottom mirror on my GCC last night...

Now, I knew it was going to need cleaning, as the others need a wipe nearly every day. But since it's not in the smoke-filled cabinet, I figured it couldn't be too bad--

NO!! WRONG!!! FAIL!! ( ;) )

yeah, it was bad. When I finally got to it (it's a chore, and why I haven't done it till now),
the dust cover had an inch of dust on it. But when I got to the mirror itself, it was just as bad.

I tried a couple of wipes with it in place but couldn't get at it good.
Fortunately GCC made them easy to remove to clean. When I got it out, there was a very bad haze covering most of the mirror.
I couldn't see my eye in the reflection--

I put some DNA on a Qtip to clean it off. DNA didn't even budge it. Ended up taking about 2 full minutes with Qtip and Fantastik to get it clean.

While I was down in the thick of things, I lined up the LED, it's dead to rights now :)

For the past few months we've been having to slow the machine down quite a bit, like 20% down from the settings I saved when I first got it.
The old settings would barely make it thru the white, so my first test was to use the old settings...

IT'S ALIVE! The engraving depth is now about .004" at the OLD settings!

I've been doing quite a few powdercoated Hydroflasks in the thing, and while the bottom mirror is out of the main cabinet,
I'm sure smoke can find its way in, and I'm thinking the guck in that smoke is likely what was all over that mirror.
I can't believe the difference it made---

So I wrote all this just to say--

MAKE SURE YOUR MIRRORS ARE CLEAN! :)

[John Blazy]

And also make sure your exhaust blower is clean - check it NOW. I was getting so much smoke, and no extraction, til I removed the ducting and the perforated metal mesh directly inlet side of the turbine was nearly 80% clogged with every remnant of past jobs. Now it will suck the eyes out of a parrot (Tim Allen reference).

[Kev Williams]

It's sharing a blower with the Triumph, so extraction is less than stellar for sure. I do block one or the other when possible... :)

[Gary Hair]

I'd be inclined to blame the blower. In the whole time I owned it I probably cleaned that particular mirror a dozen times. I checked it quite often, but if it didn't need cleaning I left it alone.

[Jerome Stanek]

I would make 2 blast gates for that set up

[Kev Williams]

HF sells blast gates, but every time I think about them when I'm there, they're out of 'em. I really need separate blowers...

[David Somers]

Kev....if you have a Harbor Freight near enough to get to, how about a Rockler or a Woodcraft? Both of them would carry gates for dust collectors. Just a thought.

[Jerome Stanek]

HF sells blast gates, but every time I think about them when I'm there, they're out of 'em. I really need separate blowers...


They sell on line also

[Kev Williams]

Just got 4 gates online at HF, a whole $4 each :)