Newbie with a 3020

[Daven]

I agree there Mike, from what I have seen newlydraw is rubbish, I guess the upside is that it's also cheap as far as I understand it is possible to change out the cards but your going to heading towards the price of the next machine up in the range to do it

I wouldn't say it was rubbish - it does a good job at driving the laser, what it lacks is other features such as power control and layer management. It really need updating - maybe while Chris is in China he can find out???

There is another board available but is expensive and possibly requires upgrades to the stepper motors and power supply. Another option is about half the price of the first board but again I am not sure if upgrades to the power supply or motors is required. I would post links but not sure if it would be ok with HPC! But as Dave said it starts to be a step closer to buying the next machine!

If you are interested PM me

Cheers

Dave

[Mike]

I am running lasercut.. thank goodness, it works pretty well... actually this was another great offer from Chris!

I was more refering to the mirror adjustment methods etc. so far the cards/electronics have been pretty good.

[Leon]

The software has been OK for me, but then I'm only doing the most basic of jobs with my machine. One thing I'm not sure about though, is whether the files get corrupted somehow? I can set a file going, find that the cuts are all out of whack, redraw the exact same file, set it going and suddenly the cuts are better? I've no idea how this happens.

One day I would like to upgrade to the next size machine, but I'd need more space than I've currently got in the spare bedroom!

[Spooky]

The X and Y axis going out of alignment Leon? Strangely enough your the second person I've spoken to recently with that problem.

Logic suggests an error in the data going to the stepper motors but I'm really not sure to be honest.

Have you tried the two way ruler test ?

I'll post the file to test the machine ,if you can run it and post your results I'll see what I can come up with.

back in 20 mins

best wishes

Dave

[robburge@sky.com]

Probably far too late to help but the other day I noticed lots of flame which I hadn't had before - culprit? the air assist pump had been accidentally turned off - big difference

Rob

[Leon]

Yeah, I had that problem, I hadn't even known the air assist was there! I've had to turn it back off again at the moment though, as without extraction, the air assist just pushes all the smoke out of the lid of the machine.

[johnb80]

How on earth do you guys run without air assist? surely theres flames everywhere and the smoke will get in the way of the laser etc etc etc.

J

[Spooky]

Leon,

Don't run without air assist, on a 50.8mm focal length lens the fumes will travel into the air cone and damage the final lens. Flaming can also be a problem too, if that gets to the lens it will damage the coating on it.

best wishes

Dave

[Leon]

Leon,

Don't run without air assist, on a 50.8mm focal length lens the fumes will travel into the air cone and damage the final lens. Flaming can also be a problem too, if that gets to the lens it will damage the coating on it.

best wishes

Dave

I'd rather not if I could help it, but I had orders to fill, and had to. It was running for ages without the air assist before I got the advice from this Forum, so it's not the first time!

The machine is all packaged up ready to go in the car in the morning. Hopefully the journey down to Halifax won't knock the mirrors any further out of whack.

[Leon]

Righty then, only just got chance to update!

On Tuesday I packed up the machine and headed down to HPC headquarters in Halifax. Their premises are easy to find, and only 10 minutes from the M62. Both Chris and the lady in the reception were very friendly, and I spent an hour and a half in the workshop, as we ran through various checks on my machine. The end result was that one of the belts which holds the two front-to-back rails was a bit loose, so the laser head wasn't moving back and forth freely, causing my uneven cuts. A quick tightening had everything sorted, and I'm now cutting with 100% accuracy.

Chris also noticed that my air assist tube was kinked, so he also fixed that, and sorted me out with a new extractor, which was great. I'm not sure if the air was really being affected by that kink, because since I've got home, there's a lot more smoke being blown out of the machine, so much so that I can't sit in the same room as the machine without it stinging both my eyes and lungs! I'm gonna check the exit hole for the extractor and see if there are any blockages anywhere, because this doesn't seem right.

I also had a bit of time to drool over the other machines, if only I had more space than the spare room!

All in all, I'm now completely happy that the machine is working properly, and I'm getting exactly what I'm asking the machine for. I'm going to look into this smokiness, and also look at getting the laser-MDF in.