Epilog Mini Laser Won't ... You guessed it FIRE!! Help?

[chris szlachetka]

Since we bought the machine brand new in late 2014 it's been a bucket full of problems. Epilog tech support was very nice and helped us until we got the machine back up and running. We've replaced the tube early 2015 once and almost replaced it again last October, but magically it stopped the line/pause issue for awhile. Now I think this one might be done. We started seeing a line as some of you already know (thx for the help) in the engravings (very random), but we're starting to think that was a sign the tube might've been kicking the bucket. I've read and read, tried every suggestion I could find. Looking at the motherboard we can see the LED's light up/turn off when the glass lid is open/closed and same goes for the front panel. I could only find one limit switch on our machine in the Z axis, free from any blockage/sticking.

I'm looking at the back of the tube now and see three LED's. Starting at the top going down, Red, Yellow, Green. The Red is on, Yellow very faint (same goes for D10 on the MB) and is Green on. Looking at the MB I can spot the sensor LED's when opening the front door/lid. Now to test the laser without running a program, I'm using the "Maint" feature "Align Laser" and pressing the up arrow to fire the laser. Nothing happens, not even the laser on sound before firing anything that we've heard before. I hope that makes sense, sorry I'm very bummed/nervous what we're going to do about our pending orders... :(

Any suggestions?



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[Kev Williams]

Personally, I don't think it's the tube at all. My opinion is based on the numerous issues I've had over the past 41 years with my computer-controlled machines. Our first Concept 2000 purchased in 1981, wouldn't run for more than 3 months before it would act up. The issues were carbon buildup on the IC chips, and constantly failing voltage regulator transistors. Every 3 months I had to pull IC chips and scrape the pins with an X-acto knife, and about every 6 months I had to replace transistors. This was all due to the 24v power supply setup, which simply wasn't up to the task, and caused everything to run hot. Many times over the years I've had stepper motors act up, including my big Triumph. NEVER has a bad stepper motor the problem, it was ALWAYS a connection problem, some wire not making good contact for whatever reason. My GCC Explorer, about 3 months after I got it one day started doing just plain weird things. It would go thru the motions, but no laser. At first I thought the tube was the problem. I drug out the voltmeter and tested all the voltages (I have great schematics for this machine)-- everything tested exactly perfect. So I try the machine again, and it would start going thru the motions, then would slow down, then stop. Followed by absolutely nothing. The motherboard would boot up, but that was it. So out of desperation I started playing with connectors. When I got to the connector plug to the LCD screen, the screen 'sprang to life', and a couple of fans kicked on (I hadn't noticed they were off). I did a test engrave, which started okay, then fizzled. I unplugged the machine, and then pulled every plug off every board, and separated every connector plug. I sprayed contact cleaner on and in the connectors, then replaced them all. I pulled a few IC chips, but they all looked okay so I didn't feel the need to pull ALL the chips. After I checked all the connections, fired up the machine, and it's worked perfectly ever since. Somewhere there was an 'iffy' connection, and I must've made it happy. :)

And my latest foray into bad connections happened with my new fiber laser, which I posted up about. The thing started engraving "goofy", funny shaped letters, it wouldn't reliably repeat, it messed up several customers' parts. Triumph had never seen a machine do this, nobody else I talked to had either. Triumph sent me a new galvo scan-head to try out. Meanwhile, I started pulling plugs and separating connectors. To my dismay, it didn't help. Gary then told me to explicitly check out the controller-to-scanhead connector, to pull it and disassemble the connector housing and inspect the wiring the the plug proper. Which I did- and aside from some extra solder that didn't need to be there, I saw nothing wrong with the connector or the wires. However- since removing it, and re-installing it, the thing has engraved perfectly. Between then and now (about 6 weeks) I've engraved several thousand items; SS parts, aluminum lids, guns, metal plates, and just recently finished up an order of 1630 watches... and not one issue. Knock on my head :) --The new scan head is still in the un-open box, and will go back to China in about 2 weeks.

So consider spending an afternoon with some CRC electronics parts cleaners, some small pliers, a screwdriver, and some patience, and give all your connections a good once-over. Hopefully it will help...

