[QuickCutDieCut]

Bought a 50w cheap chinese laser off ebay (brand new) for $2500 (including delivery) which was shipped from their Sydney distributor, and I set up as per instructions however it does everything it is supposed to do except activate the laser beam when it is supposed to be cutting.

I found a small red button with the word test next to it, on the side of the laser powersupply inside the cabinet and the laser will make a small hole when you push it but so far that is the only cutting I've been able to do.

I set up my laptop and followed all instructions (output is set to cut mode and laser is 100% output etc) and it starts moving to the design I've drawn but it doesn't activate the laser beam. The Chinese manufacturers (as I also thought) suggested the water safety cut off switch could be the culprit, and I should strip and reconnect the wires, but that didn't help.

Troubleshooting with them in china and me being a novice in Australia is near impossible. It takes days to get response and so far after a couple of weeks I've only tried one suggested fix as mentioned above.

I also noticed that if I draw anything on the software, eg a simple word, I can see it tracing the word in reverse. Is this normal? I would have thought it would try to cut exactly what is on the screen not the reverse.

I'm at the point I'm going to have to fork out a couple of hundred bucks and ship it back to the Sydney "distributor" and get a replacement delivered, but thought I'd ask an expert or two on this forum if there are any obvious things could try that I'm missing.

Every wire appears to attached and every light appears to be on. Also the front panel has a button which by rights should cause the laser to pulse but doesn't.

Here's a link to a similar machine: Engraver Cutter CO2 Laser Engraving Machine Auxiliary Rotary Device 50W NEW DL | eBay

I don't suspect anyone is going to be able to work this out via a public forum but I thought what the heck why not give it a try!

[fixtureman1]

You most likely have Laserworks for your software. Try going into the vender settings under file and read the settings on the machine to get in you have to use password RD8888 and the you hit read. After you get the display up you may want to save that so you can restore the settings. Check the laser power settings and see if your max is set at lest 90% but not more than 98%. Does your head move the correct way when you press the arrow buttons.

[Rolf_K]

Hi, I bought what looks like the identical machine some time ago, here in the USA. The unit was the same price, drop shipped from California, free to my home in Tennessee. I am not going into all the problems I experienced with both the hardware and software. Luckily I had set aside money for converting to an American-made controller Agni, made and sold by Solustan Inc. I was pleased with their conversion for my rotary engraver conversion that I did some years ago.
Everything looked very promising but then my hard drive crashed just as they closed the business down for vacation, for four weeks!
Back to your problem, you might want to look at the water flow switch signal, I am pretty sure it will prevent your laser from firing if it is not proper. If laser head goes home on start up then there is a software problem.
I am going to send you a private message.

Bought a 50w cheap chinese laser off ebay (brand new) for $2500 (including delivery) which was shipped from their Sydney distributor, and I set up as per instructions however it does everything it is supposed to do except activate the laser beam when it is supposed to be cutting.

I found a small red button with the word test next to it, on the side of the laser powersupply inside the cabinet and the laser will make a small hole when you push it but so far that is the only cutting I've been able to do.

I set up my laptop and followed all instructions (output is set to cut mode and laser is 100% output etc) and it starts moving to the design I've drawn but it doesn't activate the laser beam. The Chinese manufacturers (as I also thought) suggested the water safety cut off switch could be the culprit, and I should strip and reconnect the wires, but that didn't help.

Troubleshooting with them in china and me being a novice in Australia is near impossible. It takes days to get response and so far after a couple of weeks I've only tried one suggested fix as mentioned above.

I also noticed that if I draw anything on the software, eg a simple word, I can see it tracing the word in reverse. Is this normal? I would have thought it would try to cut exactly what is on the screen not the reverse.

I'm at the point I'm going to have to fork out a couple of hundred bucks and ship it back to the Sydney "distributor" and get a replacement delivered, but thought I'd ask an expert or two on this forum if there are any obvious things could try that I'm missing.

Every wire appears to attached and every light appears to be on. Also the front panel has a button which by rights should cause the laser to pulse but doesn't.

Here's a link to a similar machine: Engraver Cutter CO2 Laser Engraving Machine Auxiliary Rotary Device 50W NEW DL | eBay

I don't suspect anyone is going to be able to work this out via a public forum but I thought what the heck why not give it a try!

[fixtureman1]

Are you getting water flow. If you are then go into the settings like I told you and select water protection and say no. Do not select this if you do not have water flowing

[QuickCutDieCut]

You most likely have Laserworks for your software. Try going into the vender settings under file and read the settings on the machine to get in you have to use password RD8888 and the you hit read. After you get the display up you may want to save that so you can restore the settings. Check the laser power settings and see if your max is set at lest 90% but not more than 98%. Does your head move the correct way when you press the arrow buttons.

