Door Override?

[Gene Hobbs]

Hello everyone. Does anyone know how to override the front door safety switch on a Epilog Helix 45 watt. I need to engrave a skateboard but my laser isn't wide enough.


Thanks Gene

[Darren Null]

It's normally magnetic catches. You can either:

1) Unscrew the magnets from the door and then stick them in place leaving the door free to move

or

2) Use other magnets to complete the circuit. This is easiest, and is made really easy if you have a 'door open' light. The light will go out when you have the magnets in the right place.

[Rodne Gold]

We use magnetic badge backs to override , we keep a few stuck on the metal side of the laser enclosure so they always at hand.

[Mike Hood]

We use magnetic badge backs to override , we keep a few stuck on the metal side of the laser enclosure so they always at hand.

Me too... it gets your heartbeat up the first time you test run something and realize you forgot to remove the magnets and the door is open.

[Gene Hobbs]

Hey guys thanks for the help. The only problem is I'm not sure but I think my laser is different. My magnets are located on the machine itself not the door.
I will take a photo of it this morning when I get to the shop and post it. Thanks again for the help.


Gene

[Rob Bosworth]

Gene, the door will have the magnets and the the machine will have the wired interlocks.

If anyone is wanting to defeat any safety interlocks, please be extremely careful. They are installed on these machines to provide protection to the operator and anyone else within "eyeshot". If you have to defeat your interlock, please where safety glasses. These CO2 laser beams will be absorbed in the mucus membrane of the eye, but that evaporates/ vaporizes very quickly. A pair of standard safety glasses will give you an instant more to react to a stray beam.

I have been handling, running, servicing, building CO2 lasers since 1981. I have had a cavalier attitude about wearing safety glasses when dealing with exposed laser beams. Last week, I was working on a 25 watt Synrad. So I fired it up to check out my handiwork. As I leaned forward to see if the beam was on, I caught a reflection right above my hairline. I had to be three or four feet from the "beam absorber", but man did it burn. While I was trying to figure out what was going on, maybe 10 seconds, I noticed that something plastic was burning. Up on top of a rack, I had a piece of plastic that was sticking out over the edge. This unfocused beam had already burned a hole through it, and was scorching the ceiling. This was a 10 ft. high ceiling, and it had to be 15 ft. from where the beam was reflected.

Be careful!

[john welsh]

we use magnets from our magnetic notice boardit uses white ones and red ones white has a positive polarity and red a negative polarity . so depends if your machine has 2 types of poles on the magnets .

[Gene Hobbs]

Thanks guys I got it going. Just needed a little bigger magnets. Like everyone said I didn't really care to do this, but with this client I think it is going to bring some big contract work of other items. If that happens I will either buy a bigger bed laser or sub it out to some of you guys with bigger beds.


Thanks Gene

[Steven Wallace]

You buy the biggest bed you can afford and sure enough the jobs that come to you are just outside of the limit of your machine. It's sort of like a couple buying a house for a small family and ending up with 5 kids. Who knew?