Hi,
Does anyone know a reliable place to buy spares for chinese machines? I have tried emailing the manufacturer a couple of times but no reply. I need a replacement switch for a motorised bed.
Many thanks
You’ve assumed we all know which country you are in, so I’m going to guess you are in the United States?
Chances are this will be a simple, commonly available component. Depending on the type of machine you have and its controller, the switch on your bed is most likely to be a simple micro-switch or snap-action switch, there might be one at both the top and bottom of its range of travel.
Available from pretty much any supplier of electronics components such as Mouser, digikey or even eBay.
for instance Mouser:
https://www.mouser.com/c/?q=microswitch
If its a different sort of sensor, such as a proximity sensor or similar, then they can be found the same way.
Alternatively if you’d prefer a company dedicated to laser cutters you could try
https://rabbitlaserusa.com/WebShop/index.html
or LightObjects
If you are outside of the USA, again there are many electronics suppliers and locally a search of laser cutter spares on Google might be a way forward.
Sorry I should have been clearer. I am from the UK. The switch looks like this. I have tried google and the trouble being most links go through to chinese sites where I am getting no answers or luck.
I am happy to buy from the states if anyonr can recommend a switch type that’ll definitely work with this.
Many thanks
Jokes on me then, because I’m in the UK too! Typical Brits huh!
That’s a Rotary interface connection… I know you know that, because it is labelled. That is where you would connect a rotary tool.
That type of connector is called a 4-pin bulk head connector (that’s the male one). Again, it’s a pretty common electronics connector, you can get it from CPC, Farnell or RS in the UK or even eBay…
This is the sort of plug that connects to that,
but you said bed switch so I’m confused.
…so there is something missing from your question, what is it you are trying to do? What specifically are you looking to connect to that and why? Fill me in with a lot more detail and I’d be happy to help.
As to where to buy spares in the UK. I run my own online store:
but I don’t know if I have what you’re looking for?!
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Excellent, thanks for this. I have no way of adjusting the bed height, for focus or for thicker materials etc. I can focus through lightburn but would like to be able to lower the bed so I can etch onto thicker material.
focus through lightburn
Wow, how? I don’t think LightBurn has any way to adjust the focal height of your lens above a workpiece, especially if the bed can not be moved… or perhaps you mean the bed does move but you have no external control outside of LightBurn? What sort of controller does your laser cutter use?
If your machine has a fixed bed (and again you are leaving out so much detail I’m having to make my own conclusions to help you), is the idea to affix a stepper motor (some of them come with that 4 pin plug already on them) to that Rotary axis port and use a stepper to raise and lower your bed?
I saw you have a Redsail laser, so I think you have a CO2 DSP type laser cutter, I would think on a fixed bed laser you can manually raise and lower the lens housing below mirror 3 to adjust the focus of your beam for the work material.
Sorry i am a relative noob to laser cutting so you will have to excuse my ignorance. I focus through lightburn by pressing the “focus” tab on the move section. I was sold it with a motorised bed and the bed definitely moves up and down when i press the focus button on lightburn. As you may be able to see in the picture it obviously can travel up and down quite a bit. It has a Ruida 644XS controller.
Ah okay. It’s not intuitive on the Ruida. Here is how to control it.
Press the Z/U button on your controller pad. You will see a menu, the top item of which is Z Move. Use the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to move the bed up and down.
You would think it is the UP and DOWN arrow keys, but you’ll find that these move the highlighted item in the menu.
Here’s a link to the hardware manual for your controller
This is why you should buy your lasers from a UK based supplier 
…UK based suppliers end up doing Chinese suppliers support work for free! lol
That’s amazing!! Thank you. The “instrucrion manual” it came with is in broken english at best and not in the slightest bit helpful.
Thanks so much!!
At the risk of being a little OTT… Just a tip for the future… you moved directly to problem solving your problem before you defined it. To help resolve issues we need the whole story.
this query should have been like this:
Subject: How do I move the bed up and down on my laser cutter without using LightBurn (suggested subject)
I have this sort of laser cutter and controller (photo if you don’t know the type) and I want to move the bed up and down. I am sure there should be a switch or control… maybe its missing and I can buy the parts?
The manual was in broken english so I don’t know if it can be done. Can you help?
Thanks. Haven’t been told off like that since i left school! If you ever need help with sewing and leathercraft please feel free to contact me as we all have our area of expertise.
All the best
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It depends on whether you’re willing to buy from China. If you are then ALIEXPRESS. com is the place to go. If you can’t find it there, It’s probably not available on Planet Earth.