Hi Fixtureman1, thanks for replying and offering to help, really appreciate it.
firstly yes I have laserworks, I'm about to get coreldraw instead.
Can you elaborate on your instructions to do with going into vendor settings under file. Is this in teh software or through control panel
I've tried maxing the power both on the control panel and in the software.
Head moves correct way when pressing buttons.
I have great water flow and will see if I can switch off water protection option.

Thanks Again!
Might be a day or so before I repost but hopefully sooner.

[QuickCutDieCut]

Hi Rolf, Thanks for your message, I tried replying to your private one but said your mailbox full and could not accept it.

The laser head didn't go "home" when I first started it up, was somewhere in the middle.
I manually have left it in the top left position and it stays there each time I switch it on. I could try moving to a different position and switching it off and then back on again to see if it tries to go home.

Do you know is there is a way to test the water flow switch signal? I blew up my good multimeter testing the laser firing, but have since bought a new one. I don't know how the switches are supposed to work so don't know how to test. There was about 5 volts DC difference across the wires from memory when I tested the other night.

[fixtureman1]

The vender setting is in the software

[fixtureman1]

The vender setting is in the software. Will the laser fire when you press laser on the control panel?

[Rolf_K]

I have cleaned out my mailbox :-)
On my controller connector #5 (CN5) pin #1 is grounded or common and pin#2 should go high or low depending on the water flow. I don't know the voltage that I can find out.

Edit:The voltage on CN5, pin #2 is (on my machine), +4.19v without water and +1.6mV with water flow.

Hi Rolf, Thanks for your message, I tried replying to your private one but said your mailbox full and could not accept it.

The laser head didn't go "home" when I first started it up, was somewhere in the middle.
I manually have left it in the top left position and it stays there each time I switch it on. I could try moving to a different position and switching it off and then back on again to see if it tries to go home.

Do you know is there is a way to test the water flow switch signal? I blew up my good multimeter testing the laser firing, but have since bought a new one. I don't know how the switches are supposed to work so don't know how to test. There was about 5 volts DC difference across the wires from memory when I tested the other night.

[QuickCutDieCut]

x

[QuickCutDieCut]

I have cleaned out my mailbox :-)
On my controller connector #5 (CN5) pin #1 is grounded or common and pin#2 should go high or low depending on the water flow. I don't know the voltage that I can find out.

Edit:The voltage on CN5, pin #2 is (on my machine), +4.19v without water and +1.6mV with water flow.

Thanks for the help and the information. Great to know there are still people out in the world willing to give up their time at no benefit to themselves.

I've finally got it up and running, see my post to fixtureman1, was simply a loose plug. The only plug really tucked out of the way in the whole cabinet, murphys law. I actually pulled the plug out and had a very difficult time trying to get it back in due to not being able to see the female plug it was supposed to mate with.

I still don't think it is supposed to cut mirror image though and no one has yet 100% agreed with me that it should cut exactly what is on the screen. Not the reverse image of what is on the screen. (reversing around the Y axis.)

So for example if I were to write MIX it would write XIM and probably start cutting the X first.

[QuickCutDieCut]

The vender setting is in the software. Will the laser fire when you press laser on the control panel?

No the laser button didn't fire but I've finally sorted out with the help of the manufacturer. Seems like a small plug that is very hard to see, (tucked out of the way), was not in properly. It sends the signal from (what looks like) the control box to the laser power supply.

Now I just gotta work out why it cuts in a mirror image to what I create on the screen. Might be a setting in the software somewhere. Manufacturer keeps ignoring this query, more been concentrating on getting me cutting I think.
Thanks for your help.

[Rolf_K]

As you can see in the picture there is a small door next to the high-voltage power supply on my machine, making it easier to get to the plug-in in question.
While we are on the subject of high-voltage, you should inspect the high-voltage connector in the red HV wire. The inside of the mine was burnt to a crisp and had to be removed. This was discovered by accident because the tube was firing, despite the bad connection :-(

Attachment 223454
I also replaced the Mickey Mouse rubber legs with the ones shown in the picture above.

Back to your problem of reverse engraving. I don't think it was established whether or not the head was moving in the right direction when the arrow keys were pushed and whether or not it was moving home at start up. If there are no problems in that area, it must be software and I can't be of any help.

[fixtureman1]

Does the head go to home now.

[QuickCutDieCut]

As you can see in the picture there is a small door next to the high-voltage power supply on my machine, making it easier to get to the plug-in in question.
While we are on the subject of high-voltage, you should inspect the high-voltage connector in the red HV wire. The inside of the mine was burnt to a crisp and had to be removed. This was discovered by accident because the tube was firing, despite the bad connection :-(

Attachment 223454
I also replaced the Mickey Mouse rubber legs with the ones shown in the picture above.

