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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    23

    My SH-350 has landed !!!

    Well, few hours ago my brand new SH-350 has entered my shop.
    Ordered from ebay seller (ask me in pm if you want the name), the machine arrived in a large (really large) wooden crate, directly from UK to IT in 7 days, no customs, no worries, shipped by DHL.
    The DHL man was very kind and after hitting a parked car with his vehicle (no, I am not joking...) and filed all the compulsory papers, he helped with his forklift and put the crate directly into my shop. Finest service.

    Attachment 268562
    The wooden crate hide some EPS and cardboard box and inside the cardboard box I found her... the beloved SH-350, with all the itsy bitsy I like (u/d motorized table, air assist, latest gen dsp controller, rotary axis and so on)
    Attachment 268564

    Attachment 268566
    some accessory was on the table (manuals, software, rotary axis) some other below (air pump, water pump, hoses...)
    Everything seems arrived in a very good shape. the machine shows a good amount of debrid inside (grease, dust, eps...)
    The cover lid moves smoothly guided by oleodynamic strut, the lens was tied with a red tape, parked in the origin.
    Attachment 268568
    the laser tube arrived in great shape, no problem, with a good air cushion protection around. still not opend it so I don't know if all the connections are good and is the laser is centered and aligned but looking at the machine and at the connections of the electronic/PSU, all seems well connected and protected with shrink tubes and blocked with hotglue in place.
    Attachment 268570
    the machine has the U/D motorized table, but it seems not connected to the controller but on a specific external switch. ther is something looking like a endstop switch , I guess it will stop the table to crash on the bottom of the cabinet.
    Attachment 268572
    Attachment 268574

    the stepper motor drivers are quite good, they can cope with larger motors I think
    Attachment 268604
    the controller appears like a rdc644xg but the control panel seems the simple lcd control panel of the old ruida 320 dsp. Maybe in the future I could upgrade the control panel with a colour led with preview and layer management (the controller card could do it)

    I am happy with my new toy but I need more more time to arrange the working set up.
    At this time I am worikng on a filter (HEPA , zeolite and active carbon) and need to be sure about the ground line (being hit by 20kv should not be a good thing...)
    Reallly I can't switch the machine on yet and so this oculd be a 100kg paperstopper... (I hope not) but the first impression is of a good machine. I miss a honeycomb but I will add it soon but the sh-350 apperasr heavy, well built, with good connections and no loose parts inside (I read a lot of thing like this in the forum). The interior light is achieved by a white led stripe, the various door locks are good, the lens holder has the usual air assist and a red laser pointer (not inline but an angled one, but stiil useful). The machine gives me a good sense of wellbuiltness (I think this is a brand new word)

    Hope to start cutting and engraving soon

    keep connected

    p.s. thanks to the forum for all the advices, files, tutorials and reviews!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    32

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    Thanks for the info. But the first attachments dont show images...

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    32

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    I received my 350 before Christmas. Seems to the same as mine with the ethernet port. I had found a few issues. They are as follows.

    I had a few nuts shake loose in transit and going missing in the machine.
    A fair quantity of aluminium filings on the lens. Clearly it was fitted before it was mounted in the machine. As the mirrors were fairly well aligned I didn't check the lens before doing some test cuts.
    Head was mounted to high (may have been low) to get a perfect alignment and the mounting holes had to be enlarged to be achieved.
    Calibration as a bit out. 1.5% of the X-Axis and 0.75% on the Y-Axis. This actually was kind of useful as it made interlocking parts friction fit very well. I did correct it calibration in the vendor settings menu. Password is rd8888.
    Laser power supply was set at about 26mA at 100% power. 70% was about 18mA and what seems to typical continuous max power for an 850mm tube.
    First laser power supply failed after about 100 minutes of cutting. Internal 12V SMPS failed. Got the PSU going again with an external 12V source. Checked it out after the replacement PSU arrived. it was just switching controller.
    Second laser PSU was set to 26mA at 50% power. Adjusted this one to be 16-17 mA (Seems to drift a bit with temperature) at 100% power. Engraving performance seems to better for that.

    Despite this issues I love the machine. It my first machine and it still seems like magic to me. Ethernet is great! Took me a while to work it out but you do set the IP on the machine.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    23

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    Just arrived from my shop.
    I still can't use the laser, no fume extraction, no ground safety. But I switched on the main control and, surprise, the LCD is the graphic one, with layer control, preview and so on. so I am sure that the controlloer is the rdc644gx.
    Tried to move the laser head around, all seems work with no problem at all. fan is working, little noise, the jog movement is very satisfying..
    I have measured the laser tube and it seems like 800mm more or less.

