Installed “ultimate air assist” on my 100w running lightburn with a 40gal compressor. When running a file, the air comes on when the laser fires, as it should, however the more cuts a file has, there develops an increasing delay in the air assist kicking on. Any ideas what would create the delay in the solenoid switching when the laser fires? So if i’m ten cuts into a file, that tenth cut the air assist turning on may be delayed up to thirty seconds.
What controller are you using?
How is your air assist wired… do you have a link with a schematic?
In your profile, we hope to find what machines you are using… You only mention a K40 and there are a number of controllers people have upgraded to allow Lightburn…
Is it dsp or grbl?
That’s my fault I haven’t updated my profile in quite a while. The laser on my profile is my k40, the one with the issue is a 100w using a ruida RDC6445GZ. I have attached a picture of the schematic as well as a link to the video that I followed.
Could your pressure from the source be dropping the farther you get into your cuts? I’d monitor it and see if its getting low if using a regulated source from a large air compressor rather than an oilless pump/aquarium pump style setup.
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The ending schematic is not what you wired up? It conflicts with his video description…
I have what looks like to be the same type of installation… It’s a diy, which you can probably tell, but works pretty much like the description… My solenoid board prototype
Left one (Status) allows high pressure compressor air into the system, through to the restrictor. We know have low pressure air…
When Wind becomes active it picks the right solenoid to bypass the restrictor…
There is nothing I know of in the Ruida to change how this works… Having worked a bit on pneumatic equipment, check that the solenoid can handle the input pressure… Doubt it, but it’s the only thing I can think of…
It sounds like the solenoid isn’t picking when commanded… I don’t know what else could cause an increasing delay like you describe…
Does your solenoids have leds on them? You could watch and see if they opened when the led lit up…?
Make sense?
They may be optical coupled, but there is some kind of hardware between them… I don’t know of any optical isolator that can sink 500mA…
I think he’s got his wires crossed about the color stack lights…
And my short video of status, out1 and out2…
Here’s a more likely schematic…
Ultimate air assist Mk2.pdf.txt (220.5 KB)
After much trial and error and testing the issue has been reesolved (for now) by reducing the pressure of the air coming from the compressor from 40psi to 30psi. I will update again next week if things keep going well. Thanks so much for all the replies, they got me on the right path!
I have 60lbs + going into the air system… Odd yours doesn’t work correctly until you down to 30…
What are the specifications for the solenoid valves you have? Some of these are relatively low pressure…
Glad you go it worked out…
These are the solenoids I have installed. Says it can handle 100+ psi. If you read some of the reviwes though, there are several with this same problem
TAILONZ PNEUMATIC 1/4 inch NPT 24V Way Normally Closed Electric Solenoid Air Valve 2V025-08 Junction Box Amazon.com
What solenoid are you using. I may want to change them out.
Pretty much the same valve as far as I can tell…
It’s marked 8 kgf/cm^3 or about 128 psi…
I have my input pressure set to about 60 psi… I only run that when cutting…
If the pressure gets too high, seems that the valves aren’t as dependable…
I used this valve from Amazon, rated at 1Mpa or about 145psi…
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