[photoguy]

Alright. I've got a GCC Mercury laser engraver sitting here and it's got issues.

The laser won't fire to engrave (raster) anything but it fires for vector cutting. (usually works fine but occasionally has issues with vectors too)

Does anyone know what would be causing this? It just started recently.

Thanks

[KPBadger]

Could it be something to do with one of the many door interlocks?
maybe one is barely making contact.
the laser will not fire if one is broken.

of course this does would not explain the difference between raster and vector.

kind regards


KPB

[TechGraphix]

Just a wild guess:
Have you checked your vectors to Output?
Did you set the right parameters in the software?
Is your powersetting above the treshold-limit of your tube? (say >13%)

Does the head follow the movements of the vectors?

Oh, another one very important:
Vectors do have a thickness of approx ZERO.. Vectors can only be CUT or when vectors are "closed" they can be filled.. You will not be able to engrave open vectors.. That is logic but you also have to understand why..
I hope this explains..


Kees

[Rodney Gold]

If you using COREL, turn OFF all colour management.

[photoguy]

There's a light on the control panel on the laser itself that comes on if any of the doors are open. If any are open, the laser doesn't fire at all.

I'm not trying to engrave the vector lines. It's not rastering the fill sections. (for example, it's not engraving filled letters but cuts outlines fine)

I have been using the same parameters for a while now and everything was working just fine. But suddenly the engraving just stopped working.

The theory I have is this. The raster and vector information is provided as two seperate types of information. Each handled by it's own part of the laser. And the part that handles raster information is dying...

The problem is that there's no one I can get to come in and check the thing out. Apparently no one services these things.

[photoguy]

Ok, another update.

It has stopped firing the laser for vector cuts. The laser does fire and the carriage follows the paths but the laser isn't firing consistantly.

[aussiemate]

have you fixed this yet?

I would check that you are using RGB colours in your file and not CYMK....only thing I can think of to explain why you can cut but not engrave.
Do you notice that your engraving settings on your laser do not match what you selected on Corel? When I have CYMK selectd colour in error, I get 50% speed 50% power appear on my laser instead of the actual settings.

Vector cutting may not be working if you do not have hairline selected anymore.

[Frosted Images]

Alright. I've got a GCC Mercury laser engraver sitting here and it's got issues.

The laser won't fire to engrave (raster) anything but it fires for vector cutting. (usually works fine but occasionally has issues with vectors too)

Does anyone know what would be causing this? It just started recently.

Thanks

I have an Epilog Legend 36EXT. My laser started doing the samething December 28th. I have replaced the motherboard 5 times since owning the machine since October 2010. I just replaced my encoder strip and flex cable thinking this was the problem. Which would have been logical and Epilog Tech said the same. Consequently, this wasnt the case and still have the same issue. It will vector but will not engrave. It has nothing to do with software. Epilog said it could be my laser, however I do not believe such because no lost of power. I believe it is the motherboard again!