Big Red Maintenance

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Glenn Martin

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Jul 3, 2017, 8:09:20 PM7/3/17
to Artifactory Laser Subcommittee

E-Stop: 
I got a replacement emergency stop button for Big red from Jaycar, it might work but its only 6Amp, If anyone knows where to get a better one. Its in big red office box.

Keys - I put the new spare in office box (BigReds) with my receipt for Stuart for now to put in safe

Gas Struts: Can someone look into ordering replacements for the door struts so the door lives longer without the warping its going through when closing.

Hinge Seal: As Lemming mentioned I put a weather strip along back of door hinge to seal it. Duct tape covering the holes.  It could do with some thin foam / weather strip along the edge of the frame of the door rest to seal even more.

Mirror Alignment:
Big Red was cutting terribly last night. The final laser beam was hitting the head/nozzle after the lense. I don't understand how it can be cutting so bad and no-one mentioning it.
I adjusted the 1st and 2nd mirrors so there is very little variation in the position of the beam hitting the final mirror across the 4 corners of the bed. The 3rd mirror I straightened up by eye to make it square as its was way out, that did the trick for now, but I think it can be improved more. 
Also I think the entire head might not be perpendicular / square to the bed, I think it was hit hard and a while back, physically bending the mount.

Laser Alignment Guides:  Thanks for those little bullseye guides Lemming, I found a couple in the box which came in handy, please remind me next time I'm in where to find the file to cut more. 
If someone wants to create a folder in the Members works for the laser cutters so all guides, test cuts, doo dads for the laser cutters that various people have created can be placed in there, that would be super handy. 


That wraps up my laser cutter status for others to follow up on

Thanks

Glenn



Lemming .

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Jul 3, 2017, 9:57:50 PM7/3/17
to Glenn Martin, Artifactory Laser Subcommittee
The file is in my folder on Filer. I think under "Big Red Laser Alignment" or something similar.

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mitchk...@gmail.com

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Jul 3, 2017, 11:05:06 PM7/3/17
to Artifactory Laser Subcommittee
E-Stop. I would not imagine the machine drawing any more than a couple of Amps, The Chiller and Extraction are not on the same plug. a 6A should be more than sufficient.

Gas-struts, Across the road from the space (about 3 buildings down near a car tyre place, South) is the strut place we got them from before, They are friendly and gave a really good price (about $12 a strut from what I recall)


Mirrors, Wow! Nick and I Tightened the lock nuts with a tool, Weird they have come loose.

Glenn Martin

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Jul 4, 2017, 4:58:20 AM7/4/17
to mitchk...@gmail.com, Artifactory Laser Subcommittee
Thanks for the info Mitch and Lemming,




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mitchk...@gmail.com

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Jul 4, 2017, 5:01:29 AM7/4/17
to Artifactory Laser Subcommittee
Also I'm sure it's just an oversight but the bed is at least one centimetre out on the right hand side.

Jim Mullaney

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Jul 5, 2017, 12:03:34 AM7/5/17
to Mitch Kelly, Artifactory Laser Subcommittee
Sorry I haven't been around of late .... a mixture of illness, marking and travelling. I am away at present and will be back next week and will get down to the space and catch up with things.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone for keeping the lines of communication open and stepping in where they saw a need. 

Cheers,

J



On 4 July 2017 at 17:01, <mitchk...@gmail.com> wrote:
Also I'm sure it's just an oversight but the bed is at least one centimetre out on the right hand side.
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Nick Bannon

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Jul 5, 2017, 11:50:08 AM7/5/17
to artifact...@googlegroups.com, Stuart McDonald, Mitch Kelly
Thanks to all lending a hand!

On Tue, Jul 04, 2017 at 02:01:29AM -0700, mitchk...@gmail.com wrote:
> Also I'm sure it's just an oversight but the bed is at least one
> centimetre out on the right hand side.

Stuart and I _were_ planning to fix that tomorrow morning; but was
there a bed alignment fairy at work? Right now it seems pretty good!
If you Z-datum in the centre (middle of the honeycomb bed); 15mm from
nozzle to target and are facing the machine:

16mm rear-left 15mm rear-right
15mm centre
15mm front-left 15mm front-right

I would very much like a way for us to automate that; moving and
step-counting the head during Z-datum to get a 5 point (or 9 point?)
set of level readings.

