Chinese laser purchase/Shenui/Laserworks tips and tricks thread

[Joshua John Cruz]

Hi Dave,

Sorry forgot to mention I have a shenhui G460 machine with CW-3000 water chiller.

Flow switch?

Don't know where this is.

Door switch?

No Door switch

Trigger wire to the tube PSU?

Don't know which specific wires. Please see pictures below.

Key switch now faulty?

Could be as this is where the problem started as I said above (was able to cut several acrylics - turned off key switch - changed acrylic sheet - turned on key switch - pressed Laser button - suddenly wont fire). But I checked and wires are properly connected.

It's unlikely to be a tube fault (there are other symptoms when a tube fails) but could be one of the above.

When I fire the laser before, I can see magenta colored beam but now nothing.

Check every screw lock that holds a wire on both the mainboard and power supplies to ensure they are clamping the wires correctly.

- not sure which of the images below is the mainboard but as for the laser tube power supply, I am trying to open it (stripped the last screw, still trying to open it), and check if the fuse is blown. The fuse for the two 220v plugs are fine.

Place a strong magnet (NdFeB if possible) on the door switch (if it has one) BE AWARE this will bypass the door safety lock, KEEP ANYTHING and EVERYTHING out of the machine working area when you test fire it.

I am not sure if my machine has a door switch.

Locate the water flow sensor in the machine (if it has one) tap it lightly a couple of times to ensure the flow bobble isn't sticking. (also check your water supply for signs of dirt or junk, this can make the flow switch block up and cease working)

- I believe my machine does not have a water flow sensor. I checked and the water is clean.

If these don't work drop back and we can go into a few more things

Did I mention:

Leave the machine OFF for 6 hours first
Keep anything you don't want destroyed OUT of the working area of the machine.

cheers

Dave

Thanks Dave!

P1130730.jpgP1140059.jpgP1140061.jpgP1140062.jpgP1140063.jpgP1140064.jpgP1140065.jpgP1140067.jpg

[Joshua John Cruz]

UPDATE:

Finally able to open the laser tube PSU to check the Fuse and it is not blown.
Is it possible that the fuse looks not blown but actually it's blown?
P1140075.jpg

Sorry for got to mention that the FAN of the laser tube PSU is not spinning.

[Rich Harman]

You can check if the fuse is blown with a multimeter. Set it to measure resistance.

Your water flow sensor is in pic #2.

[Rich Harman]

Sorry for got to mention that the FAN of the laser tube PSU is not spinning.

Could be the main switch - the round one that you rotate to turn on. Mine has been quirky for a while now, have to sometimes push in a little while turning to get it to work.

[Joshua John Cruz]

Checked all 3 fuses (1 for laser PSU and 2 for the 220v plugs) using a multimeter and all are good.
Also checked the wall socket and it is also good.

I thought my machine does not have a water sensor. That is why I get a "water error" something when I forgot to turn on the water chiller and press the "Laser" button. But I did not get any error regarding water, so I would assume that it is fine.

I believe it is not the main switch as well (as I understand, you are referring to the Emergency Stop button). The machine turns on. It just wont fire when I press "Laser".

Thanks Rich!

[Joshua John Cruz]

After hours of troubleshooting...
Found out that...
The power cable... is... broken... LOL!
Did not expect it to get broken easily after approximately 40 hours of using.hehe

Replaced with a spare one and now laser fires!

Thanks to all who have helped me and of course to Shenhui support!

[Dave Sheldrake]

Good news Josh

For reference as Rich said the flow sensor is the red item with the yellow arrow in picture 2.

Door sensors are usually located on the top of the machine in a position where the door rests when it closes, have a look round the edge of the door for a small magnet, the switch will be located where that meets the machine case when it is closed. If possible try to avoid turning off the entire machine on the keyswitch when swapping out sheets, it's not really required if the door interlock is working. It's possible it doesn't have a door switch on a US supplied machine depending on what the laws are like over there, over here door interlocks/safety switches are a legal requirement and any machine supplied without one would be refused import by Customs if it were spotted as well as red ticketed by a factory inspector / HSE if they saw it on an inspection.(it would also be refused CE marking)

On the pics you will notice some of the wires fit into different parts like power supplies etc inside green blocks, if you look closely at the blocks there will be some very small screws in then, these can work lose when the machines are sent out (although they look to be hot glued in the pictures) so they are one place worth checking if power suddenly fails.

When tubes fail but the rest of the system is till working you will usually get a rather loud ,bright arc inside the rear of the tube area, it's just the power trying to find a new path to ground when it cannot make it through a failed tube, quite scary the first time it happens but not at all unusual just make sure if it does happen at any time that you cut the power by hitting the big red stop button as quickly as you can. While no real risk to you it can damage some of the machines electrical system if it's left to arc for any length of time.

