laser skipping

[Ron Hamilton]

I have an Accuris powersharp 30 watt, I have had an ongoing problem on large file sizes with the laser skipping or eteping the graphic (photographs). I am using Photograve to creat the file to send to the laser.
Installed the latest driver and checked the belts pulleys etc all seem fine.
I noticed today that the file size keeps changing. Exmple, I sent a file which showed up at 12.98 megs it skipped so I cleared out the file re sent it and now iit showes at 8.2 megs. Changed the driver to the lateset and the file is now 4.29 megs. I did not change the file in any way.

Any ideas on what going on. The machine is only a year old and it has been doing this since new. Purchased from Signwarehouse tech guys are trying but as yet we have not solved the problem. Kevin if you read this I really need your help.......

Could it be the memory or a circut bord problem?

Ron...........

[David Lavaneri]

Ron,

Photograv is known for not liking changes to an image after the original application of the program.

I don't know if that extends to changes in drivers, but that could be the case.

You might try reprocessing the image in Photograv.

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri

[Richard Rumancik]

You are not supposed to re-size or rotate PhotoGrav bitmaps but PhotoGrav would not actually see the laser printer driver while it is processing. So I don't think it should care that you upgraded a printer driver after creating the image.

I don't have any ideas as to why the laser is reporting different file sizes. However I am a bit unclear as to what the root problem is - what is the laser actually doing wrong and does it only happen with large files? If it is larger files only, have you tried a different memory stick on the mainboard? (I would assume the dealer would have suggested this though.) Make sure you have the exact memory type called for. There is likely a pair of socketed firmware IC's on the mainboard as well - have you had them swap these out yet? Those are easy things to test at least . . . but if they can't come up with anything maybe you have to ask for a mainboard swap.

Can you post a picture of the problem graphic?

[Ron Hamilton]

Thanks Guys for the input, just had word from the tech guys at Sign warehouse and they want me to change the belt.pulleys and the stepper motor on the x rail. I have already bought the parts so I will give that a try but I still think it is software related. Here is a photograph of what it is doing.

Ron.

[Roy Brewer]

Here is a photograph of what it is doing.

Ron,

Clearly losing steps. I'd tend to agree with what TS is suggesting; this is hardware not software. Especially, if I recall correctly, that the Accuris uses stepper motors(?). Stepper motors without encoders have no idea where they are, so if a motor can't overcome the resistance in the negative X direction it has no idea that it has lost steps. Also, only makes sense that only on large files (read that as "long runs") that a weak motor would fatique, or if belts/bearings are creating to much resistance(dirty, in need of lube?) that the motor would overheat & fail even if it was not weak on those long runs.

[Richard Rumancik]

Ron, you said that you had this problem since it was new, and yet you have to buy the parts for this repair? Is it not under warranty? This seems like an odd situation to me - if the laser has not worked right from day one, why have they not swapped out everything to get it working for you? This seems to have dragged on too long. . .

When you said they were replacing the motor I guessed that maybe they suspected an encoder failure - but in re-reading your note you say "stepper motor" not "servo motor." Steppers rarely have encoders. So the logic of this repair puzzles me. Hard to believe that the belts and pulleys could have any bearing to the problem. . . .I suppose if the setscrew in the motor pulley was loose you could get some strange behavior. But it is not obvious where they are going with this - did they explain their "hunch" to you?

[Richard Rumancik]

Roy, we were writing at the same time - did not see your post.

Yes, I agree a bad stepper could be causing the problem.

But a year for tech support to suggest this fix? And no warranty for Roy? I don't understand that part . . .

[Rodne Gold]

I think its a software issue as well , yes the pic looks like its losing steps , but not on a continual basis - ie it does a large section properly and then skips steps. If this only happens with photograv orr very large and nothing else like normal engraving , it's unlikely its only hardware related
The file size changing is wierd , does the motherboard have onboard ram to store the file , or does it spool from the host puter?
Try another puter attached to the machine or check how the existing puter is sending large files.

[Ron Hamilton]

Well I am thankful for all the input on my ongoing problem, Tech support have been getting me to do various things over the year from updating drivers to looking at the set screw on the stepper motor on the x rail.

I am new to lasers, I am a sandblaster for years as I said, good with Corel x3, Photoshop cs2 and graphic prep. I am also familiar with plotter operation Graphtech CE3000, lasers are a different animal. So I was like a lamb being led to the slaughter. (wiser now)

I had a hunch to move the etching position to the right side of the table today and guess what it did the job flawlessly. this is like playing Russian roulette or Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. never know what your going to get.

