PLS 360 Not Firing

[matt heinzel]

I have contacted ULS about this, but I figured posting here would be a good idea too.

One of our PLS 360 systems stopped working. It was engraving and then when our engraver when to check on it the head was moving back and forth like it was working but nothing was engraving. We unplugged it, removed the tube, reset the PC, reset the engraver and still nothing. While I was working on it I also noticed the the z axis is not working at all, the engraver told me it was working yesterday so I'm not sure if this is a related issue or not.

According to my records the tube was replaced this past January.

[mitch stephens]

Check your water sensor if it has one
Mitch

[matt heinzel]

The Universals don't chill with water, I ran through all of my normal checks on this thing. Of course this happens directly before I'm set to go on vacation. :-)

[Matt McCoy]

You might try checking the safety interlocks first, to rule that out.

[matt heinzel]

Good point, I just went down and check, they all have the green check on the diagnostics screen.

[Tony Lenkic]

Matt,

For a quick test can you temporary switch the tube form faulty laser to good working one (you have three of them). If the tube fires in the other system than you can rule it out and look at main board.

[matt heinzel]

Wow, that is one of those duh moments. I'll go test that out!

[matt heinzel]

I worked in the other system, ULS sent me something to do so I'll try that and report back.

[Tony Lenkic]

Could it be software related. You may try to reload firmware and see what happens. Hope you get it sorted out ASAP.

[matt heinzel]

Well as far as the tube it was easy.
Turn off machine
Disconnect USB
Restart Computer
Turn on Machine
Connect USB


The Z motor had a fried connection so that is also an easy fix once I get the part in.

[Mike Lysov]

Do they use a RF tube in ULS? These things are very sensible to a good steady connection with all cables, an RF cable must not be bent more than allowed radius and even a length of the RF cable is critical. I would try to check all cables connections, tighten them and see if it fixes the problem.

I have a Synrad tube that was repaired by Synrad just three months ago. I could not make it firing out of a box after it came from repair. Apparently screwing my RF cable by hands was not enough. It only started working after I used pliers to tighten the cable to its port. It worked great for 3 months and just about 10 days ago it stopped firing. Waiting for a guy to come and check all the cables and ports on both the tube and its RF unit.

UPD: I have just figured it out. It is a bad quick start plug that is causing all the problems for me. It is a little plug that converts from DB9 on the RF unit to a RCA port on Spirit GX motherboard for a laser control. One of this initial functions is sending a signal to open a shutter but with bad wiring inside that plug it just does not do what it is supposed to do. That's a relief for me as it is a very easy to fix. And a surprise as I spent 10 days to figure out what's wrong checked all cables but forgot about checking this plug.