Update to laser gone crazy

[Cheryl Holmes]

Well I replaced the X motor as instructed and now nothing works. We cant move the x or y even trying to move table up and down is impossible. The readout shows table is moving but it is not. When I but my hand down there and touch the short belt I can feel and hear it thumping. But when I touch the gears on either end I feel nothing. Unbelievable and I'm about wore out. Waiting on another call from Universal. And by the way I'm a guy I'm Cheryls husband she has been on this site and received a lot of good info, we appreciate that. But I've been elected to be the maintenance man and don't really know much about the machine other than I;m really starting to HATE it. Thanks for all the ideas. Tom

[Lee DeRaud]

I just glanced at the other thread...I'm not familiar with that model ULS, but on the one I have all the +5V power for the CPU etc comes from the USB cable, while the laser tube and all the motors run off 48V from the big power supply. If it loses the 5V, the motors still have drive power but there's just low-voltage jitter on the direction/step lines and the motors really Do Not Like That. You get what sounds like mechanical grinding, but it's all just random steps and direction reversals on all the motors simultaneously.

If yours is configured anything like that, a stable USB connection is vital.

[Cheryl Holmes]

I just glanced at the other thread...I'm not familiar with that model ULS, but on the one I have all the +5V power for the CPU etc comes from the USB cable, while the laser tube and all the motors run off 48V from the big power supply. If it loses the 5V, the motors still have drive power but there's just low-voltage jitter on the direction/step lines and the motors really Do Not Like That. You get what sounds like mechanical grinding, but it's all just random steps and direction reversals on all the motors simultaneously.

If yours is configured anything like that, a stable USB connection is vital.

We live out in the boonies but I'm going in town tomorrow and getting a new cable before doing anything else. Universal now wants me to send CPU back to them for testing. That was the first thing we did a month ago and they said it was fine, o well just another 250.00 out the window. I have about had my limit.

[Cheryl Holmes]

Guess what boys and girls. I got back from a trip into town buying a new printer cable and guess what works now. Might not be all my problems but it sure does feel nice to have it atleast moving again.. Thanks for the help!!!!!

[Mike Null]

I refuse to say I told you so.:)

Glad it is working.

[Bert Kemp]

To bad you spent all that money and a $20 cable fixed most the trouble

[Cheryl Holmes]

Well maybe it is just my luckbut I moved the arm and focus carrage in all directions the put rotor in and it homed right where it was supposed to. Turned it off and waited for the wife to get home to try some calls. She gets home and we are both excited to get going. Turn on machine and we get NOTHING, right back where we started. It will initialize say ready but no movement on the arms or table, When trying to move table up and down the display changes numbers like it is moving but it is not. What could have happened in a 30 min period? All I did was turn it off then back on. Called Universal AGAIN they can't figure it out, but telling me printer cable has nothing to do with the arm or table movement. It should rehome and be functional without the cable even being plugged in. Now they want me to send in CPU, motor, and upper and lower flex board and cable in for testing. To say I'm let down is a understatement.

[Bill Jobe]

My son has an industrial laser instalation and repair business.
One day he was called to fix a laser that their electricians tried to fix and failed.
When he got there he discovered that the electricians had lost control of the machine and it cut a hole through the wall of the building and through the windshield of a car in the parking lot.

[Charles Hawkins]

My son has an industrial laser instalation and repair business.
One day he was called to fix a laser that their electricians tried to fix and failed.
When he got there he discovered that the electricians had lost control of the machine and it cut a hole through the wall of the building and through the windshield of a car in the parking lot.

Sounds like a candidate for "Lasers Gone Wild", I can see the videos now... :eek:

[John Lifer]

Dang, get it going and don't cut it off!

[Lee DeRaud]

It will initialize say ready but no movement on the arms or table, When trying to move table up and down the display changes numbers like it is moving but it is not. What could have happened in a 30 min period? All I did was turn it off then back on. Called Universal AGAIN they can't figure it out, but telling me printer cable has nothing to do with the arm or table movement. It should rehome and be functional without the cable even being plugged in.Back to basics...I would expect they have had you check the voltage(s) coming out of the power supply, right? (Probably wouldn't hurt if you could tell us what the P/S specs are...should be a big label on top listing voltage/amp output). The CPU and motor controllers are clearly getting power, but the motors are not. (Doesn't necessarily mean the P/S is bad either: on mine, there is a separate cable from the CPU that sends an enable signal to the main 48V P/S.)

[Cheryl Holmes]

Well I was going to take the day off from this but could not. Went in and unplugged power to CPU then pluged it back in. Now it's working again??? Going to run about 20 test pieces and if that works it is not going to get shut down until we are done or die from lack of sleep.

[Gary Hair]

all of this makes me think you have connection issues. I would spend the time to go through every connection and clean it with contact cleaner or at least a scotchbrite pad (not steel wool!!!) and then connect/reconnect everything a few times just to make sure it's seated. It's either this or you have a broken wire or a cold solder joint.

[Bill George]

Ditto what Gary said connection on plug attached to board or bad solder joint or perhaps trace on circuit board cracked.

[Cheryl Holmes]

all of this makes me think you have connection issues. I would spend the time to go through every connection and clean it with contact cleaner or at least a scotchbrite pad (not steel wool!!!) and then connect/reconnect everything a few times just to make sure it's seated. It's either this or you have a broken wire or a cold solder joint.

That is what I am going to have to do. Machine only made it threw 20 pieces before it started messing up the artwork. It has been actually running since replugging in the CPU so maybe I've got that part fixed. And when it starts to mess up artwork it is not homeing correctly, so that is the next order of business. It will do 1 or 2 then when trying to rehome it doesn't make it all the way over to push the button in. Maybe we are getting closer but did lose one nice account. Can't be upset with them, we have been down for over a month.

[Bert Kemp]

please list your machine in your signature

[Cheryl Holmes]

please list your machine in your signature

If I knew how to do that I'd be happy to. It's a Universal Vanguard 2001, 25watt , Work area is12x24 and we use the rotor most of the time. Thanks

[Scott Shepherd]

I haven't followed your issues closely, but you have mentioned a couple of times that you use the rotary attachment. You might know this, but in case you don't, you should never plug or unplug the rotary with the machine running. Hopefully you aren't doing that. If you did, that could certainly cause an issue. Probably not the issues you have described, but one less thing to make sure you aren't doing to isolate the issue.

[Cheryl Holmes]

I haven't followed your issues closely, but you have mentioned a couple of times that you use the rotary attachment. You might know this, but in case you don't, you should never plug or unplug the rotary with the machine running. Hopefully you aren't doing that. If you did, that could certainly cause an issue. Probably not the issues you have described, but one less thing to make sure you aren't doing to isolate the issue.

We always have the machine off, but thank you for the idea.

[Bert Kemp]

Top of page clic settings
left side of page scroll down till you see "edit Signature" click then list your stuff :)



If I knew how to do that I'd be happy to. It's a Universal Vanguard 2001, 25watt , Work area is12x24 and we use the rotor most of the time. Thanks

[Cheryl Holmes]

Thanks I'll give that a try again. Didn't seem to work the first time.