I have a new stepper motor and the pulleys + new belt so I will perform the necessary surgery tomorrow if possible.

I will let you know how I get on. As for the warranty question,I had the same question on the problems I am having. Signwarehouse are giving me a small discount on the parts, I know its not really good enough but at this point I only want the machine to work properly. Problem when I am in Canada the laser company in Texas. Another pitfall of not getting a machine without a rep in your area.

Ron...............

[Richard Rumancik]

If the laser fails to work properly (everywhere on the table) after the motor exchange then I would be asking them for a mainboard swap complete with memory, for no cost. You should have had this resolved long ago. I think your machine has a one year warranty, but since you said that it never worked right from the beginning, whether you are at 12 months or 15 months they should fix it under warranty.

[Ron Hamilton]

Hi Richard, don't worry I will, I would have changed the parts today but I seem to have found an area on the right side that works properly. The phone never stopped today and I ahve a few more jobs I can squeek out so I told the tech I would do the surgury after the hollidays.

If it still plays up I will be demanding the swap as suggested (I may be from Ireland but I am not that green)
I will post my progress, if nothing else It may help someone else who buys an Accuris......

Ron.

[Richard Rumancik]

Ron - do you know what company is the actual manufacturer of the Accuris? I think SignWarehouse is just distributing somebody's product - but I could not find any info on who is actually making this laser. Are they putting the Accuris name on another laser?

I think users would like more options; competition is generally good. But if you don't get yours working properly it will certainly discourage potential customers - I would expect that Sign Warehouse would be trying to get yours running asap at n/c. Let us know how you make out after Christmas.

[Ron Hamilton]

Richard,
The laser is a re badged LLT3 out of Taiwan, I did some research before buying and is is one of the better Asian models. This is the only problem I have with the machine, on large files and larger pieces.

The biggest problem is that I am in Canada West Coast and Sign Warehouse is in Texas. So it is a case of talk you through it on the phone. Not the perfect situation but as the saying goes "It is what it is" Like the Auto profession the idea is to start putting on new parts until the problem goes away. My problem with this is I am paying for the parts on a machine I have never got to work correctly over the 16 months that I have owned it.

I have been getting more and more orders for the laser so I need it to work properly and not in the Russian roulette way it has been. I will let the forum know after the holidays how I get on.

A merry Christmas to all.............

Ron.........

[Mike Hood]

I almost went with the Accuris, but opted for the LaserPro instead. I've had really good experiences with Sign Warehouse in all matters of customer service and support. I'm sure they'll take good care of you and get you through this.

It does look like the stepper motor is losing position. Could be as simple as a intermittent connection somewhere. Let us know what it turns out to be.

[Genaro Bentley]

hi there,
I am new at the forum. Please forgive me if I am out of line here.
My name is Genaro from Toronto.
I have an accuris laser engraver 30 watts 10 months old. I have the same issues with the laser engraver skipping from and and moving the laser allignment.
I purchased my machine there due to the convincing marketing that they have on theri website, more importantly for the guarantee that the tech support is there to answer your call.
Yes they do answer your call only to take the information an for you to receive a Ticket #.
I had spoken to Sign ware house so many times regarding other issues.The truth is I am very disappointed with the Tech supports response time when it comes to issues. It takes them up to 3 days to respond to a call no matter how many times you tell them it is an emergency. I thinkit is because most there are only a few Laser expert in house such as Kevin Hoffman.
1 month the machine failed to work due to a loose connection / soldering. part was shipped out.
3month laser started to skip in the midle of the job. Resolution re start and re install driver.
6 month laser starts to loose its spark once again in the middle of the job or after 10- 15 min. resolution resend the laser my Laser casing or tube that is at the back of the machine. before I can get a replacement part. This is a another issue for me and will again loose valuable time and money. As it has been happening. And since it cost over $5000.00 they have to wait for me to send them the part before they can send the replacement part. If I had room in my CC I can offer that as a security deposit so they can send the part. I am concerned about the challenges that I have now, and thankfully I still have warranty left. What will happen when the warranty expires?
Sorry folks once again if I am out of line in the forum. Thought I would sound off some issues.
Overall when the Accuris works it certainly does wonders when it works. It has been very frustrating for me and my staff especially when we have large orders to fullfill.
I do custom engraving and Photo laser engraving and machine performance is key to my business.
My Epilog machine 3 years old has yet to have a part replaced or for me to call support.