    @Tehpepper
    Really great info, I am interested in the vendor settingmenu, the manual doesn't says anything. Wht are you changing the paramenters? Why do you set lower power mA on the new PSU?
    I don't understand calibration %. Do you mean the step motors 'steps' for cm (or inch) ?



    now I will post again the pictures of my 1st thread, I don0t know why the attachments aren't working.
    Attachment 269004
    Attachment 269006Attachment 269008Attachment 269010
    Attachment 269012Attachment 269014Attachment 269016
    Attachment 269018Attachment 269020

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    23

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    WOrked a bit on the cabinet/filter/cooler unit.
    I hope to realize a piece of furniture like this, to put the sg350g on it.
    The multi stage filter would be made out of:
    1 prefilter (filtrete or similar)
    2-5 cm zeolite, a natural volcanic stone, with a structure similar to the active carbon, rich of holes and negative iones inside, ready to 'capture' cations
    3 10 cm (4 ") of active carbons
    4 post filter to catch dust from carbon and zeolite.

    the fan will be a baumberg centro 150 (centrifuga 280 cfm), adding to the standard air extractor
    on the top the water bucket of 30Liters, with thermo meter

    I plan to put a mini camera inside the machine and a 4.3" 16/9 hires lcd screen to evaluate the work during the cut

    Please let me know if the filters could do the trick... I will cut wood (ply and mdf) and make a lot of mdf engraves

    bye stay tuned

    Attachment 269034

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    32

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    I discovered that my 20mm test squares were not quite square. If you tuned them 90 degrees they would not fit back into the hole they came out of
    I did a larger cut of 150 mm x 10mm and discovered that it was in fact 151.5 mm long as measured with digital callipers . (I think the percentage I have earlier may have been doubled) it wasn't as bad in the other dimension.

    This can be calibrated under the Vendor settings in the file menu. The password is rd8888. The machine setup calls it step length and apparently it is in micro meters. They make it pretty easy to change. If you do a cut or engrave and measure the dimensions you can enter how long it was supposed to be vs how long it actually is.

    As far as I know beam current is a huge factor in how long you tube lasts. Seems most tubes of this length are good for 15-18 mA so I set mine in the middle. I have noticed a lot of sites list the operating current for the tube as one value but the quote life hours is at a lower current.
    They also seem to be diminishing returns operating your tune over spec. When my laser was at 26 mA (before I got an ammeter) it didn't cut 62% better than at 16 mA

    The last image is to how to stop jobs being mirrored when sent to the laser.Its under config->system settings

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    23

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    Thanks, you are really kind and your info are valuable for all the sh-350 owners and future owners.
    WHen my setup will be ready I will try the calibration first.

    About the current of the laser, how do you set up the value? I am not an electronic/electricity expert and I hate to be electrocuted... ;-)


    edit: I found a manual of a PSU for a laser, but it reports that the output could be changed using a resistor... I don't feel sure changing resistor in a 20kv PSU...
    http://www.google.it/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdanielbauen.com%2Fmake%2Findex.ph p%2Fdownload_file%2F134%2F96%2F&ei=nu7hVM75JKfXyQPopIDICQ&usg=AFQjCNHb-eOTT7P50tWdZ9TJDKu84rKdfg&sig2=c2uxdTZkH4R5UDzG3NXP2Q&bvm=bv.85970519,d.bGQ



    also found an intersting Instructable:
    404 - Not Found

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    32

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    I purchased one of these ammeters DC Meter 50mA 85C17 AMP Analog Panel Current Ammeter CO2 Laser Engraver Cutter | eBay

    You connect it in series on the ground side (Black wire) of the tube which will be a fairly low potential with respect to the case/ground. There is a heat shrunk join there which I cut to insert the meter.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    23

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    ok, the ampmeter is the same mounted on the cheap dc-k40 laser and it is easy to found.
    the question is: how to set the maximum current on the psu? is there a potentiometer to regulate the current or you set it from software?

    I guess that you could work at a max power xx% well below 100% just to be sure to limit the mA of the tube, or you change it in the hardware (psu has a potentiometer?)

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    32

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    I adjusted the PSU to avoid accidents. All my previous files were set for 70% being which was 62% over max spec when using the new PSU so I adjusted the PSU.

