LMI LaserGraver SE2025 laser engraver?

[jeremy sanderson]

hi

I am new here

hoping i can get some input..i just bought a very old LMI LaserGraver SE2025 in working cond..25W CO2

i only paid $100 cash..i think i did ok

do anyone know if it can be run in windows XP? and are there any negatives and or positives in the manuf and model?

and are these laser engravers pretty reliable even for being 25yrs old?

i figured for the price i paid there is little risk...im just home hobby not business.

[Bruce Volden]

Jeremy
My 1st machine was an LMI!! 2nd was also!
I started with Windows 3.1 and used them all the way through XP, so yes they will run on XP.
LMI sent out upgrades to install for the machines to work under various Windows updates.
Is your machine utilizing serial or parallel ports? Mine started as serial (slow) and LMI upgraded to parallel (faster).
My Epilog is on ethernet (instant)!!

[jeremy sanderson]

hi bruce thanks

so i do have a few questions..

note ..i am just home hobby not business use

1 is a used graver still usable today?
2. is the SE2025 raster only or raster and vector? manuf date feb 1998 i called preor they dont know
3. will the orig driver work in xp?
4 i dont know if its serial or parallel
5 is lasergraver machines metal or glass tube laser and is water cooling necessary?..reason i ak is i have 2 metal laser tube machines use synrad and are air cooled only...no water needed...and i have seen posts for lasergraver where water cooling is used...and i thought water cooling was for glass tubes only.

this is me using common sense..even though my model does not have cv in model number that may be irrelevant..i saw some posts mentionaing SE225C raster SE225CV raster vector..but these were made in 1995...so maybe since mine was newer model made in 1998 it by default came with raster/vector capability and hence did not have to have c or cv in model number?/....what you think? internet search comes up with no information pertaining to SE2025 model .although i did see a listing for SE2100 and it says raster/vector made in 1998.

[Bruce Volden]

$100 is a very good price!
Hopefully you can acquire the drivers for it. Mine went with the machine.
Both my machines did raster and vector. My first one was purchased in Jan. 1995. It had the slow serial port that was
later upgraded to parallel. You should be able to tell serial/parallel connections from the back of machine (where s/p cables would hook up).
The original drivers for the machine would have to be upgraded in order for XP to work.
For $100 it will pay off to keep searching the net---I know there are people out there still using this machine as they are built like tanks!
I don't happen to know of anyone though.

Bruce

[jeremy sanderson]

thanks ..were your gravers water cooled?
and do you still have the infamous carve "wrong" aka carvewright..what a POS design

i have one. overpriced hunk of JUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the only cnc machine i know of that has more down time then run time lol

many fail or have issues only after 10-25hrs of use....heck my conventional cnc has about 1000 hrs on it with no maint and no hardware or elect failures at all...:)

[Bruce Volden]

The lasers I had were air cooled. Never a problem.
I do still have a CW, hasn't been turned on if ~17 years....need to buy it????

Bruce

[jeremy sanderson]

Seems most carvewright owners use their machines as door stops lol...they really are just a gimmick and too limited and overall a horrible designed machine hence why no other company makes similar.

[jeremy sanderson]

Curious...back in 1995 how much did you pay for the graver?..
I bet a hell of a lot..im guessing way north of 5k.

[Bruce Volden]

$22,500 all in.. Got a bunch of stuff to practice on and somewhat of a start-up kit.
Also a full day of learning/maintenance.

Bruce

[jeremy sanderson]

guess i saved $22,400 but had to wait 25 years lol

[jeremy sanderson]

I picked up the graver today.
Its parallel port connection

[jeremy sanderson]

hi ..need some help on this old old Laser Graver i just bought used

i power it on ok..i can jog xyz ok

i can send simple rectangle raster file over ok via corel draw..

it shows up at laser machine says 1 file

i then click start and it just shows "waiting......" with a flashing "x" in top right corner of lcd display and it does not do anything after that

no movement nothing

anyone have any idea whats going on?

thanks

[jeremy sanderson]

i can not send file over without having bad data errors

anyone else ever have this issue with laser graver?

im using coreldraw 9 and windows 98 and parallel port connection on lasergraver SE2025

the machine boots up fine and homes fine and everyhting with no errors
but when i create a simple raster or vector engrave file and send it..it receives it with errors and when i go to try and run it i can hear the laser shutter click but the gravwer display just says waiting...... and will not start to move or engrave

[Bert Kemp]

what are the error messages?

