So, I had a piece catch fire in my Omtech Polar today. It wasn’t too bad (I was able to blow it out), but afterward when I restarted the machine and the laser head tries to return home the X axis doesn’t seem to stop and it keeps grinding into the corner (see video with sound). I am wondering if the X axis limit switch is busted or something? Any thoughts would be super helpful as I don’t know a whole lot about the moving parts and I am kinda not sure what to do next.
Where was the fire located?
Physically examine the X proximity sensor as well as the component near the laser head that’s meant to actuate the sensor. Make sure that nothing is impeding the sensor actuation.
If the fire was anywhere near the sensor make sure that the sensor itself wasn’t damaged and also that none of the cabling was damaged.
Do you have a control panel for the laser?
the fire was in the center of the bed, directly underneath the laser head. What does the sensor look like? no, I do not have a control panel for the laser.
There are some photos of it in the OmTech troubleshooting guide. Search for “proximity” on this page:
CO2 Laser Trouble Shooting Guide – OMTech Laser
They give you some tips about how to troubleshoot as well which may be valuable.
I don’t own a polar but definitely looks like the proximity sensor is not working, the laser head doesn’t not know to stop. They should look like this. You can test the sensor by touching it with a metal screwdriver or something, the switch should light up red when activated.
I mean from everything I have read it sounds like thats the issue. And I have seen those sensors in many of the guides. However I don’t see anything like that in my machine, unless they are hidden underneath a housing somewhere. I am using an Omtech Polar, which from my understanding is a gweike cloud clone.
It’s possible the polar has mechanical style limit switches, like I said I’m only guessing because I have never used that machine. Whatever the type, the limit switch is definitely not working causing it to crash like that. Look underneath the ends of the x and y axis for some type of limit switch. That machine is small and compact so they may be hidden somewhere. I’m sure someone will chime in soon who actually owns the machine and can help more.
Sorry. I thought that the troubleshooting guide was Polar specific but seems it’s a generic guide.
Take some high quality photos of the inside of the machine with particular focus on the right side of the gantry and the back left and right side of the machine along the rails.
It’s also possible that the sensor is on the laser head assembly itself and that it’s meant to come into proximity to a metal extrusion toward the right. This seems likely since if the fire damaged the cables near the head or the sensor itself that it could affect homing.
Thank you all for the info so far. I’m planning to open the machine further tomorrow to see what I can find. It does make sense that the sensor would be on the laser head but nothing on there screams ‘sensor’ to me…
You can watch the leds on the controller, if you can get to it when it boots.
I have a console, so I can esc out of a homing operation.
You can set the Ruida to bypass the home operation. Might be a good idea until you get it fixed.
If you set it so the head is the most distant, it should only bang a bit as it would have maxed out it seek distance.
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.