Thank you all for reading.
Genaro

[Richard Rumancik]

Genaro . . . It sounds like you have had more than one problem with your laser. Ron posted a picture of the problem he was mainly concerned with. Does your laser also do what Ron's does? Or is it a series of different problems? If you are seeing the same defect then it would seem there may be a basic technical problem with this unit.

[Richard Rumancik]

Ron and Genaro

The Accuris seems to track back to a company called Shenzhen LLT Technology Industrial Co Ltd. I could not get much info following this path. However, the lasers seem to be sold by a related company called LLT Corp (Laser Tools and Technics Corp) located at

http://www.lttcorp.com/

This laser (for one) looks the same as the one sold by Signwarehouse:

http://www.lttcorp.com/detail/97450/97450.html

Some people have had good results from Sign Warehouse but both of you seem to have had long term problems that have not been resolved.

Have you considered informing LLT Corp about your issues? A cordial letter indicating your problems and asking for help might help to get things resolved a bit faster. Perhaps they can get some engineering support working on the problems.

[Bert Kemp]

I know this is an old thread but it came up when I did a search on my problem, which is my laser skipped on the y axis. It also was a large file, 12 meg and probably the largest file I've done to date.
File consisted of 11 ....4 inch circles with engravings in the center. I was cutting out the circles and as the laser head came down the y axis to cut the 4th circle out it skipped a beat and then all the circles were off.
I believe this to be software related because I divided the circles up in to a group of 5 and a group of 6 making smaller files and the cut and engraved fine. The y axis had to cross the same spot both times where it skipped as a large file. also if I run the laser head the full length of the y axis any where along the x axis it doesn't skip.
So the OP and one other person have this same problem with different software and machines. Weird.
Does anyone else have skipping with large files???:confused:

[Kev Williams]

My Triumph has skipped when doing a particular job, I even have a video of it doing it. My circumstances were a bit different though, my skipping came between color changes, where the next to engrave color was at a different setting. By watching the display I could see what happened, which was: as it was moving from the last engraved graphic to the next, the speed and power settings changed on the way to the next graphic, rather than after it REACHED the next graphic. When the display changed, the machine 'hiccuped' in the middle of the dead-space travel, where it paused ever so briefly, then it picked up speed (to match the display). And the amount of travel to the next graphic was shortened by the time of the pause, which equated to nearly 1/4". In short, the mechanics stopped, but the data didn't...

I don't know why it would change speeds during the dead-space run, but it would do it every time. It would probably do it again if I set the job up the same. I figure it's a bug in the software or a glitch in the controller, or both. To this day I'm spooked of color changes with settings changes. I haven't had problems with color changes done for time optimizing where the engraving settings are the same. But if I have multiple settings changes, usually I just run the changes separately to be sure.

With photograph engraving, the only thing I can think of even close to this would be the sheer amount of data that it being processed by the machine thru the controller-- I don't know how the data would be buffered, or even if it IS buffered, but if so, what's going on in the controllers brain while the data's moving may cause a similar hiccup or pause. It only takes a very brief pause to account for the offsets in the OP's sample pics...

[Bert Kemp]

Mine was also a dead space run just moving from one circle cut to the next. I actually sounded like it hit something or bound up, but it did it in the same spot 3 times and after I made the files smaller it was fine:confused:



My Triumph has skipped when doing a particular job, I even have a video of it doing it. My circumstances were a bit different though, my skipping came between color changes, where the next to engrave color was at a different setting. By watching the display I could see what happened, which was: as it was moving from the last engraved graphic to the next, the speed and power settings changed on the way to the next graphic, rather than after it REACHED the next graphic. When the display changed, the machine 'hiccuped' in the middle of the dead-space travel, where it paused ever so briefly, then it picked up speed (to match the display). And the amount of travel to the next graphic was shortened by the time of the pause, which equated to nearly 1/4". In short, the mechanics stopped, but the data didn't...

I don't know why it would change speeds during the dead-space run, but it would do it every time. It would probably do it again if I set the job up the same. I figure it's a bug in the software or a glitch in the controller, or both. To this day I'm spooked of color changes with settings changes. I haven't had problems with color changes done for time optimizing where the engraving settings are the same. But if I have multiple settings changes, usually I just run the changes separately to be sure.

With photograph engraving, the only thing I can think of even close to this would be the sheer amount of data that it being processed by the machine thru the controller-- I don't know how the data would be buffered, or even if it IS buffered, but if so, what's going on in the controllers brain while the data's moving may cause a similar hiccup or pause. It only takes a very brief pause to account for the offsets in the OP's sample pics...