Problems With A Redsail CM1325 Flatbed Laser Cutter

[Knight]

Hi Everyone,
Over the last few days, I have been trying to get a Redsail cm1325 Flatbed laser cutter working for a friend. He has had it for some 18 months to 2 years and it has never been switched on.

I have been through all of the wiring, all in place and secure. It has a CW 3000 water chiller (Cooler) fitted, as supplied by Redsail, although I suspect it may not be entirely suitable since it not really a chiller, only a cooler. Water is flowing and the water protection alarm works.( stepped on the water hose several times)

Mechanically, the Cutter is operating as expected. It will follow the file around the table, doing an "aircut", but no laser firing. The laser will only fire when the Power Supply test button is pressed, although when it fires, the Positive end of the tube emits a crackle and a large arc, which appears to be coming from inside the metal endcap, although the flash is so bright it is very hard to see exactly where it comes from and the controller resets. When the pulse button on the Controller is pressed, the Green LED on the Power Supply light up, but no Laser, no arcing, nothing.

The RED laser LED on the Power Supply lights when the test button is pressed but not when a file is running. There is also a GREEN LED which flickers when a file is running, so I am guessing that it is the LASER ON signal coming from the Controller.

When I contacted Redsail about the problem, basically the answer was to make sure connect the power supply was connected to the main Earth (Ground) point of the machine. Australia has earthing provided by our 240V mains supply, so earthing is provided when one plugs something into the mains.

All of the electrical components are properly mounted to the body of the machine, so I don't see what would be achieved by adding another earth wire from toe LPSU to the frame.

When he bought the unit, he also had 2 X 130 watt RECI tubes sent with it. I can't recall the date on the tubes but they have been sitting unused with the machine. Could they already be dead? Out of gas?

Could it be an earthing problem, Positive or Negative connection problem or perhaps the tube out of gas (end of life)? I do not want to try the other tube at this point, at least until the power supply tries to fire the laser when it should.

I have a 100 watt laser cutter which is powered by a RECI P14 power supply. I could try it in an effort to eliminate the original power supply, but I am concerned about overloading it with the 130watt tube. Any ideas here, anyone?

Any and all help/ideas/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Albert

[Techgraphix]

I don't think you will blow the supply, as long as you keep the currents within your supply's limits. start the test with a somewhat lower setting (50% or so).
It might be that the tube will not fire as the ignition-voltage is a bit lower.
Kees

[Tech_Marco]

You should never use a CW3000 for any laser with 100W or higher output. The max power that the CW3000 can handle is for a 60W CO2 laser because it is an enclosed type water cooler through air. As you may know, CW3000 is not really a chiller even though there is a printing saying that it is "Industries chiller". Because of this words, I lost a 100W laser tube to a customer whom I never want to deal with again. He cooled the 100W tube with the CW3000 and the tube stop working in a week and I told him that the cooler he had was not a chiller but he insisted that it was. All because that "chiller" was printed on the case on the nit. He also insisted that the shop who sold him the machine never say that it was 'not ok' to use CW3000 for his 100W system.

I won't say that CW3000 could kill a 100W tube instantly but it affect the life span of a laser tube definitely. Plus, a CO2 laser tube performs better at lower water temperature. We found that there was about 5Watt differential when water was running at 25'C and 21'C. May be it was an error or 'reaction' from the sensor probe from the power meter (note that the power meter is water cooled also).

When you fire the laser but no light beam came out but arcing, chance is that the tube is gone. When gas gone, it can't conduct the electronics current so that arcing will appear near the Positive terminal.

Double check the negative wire whether it got lose or not. Check the current meter that connected in series with the negative leg from the laser power supply. It could be a faulty current meter and if so, it can cause a big trouble. A current meter is just a voltage meter with a small resistor in bridge the input. If that low resistance wire broke, no current can pass through and arcing will appear.

So, check the negative wire and the current meter first before trying others


Marco

[Knight]

An update to my problem with the Flatbed laser.

First, thank to Techgraphix and Tech_Marco for their replies.

There is no mA meter on the flatbed.

At this point, I won't be trying my Power supply on the 130W tube.

I have had a little success with the flatbed unit. I am starting to believe that the main problem is a grounding problem.
The 240V AC in Australia has the Earth (ground) provided. The flatbed is earthed in that way, via the mains. However, even though all of the electrical components except the Controller are metal and also screwed the the metal body of the machine, perhaps it is not enough.

Initially, I used crimp connectors for the tube Pos & Neg wires. The laser would fire with the test button, but with arcing, but it would not fire using the pulse button. The Controller would also reset.Then the Positive wire was changed to bare wire (no connector) and the tube fired. Again there was arcing and the reset again.

Today, I changed the Neg wire back to bare wire, (no connector). This time, the tube fired using the Pulse button. The beam in the tube was much better but again there was arcing. So I think I am making progress. The Controller did not reset this time.

It is a RECI 130/160 tube, but it was made in early 2014. It has not been used until this week.

I have a Taiwanese laser cutter, built in 2001. It has an earth connection from the 240V AC input (earth wire) to the machine body. I have had no problem with it until recently when the tube broke. My tube was made in 2001 but in the USA, not in China.

Back to the flatbed, I am hoping that adding the earth wire from the incoming Mains earth line to the machine frame might fix the problem.

Of course, I am expecting that the tube might still be suspect due to it's age, but there is a spare available. Of course, the spare is the same age, so it might also be suspect.

Only time will tell.

Thanks again for your help.

Regards,
Albert