Good to know your running again though

cheers

Dave

[Jason M Larson]

Got my Shenhui G570 two weeks ago after reading threads here for a few months. Got everything setup and mirrors aligned. Started playing with different materials/speeds to build my database, etc.

At one point in laserwork I hit the home button on the Z axis and my work starting moving up towards the laser. Not realizing it would automatically stop itself with the set screw I hit the big red "Stop" button.

Now whenever I try to start a job from laserwork I get the message "Machine Protected Work Paused"

I have checked that the chiller is working and pumping water and flowing through the tube. The motors and laser both work fine when operated manually from the control panel. I have reset the machine and rebooted the laserwork computer a number of times. I have reset all the axis multiple times as well.

I have a support request in to Shenhui but was just wondering if maybe someone on here could help me out a little quicker. Is there any way to get an error code out of the machine to find out why the protection is set?

Thanks!

[Dave Sheldrake]

Check for a Z axis overtravel limit switch, if that is still making contact the machine won't start.

cheers

Dave

[Jason M Larson]

Check for a Z axis overtravel limit switch, if that is still making contact the machine won't start.

cheers

Dave

Thanks Dave. That was not my exact problem but I figured it out while examining the overtravel switch.

My problem was silly, it was basically the top was open. When I panicked I somehow had toggled the X-Axis mirror toggle and the top wouldn't close in the now incorrect "origin" position so I was trying to run it with the top open which leads to "Machine Protected Work Paused"

Learning new stuff everyday

When the machine resets it goes all the way to the top left, running into the hinge there, and then moves out to origin. I have to make sure the top is open when I turn it on each time. Anyway to fix this?

[Hermes Sandoval]

I've been looking for an LS900 CPU too, or selling the rest of the pieces to the owner of a gravograph machine, but my location makes that transaction nearly impossible, I'm in Guadalajara, México.

[Levi Chanowitz]

I sent you a PM

[Kevin Looker]

Hello all.

I have a Shenhui GH1290 that I received at the end of last year.

I'm trying to get it set up now & I'm loosing my mind getting the mirrors aligned. I think the problem is that mirror #1 (first mirror after the laser tube) is mounted in the wrong position.

When doing test fires in the closest & furthest positions, I can only get coincident burn marks between the 1 and 2 o'clock positions on mirror 2. I've turned the adjustment screws in every conceivable combination which only causes the marks to move apart. Am I on the right track or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

Kevin Looker

[Levi Chanowitz]

look for threads on how to adjust the mirrors
it is very possible that the mirror does not align with the tube. you may need to adjust the tube or mirror mount. It may be a mistake at the factory
good luck!

[Kev Williams]

No help with mirror adjustment, my Triumph mirrors couldn't be better aligned, right off the boat! That was a nice surprise!


On page 6 began discussion of the "min/max" power settings... not much info in any instructions, but what I found out is, the min power setting is AKA "Corner Power", the power used during decel at corners...



Check your machine's display if you're vectoring something with a lower corner power, the "min power" on the display should be the corner power you entered. I've found that min power only applies to cutting, not rastering, at least with my machine. The minimum power setting is the power used when the machine decelerates for corners. I've found roughly 45% of the max power- like the 28 min with 60 max in the pic - works pretty good. It might not be so noticeable when doing thru-cuts, but If for example you're vectoring square borderlines on some wood and the corners are over-burning, turn down the corner power.

On page 8:

There is no electrical connection between the CW3000 chiller and the Laser. The control board on the laser detects water flow through a water flow switch - (its installed in the left hand bottom panel of the laser if you are facing the laser). The water flow switch needs to make contact to enable the controller to allow the laser to fire. Check the water flow switch and the connection from the flow switch to the controller.

Maybe because mine's newer, but my CW3000 has an electrical connection to the laser:

EDIT-- could also be because mine's a BH3000, not a CW3000...?







As to backlash, AKA 'reverse offset', contrary to the instructions, I have to enter NEGATIVE numbers to get the backlash to zero out. And the goofy mathematical calculation in the instructions doesn't quite work for me. Every time I try a new raster speed I run some quick tests and number adjustments. Right now this is my list of adjustments- And BTW, I have NO idea what "curve disperse" or the circle speed adjustments do?



======================

I was reading thru this thread looking for info on 'overdriving' my machine from the factory 500mm/second default max speed. As you can see above, I reset the max to 700mm/sec and have been getting good results. I'd like to see if I can get it to run at 1000 or 1200mm/sec without the steppers skipping...