    Arrow points to the POT that limits the current. If I recall correctly clockwise reduces the current. This is something you should be vary careful doing and if necessary turn off the laser PSU prior to making an adjustment. The main capacitors may still hold a charge for a little while after shutdown although I think there is a bleeder resistor across them.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    62

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    Quote Originally Posted by TehPepper View Post
    A fair quantity of aluminium filings on the lens. Clearly it was fitted before it was mounted in the machine. As the mirrors were fairly well aligned I didn't check the lens before doing some test cuts.
    I have same issue. Founds lots of metal pieces inside nozzle on top of lens. I was able to blow it out with air, but I'm unable to get to the lens to clean it. Do you know how nozzle disassembles? I took off the laser assembly and even removed air connect but unable to unscrew anything (it's unclear where threads are)...
    Also do you know lens diameter and focal length?

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    32

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    Diameter of mine is 18mm. Focal length would appear to be around 43-45mm.

    YouTube is taking it's time processing but here is a video showing the removal of the lens

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faGg29sZ0Y4

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    62

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    Thanks a lot! I finally was able to unscrew mine. It was machine tightened I'm guessing cause it took me lots of effort (had to use to two pipe wrenches, and stripped some paint in the process). They screwed it in so tight that metal cut into aluminum collar and there were tons of debris inside, as well as oil! I cleaned it up with 99.9% alcohol and cotton swabs.
    I like how yours is golden and shiny Mine is just plain black. Also I have slightly different air assist connector (mine has screw that regulates air flow.

    BTW what kind of pin table do you have there? Looks interesting
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails IMG_5087.jpg  

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    32

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    It is a piece of MDF covered with Pryda nail plates Pryda 76 x 190mm Knuckle Nailplate I/N 2450017 | Bunnings Warehouse
    I originally wanted to use plain old gang nails but couldn't find any. These have been good because I can pin down the cheap ply I use to keep it flat for cutting.
    Zero issues with reflections and the beam is getting pretty wide by the time it hits the MDF underneath and so the MDF is faring pretty well.
    Not so good for small or thin soft items

    PS.

    The gold looks better in pictures than real life .

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    62

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    Oh that's so cool! I never heard about nail plates before. Doesn't look like I can find "Knuckle" type in US, looks like it's an Australian thing

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    940

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    try searching mending plates they have them at most lumber yards and the big box stores

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    23

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    great info, the nail plate is so cool but not easy to obtain here in italy...
    maybe I will go with the usual honeycomb, a 19mm net, 20 or 30 mm high, I hope that at 20 mm the laser beam is wide enough and lose enough power.

    funny to know that every sh350 has different features:
    lens (I heard about 18mm 20mm or 25 mm)
    u/d powerd table or not
    key switch or nothing
    fuse or not fuse
    neon lamp or led stripe inside
    black lens holder or gold lens holder
    adjustable air assist flow rate or fixed one
    simple character lcd or graphic lcd (maybe this is the old ruida 320 or the newest rdc644xg (i have the last)
    honeycomb or aluminum table
    rotary axis or nothing

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    940

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    you can use light diffuser egg crate either plastic or aluminum

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Posts
    111

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    Here is one sample.
    Perfect working pin table.

    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByJi...p=docslist_api

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    62

    Re: My SH-350 has landed !!!

    Quote Originally Posted by itmaxx View Post
    great info, the nail plate is so cool but not easy to obtain here in italy...
    maybe I will go with the usual honeycomb, a 19mm net, 20 or 30 mm high, I hope that at 20 mm the laser beam is wide enough and lose enough power.

    funny to know that every sh350 has different features:
    lens (I heard about 18mm 20mm or 25 mm)
    u/d powerd table or not
    key switch or nothing
    fuse or not fuse
    neon lamp or led stripe inside
    black lens holder or gold lens holder
    adjustable air assist flow rate or fixed one
    simple character lcd or graphic lcd (maybe this is the old ruida 320 or the newest rdc644xg (i have the last)
    honeycomb or aluminum table
    rotary axis or nothing
    Add Network port to the list Mine didn't have one outside, but I noticed controller board actually has RJ-45 port!
    Quote Originally Posted by miketola View Post
    Here is one sample.
    Perfect working pin table.


    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByJi...p=docslist_api
    Wow I like this one! Care to share how you made it? What are those pins made from? Pop rivets?

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