Help configuring/troubleshooting Chinese 20W Fiber Laser, Maxphotonics, EZCAD

I had a nightmare experience with a US seller of a desktop fiber laser system. I won't go into the details but the result is that I am left with a system that does not seem to work, and no support.
I don't know if the Maxphotonics source is bad, if the controller is bad, or if the software simply isn't set up properly.
This unit is the desktop style you see on Ebay and Amazon with the table and head that is separate from the control box portion.

Maxphotonics model MFP-20-C2NN4
EZCAD 2.14.5
Controller board is a BJJCZ Model LMCV4-Fiber-M

The red dot marker and galvos work fine. When sending the FIRE command, the laser appears to fire VERY weakly. So weak it can barely mark anything, but it can burn wood, so I know its doing something.

I have tested the 3 power supplies and all are outputing within parameters.
The lens IS focused to a point where the beam seems most powerful.

The green LED on the board is on when powered up, and the red LED lights when the laser is supposed to be firing.

In the software I have no idea what the various port settings mean or are supposed to be. I have no idea what port masking means.
I have no idea what the Parameter settings are supposed to be. There is no choice in the parameters for "Maxphotonics" as a source, by there is a listing for Raycus, and various other manufacturers of fiber lasers.

Currently the Parameter setting Laser Control Tab is set to Raycus
The Port tab has all ports set to "NULL" and all High/Low switches set to HIGH

In many videos I have watched there is a distinctive sound when the laser is firing....I do not get that sound.

What is my next step? Is there a way to test the source?

By the way, I do have all three manuals...software, source, control card....but they offer little help.

I don't really know what to do at this point.

Post some screenshots of your settings. How'd you determine the focus? Make a big black square and tell it to run, then crank your table or head up and down and see if you ever hit a spot where it takes off and starts engraving. It's quite possible that you are so far out of focus that it won't engrave. That's the simplest thing to check. I'd go up and down about an inch or so if you can. Put the power at 100%. A lot of wood won't mark at all on a fiber, so I'd try something metal, anodized aluminum or stainless or something.

I'm with Steve on this one, it sounds to be out of focus.

Yes, don't try wood. Get scrap of aluminum, steel. I had several cutoffs of aluminum deck plating that I used to run a lot of trials on. Do searches here, lot of settings for materials. My laser hisses at the head just a bit when on and no changes when firing. It does make various materials sing when laser hits them...

Out of focus, too low of power, wrong frequency wrong setting in setup. And other possibilities.

Attachment 389747Attachment 389748Attachment 389749Attachment 389750Attachment 389751
Here are the parameter setup screens.
The lens is a 160-210, the machine was advertised as having a 150x150 area. I originally thought 210mm was the focal distance for focus, but it was not working, so I found a post from someone with an identical lens and they said the focus was approx 9.9 inches from the bottom of the lens. I tried that as a start and quickly found the actual focus that gave the strongest flash when on metal or wood.

The lens is a 160-210, the machine was advertised as having a 150x150 area. I originally thought 210mm was the focal distance for focus, but it was not working, so I found a post from someone with an identical lens and they said the focus was approx 9.9 inches from the bottom of the lens. I tried that as a start and quickly found the actual focus that gave the strongest flash when on metal or wood.

I don't think my problems are with the output settings for type of material, I think its with the parameter settings, or setup of the laser itself...or maybe that the laser source is faulty. I notice you have a 20W unit from Ray Fine. I think they use a Raycus source, but maybe you could look at the screenshots I posted and see if they are anything like your parameter settings.

Just measured my 210/160/150 focus stick, exactly 9.75", and I measure from the part to the lens HOUSING, to the lens glass itself would be close to 9.9", but I won't touch the glass!

As to your screenshots, my EZcad is much older and has a lot less options, but yours appear much the same as mine- However, the stark difference is the last 2 shots, where your input and output I/O masks show all blank; my input mask shows 3,2,1,0 as checked, and the output mask shows 1,0 checked. I have no idea what the 'masks' are or if they're necessary for normal use- If you find good focus fixes your basic problem then that's the main thing. But changing them probably won't hurt just as an experiment to see if anything changes.

Mine is a JPT not Raycus source. I googled Maxphotonics and this first site came up for your laser.

http://en.maxphotonics.com/Products/...PulsedFib.html
A couple of things, I think your setting on first page should be wider, mine is 400 and 1, I have 'semi' MOPA and think you probably do also. Expand those settings (won't hurt anything, laser will ignore outside range).

But I think I would contact maxphotonics thru their chat and see what you can learn from them. First if it is a Raycus and if so, settings, if not then what should you use and settings for that. They may be willing to help.
Insure you let them know this is first of many you will purchase and maybe direct....

I'd be willing to bet laser is just fine, it is the setup that is wrong. I had to install and go thru each of those settings and change them.

Chances are your Max 20W laser source settings for your system should look like this ...
Attachment 389792
Also check the lens to make sure there is no crack or smudge on the lens or the lens filter.

Tried these settings, no change.
My lens does not appear to have a filter on it. There is the main lens body and that fits into an adapter ring, which then fits into the galvo head.
The screw threads on bottom of the lens (facing the table) look damaged, and there is a very tiny scratch in the lens towards the very edge (about the size of a grain of sand).Attachment 389811
The rest of the lens is crystal clear.
From the manufacturer's web site, it appears this lens would have originally had a protective glass filter on it, like you can buy for 35mm cameras.
I can't believe such a tiny mark on the overall lens could cause almost complete power loss.
My 50W CO2 laser actually had metal shavings in it from the factory and it worked so well I never knew about the shavings until the 1st time I took apart the lens to clean it.
This lens is WAY better than that.

Yes, I am using the focus range you suggest, and that is identical to what I found in another posting. I tried setting the IO mask settings to your suggested ones and there was NO change. I still get the VERY weak laser firing. It is barely enough to burn off a magic marker coating on aluminum....and that's at 100% power and 1mm/second speed which is the slowest and most powerful combo. I have also tried various frequencies between 30-60KHz which is the manaufacturer listed range for this model fiber laser. Something is definitely not right.

I do NOT have a MOPA laser. My model is MFP-20-C2NN4.
The link you reference is a model MFPT-20 (the MOPA version in 20W power).
I have tried several times to contact Maxphotonics by email and thru the on-line chat.
It seems no one in the on-line chat speaks English.
There is an email listed for English communications, and my response from that was to contact the builder of the whole laser unit.
That doesn't help me as the "supplier" I got the unit from appears only to be a mass importer.
Who knows who built the unit.

Considering the condition of your lens, I'm curious as to the condition of the mirrors and overall alignment. However, if the red light is tracking well, then so should the laser's beam, IF the beam is actually hitting the mirrors correctly-- Have you done any of the alignment tests?

Set port numbers to 5 or 15