X/Y Disabled X on Epilog Mini 18

[Bob Kline]

Just had a problem. My Epilog Mini 18 began to start a job and the plunger missed the piece somehow and now is jammed against the table and the plunger appears to have broken but maybe it's just bent. The display reads X/Y Disabled X. Does anyone know if there's a way to free it?
Thanks

[Scott Shepherd]

I'm not sure exactly how that machine is built, but see if it's possible to turn the machine off, maybe take a cover or two off until you can get to the lead screw that raises and lowers the table. Take your hand and turn that until the table comes down some.

Then close it back up and turn it on.

That's not a professional opinion.

Professional opinion is call Epilog tech support. It's free and they'll have the right answer.

[Joe Pelonio]

Epilog tech support has been available for about an hour now, so hopefully you have called them. The plunger is fairly easy to replace, I'd be more concerned about the xbar or table coming off the tracks.

[Jim Watkins]

I don't know about others, but I have removed my autofocus plunger and only focus manually.

I was told some horrer stories like this one from my demo rep. and decided it was best to remove. It was quite easy.

I am unsure of how to fix this problem now, but would agree that epilog should have a way of getting around this. Or maybe the rep. who sold you your laser.

Good luck and let us know how you resolved the problem.

[Barbara Sample]

On occasion, my head seems to get stuck on the home position side, and the display screen says it's jammed and to call a tecnichian. I just shut it down and restart and that seems to fix it.

I do not use the auto focus at all. Mine stopped working a long time ago and I only focus manually now.

Barbara

[Anthony Scira]

Yeah I manually focus like 90% of the time.

The only time I auto is on some flat wood or plastic.

Wishing you an easy fix.

[mike wallis]

I spoke to Keith Outten back in 2004 when I was looking into the laser business. He told me that he only uses the manual focus because of an incident he had with the auto focus on his Legend that freaked him out. He described it to me at the time but I didn't quite get what the big deal was and why he did not want to use the auto focus any longer. Well I found out within weeks of owning my Mini. On a job that had a beveled edge on the piece to be engraved, the auto focus plunger (With a domed end) slipped off the bevel while auto focusing. This caused the plunger to push aside and the table proceeded to move up with no limitations other than the head stopping it. Luckily I caught it in time to stop the focus and the only damage was to the air assist (Bent it a little).

Keith I now know why you did not want to use the auto focus....The idea of potentially damaging a $15,000 piece of equipment to shave a few seconds off the time just isn't worth it.

[Pete Simmons]

My auto focus has worked perfectly for the last few years, sitting in a draw, since I removed it from the machine.

Besides the plus of not having the problem discussed here you also have a little more clearance.


I wish Epilog would scrap the auto focus and instead install a table height indicator. Kinda like the Wixley gauges used on power tools.

I bet the only reason they keep it is Marketing.

Who wants to say we do not have Auto Focus.

Maybe someday Marketing would like to say we have greater head clearance?

[Bob Kline]

I talked to Ian at Epilog and he got me up and running in a couple of minutes. Took off the front cover and tugged on the belt to lower the table. Like someone else said, the plunger slipped off the bevelled edge of 1/2" acrylic and just kept going. I don't know what's more intense -- the panic when it breaks or the relief when it's fixed.
Thanks for the responses

[Bill Cunningham]

I did this once with the TT and the table came up and lifted the cross beam out of the track.. I had only had the machine about a week and panic set it.. Called support, and they sent me the info to get the cross beam back on track..
I am now very very careful when using the auto focus.. I also found out that if you get into a fix, and have to lower the table from where ever you are, press the stop button twice, then press the focus button and use the control to lower the table.. It will also let you move the head to anyplace on the table with the XY and manual focus in that spot ..I don't know if this will work on the mini though..

[Freida Kirkland]

I knew that this was the place to find answers!
I found myself in a sticky situation late last night; I hadn't noticed that the auto-focus had measured off of the piece I was going to vector and it moved the table up so high that I was getting an x/y disabled = x error and my poor AF plunger was getting stuck in the vector table. When it tried to move to home it would hit the ruler and shut off... There wasn't any way to get it to boot up long enough to get the focus button to work - it was a mess!! And, I was very sure I'd ruined something!
After trying everything I could think of, I finally logged into SMC and tho-and-behold, there was the answer!!
Thanks so much everyone for such a great and useful forum! I can always come here and find answers and helpful advice - heck, I even looked and found vectors for cutting a bass guitar! Wow!
You guys and gals are awesome!

[Tim Bateson]

I would think by now the manufacturers would have removed the plunger & designed a laser measuring system. The technology is out there and likely less complex then the plunger design. The only limitation I see is reflective material & there must be some way of compensating for that.

Hello manufacturers are you listening? hint hint.

I love being an armchair quarterback!

[Scott Shepherd]

Tim, it's already out there. On the newer ULS units, it does 2 different things. If you insist on an "autofocus", there is a beam that shoots across the table and as the table rises, it hits the top of the piece and knows that's it.

However, and the one I use every job, and love, is the "Z Height". The machine knows where the table is, so all it needs to know is the thickness of your material. There is a slider bar and you just slide it to the thickness of your material, and it's set. You can save the job, call it up later, and it knows the Z Height based on what you save. No more plunger, no more focusing on every single work piece, or being forced to send the job over twice, once with focus on, once without.

Having had the plunger method, I'd never ever buy another machine that didn't have Z height functions.

[David Fairfield]

Yeah I've had the focus gear lock up a few times due to operator error. I removed my auto focus plunger too.

I always hit the main power switch to "off" when anything gets jammed, as I don't want to risk an axis drive motor running and burning out. When the focus table is locked and the power off, I remove the front grill and move the table manually by moving the pully.

When you've got it open, its a good idea to take a magic marker and draw an indicator arrow pointing which direction to pull to lower the table. You don't wanna be a bonehead twice and force it the wrong way!

Dave

[Val Delaney]

Thank you so much friends for this fantastic forum. Because of this thread, I was able to resolve our x/y disable issue! You guys are the best!!