Air Compressor help/Vector cutting setting

[Tim Baude]

Newbie asking dumb question I am sure..... I have an Epilog Helix 24, 45 w. I bought a central pneumatic 1/8 hp oil-less airbrush compressor from Harbor Freight to use for my air assist. Question... it says to turn knob to adjust psi..doesn't seem to change and not puttting much air into machine. Vector cut some plastic, ended up white around the cut. Am I just being stupid or do I have a defective compressor? It is quiet however.

Also, what setting should I use to cut Rowmark LaserMag magnets and how do I draw a vector line to cut a sheet into smaller pieces. As you can tell, my rep hasn't trained me yet.

Thank you in advance for your help.
Tim Baude
Epilog Helix 24/ 45 w Corel Draw 4x

[Frank Corker]

Tim, not sure if this is going to be of any help whatsoever, but I'm going to say it anyway. Most of the compressors that come with the machines are quite low volume psi anyway, they don't need to be high as they push the air through such a tiny aperture. I would think that it is probably pushing out more than enough for most of the general jobs that you will be encountering. Quite often there is no real need for using it and most of the time it will be for vectoring only. I seldom use air, unless I am cutting thick acrylic and even then I am still getting mixed results using it. Rodney Golde has mentioned quite a bit in his posts about the use of air assist and is all good advice to follow for someone new at lasering.

As for your lasermag magnets, I don't even know what they look like, why don't you bite the bullet and run a small vector line across and see what settings are most effective? I'll tell you now Tim, the best way to learn about what does what, is to have a go! There is not many on this site who engrave/vector materials who ever use the same settings. The lasers appear to all give different power settings and can vary from identical machines. Which keeps making this post go back to what I have already said. Practice is the only cure!

[Joe Pelonio]

While cutting, press the stop button, open the door and place your finger under the end of the air assist to feel that it's coming out. There can be issues such as a faulty solenoid or tubing leak.

The air is diverted within the machine when not cutting, so check and adjust your pressure while it's cutting. Normally I use 25 psi but go up to as much as 35 for materials that tend to flare up or scorch more.

[Rob Bosworth]

Tim, have you enabled the air assist in your options menu? It seems to me that in the menu on the machine, ACCESSed at the control panel, you can turn the air assist on/ off. I think you can do it for raster, vector or both. I do not have a Helix in front of me, but I think the 36 EXT we have in the shop has the options.

If the Helix is like most of the Epilog machines with air assist, they have a dump solenoid, usually mounted on the bottom of the cabinet under the table. When the machine is idling, you can hear the hiss of compressed air coming out around the valve. When you run the file, and have selected air assist for the process, you usually hear less air, but it is coming out of the air assist tube below the lens.

[Peck Sidara]

Tim,

Congrats on your new machine!

You should trouble-shoot the air issue two separate ways:

1. Disconnect the air-hose from the machine, turn on your pump. Adjust the air via the knob and by feel, see if the air pressure increases. This will tell you whether you have a defective knob or compressor. If the compressor isn't working properly, return it and get a new one.

2. Once you've determined the pump is working correctly; connect it to the Helix. With the machine sitting idle, you should hear an air-leak coming from the solenoid in the back.

Turn the Helix on; Confirm that you have air-assist turned on for vector cutting (pressing stop + pointer buttons simultaneously).
With air-assist turned on for vector cutting, you should hear the air hissing when sitting idle, when you start the vector job, you should stop hearing the hiss (which confirms that the solenoid/air is pushing all the way thru).HTH,

[Tim Baude]

Thank you all for your help. I will try the suggestions and let you know how it goes.
Tim