Back to your problem of reverse engraving. I don't think it was established whether or not the head was moving in the right direction when the arrow keys were pushed and whether or not it was moving home at start up. If there are no problems in that area, it must be software and I can't be of any help.

Yes in an earlier post I mentioned the arrow buttons move the head in the right direction so I think it must be software. I still need to double check the head moves home on startup but I'm pretty sure it does.

One of the first things I did was check the high voltage connection when I was trying to find the no cutting problem and the connector looks fine. The plug I had trouble with is not the one you took a picture of and is tucked away in a spot with no access via a cabinet door.

I've got an old version of corral draw now so will install with the laser addin tonight on my laptop and see if I can play around with the settings and get it to cut in the right direction

Thanks again for all your help and that of Fixtureman1 too!

[QuickCutDieCut]

Hi Ralf and fixtureman1,
The laser definitely moves back into position and I've found in the settings an x-mirror and y-mirror setting that was ticked so have played around and got it to cut the right way now.
Sorry to ask but are there sites that have recommended settings or do I need to reinvent the wheel and play around with different materials and setting until I'm satisfied with the outcome. I've done some testing with 1mm rubber and had no luck. Mine just literally "engraves" at highest power and the slower the speed the more the burning.
Higher speeds eg 50mm / sec I get a nice sharp line but doesn't cut through. slower speeds eg 5mm/sec, I get a wide burnt line with scorching.

The manufacturer states you can cut most materials up to 10mm thick which I'm very much doubting now.

[fixtureman1]

Try 10 mm/s at 75% power and see what happens

[QuickCutDieCut]

Hi Fixtureman,
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.
I tried that setting and didn't achieve any better. I don't get it, in your expert opinion should a 50w laser be able to cut 1 mm rubber?
The specs say it should cut up to 10mm of similar material, but this is clearly a massive overstatement based on what I can achieve so far.
I've just sent the manufacturer a request for their opinion but would like some expert opinion such as yours to give me a benchmark to work with.
Cheers mike

[shenhui laser]

Hi
several issues you have:
the inverted engraving: in the software on your pc, under "config" - "system settings" , make sure the box on x-axis is NOT checked, and the one on y-axis IS checked. select the top left position in the "laser head" grid on the same window.

the engraving: should easily cut this 1mm rubber at maybe 15% power / 50mm speed.

check your beam alignement. If the beam is not aligned and centered properly, it will bonce off the sidewalls inside the mirror enclosures, meaning SOME laser light will get out of the lens, but not a lot. It probably also makes a hissing noise. proper mirror and laser tube alignement should solve the issue, happened to me too.

if you had a water problem, then the display should tell you and the head should stop moving.

hope that helps.

[QuickCutDieCut]

Hi Shenhui, Thanks for trying to help. Please see my responses below.

Hi
several issues you have:
the inverted engraving: in the software on your pc, under "config" - "system settings" , make sure the box on x-axis is NOT checked, and the one on y-axis IS checked. select the top left position in the "laser head" grid on the same window.

This issue has been solved thank you.

the engraving: should easily cut this 1mm rubber at maybe 15% power / 50mm speed. .

Are you referring to cutting through the rubber or just engraving on the top? If I can't get it to cut at 98% power and 10mm/s I doubt very much it will cut using 1/6 of the power and 5x the speed, but I can try and get back to you what my results are.

check your beam alignement. If the beam is not aligned and centered properly, it will bonce off the sidewalls inside the mirror enclosures, meaning SOME laser light will get out of the lens, but not a lot. It probably also makes a hissing noise. proper mirror and laser tube alignement should solve the issue, happened to me too.

The laser came already installed in the machine so I checked the alignment and found it to be fine. Each burst of the laser seems to line up in the middle of each mirror no matter where the head is located.

if you had a water problem, then the display should tell you and the head should stop moving.
hope that helps.

Hi yes I solved the water problem, a plug inside the cabinet that was unable to be seen mustn't have been put in properly or become dislodged in transit.

I have more difficult issues to solve if you are able to help? When I cut in the x direction it seems to cut fairly accurately but when I cut in the y direction it cuts about 5% too big. I can reduce the y dimensions by roughly the error to compensate but I get all sorts of mixed results. eg when it cuts a circle it doesn't start and finish in the same spot and hence with little circles around 5mm dia it cuts more of a spiral than a circle. Also I it is supposed to cut a small rectangle it finishes above where it starts and cuts a shape like "b" with the bottom part of the b is the rectangle, eg a rectangle with a stem poking up in one corner.

I've cut quite a few shapes with it now and they are never the same as the cad file I create. I can print out the file on a printer and it is exact, but when I cut from the same file on the laser it doesn't match the drawing. This is driving me nuts and the manufacturer has stopped communicating with me because I demanded they swap it or give me my money back. Their 100% commitment to customer service and solving all your problems with 2 year warranty is not worth the paper it's written on.

Cheers Mike