Well....I ran a really great sample and am very happy with how turned out. It was ran at a slower speed but I was able to make some changes and get the machine to run at 4000mm/m with out an issues. I started to engrave a grid into my waste board and during the process my laser just turned off. It turns out the buck controller I am using to supply the 12v failed. I replaced it, the fan and lights for the laser turn on but the laser does not fire. I can here the PWM relay click in the controller when I manually fire the laser. I am wondering if there is a good way with a digital multimeter to test the signal out of the pwm. I am worried that the laser has something wrong it.
Oh, Most digital multimeters will give some reading from a pwm signal, but my DMMs certainly tend to be erratic in what they report. All DMMs will respond sensibly to 0% and 100% duty out though, which for the 100%, should fire the laser full-on. If you have resistors and capacitors to hand, then an R-C filter on the PWM signal will smooth out the pulses enough to get a more indicative measurement of the interim duty ratios, but really the 0% / 100% test should tell you if the PWM is likely to be the problem.
If it was one of those far east XL4005s they often fail in the worst way. Letting full input supply voltage out the other end. Hook it up to psu and measure output voltage. If it failed like that it let more than 12v into laser, might have damaged module
Well, the converter faild ina good way. It just stoped providing power all togeather. I did get another one in place. Maybe I should switch to 12v power suply as well? Maybe a somene can suggest a better bucm converter? Today I went and turned everything on, the laser powered up and is running a project now. Idk, maybe I forgot to turn something on? I did need to mess with the screws again though. Cleaned them, retentioned them, squared everything. I feel like I need to lubricate/greese the slide carriage/bearing. They the worlds smallest greese fitting and no idea how. But I am up and running untill the next issue. Thanks everyone for the support, I have learned a lot here. I will post a pic of my project if it finishes.
I also use one to power my laser, however it overheats and shuts down on long jobs unless it has an additional heat sink. The only way to reset it is to remove the power. Since adding a heatsink (~60 x 40 mm) it has been fine.
What do you consider long jobs? I just ran mine for 9 hours and that seems like aong job. I do not like the idea of it failing mid job.
Just finished my first project, there is a little staining I would lime to clean up, I would havr like the engraving a bit darker, but it looks good. I ran it at full power, 3500mm/min. Would slowing it down produce darker burns? Suggestions on cleaning/sanding after the engrave? Worried about filling in small lines with sawdust, yuck!
I only meant something over about 30 mins This is the type of converter I used: LM2596 DC-DC Switching Adjustable Step Down Voltage Regulator Module 4.5V-40VDefault Title
Thank you everyone for the help. I did end up ordering a 12v power supply as my buck convertor failed again. I do not want to mess with that happening again. I have finished my first project and am really happy with. Your help made it turn on well and I really appreciate it. Here is what I created. Let me know what you think. Its a gift for a really great friend with a lot of story behind it.
