Hello all. I hope someone can help me with this. I’m out of ideas. I have an Atomstack X7. Originally the laser was spontaneously rebooting 1/4 of the way through a job. I got in touch with Atomstack and they sent me a replacement main board. I noticed they put slightly larger heat sinks on the driver chips. Now it was stopping 1/3 through a job. I installed a 25mm fan to blow on them. This seemed to fix the issue and it was running fine for a while.
Now the USB disconnects. The laser isn’t spontaneously rebooting anymore. Sometimes I get a message in lightburn that says connection was lost or something. Sometimes lightburn is still streaming the program like it doesn’t know the USB dropped out.When I get the connection lost message I get a message that says this is common and sends you to a link of causes (none of which apply to me).
I’ve tried 3 computers, 3 USB cables. Shut off the USB timeout in the power settings. The computer and laser are plugged into a UPS. No other processes are running in the background. No other things of note are plugged into the circuit that the laser and computer are on.
At this point I have no Idea what the cause is. I doubt it the computer(s). I’ve used multiple ones. I doubt it’s the USB cables. I don’t buy cheap cables. I doubt it’s the laser as I’ve uses 2 different main boards. Is there any known issue that could be causing this?
After much searching I have found that the Ortur has the same rebooting and losing connection problem. They have a grounding issue. They have a service update that says the laser build up a static charge caused by the wheels and rollers, which also explains why my rotary attachment works so miserably (lots of surface area). This static makes its way to the 12v rail. So I’m going to ground my Atomstack the same way they describe in their service update. I’ll let you know if this solves the problem.
I think checking for bonding and grounding is a good measure. From what I’ve seen the 3 most likely causes of these type of disconnects when USB cable issues and computer USB sleep issues is ruled out are:
I didn’t realize the static was such a big problem. The laser is in my basement which is very dry and the laser fails almost always at the same point. So that must be the point where it reliably build up enough static to make the USB connection drop. I’m pretty certain it isn’t mains noise. I’ll try the grounding and bonding first. If that doesn’t work I will try running the laser off a laboratory power supply.
Yup. Static. I made up a grounding harness as described in the Orteur advisory section. Ran a test job twice, no hiccups at all. Maybe I can finally use and enjoy this thing.