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

[Gary LaGuardia]

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.

[Scott Shepherd]

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.

[Gary Hair]

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

[John Lifer]

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.

[Gary LaGuardia]

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.

[Gary LaGuardia]

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.

[Kev Williams]

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.

[John Lifer]

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.

[Gary LaGuardia]

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.

[Kev Williams]

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?

[Dave Sheldrake]

Set port numbers to 5 or 15

[Gary LaGuardia]

There are a whole bunch of different settings that could be switched to port 5 or 15....which setting are you talking about?

[Dave Sheldrake]

There are a whole bunch of different settings that could be switched to port 5 or 15....which setting are you talking about?

The one that is currently set to "Null"

Just been dealing with exactly this kind of problem for somebody this week with the same non firing issues

[Gary LaGuardia]

How do I know if the beam is hitting the mirrors correctly? The red dot contour is slightly out of alignment with the actual laser beam...maybe by 1mm for so. Its enough to see that the Main laser is firing. I didn't bother trying to align the red beam with the actual beam yet because then I wouldn't be able to see if the actual laser were firing or not. However if there is some physical alignment method to align the laser emitter with the mirrors, then I am not aware of it. Is there a procedure to align the emitter and galvo head?

[Scott Shepherd]

How do I know if the beam is hitting the mirrors correctly? The red dot contour is slightly out of alignment with the actual laser beam...maybe by 1mm for so. Its enough to see that the Main laser is firing. I didn't bother trying to align the red beam with the actual beam yet because then I wouldn't be able to see if the actual laser were firing or not. However if there is some physical alignment method to align the laser emitter with the mirrors, then I am not aware of it. Is there a procedure to align the emitter and galvo head?

Not that I know of without special equipment. When the beam hits the mirrors, it's about 5mm in diameter if I remember correctly. It gains it's power density when it goes through the lens and focuses it, if I understand it correctly. The beam is invisible and doesn't mark on anything like tape, so if there's an easy way to align it, I've never seen it, and I've asked around a number of times.