I’ve been having an issue with my LM3 purchased this summer. I searched but didn’t find anything relevant.
This was being driven over a WiFi connection.
I was doing a 2 hour image burn last week which completed normally. After a few minutes I started another 1hr 30m image burn which suddenly stopped with about 10 minutes left. I noticed that the machine had powered off (LED light ring around the power button was dark)
I thought the power supply brick may have had a seizure so I quickly connected up a spare I had bought with double the current rating of the original.
machine powered back up and homed normally then the job was restarted at the point it previously stopped. Job ran for another 6 minutes and again died (powered off).
So close to being done I just powered it back on, rehomed, and continued from where it last stopped. Job finished the last 4 minutes this time.
Overheating? Image is fairly sparse and power/speed is 30%/10mm/s. Using air assist, shop temps in the 60’s. When it died the last time even the fan in the laser box stopped immediately so it is/was a full system power off.
I started another similar power/speed burn the next morning and it died the same way after just 6 minutes in. Powered up again and finished.
Failure the next morning after 6 minutes doesn’t speak to overheating issues and the swapped power brick seems to exclude that as an issue.
Any ideas before I try to push the problem over to Ortur CS?
Nothing in the console window other than mention of lost connection.
The machine is on a UPS so unlikely caused by a power blip.
I checked the conductivity between the internal laser heat sink and the controllers antenna shell and it shows that the laser is tied to the ground of the electronics. I went ahead anyway and ran a secondary ground between the two.
There are no “easy” grounding points on the laser it self, so I used what appears to be an accessory screw on the lower edge of the laser mount dovetail. Cleaned away the anodizing for a good connection and a good connection between that mount and the laser body when clamped into position.
The other end is terminated behind the lock washer and star washer of the antenna shell. I also cleaned away the anodizing here to get a solid connection to the machines housing.
There was no handy secure place to connect a ground to the x-axis support but I left enough slack to figure something out there if needed.
Earth gounding is via an alligator clip from the antenna shell to my service ground.
Ran a few 10 minute jobs without issue, but will try some of the longer runs to see if things improve,
I ran several jobs today, the first job quit (powered off) after about 8 minutes. I restarted twice with the same power off timing +/- a minute.
Second job finished without issues (about a 10 minute run). I ran the job again and finished successfully.
The failed job was cutting out veneer squares, 4x4mm, 2 pass, 35mm/s. The second job was cutting out 15mmx7.5mm rectangles.
Could the increased motion start/stop be part of the problem? The motors were all cold with no sin=gns of any heat build up.
Another factor was the room temp for these cuttings (and the job I first noticed the problem) It was 50F-55F degrees, Is there a lower limit for proper operation?
Anyway, currently at a loss. Firmware version is 205_RC29
Plenty of changes since 205_xxxx and I see a number of minor fixes for non-impact related things I have noticed, Interested in the fan control command, might look into that to switch an air assist solenoid.
I have a few more things to check (Level, shock movements etc.) but I’d assume they would generate an error message vs. power off shutdown, I do notice that LB does not seem to alert for a “lost connection” as I’ve seen before when there were the occasional USB dropouts. Since the firmware is easy enough to revert if necessary, I’ll try the last of the 207 series and see what happens.
Thanks!
Checked all the installation items (level, table shake, etc.) and all was good.
I did the firmware update to 207 and still have power-offs after about 6 minutes now (interval seems to be gradually getting shorter between events)
This is very strange. I doubt temperature to be a factor, and the full shutdown of the laser is extra interesting. Airflow at the nozzle is known to cause static, but grounding should alleviate that. Is there a correlation to power output vs time before shutdown? That could indicate a faulty diode module.
When it first happened, I was doing “fills” on 6" tile designs, speed 10mm/s power 30% followed by another similar operation which failed much quicker.
The recent failures have all been while cutting wood veneer pieces for marquetry. Basically an array of about 50 identical small parts cut at 35mm/s and 45% power so the power/time profile is somewhat similar.
Only thing of notice is occasionally I could get a job to run from start to completion without problems, These were larger parts so the machine was experiencing far less start/move/stop type motions. Job run time was similar however (about 20 minutes total so well past the usual 6-10 min. fail point)
No tell-tale signs of overheating at the motors or laser.
I don’t know of any protective devices that will shut off the power (Only halt motion and issue an alert)
Could it be the controller crashing form the high/sustained data flow required of the smaller parts and line segments versus other lower rate projects?
I was just doing some material test grids, so lots of changes in direction and power. 3 grids each took about 21 minutes and I had no issues with the machine powering off. Using WiFi.
I ran quite a few material test grids, usually 6x6 but a few 10x10’s and no problems. This was several months ago before the problems arose. I’ll have to try some more to see if they excite the issue.
Atroz, are you running an LM3 over WiFi?
I ran the same projects yesterday morning and the first one failed after two minutes.
The test grid array (8x8, 20 minute run time) failed before finishing the test pattern title.
I saw the $WI command which is new since my firmware upgrade, it showed “-41db (acceptable)” so I installed a slightly larger antenna from an old router. It now reads “-31db (acceptable)” which is 8x better. Ran the test grid again and it ran to completion.
Excited I had found the issue, I re-ran my problem job. It went further (10 minutes), but failed the same way. Further attempts gave the same failed results.
You seem to be on track with communication but there are a couple of other things to check.
If you’re so inclined, please unplug the laser diode head at the laser and repeat your most troublesome job. If the job completes it could be power related.
If you slowly move the engrave head by hand across the whole work area, does the gantry move freely through its full range? (please don’t move the engrave head quickly by hand - large voltages can be generated by the motors)
JohnJohn, I was planning on trying just the axis motor runs (w/o laser) tomorrow. The machine is running on a UPS so I’m sure it’s not power glitches. Spare power supply I’ve been trying is 24v/6A (vs. 4A).
No rough areas or impedances along each motion axis.
I have the replacement parts in hand, eager to install and test but that’ll have to wait for a couple of days.
Interesting to me is the motherboard is a newer version.
This replacement is labeled “4C” (only portion of part number visible, guessing 2.4C).
Obvious difference is the addition of a larger heat sink and small fan.
New MB installed and set up, main cable harness replaced, and new power supply connected.
Ran a 1 hour job with the laser module disconnected, then ran a NWT tile etch for 2-1/2 hours, Nary a hitch! Yeehaw, laser is back in service
