It’s labeled as DC, and has red / black wires. Assume it has an internal diode and wire accordingly.
Will be interesting to see it operate. Some of those ‘vent’ out the top when not activated. I got an AirTac 3V2 for mine so I’d have an actual port for the engraving bypass.
Welp probably won’t find out today as Amazon seems to have slipped up.
Yep got it on now…thanks!
E
When you say works as expected, does that mean when the job starts it opens for air to pass and when the job stops it closes?
That is correct, as job starts- the air starts. Job ends, the air stops.
And just to clarify, this is just a valve on the air in line. I did not install a solenoid to start and start the compressor!
Well the selenoid did end up showing up today and it is all hooked up. Just what I wanted. Thanks everyone for your help!!
All set. The air valve did show up today. Works just fine…comes on when the laser gets a job and back off when the job is done…
What firmware are you running? I know with my 6445G, anything .16 and above I have to have RDWorks .44 and higher to set the air assist options in the controller. They added laser on vs layer, and somebody got REAL bright and made the default laser on. Made my solenoid sound like a machine gun on a dashed line until i figured out the problem.
you stated:
Some may not understand what that means, so I thought I’d explain / illustrate.
The flyback diode is connected in reverse polarity to the supply voltage. In other words, the cathode side of the diode is connected to 24+ and the anode side of the diode is connected to ground. see illustration at the bottom of this post and note the reverse polarity
A diode’s schematic symbol and “physical anatomy” are represented here:
The reason a diode is important has to do with the magnetic coil of a mechanical relay. In simple terms, the moment the controller stops sending 24v out, the coil of your solenoid or relay returns current in the opposite direction towards ground and the diode provides a path (a loop) for it to “freewheel” back through the relay coil with minimal resistance (keeping the voltage from spiking dangerously).
@BobAbbott, unless you are sure that solenoid has a diode, it is cheap insurance to add one. You can test if a diode exists simply by connecting a 12v LED (in reverse polarity) to the controller’s 24+ and Wind - terminal. When wind shuts off (closes), if the LED blinks then your solenoid does not have a snubber diode.
You could add one like this:
Or… use a Solid State Relay (SSR) 
Jeff…no am not sure it has a diode but it works perfectly. If it works does that mean there is a diode inside? I ran 5 jobs with it so far and each time it turned on with the job and off when the job ended.
The diode being placed in this circuit isn’t to affect whether it will work or not work. The diode is to prevent damaging your controller.
Dave, V8.00.62
Ok…Amazon has them. Any special one I need?
Private message me your address and I’ll send one to you in an envelope with a stamp tomorrow. Or if you want, you can buy 100 of them here for less than $5 shipped.
Evidentially the 6442 has a totally different firmware. my 6445G has V15.01.19 It shipped with .15, and i discovered the air assist problem when I upgraded to .17 and didn’t have .44 RDWorks.
Pm sent and thank you!
I have 2 tubes, I use an air compressor for air.
I have not found away to use air assist for one tube only or turn on the chiller pumps independently.
1 laser has lots of info. nothing on 2 tubes that I can find.
Both laser tube selection and air assist are controlled at the layer.
This is completely dependent on your particular machine’s design and build. On my single tube machine, for example, my chiller is controlled by the laser PSU’s independent power switch. When the laser PSU is turned on, the chiller comes on automatically. This is done through a contactor (nothing to do with lightburn or the controller). I built this circuit myself.
Side question (nothing to do with the solution): Does a dual head / dual tube laser need more than one chiller? Is it possible to use more than one tube at a time?
I am using a CW-600AI that has 1 chiller but 2 pumps and 2 water switches.
I have seen video of them being used at the same time but I think that it would require a rewire.
I use them as #1 cut (W6 130 Watt) #2 engrave (W2 90 Watt)
