Hey Guys, I have a Boss LS-3655 155W CO2 laser that is about 11 months old. I used it for a few months when I got it, then got a MOPA laser for other projects and the Boss laser has been sitting untouched for months. I drained out the chiller and unplugged everything.
I’m trying to fire it back up to do some wood cutting and the laser isn’t firing. I first tried a test cut and the gantry moved normally, I could hear the relay clicking and air assist running, but the laser is not drawing any mA and not marking the wood. I tried pulsing on some test targets at the first mirror right out of the laser tube and not getting a mark.
Any ideas on what I can look at? The chiller is refilled and running. I’ve visually verified flow through the tube. The chiller is connected to the laser.
The key lock switch contacts on my machine failed closed, so even with the switch turned off (a.k.a. “safe”) the laser would fire. This was straightforward to figure out, at least after I noticed the switch had no effect on the AC power indicators downstream toward the high-voltage supply.
In your case, make sure AC is getting where it should and everything’s lit up properly with the switches turned on.
The Ruida controller should have a Diagnostics panel displaying the state of all its input bits; make sure the lid switch / water protect / whatever signals change when you lift the lid / turn off the chiller / whatever.
Similarly, the laser power supply should (may!) have a pair of LEDs on its not-a-network jack indicating the state of its WP (water protect) and the LON inputs. They’re labeled P and L at the bottom of the supply:
That supply arrived with the WP input grounded, so that LED was always on; yours may be different. The LON input goes active when the laser should be firing; if it’s off, then something is wrong.
If all that checks out, then things can get ugly. Let us know what you find …
