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Trying to Fix my Laser Engraver after a lightning strike

Discussion in 'Laser Cutters' started by CraigF, Sep 30, 2019.

  1. CraigF

    CraigF New
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    TLDR:
    I bought this 50W laser engraver last year, and have been successfully using it for a while.
    Last month there was a lightning strike near my house, that damaged a bunch of electronics, including my laser engraver.

    Im trying to diagnose which part is broken, but i don't know much about them. Im hoping someone might be able to steer me in the right direction.

    --------------
    Here is the laser engraver i purchased:
    US $657.06 6% OFF|INHXSK TS4040 cnc router laser engraver cutting machine laser cutter desktop mini portable Acrylic MDF glass laser engraving-in Wood Routers from Tools on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

    How it happened:
    A telephone phone next to my property was struck by lightning. At the time, i had a USB cable going from my garage.. outside past the pole.. and to a shed where i keep a CNC machine.
    I believe the lightning strike caused a surge down the USB cable (by inductance perhaps) back to my computer, (which fried the motherboard) and back out down another USB cable, to my laser engraver (which it's M2 Nano controller board was also fried)

    I was able to convince the manufacturer to send me another M2 Nano. once installed, the laser engraver was up and working again. (But they have since decided to ignore me about my other problems with it.)
    But while it was able to Cut, and engrave, there seemed to be a problem with it still.
    Any solid black areas that are meant to be fully engraved, seemed to have small dots, that were not engraved... these spots sometimes line up in just the right way to create a randomized pattern, which makes it even more obvious.
    It seems that when the laser is meant to be on continuously, it appears the laser flickers on/off rapidly.

    the faster the travel speed, the "not-lasered" areas become longer... and if the travel speed is slow, they become shorter.

    There are only so many parts in a laser engraver, im trying to narrow down which electronics are broken.. or rather "half working"
    its usable right now... but its quality is poor... and recently it seems to have lost the power to cut through 3mm pressed 'hardboard'

    I suspect it might be the power supply for the CO2 laser... or the Transformer it came with.

    I've uploaded some pics of some test pieces, rectangles and circles, that are supposed to be solidly engraved. Tested at different speeds to show how the pattern changes (50mm/s, 100mm/s, 200mm/s, 300mm/s)
     

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