Lightobject.com Support Forum

Hi Everyone!

Im new to this forum so I appolize if this isnt the appropriate spot for my questions but Ill start by explaining my laser (it isnt a Chinese laser so it may be harder to get questions answered).

I purchased an Apollo Laser from a guy who originally purchased the laser back in 1987 from Apollo (California company, now bought out by Preco). It is an 80W laser and came with all of the original Electronics (Power Supply, Water Pump, Control Interface, Gas Regulator, all of the original schematics and manual and a Custom Fiberglass Cabinet that holds everything - except the laser of course). This guy also knows the owner of Precision Plasma who I then purchased a table from and have modified for laser use. I have everything set up and have test fired the laser and am now working on connecting my stepper motors to the table and the DSP controller from the motors to the Power Supply for the laser.

From there I have purchased several pieces off of lightobject (stepper motors, mounts and a mirror for each, the AWC608 DSP controller and a power supply for that and the motors).

I have a pretty good idea of how I can hook up most of the parts but my big question is, is there a certain way to hook the DSP controller to my power supply from 1987? I realize that the labeling isnt quite the same but I do have the schematics (which I can supply pictures of if that helps). The front panel on the cabinet has a "Gate In" plug (BNC Connector) but I believe BNC connectors only have 2 lines (Ground and Power I think) and I need 3 lines going to my power supply - TTL (to TL on the Power Supply), PWM (to IN on the power supply), and GND (to G).

One option I was considering (but would like to avoid if possible) is buying an additional CNC Power Supply, as Ive noticed they have the inputs clearly labeled. The only problem is that I would then have to link it to the 1987 Power Supply as I have the water pump, CO2 regulator and all of the Safety Interlocks for the cabinet running through these.

I realize most of the posts on here are for Chinese lasers converted slightly but any help (or even ideas) would be greatly appreciated. I have contacted the company that bought out Apollo and they mentioned going through the Gate In on the cabinet interface which are F and N wires inside but they arent real quick to respond and very brief in their responses.

As I mentioned I have several pictures I can upload and the schematics/manual if any additional info would help.

Thanks in advance!
Heath

Hello Health:

Welcome to the forum. Would you please post some pictures so that we can see what machine you have. Better to take picture of the connector of DC power supply, laser power supply, and the 'Gate in' panel.

When you mentioned the 1987 power supply, did you mean the DC power supply or laser power supply for the laser tube? I was a little confuse here


Marco

Hey Marco,

Thanks for the response! I am attaching a few pictures I have from my phone (I will take more pictures tonight of the other parts you mentioned and get those uploaded as well tonight). If you would like to see the schematics I can send those too.

As for the Power Supply, this is what is connected to all of the internal components of the cabinet (water pump, gas regulator, interlocks) as well as the Laser itself (basically it makes everything run that I purcahsed from this guy).

Here are the pics I have, will get the rest tonight for you!

Thanks again!
Heath

Ok, here are a few more pictures. As you will notice, this isnt an "ordinary" power supply - or at least I do not think so. That being said, it shouldnt be impossible to still communicate with it - but I may need to post the schematics for someone to fully understand it.

I am also posting a picture of the "Wire Port" as I call it. This is a simple wire station where I can unplug wires and plug in others (this is where I plugged in the wires laser to the power supply - as well as to the cathode).

The other two pictures are simply a closer shot of the Gate In on the front of the interface as well as the entire back-side of the interface (the Gate In is in the lower left of the image and slightly covered by the "To Vacuum Pump" hose.

Again, any thoughts/comments are greatly appreciated. If buying another "up-to-date" power supply is the route I need to go that is understandable but ultimately this thing runs everything for the laser, I simply need to have it communicate with the AWC608 controller.

Note: I apologize but I think the images were uploaded in the reverse order (the power supply is at the bottom of the list).

It is such a piece of nice class electronic art and I admired the guy or company who built it (I'm EE in major so I like electronics stuff .

By looking at the pictures you posted, I'm afraid to tell you that the DSP may find a hard time to work along with the interface it has. I suggest you to get a modem laser power supply to work along with the DSP controller. It will save you a lot of trouble as connections are standard. Plus, you can by pass all those controls on the panel. By the way, is the laser tube 20yrs old? Or is it a new replacement tube? FYI, most laser tube works fine within 2~3 years. Over 5 years some CO2 gas may leak out and performance will be greatly affected.


Regards,
Marco

Hi Marco,

Thanks again for the reply. It is indeed a nice piece of electronic art but somewhat intimidating to someone who is fairly new to it all! Although he did show me everything that he did back in 1987.

I agree, the new power supply is most likely the way I will have to go (although Preco - the company that bought out Apollo - claims I can get it going through the Gate In, but havnt really explained how!). Is there a Power Supply you offer that you suggest for an 80W Laser (I did some research last night and I think you only offer 1 for 110V)?

Also, with that route would I still be running the water pump through my 1987 power supply (so I would just have 2 AC plug ins)?

I also had another (somewhat unrelated question). I have 3 stepper motor drivers but they do not have the Opto plug in. They do however have PUL (+5V) and DIR (+5V). Can I simply splice the wire for Opto to go to both of these? Unfortunately I purchased these before finding lightobject.com and I would simply buy 3 new drivers from you with Opto but Im trying to keep my costs low until I get everything running (then once Ive gotten it running I will be more open to spending more to perfect it).

