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View Full Version : another "almost senior" moment



Joe Pelonio
10-19-2007, 10:00 AM
Last night with the big damaging windstorm here we lucked out and had the power out only for a few minutes. I stopped working about 3:30 as we kept getting flickers.

This morning, after the weatherman said it was over, the winds came back and we lost power 8 times in an hour, the longest lasting 1/2 hour. When it went out the first time the laser was cutting.

So, I finally turn everything back on and start the job and the heads moving but no beam. :eek:Naturally I nearly die thinking a surge or something has killed it. Then I look at the little LED screen and see the power is set to 0. I guess when I keyed in 100% I missed the 1!!:D

Darren Null
10-19-2007, 11:07 AM
I do know that feeling. I bet you were grinning like a maniac when you realised it was working after all (after you got the 'DOH!' over with).

Mike Null
10-19-2007, 11:29 AM
I did the same kind of thing but with the speed. The item was burning and the machine wouldn't move. I had set the speed to .01.

Kim Vellore
10-19-2007, 12:12 PM
I know the feeling very well, it happened once too many times. I have learned to relax now, thinking of taking Yoga classes to help. The worse was when the magnet fell off and I was sure the tube was dead. I opened the laser checked the voltage on the Power supply, every thing else looked fine, in the tense moments did not look at the interlock LED which was OFF, instead I banged the tube a few times (tube CPR?) thinking nothing more to loose and there could be a possibility that I could revive the tube, after giving up I see the fallen magnet!!!! imagine the feeling. Anyway the prices of the tubes have gone down by half since then and I think I have gotten a little smarter too....

Kim

Keith Outten
10-19-2007, 12:12 PM
Joe,

You must be getting all of our weather. This has been the strangest year for weather here on the central east coast. We are in the middle of a long drought and haven't seen any summer storms, hurricanes and Nor'easters all year. We also haven't seen any wind and I mean none, the leaves on the trees haven't moved in months in my neighborhood.

We had a sprinkle yesterday that wouldn't wet your whistle but it did knock some of the dust down.

This is very unusual for our neck of the woods.

.

Frank Corker
10-19-2007, 2:04 PM
I don't have those moments.

....now where did I leave my laser engraver :confused:



.

Robert Murray
10-20-2007, 12:19 AM
Yea forgot to plug back in my cooling fans after a weekly cleaning half way thought my second job for the day I lose the laser.

After trying to keep my breakfest down I for some reason put my hand
by the fans on the back. I think do to my past PC overclocking days.

Anyway thank god for thermal shutdown on the tub. Pluged fans back in and let the laser cool and I was back cutting in no time.

Am not senior just stupid :rolleyes: :D

Bill Cunningham
10-20-2007, 12:35 PM
When we had that big multi state/multi province blackout a few years back, I bought a 6kw generator. My shop is powered by a line from the house to a pony panel in the shop, Now, if there is a storm brewing on a workday, I throw off the mains switch from the street to the house, and plug the generator 220v into the shop. This feeds it back into the panel and into the house as well as the shop. Now when the power goes off, everything still works. house and shop.. Because it's for my business, it, and it's fuel are also 100% deductible for all taxes.. As long as no one turns on the stove in the house, there is more than enough power for everything even heat.. When the power comes back on and remains stable for a while, I shut down the generator at a convienient time, and switch back to the main power..

Kim Vellore
10-20-2007, 7:17 PM
[quote= plug the generator 220v into the shop. This feeds it back into the panel and into the house as well as the shop. [/quote]

Bill,
I hope you got this professionally installed because this is not normal, you are feeding the whole house from the wiring in your shop which may not be rated for that amperage and normally never done this way. I would get it checked for code just for safety.

Kim

Bob Keyes
10-20-2007, 10:29 PM
Joe. I hate to admit this, but I have searched my shop for 'some elusive' article until I forgot what I was looking for. Gosh, that's disturbing!!

George Elston
10-21-2007, 11:57 AM
Joe. I hate to admit this, but I have searched my shop for 'some elusive' article until I forgot what I was looking for. Gosh, that's disturbing!!

Oh! Oh!, I know the answer to this. Having done it so many times. I consider it part of my day. Go back to where you were and what you were doing when you started looking for what ever and it will come to you. The tricky part is remembering where you were and what you were doing.


I wish I could blame my bad memory on old age, but the truth is it's always been lousy.

Mike Hood
10-21-2007, 12:10 PM
Bill,
I hope you got this professionally installed because this is not normal, you are feeding the whole house from the wiring in your shop which may not be rated for that amperage and normally never done this way. I would get it checked for code just for safety.

Kim

Only thing that could happen would be to trip the mains from the shop to house (or on the genny). The current is the same either way. If he had plugged into the house instead... electrically it would be the same deal. As long as the genny is ahead of both sets of breakers, and the breakers are rated for the shop load... he should be fine.

(be careful you don't kill a lineman like that... "suicide plugs" are illegal most everywhere)

Bill Cunningham
10-23-2007, 7:53 PM
Bill,
I hope you got this professionally installed because this is not normal, you are feeding the whole house from the wiring in your shop which may not be rated for that amperage and normally never done this way. I would get it checked for code just for safety.

Kim

Hi Kim.. Yup, My Son-in-law is a industrial electrician, and he looked it all over. The feed wiring is not the general wiring in the shop, it feeds the pony panel directly, and the main panel in the house through the pony panel. Just the reverse of the normal feed..A magnetic switch takes the main panel off the street mains as soon as the power drops out, and another 'plugs' the generator into the system (perhaps 'plugs' was the wrong term to use ) It basically has same setup as a perm. emergency power generator system, but uses a much less expensive portable generator..