Laser Machine Repair near Romford, on a Lotus Laser BLU100 Machine – Drapers Academy
A visit to a customer, Drapers’ Academy was requested by our partner RS Design and Technology as the customer could not use their machine as the machine was showing a ‘Machine Protected’ error message. The laser repair was conducted by our highly experienced service engineer ‘Gavin Edwards’. The laser repair visit included: –
Upon arrival at Drapers’ Academy the machine was visually inspected. The laser machine was in visibly a good condition.
The ‘Machine Protected’ error message would be displayed when a job was sent to the machine for processing. When this issue occurs, what the machine is saying with this error message is that the machine is not in a ‘safe’ state to run the job file.
This could be a number of reasons, firstly, if fitted there could be a flow switch monitoring the coolant water flow, to ensure that the cooling water is flowing correctly. Secondly that the air assist pump is on and working as expected. However normally the issue lies with the door interlocks. These ensure that all entrances to the machine are closed and secure to avoid any laser radiation escaping the machine.
In this case the issue was traced to the magnetic sensors on the machine’s door and main lid. There were 6 in total and are all wired in series, so they all need to be active in order for the machine to operate. On this particular machine there were 6 sensors in total. For this issue the sensors on the right side of the main lid and on both the right hand side opening doors needed to be adjusted in order to make them trigger and allow the system to operate. A job was sent to the machine and the error message no longer appeared.
Whilst onsite he unit was also given a laser service to ensure that the customer had a machine that was in as good a condition as possible. So the following items were carried out:-
- Inspected, cleaned the entire laser beam path, including mirrors, focusing lens and nozzle. – It was noted that the focusing lens had been installed upside down, this was corrected
- Inspected, cleaned and oiled linear bearings
- Inspected and cleaned electrical bay
- Inspected and tested Safety Interlocks Inspection & Test
- Inspected and tested all sensors
- Inspected, and topped up the chiller unit
The customers Bofa AD 1000 was also visually inspected as there was a faint odour from the rear exhaust of the main machine, indicating that the active carbon inside the filters were becoming depleted. It was recommended to replace the Combined Filter within the next few months.
The beam alignment was checked and the laser power was then remeasured at the laser nozzle and was shown to be 72w @96% power.
After having finished the repair and service on their Lotus Laser BLU100 machine, the customer asked for a quick inspection on their other laser machine, as the unit had poor cutting performance. The issue was quickly located as the machine was producing quite a thick cut line. So the the focal position was adjusted and the job rerun. The machine was producing a thin, clean cut line and successfully cutting through the material.
Additional observations were made on the second machine, as the unit was quite old, and had further issues with the keypad, keyswitch, air compressor and the main door/lid. It was recommended that the customer consider sourcing a replacement for the unit within the next year.
Any of the consumable items mentioned above, Lens, Mirrors, Laser tubes, Power supplies are all available and can be bought separately in our online shop.
If you would like further information on our Laser machine repair near Romford capabilities or anywhere else in the country, or any other Laser Training requirement or Laser Application, please request a call back or, talk to one of our service engineering specialists by going to our contact page – link below.