Thanks!
Heath

Hello Heath:

For a 80W laser tube, it should be cooled by a water chiller and keep water temperature 25'C (Celsius) or below. 23'C is a perfect working temperature for most laser tube (Thanks for Walt's research and experiment). If you don't have a water chiller, you may consider buying a used water cooler (compressor type) on Craigslist for $40~$50. Even though it is still considered under power but it is better than just use a water radiator + fan. You can get a DC water pump to do the pumping job like below:
http://www.lightobject.com/Search.aspx? ... ess%20pump

I do carry 80W power supply:http://www.lightobject.com/Search.aspx?k=80w%20pwm
It look like two models but actually they're the same as we now installed a circuit to make it AC110V or AC220V selectable.

Opto is equivalent to DIR+ and PUL+ and connect to the DSP +5V. It is just a different way to label but works the same. No biggies

FYI, there are two controls need for a laser power supply: 1) TH or TL (like a switch On or Off, it used to enable the laser power supply through TTL signal at certain frequency), 2) PWM (control laser output power at certain frequency with width controllable). The power supply you have only got the "Gated In" so I guess the power is controlled through a potentiometer (VR) (there are two VR on the pictures) and I'm sure that it is an analog laser power supply but not a PWM. You may want to tap the PWM output from the DSP to the Gate In (center pin) and have DSP ground (GND) connected to the Gate-In connector case (outside). You may set the power to 99% and use the power control (laser machine) to control the power level. Remember that doing so the PWM feature is disabled and the engraving job would be less "gray scale" possible (soft). It will show very 'hard' for engraving but cutting should be fine.

This is what I could thing about up to this point and I'm not sure if it works out as I don't have your machine on hands for testing. Anyway, give it a try with your power supply. If it works, save some money for other parts. No panic and worst to worst, get a PWM power supply. But you learned a lot after this project and nothing to lose. Me and folks here will back you up. Don't forget that there is warranty for the parts you purchased from me


Marco

Hi Marco,

Wow, thanks again for the response! This information is essentially what I have been trying to get from the company that bought out Apollo, but they havnt been real quick to respond.

Ill give it a shot with what I have, keeping in mind a little more money spent will get things in full gear. My biggest concern is putting too much money into it, and not being able to get things running. I feel much more confident with this forum though that things will go well. Once I get it all going though, Ill definitely get up to date parts.

Ive got a bit more work to do before I can tell you if everything worked but Ill keep you posted on the progress (and of course if any other questions come up).

Thanks again for the support!

Heath

Hey Marco (and everyone else),

Ive got a new question, and I understand if it is hard to answer because this a different laser but hopefully your EE background can shed some light. I got everything up and running, the laser fires, the table moves with the controller and (I think) the BNC connector is communicating between the two (only with PWM and Ground though as I only have 2 signals in on BNC).

The issue I have now though is that when I get the laser PSU up and running (again it is not a standard PSU) and turn on the "High Voltage On" button, the laser turns constantly on and does not turn off. There is a toggle on the interface for CW and Gated, and my understanding is that CW would keep it firing whereas Gated should shut it off until the controller tells it to fire (so basically even if I didnt have the controller plugged in or on I could turn the laser on and flip it to Gated to stop it from firing). My only actual way to shut off the laser is to hit the "High Voltage Off" button.

Out of curiousity I tried plugging my Gate In BNC to Ground and TTL on the controller (instead of Ground and PWM) and it didnt change anything. I am guessing it has something to do with the wiring in my PSU and maybe I have a wire in the wrong spot but I just wanted your professional opinion on it, to see if you have any ideas as to what could cause the Gated/CW toggle to do nothing.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

*UPDATE* I heard back from the company that bought out Apollo and the guy there thinks it could be a bad vacuum tube or current regulator board. Not sure if that helps or if anyone could explain why that would stop the toggle from doing its job (stopping the laser from firing when switched to Gated). Their response was fairly brief and they didnt elaborate as to how that could cause this issue.

Thanks,
Heath

Hi Marco,

I've been talking with the company that bought out Apollo and am really considering just buying a power supply from you and then pretty much using the cabinet I have to run my water pump (it's built in with my current PSU). I have a concern though, that I'm hoping you can help with.

I've got one set of wires running from my laser to my power supply. Within this set are 5 wires. The thickest wire is red and runs to the cathode. Then there is a black (anode I believe) and green (ground) going to the terminal block within my current power supply. The remaining two wires are for the water flow switch inside the tube.

Now, my big question is, would I still be able to wire those up to the power supply I would purchase from you? My biggest concern is for the thick cathode and black anode wires.

Thanks,
Heath

A CO2 laser tube got two poles only: Cathode and Anode
What you need to do is to connect the HV cable from our power supply to the Anode of your CO2 laser tube (the side with a glass coil inside of the tube), and negative (either blue or black cable) to the Cathode side. That's the way how to connect it to the laser tube

You can remove your power supply as new power supply don't need anything from the old circuitry. A DSP controller will talk to your power supply direct. And forget about the TTL plug as the DSP/power supply got good connector to each other

Marco