[John Lifer]

hard to say, on the Epilog Facebook group,it seems motherboard issues are more common than tube issues on mini's, but tube problems are there too. call the techs. but id do like kev said. cut off machine, unplug from power, and then disconnect and reconnect every plug i could find and if ic is in socket, push on it a bit. power bqck up and cross your fingers.....

[chris szlachetka]

Thanks for the tips. I'm looking at the board now for anything that resembles dust, bad solder, etc.. Crazy I ran parts a day ago with no issues, today I run the first wood part and boom. I loaded my design file, my wood raster/vector preset and hit go like every other day. The probe plunged and came up like normal, then stalled and said X/Y disabled y on the display and wouldn't allow me to clear that or return to home. I turned the machine off to reset and checked if anything was causing the carriage to stop. I think the airline under the X housing was causing the one area to stop, I pushed it to the right and now everything is working fine, but no fire. I've tried rebooting my computer, machine, new design files and files that I use all the time. As far as I can tell the laser assembly has power because the laser pointer is working and the LEDs at the back. I hope you're right about it being something simple. I'm going to call Epilog in the morning and see what we can do.

[Michael R. McGrath]

Chris we ran into a similar problem with our mini a couple weeks back. Some debris ended up in the y-axis motor and caused a X/Y disabled y code on the display. You may want to check the y-axis motor to see if it is able to spin freely or if it binds. By removing the side panel to access the y motor we were able to flush the motor using contact cleaner for PCB's and then lubricated it using 3-in-1 and then flushed it again with contact cleaner to remove any excess oils. This resolved the error code we got and the mini has been running fine for a couple of weeks now.

[chris szlachetka]

Hi Michael,
Thank you for the suggestions! I removed the X track shield which I thought might be the issue and found the air assist line binding up. After running it back and forth a few times by hand I figured out that was the issue. The main problem is with the laser not firing again. It's almost dead silent when on or pressing the up key to fire under the Maint Align Laser feature (not sure how to explain the buzzing noise, but sure you know what I mean). I've looked for any blown or blocked MB components and don't see anything. The board barely has any dust or debris on it. I'm hoping my boys at Epilog can help fix this issue with a simple phone call/email. I've got a bunch of orders pending and anxious customers calling. Fingers crossed

[Kev Williams]

The fact your XY stalled tells me something NOT tube related is wrong-- not saying the tube isn't bad, just might be :(

But, before my connector festivities, my laser wouldn't fire either. I really wouldn't mind knowing which connector(s) was the culprit(s) but as long as the machine's working fine, that's down pretty far on my priority list :)

Have you checked voltages yet? Even without a schematic, many of the voltages are printed at the connections...

[chris szlachetka]

Thanks for the suggestions and help guys! I was really hoping it was something easy to replace. We've come to the conclusion the tube is dead. Not sure what happened, but as I mentioned it's been a bugger since we received it. Normally turning off the machine would reset everything and we're off, not this time. Sh*t happens what are you going to do. Epilog headquarters did a great job at responding to my request. Unfortunately, my warranty was up and time to pay the piper.

[Bill George]

Thanks for the suggestions and help guys! I was really hoping it was something easy to replace. We've come to the conclusion the tube is dead. Not sure what happened, but as I mentioned it's been a bugger since we received it. Normally turning off the machine would reset everything and we're off, not this time. Sh*t happens what are you going to do. Epilog headquarters did a great job at responding to my request. Unfortunately, my warranty was up and time to pay the piper.

Three tubes in three years? I would be jumping all over somebody. You did not post your location are you running on a generator or some unknown power source?

[chris szlachetka]

The first tube wasn't really bad, we couldn't get it to fire on time. So they overnighted the new tube. I'd say every 2 -3 months we had an issue with the firing of the tube. The machine has been moved twice since we bought it. Residential and now sits in a brand new commercial building on a dedicated line. We had the power tested for the other CNCs and were told the power here is clean and very good. I run programs that are 5-8 hrs long on our CNC mill, I've never had any issues. Whatever the issue is if there is one still, we'll know by Friday-Monday.