Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
Hello everyone. I am hoping someone can help me out here. I am basically brand new to laser cutting and have just received my first machine, a 65W water-cooled Carbon Dioxide laser table.
I had finished setting up the water pump (with ~7 gallons of distilled water) and confirmed this was working (pumping water into the laser tube, I attached the air compressor and confirmed it was working. I should mention that both of these devices (water pump and compressor) are plugged directly into the machine, into 2 of the 3 power sockets that are available in the back power panel of the laser table. I then powered up the laser with the appropriate switch and was even able to confirm both manual movement of the x/y axes and then fired the laser manually at some cardboard before beginning optical alignment adjustments. After firing the laser several times with the manual "Pulse" button (and getting very excited to see the cardboard being vaporized!).
I then noticed that quite a bit of smoke was building up and decided to connect the extractor fan unit. While the laser machine was on (and laser on, but not firing) I plugged the Chinese "squirrel-box" style extractor fan into the 3rd of the 3 power sockets on the back of the laser table and the whole machine turned off and went dead. I haven't been able to power it up since, neither the laser circuitry or the control circuitry (which have separate power switches). I'm sure that plugging in the fan created too much of a draw but I can't tell if there is some breaker switch that tripped, a fuse that blew or if I overloaded / fried something on the power board.
Power is coming to the wall socket, which has 4 grounded sockets. I did not yet connect the other additional grounding wire but I can see from inside the power panel of the machine that this wire also connects to the ground pin of the power cable that was plugged in so I believe it was grounded during operation, albeit not to the degree it should be.
What can you suggest I should try first? I have basic electronics knowledge and good diagnostic skills but I'm a newb when it comes to these machines.
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Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
I do not know this particular machine, but on a lot of them there is a fuse somewhere near the input power connector.
Usually a small round knob you turn to pull out the topcap then with the fuse inside.
Check the fuse , it is very likely that it has been blown.
best regards,
Walter
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
Check the plug some have a fuse in the plug casing.
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
Originally Posted by Labmaster
Thanks for the advice, this is what I had thought too but after some further inspection today I found no obvious fuses. I'm familiar with those cheap cylindrical fuse units but nothing like that was to be found. I looked further and took off the covers on the 2 main power boards (one the motors, one for the laser). Each of these has fuses that were actually soldered to the board but both look to be unbroken. I even took off wire housings (all the wires are run neatly along in plastic housings) to look for inline fuses but nothing to be seen.
I need to go out and purchase some more fuses anyway and a multimeter to investigate this further but as of now I'm starting to realize that this laser cutter, while clearly capable of some nice work, is also basically white label, having no discernible brand or identification and if it ends up not working I will likely be pretty much on my own to get this thing working.
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
Unfortunately not. It's a classic American plug, no fuse to be seen.
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
In fact, I just tried a different power lead in case it was the plug / cable that was the issue but still nothing
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
SC;
Your best bet is to purchase a inexpensive multimeter and check the power in to the power supply. If it's there, I would check the output of the PS and so on!
A meter will tell you volumes!
Good luck! I'm trying to talk myself into getting a laser for the shop but cannot justify the cost at this time.
Bill
billyjack
Helicopter def. = Bunch of spare parts flying in close formation! USAF 1974 ;>)
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
Have you checked the big red E stop button You may have accidentally pushed it in you have to twist it to reset it
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
Yes, thank you. I have checked and rechecked this many times to make sure it's not been depressed. I now have multimeter but I'm trying to figure out exactly how to use it to safely test if power is getting into the machine.
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
Additional Images of the power boards:
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
Where my power cord comes into the machine mine has a small fuse under it. You have to unplug machine to see it.
This blew on mine when the blower, chiller and air pump was started at the same time.
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
YESSSS!!!! You did it buddy, that's exactly where it was. Not in the plug, not after the socket inside the machine but *part of the socket*, directly under the socket opening.
Thank you so much, got new fuses and she started right up!
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
There was another post on here about nearly the same machine saying that the wiring was pretty under-rated to run all the auxiliary components, exhaust fan, water pump, and air assist compressor. He melted down his emergency switch, all the power goes through the emergency stop switch before feeding the individual switches. And he went on about re-wiring it. Sounded like the safest bet was to put the exhaust fan on its own circuit and not run it through the laser as that was the largest power consumer.
Re: Brand New Machine suddenly turned off on first usage
Yes, ultimately i ended up running the exhaust fan on it's own. I think that's good advice regarding rewiring the some of the power circuitry. I'll have a look when I'm more comfortable with the machine.
All in all I think it's a good unit although, yes, it's pretty barebones and several of the electrical components are pretty cheap (I already had to replace one of the USB ports. Not expensive or difficult, but still a pain the butt). . I still think it's great for the price and I'm happy so far with the quality of the stuff I have started to get it cutting.
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