[TVOD]

Hi! I purchased a used hurricane "Andrew" 100w laser from a laser shop off of craigslist. They said it only needed a new tube to operate, but now I'm not so sure.

I just installed the proper RECI tube and hooked everything up. When I went to hook up the cathode I couldn't find its connecting wire, after following it through the wiring harness I found it coiled up and disconnected next to the laser power supply with some concerning scorch marks. I've attached an image of what I saw below.

Taking the shop's word for it, I reconnected the cathode wire to the (probably) burnt out female connector leading the laser power supply. After this I powered on the machine moved the laser carriage over a test piece and fired for a few seconds. At this point I heard a hissing/crackling sound and started smelling something like ozone or vaporized metal. I powered off immediately after noticing the smell and followed it the electrical compartment that encloses the power supply (the smell was definitely strongest there) I'm assuming that this has to do with the connector or power supply as everything else on the laser seems to work fine, but I'd like to hear your thoughts. I have plenty of experience using epilogues from my time in design school but I'm a novice when it comes to electrical systems and this kind laser machine so I could definitely use some input!

Also its worth mentioning that I did not realign the flying optic system prior to testing (figuring that it was still aligned from when the shop was using it) but also out of intimidation and lack of a manual for my exact model. Is it possible that the optic system being unaligned would cause these issues?

Thanks for any help you guys can offer!

[TVOD]

bump please. Anybody know what would cause the high voltage cable to arc?

[__Britt]

I'm not a traned high voltage engineer or technician, so this is just stuff I've picked up from surfing the web and watching YouTube videos... but...

Bad insulation; conductive buildup; and airborne contamination (smoke or vapors) are some possibilities. Anywhere you see something that looks scorched; it's likely got a layer of carbon built up on it; and that carbon is conductive.