[jeremy sanderson]

just misc bad data errors

it will say like bad data "x" at 115
bad data "a" at 65

etc
etc

this will not be an easy fix since there is virtually no info online regarding 5this machine

i called preco and they try to help bu noone is familair a whole lot on this very old machine

[jeremy sanderson]

do anyone know if windows 98 and coreldraw9 compatible with old laser graver se2025...?

my graver was made in 1998


i need to make sure these 2 items are compatible first otherwise i could spend hundreds of hours for nothing trying to troubleshoot why i keep getting bad data error on any file sent to the machine

[Mike Null]

My recollection is that they would be. My first engraver was a Universal 25 watt which I think is the model you have. I started with Corel version 8 and then went to 11. I believe I also used Win98. I think I bought mine in 1997 brand new.

[jeremy sanderson]

Ok well guess im doing somethjng wrong or engraver broken...i keep getting bad data errors when file received

[jeremy sanderson]

what type of pc are you using with your old graver? im using an old laptop that is pentium3 prob from around 2001..the guy from preco say that if pc too fast that it could have bad data errors....but he not sure...the graver was designed for windows 3.1 and windows 95 era pcs.(386 and 486pc) ..so what he say may be true.

[jeremy sanderson]

ok thanks

i have an IS400 too :)

im still getting bad data errors on my old lasergraver SE2025

not sure why

i just send a black filled box via coreldraw 9 and print to machine...and bad data errors all time

[Kev Williams]

Back in the older days- late '80's and early '90's, I used to have to transfer files to the machine from proprietary Motorola computers designed to run my Gravograph 5000XT machines. When I finally got my first PC, the 486 that came loaded with Casmate, I could transfer .PLT files from the PC to a New Hermes conversion program on the Motorola's, allowing me to save logos on floppys for the Motorola, and with a different program I could also engrave jobs directly from the PC- pretty fancy-dancy stuff for 1993 :D --

Thinking about those days, and your machine being so old, I'm wondering if your machine is looking for a different type of plot file than your driver is sending-? I have no idea where or how to start looking, but maybe this will jog someone else's memory?

[Mike Null]

I use win98 for my IS400. Correction It is XP.

[jeremy sanderson]

i may have gotten somewhere with the lasergraver bad data issue......today i decided to mess with it again..i swapped parallel cables..no change...i used 4 diff programs to send file over..no change..i then remembered i had a communication issue with another laser i had that was serial port and i messed in bios and fixed it...so i decided to go into bios and i went into parallel port setting and there were 3 options..bi directional..ecp..epp....it was set to ecp..i chamged it to epp and now the file sent to the lasergraver and i ran the program and it burned ok

this is the first time i have been able to get the engraver to actually run a program without bad data errors..so maybe this will be the fix..ill do some more tesxting another day..im just glad i know the laser tube actually works and my $75 investment in buying this lasergraver may have been a good one

i was ready to scrap the laser machine but figured it had to be something simple....preco(aka LMI) could not help me since they are not familiar with such an old machine ..they tried but failed...if it wasnt for my persistent attitude it may have been scrapped and melted

:)

[Bruce Volden]

Jeremy,
Don't give up! Learn the machine!
When you first turn on the laser there are a bunch of "idiot lights" on the mother board. You have to remove the cover to see them as I recall.
Each light represents something. I wish I had all the "stuff" from when I bought my machines as I made them give me a complete set
of schematics which listed all the "idiot lights".
Back then I liked knowing stuff---now I could care less--funny what time changes.

Bruce

[jeremy sanderson]

Thanks...at least i got it to do something ...the issue is there is no info online regarding this model...its too old...snd preco cant really help me

It seems to be raster ingraving fine but vector engrsving having msjor locstion issues...mschine not going anywhere near where it should

It appears could be a long troubleshooting process but at least i know laser tube is good....i got a 1999 version driver. From preco....i wish i could find a newer dtiver...although .i may actually try my orig 1997 driver again

I believe the engraver is not the issue...i think its all compatibility related...pc/settings ...software...or..driver issue now....which could be difficult to fix with no technical info avail

Lots of trial and error will b needed