Can't figure this out

[Dave Rawn]

I don't have a clue as to what is happening here. The laser cuts normaly and then powers down and then powers back up leaving the piece uncut in the area I have noted with arrows. I have checked everything I can think of incuding alignment, clean lens, and any software issues. I'm using
corel X3 as my laser software.

TIA
Dave

[Mitchell Andrus]

Post the Corel file. Probably something stupid.

Mitch

[Dave Rawn]

This pattern of cutting and non cutting is affecting every file that I use

[Mike Mackenzie]

Dave,

What laser are you using that might help to get some answers for you.

[Dave Rawn]

My laser is a Epliog Legend 32 75 watt

[Dave Rawn]

I Forgot to mention that I cut baltic birch at 100% power and 50% speed

[Joe Pelonio]

Is it cutting lines but not curves? Have you tried a file that worked before? I'd get on the horn to Epilog Technical Support, and e-mail them the file. When my tube went out it was cutting and not cutting randomly,
this is a really odd one.

[Mike Null]

50% speed sounds pretty fast for vector cuts, have you tried slowing it down--maybe to 20 or 25?

[Dave Rawn]

I have tried different speeds and does not make a difference I have cut all of the 1/8th inch baltic birch at 50% speed and 100% power and have not had a problem. I have used the same files for almost 2 years and they have all cut normaly untill last friday when the problem started. Last nite I started to cut a new pattern and the same problem started after the second sheet.

[Rodne Gold]

I dont have your laser , so dont take what I say as gospel but it
sounds like a tube overheating issue , first thing to check is that the tube isnt overheating , open the tube enclosure and used canned air to blow all dust off tube fins , fans , vent holes etc , IE make sure you have the volume of air circulating and clean metal surfaces for any heat exchangers. Also check the motherboard and blow the dust of it and any driver ics etc. Check with your mnfgr if its ok before doing any of this!!!!

[Bernhard Rameder]

For me it looks like your laser tube is not working correctly or you have any file transmisson problem. Does it happen after you pressed the first time start or after the job is already stored in your machine?

[Dave Rawn]

I do routine cleaning on my laser twice a month and had just cleaned all of the cooling fins. the motherboard is clean and dust free. The laser is located in a air conditioned room with additional fans blowing cool air on the laser. When I start a job it cuts the 2 or 3 sheets out perfect and then it will begin to power down and power up first missing one or two pieces then on the next sheet it will miss cut 3 or 4 pieces and this will get worse with every sheet I cut.

[Bruce Volden]

Dave

I tend to agree with Rodne, you have an issue with the tube! I've replaced several over the years and it was always the tube, it would start out fine and then as things "heated up" the cut quality diminished. I've even had the beam "glow" yellowish instead of white when engraving an object. On the other hand the tube could be fine and the laser electronics went sideways which is the same thing basically . Keep us posted.

Bruce

[Shaddy Dedmore]

seems like too much of a fluke for the failed cut portion to be in the same spot for each object like that. Would the laser fail like that due to heat?

It's in different spots on the table, but same within the object, so it would appear to me to be a problem with the file. Maybe something's corrupting the data.

Shaddy

[Lee DeRaud]

You've got a file that has a whole array of these shapes, and the same subcurve of some of them is cutting at a different power level. I've got to agree with Shaddy on this one: no way is that a hardware issue. Easiest way to tell for sure is to mirror the entire job both vertically and horizontally and rerun it...see what (if anything) fails.

Narrow it down:

First, go into the object manager and make sure there isn't some hidden cruft on that page that's confusing the driver: all you should see is a regular array of your shapes, anything else should stick out like a sore thumb. Then...

1. Copy one of the ones that fails to a different page (same position) and cut it by itself. If it works, the file is ok, so it's probably some kind of buffer overflow issue. If it fails, move it to a "good" position and see if it still fails: if it does, the problem is in the file...maybe that curve is getting set to the wrong color for some reason.

2. Copy one of the ones that works to a different page and move it to a "failure" position. If it works, move it back to the original page (replacing a failed one) and see what happens.

3. Flip the whole array vertically and cut it...see if the same ones fail.

4. (Assuming your driver supports it) Select one row at a time of the original array and cut it as a separate job. If they all work, problem is probably in the driver...if one or more of them fail, problem is in the file.