Laser: OMTech Polar 50W
Controller: DSP Ruida
Lightburn Version: 1.5.06 (valid license but out of update range)
Connection Type: USB
Hello. I’ve been using my laser for about a year now without much issue (used every so often but not heavily).
I’m currently having an issue where when I press the Start button, the laser head starts to move but then immediately stops, the Laser Status on the machine goes red, and absolutely nothing happens on LB until I hit Stop. For now, I’m just trying to cut a little box created in LB just as a test. Any help would be appreciated.
Some notes in order of importance:
Frame works exactly correctly. So it’s probably not a travel error.
I’ve been using LB with this laser for about a year and it’s been working as late as 3 weeks ago.
I used RDWorksV8 (software that came with the laser) and it fired the laser properly, so it’s probably not the laser hardware.
The Preview shows the proper job path and animation (image available below). So the path is set to cut and it’s in range of the laser.
No errors messages pop up in LB. The Console window is empty (apparently because my controller doesn’t support it…not sure if true).
The lid and tray are closed and external vent is on.
There are similar forum posts but none of them are answered.
General Settings - small magenta square (07) in the upper right corner is my test cut:
@berainlb is likely correct, but there is no simple way to know what caused the controller fault, without it’s console. I assume you got the red ring?
There is no console per se on a polar… You can add one, which is what I’d suggest. Then you would have known what the error was…
The #9 led should illuminate if the Water Protection is working and wired to the WP pin, not the lps P In this configuration, the P terminal is usually wired to ground.
Thank you for such a quick reply. I’m very new to this world and you’ve already been very helpful.
@jkwilborn Yes, I got the red ring. No indication of the error because I don’t have a console (which is sounding pretty tempting right now).
I did ensure that all of the interlocks ~should~ have been closed, but I didn’t check for wiring faults.
I’m going to try cracking open the covering tomorrow and have a poke around the Ruida.
The water tank looked half filled. So I’m also going to check for a leak and maybe fill it with distilled water / antifreeze. When should the water be flowing, any time the power is on or only when the laser is firing?
But I am confused about something. If it was a hardware saftey trip, why did the laser fire fine when I tried using RDWorks instead of LightBurn?
I didn’t catch this earlier. You’re right that this is an anomaly. How did you test this in RDWorks?
Try saving an RD file from RDWorks and running in LightBurn. Does it work then?
From what I remember of that machine it should be flowing all the time that the machine is on. What does the small power supply display show? There are likely indicators for water flow.
If you use automotive antifreeze it can damage parts of the machine and cause the water to become conductive or lower it’s dielectric constant. This isn’t an issue with vehicles, but can cause the anode voltage to cross over to the coolant resulting in anything metal touching the coolant be at the anode voltage.
There are other coolants if your temperatures drop below freezing.
This one from OMTech, it’s basically auto antifreeze, but is lacking the addition chemistry for engines… maintains a high dielectric constant.
@berainlb : I did the test with RDWorks by just drawing a little rectangle and press the Start button. Nothing special; it was my first time using the program. This will have to remain a mystery for now since my machine is working now. Hopefully RDWorks doesn’t have something that bypasses safety measures on the laser (which doesn’t seem likely or possible).
It was definately the coolant.
I checked the Ruida like @jkwilborn suggested and the #9 LED was not lit and the coolant was flowing but it was pushing bubbles. Which ment that the liquid was below the intake line and taking in air.
After filling the tank with distilled water, the #9 LED turned on and the laser was able to fire again.
Thank you all.
