Hi Glen, might sound like a silly question but was it all properly earthed prior to switch on?
Hi
Im new to laser engravers and just purchased a CO2 40W Laser Engraving Cutting Machine W/ Laser Pointer &Laser DRW Engraver from ebay.
The machine arrived on Friday and set it up today following all the instructions in the manual and on the video. Also looked up the same type of videos on Youtube.
Checked everything over all looked ok, set the software as instructed and was all ready to switch on the laser by the main switch after having the water pump running for about 30mins.
When i turned on the main red switch to on the machine went BANG and threw my main electic box switch. Once electric was turned back on checked inside the laser and cannot see any black marks to indicate
where or what blew, water pump still works so do air assist and extractor fan. Tried changing the fuse to the main plug still nothing the machine is completely dead.
Any ideas to what went wrong, or how i can find out what blew. I know nothing about lasers at all just thought id invest in one to expand my dolls house business.
The tube seems intact and the water still pumps through it.
Any help here would be very helpful and very appreciated.
regards
Glen
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Hi Glen, might sound like a silly question but was it all properly earthed prior to switch on?
Chinese Laser Cutter / Engraver 300x500 | RD Works | Bofa IDOracle Extraction
If you blew your house main (20 amp breaker? )you have a short (high current draw) on the 110 volt line OR where are you located? Are your mains 220? If so maybe you received a 110 vac model and you found your problem. Replace the power supply. That would do it. Now referring to my other threads where I describe who you should be to buy/own one of these we will proceed thinking you have basic electrical skills. If you don't, DO NOT PROCEED! Find someone who can safely deal with mains power (electrician, ham radio operator, someone who graduated high school before 1960. Probably a male) OK now with the unit disconnected turn the power switch to "on" . Measuring across the line cord plug terminals you should see 150 to 300 ohms. what you should not see is under 50 ohms or infinite ohms. Measure to ground from one of the terminals and you will have around one megohm. If the first test comes in "open" then trace the wiring backwards through the cord,switch and to the power supply input terminals until you find the open. If not external to the power supply try the seller and perhaps he will send a new supply. If that is a no go, remove the supply and look for a blown fuse and or circuit board trace blown open. Replace fuse, repair circuit board etc and then recheck resistance as in first test. Also disconnect light, air etc. to isolate. Double check wiring for errors etc and make sure it makes sense. That's pretty much it. These are NOT a consumer product (no laser is in spite of the advertising) and all of what I just wrote should make sense or you need to find a friend to whom it does make sense. These are good basic machines but you need many skills to keep one running. Good luck and report back.
Some machine need for several adjustment before press start button.
From ebay: Power Supply:220V/50Hz
Is that the operating voltage of you country? If it is, I'd verify with the seller that you didn't get one set for 120v
Hello
Thank you for the reply.
Yes i checked all the wiring for bad connections and good earth wiring prior to turning on, as i did some research on these machines and from what i read you need to have a good look as some are poorly wired.
Have checked over and over today and cannot find a point that is damaged or looks broken.
I am basically good at electronicsand wiring in general and this just does not make sense as all seems in order except no power at all.
Glen
Hi
So maybe i had a wrong power supply because i have nothing at all power wise now.
Have sent pics to supplier they should sort it hopefully
Glen
Yes im in the Uk so 220/240V is right power supply
will ask the supplier what power this one was it should have been 220v
Glen
Well if it was a 110 supply you have your problem! Unfortunately I doubt these supplies have any protection other than the magic smoke and you may have fried the digital board as well. I would check the resistance on the controller board 5v,12 v, 24 volt lines before hooking your "new" power supply to the old control board or I would dig up separate low voltage power supplies to run that old board for a test. If you disconnect the 220 leads going into the power supply and "carefully" measure for 220vac does it show up there? That would test the cord and on/off switch. BUT don't fix that and hook the power supply back up until you figure the problem. I just went and checked my gen 4 machine and the power switch is a DPST. If it was cross wired it would have done exactly as you described in your post. This would be lucky as the switch would have opened internally (bang) and no voltage would have made it to the rest of the machine to cause damage. Check on/off continuity of both sides of the switch and that the power is wired "through" the switch and not across one "side" of it.
If something went bang, then something actually visibly broke. Blowing your circuit breaker means that it would be on the 110V side of things. Most likely, it was your power supply. "Bang" is usually a capacitor. Which either would have vented from the top or bottom, possibly spilling the cardboard coil all over the place.
My guess? All those nuts and screws that seem to come loose in shipping, somehow one of them ended up in your power supply. The power supply can be opened pretty easily to take a peak. Obviously don't do it with the power connected. You will want to look on the bottom side of your circuit board, too.
It could possibly also be the wiring from the plug to the power supply. A wire "could" go bang when it blows open. I assume you did an ohm check across the terminals of the electrical plug? A continuity check from the wiring of the plug to the power supply?
Being a switching power supply, I doubt the 110V/220V thing is really that big of an issue with these supplies. I mean at least not to the point of blowing up the moment you turn it on. It would fail eventually, though.
What exactly do they mean "bad voltage connection"? That wording has no meaning. With out a real diagnosis it can be a setup for replacing parts and the same thing happening again. You see it over and over in these threads usually ending with the supplier becoming non communicative and the purchaser calling it "junk".
I have no idea, dont see how photos can help them all parts look perfect no scorch marks, blacking or anything to suggest the almighty bang that came from it.
Will only except a whole replacement i think as im not to sure about messing with a machine that blew up in the first place.
Im just waiting for a reply from them again but it takes a whole day due to the time difference.
As i paid through ebay with paypal can always get a full refund if im not happy with what they say so at least that is something.
I concur. I wouldn't accept their troubleshooting out-of-hand unless they provide an explanation that you can test for yourself. It could be however that your pictures identified wrong wiring like suggested above to the main power switch.
Did the bang for sure comes from within the machine or was it the circuit breaker in your house that made the bang sound?
No definitely from within the machine i am 4 floor up from the fuse box and a flash lit up the craft room, before the electric supply cut out.
They suggested the power surge before seeing the pictures so that was pure guess work, and due to the high voltage in these machines i wont except anything untill i can confirm their diagnosis.
I'm going to take a small risk and say no way this has anything to do with the high voltage or even the low voltages portion of the power supply.This problem is somewhere on the mains side input to the supply. Can you post the pictures you sent them? I am particularly interested in pictures of the back side of the power connector inside the machine and also the backside of the on/off switch and where the mains wires are attached to the power supply. A problem of this magnitude should take 5-10 minutes tops to nail down as to what is wrong. Watch out for ebay's time limit on returns and remember you have to pay return shipping and you won't get the good deal they get. Probably a lot cheaper to repair it. It does not sound like you ran the ohmmeter tests as I originally described and if you did what were the results?
Edit: You mentioned a surge. Nope it was not a "surge" and not a "voltage problem". It was a short on your 220 line somewhere on the output side of the switch. Bad switch, wiring attached to the switch or between the switch and supply, bad input transformer on the supply. I think that covers it.
And BTW, at least on my 110V K40 machine, there IS a fuse inside the IEC plug. Not very obvious how to get to it, but it is in a tray you push out under the IEC plug. You could check that, too.
You push it out with the hole on the backside. (I think it is actually above the IEC plug when installed based on the lettering)