So yes, it's cutting pretty well, over 50mm/sec on 3mm MDF in
most positions.

However, there are a few other things to do, some big, some small, some
for either machine:
* train-the-trainer sessions including mirror/lens swaps or cleaning
* *please* tell us of any swaps/required cleaning
* check head alignment
* e-stop install
* gas struts
* hinge seal
* in case of further bed slippage; Lemming suggests degreasing the
toothed belts; we should probably wipe and grease more parts then
* rejigging the bed belt tensioners?
* thorough dusting
* examine eventual mounting of the 80W Jilin Yongli A4 tube in the LG500
* would a new honeycomb help? or would it rapidly start looking pretty
much the same as what we have?

Would anyone like to suggest a workable time for session or two of
those? Some of it could be Monday 24th, some might need a little wider
notice/prep.

On Mon, Jul 03, 2017 at 05:09:20PM -0700, Glenn Martin wrote:
[...]
> *Keys* - I put the new spare in office box (BigReds) with my receipt for
> Stuart for now to put in safe

Thank you - $5 each from http://www.a1locksmiths.com.au/ , spares now
in the main safe. I should bring in an extra lanyard.
Stuart should shortly encourage you to send some bank details to
trea...@artifactory.org.au (got a photo of the receipt already).

> *Gas Struts*: Can someone look into ordering replacements for the door
> struts so the door lives longer without the warping its going through when
> closing.
On Mon, Jul 03, 2017 at 08:05:06PM -0700, mitchk...@gmail.com wrote:
> Gas-struts, Across the road from the space (about 3 buildings down near a
> car tyre place, South) is the strut place we got them from before, They are
> friendly and gave a really good price (about $12 a strut from what I recall)

Sounds good, as long as they are a pair they probably don't need to be
identical to:
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/ZDQG-Type-Model-No-QD19-293-114-800-800N-Gas-spring-for-laser-machine/904631_32647352181.html
(USD$72 for 4 struts, I believe the measurements are 800N of
pressure/force, 293mm pivot-point to pivot-point maximum, 114mm of piston
movement, 19mm? diameter)

I can't this week, but when someone gets a chance...?

On Mon, Jul 03, 2017 at 05:09:20PM -0700, Glenn Martin wrote:
> *Hinge Seal:* As Lemming mentioned I put a weather strip along back of door
> hinge to seal it. Duct tape covering the holes. It could do with some thin
> foam / weather strip along the edge of the frame of the door rest to seal
> even more.

> *Laser Alignment Guides:* Thanks for those little bullseye guides Lemming,
> I found a couple in the box which came in handy, please remind me next time
> I'm in where to find the file to cut more.
> If someone wants to create a folder in the Members works for the laser
> cutters so all guides, test cuts, doo dads for the laser cutters that
> various people have created can be placed in there, that would be super
> handy.

I based some targets on Lemming's:
filer:/mnt/storage/shared/Member Work/NickB/lasercutter/laser-Alignment-target
Laser_Head_Crosshair_grouped4x1.ecp
Also, try: ruler2-stepped-10-25mm.ecp

My usual speed tests are:
filer:/mnt/storage/shared/Member Work/NickB/lasercutter/laserspeeds
LG500-littlered-07-15.ecp
best/LG500-littlered-12--24.ecp
LG500-littlered-12--24-doublecorners.ecp
LC1290-bigred-40--60.ecp
LC1290-bigred-40--60-doublecorners.ecp

> That wraps up my laser cutter status for others to follow up on
> Thanks
> Glenn

Thank you!
Nick.

--
Nick Bannon | "I made this letter longer than usual because
nick...@rcpt.to | I lack the time to make it shorter." - Pascal

mitchk...@gmail.com

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Jul 5, 2017, 12:32:26 PM7/5/17
to Artifactory Laser Subcommittee, Stuart....@westnet.com.au, mitchk...@gmail.com, nick-art...@rcpt.to
Note,

I was cutting 16mm Acrylic, It seems worse as the bed goes lower.

Glenn Martin

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Jul 6, 2017, 5:29:15 AM7/6/17
to mitchk...@gmail.com, Artifactory Laser Subcommittee, Stuart....@westnet.com.au, nick-art...@rcpt.to
I dropped by that strut place today, the smallest ones they have are 1100N which is too powerful. The Aliexpress ones would be the go then


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