Laser cutting table.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

My friend has a Laser cutting table that he uses to cut out leather glove pieces for sewing up.

Unfortunatly it has a 9mm '0' setting error when returning to 'Home'.

Should I assume it is a software problem, that a glitch in the positioning has occured? Can anyone offer another solution. I am at 'sea' on this one at the moment and any work entails a 3 hour plus road journey. It uses 3 mirrors to direct the beam and has 40 W Laser for cutting.

Clive

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

An interesting puzzle, Clive

Do you have any details of the machine?

… so that we know what we're dealing with.

MichaelG.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Its a Laserscript LS340 it is only used for one job as stated and is soon to be moved to a new location in Wiltshire and it looks as if i will have to follow it and see what is up. The suppliers site tells you nothing but enquiries elicit an arm and a leg quote for service. I would like to help them as they will have a new start down there.

Clive

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

If it's a worm screw could it be short by a turn or two?

Sounds more software than hardware because its such a large error

 

Its a Laserscript LS340 it is only used for one job

Is it the same error for ALL jobs? Using different acceptable input software?

Bespoke laser software working better with Turbocad than Designcad kinda thing?

 

Driving software can be a bit flaky if it's been written to accept inputs from different software manufacturers

(Printers for example)

 

Have they tried inputting the same job from a different software package?

Edited By Ady1 on 02/03/2014 11:54:08

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Clive PM sent

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks Clive,

Just had a quick look [before getting on with some microscopy], and I see there is a dedicated forum … No mention of LS340, but there are a few posts about LS3040

Might be worth a look

MichaelG.

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

9mm is not a lot is it exactly repeatable?
Is it a simple deviation from the zero starting point with the rest of the cutting simply displaced by 9mm?

If the machine is only used for one job without pattern changes I guess that makes a software problem less likely?
I wonder if there is a way to offset a cutting program in the machine setup that someone has accidentally set.

Is there is no possibility of a loose grub screw or other screw allowing a pulley to partially rock or slip? Nup that is not logical The error should be random if that is the case. Check just the same!

If it only happens at start up: I would be asking him to photograph the home limit switches and email the photo to you maybe the home limit switch or possibly 2 switches a hard stop switch plus a limit are incorrectly set? If you are able to run the machine with the laser turned off and the security door open are the limit switches being touched as the carriage homes?

They may be micro switches or optical vane switches like you find in printers. Occasionally proximity or other switches are used.

I used to run a machine that homed by traveling over the home positioning limit until it hit the hard stop limit switch then the software slowly reversed the carriage back over the home limit switch until it was just released.

The problem is there are many different ways to do it. There are many threads on The Mach 3 forum discussing methods.

Hmmm not much help.

Regards
John

Edit:

They mention belt slipping not sure if the model is the same:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FullSpectrumLasers/videos?flow=grid

Edited By John McNamara on 02/03/2014 12:26:15

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Clive,

As John Mc suggested it could be the home switch, does the axis motor have an encoder and what is the drive is it toothed belt, I look after three axis robots and if the customer is a bit shoddy with loading parts and the robot crashes it can jump a tooth on the belt which shifts the position, it still zero's ok but it out of position by how much the belt has jumped.

Martin P

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

I used to own one of these and they are very crude.

Stepper drives a small, nay tiny, toothed belt round an idler pulley at the far end. No encoder or any feedback method of any kind, as I say very crude.

Carriage is clamped to the belt and it has one limit switch one end. The rails are folded pressed steel and some plastic / ceramic rollers run on the edges, not a good design.

Chances are the error is on the carriage or limit switch

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Clive,
I think John's suggestion is in the right area. I suspect the machine will go through a power up initialization routine to establish the zero points of each axis. This may be limit switches as John suggests or it could just drive to a mechanical stop for long enough to be certain it has reached the stop. I suggest observing the power on sequence of events to see if it looks to be doing the right things. Posting a video of this sequence would be interesting.

Les.

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

My commiserations Clive..trying to diagnose by remote control..paainn.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Thank you lads, very elucidating about the aches and pains of these machines. The request was to see if i could do something to stabilize it, but I think now I may back off.

Clive

[WrenParticipant @wren]

Hi,

I had this problem when I updated the firmware on the laser at work. It's a different model but the procedure would probably be similar.

Switch the machine on and allow it to find its start position. Then focus using the Z-axis. This shows where the cut will start, then scroll through the menu and find Set Origin, or similar. Then use the arrow buttons to move the origin to where you want it and save the setting. Return to the cutting position and switch off. The origin should be right when you switch it back on.

This might work…

Regards

David

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

David, that sounds like the info I need and I will send it on and we will see what he makes of it.

Thank you, Clive

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

I have just received an email about the Laser cutting machine, it has been set up in its new location near Salisbury and is working and doing good work.The owner sends his thanks for all the suggestions some of which have been used.

Clive

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

Good to hear Clive

What was the problem?

Regards
John

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

It would appear that the machine was prepared for the move to the new location and had been jogged a bit and the settings from one job were left in the machine. Using the reset instructions for 'O' setting brought it all together again. All in it was just unfamiliarity with the machine asked to do one task and then reset for something else and not set back. Its good that we have such a depth of experience and knowledge at our fingertips on the Forum and the help was appreciated.

Clive

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