I hope someone can give me an answer to this issue.
I have had my k40 since April and from September to early November I didn’t do any engraving (work, home life, etc). I use k40 Whisperer
Up until yesterday, everything was going great…mirrors aligned, focal length perfect (cutting 3mm birch with 1 pass @ 18%). The issue arose that when I turned on my machine yesterday and started to engrave the engrave was real dark and sooty. I turned the power to 10% (prior it was 12%). Still very dark and sooty. My speed fluctuates between 250 and 300mm/s. So, my first thing is I went down to 9%, 8%, 7, 6, 5, 4 and NOTHING changed. I turned off the laser from the control panel and it still engraves.
I reached out to my FB I frequent and haven’t got any response other than maybe it is the PSU. I reached out to AWESOMETECH where I bought my Mini-GRBL (haven’t installed it yet) and he said it is the tube…how can that be?..it is still engraving.
I was able to engrave fine with the speed up at 500mm/s. I don’t want to buy a PSU if it is the tube, I don’t want to buy a tube it is the PSU.
@defcon888 you are obviously not a spammer, so I removed the new-user anti-spam protection, which will enable you to post all the pictures you need here. Welcome to Maker Forums!
I’m wondering whether you have an analog ammeter on your K40. If it’s failing to modulate power and is always-on it could be overdriving the tube which could damage it quickly, so diagnosing the problem before using it much more seems like a really good idea. An analog ammeter would show whether the tube is being over-driven due to a failure.
So is the laser-on only when you are running a job or any time the power is applied to the machine?
That is when you power on the machine does the laser comes on immediately?
Don…any time the machine is turned on. I am using k40 Whisperer so it isn’t like Lightburn where that controls the power.
No, the laser doesn’t COME on and hit the material immediately, but when I start a engrave job, even with the laser off (button on the digital display) it will still engrave.
**
These were done with the issue occurring. These I had the speed at 500mm/s. If I would have kept it at 300 speed, it would have been charred badly**
What are the two black and one brown wire connected to, was that modified for something? When I was trying to install the mini-GRBL a few months ago, with the PSU was different and I had to splice some wires together.
Pull the K connector off and then run a job and tell me if the laser is active during engraving.> Blockquote I will do that in a bit
It seems that the software is working controlling the speed, so to me, the Nano board isn’t the issue, but I will pull the K connector and see what happens.
I agree that the issue is not the Nano board as the engraving looks fine.
The control of both the lasers enable and power comes from the digital control panel (DCP) to the LPS.
The DCP disables the laser by forcing the LPS-IN pin to 0 volts, for some reason that seems not to be happening.
When you press the Laser ON/OFF Switch to OFF does the digital display on the panel turn off except the decimal point?
