100 Watt CNC Laser Installation

There have been some surprises with the digital outs of the laser in comparison to the G100's documentation:

Duty cycle
PIN 10 (+) :: LO
PIN 23 (-) :: HI

Digital reflected
PIN 08 (+) :: HI
PIN 21 (-) :: LO

Digital forward
PIN 09 (+) :: HI --> square when laser is activated
PIN 22 (-) :: LO --> HI when laser is activated

VSWR limit
PIN 11 (+) :: Square wave --> LO when laser is activated
PIN 24 (-) :: Square wave --> HI when laser is activated

Over Temp
PIN 04 (+) :: HI
PIN 17 (-) :: LO

The good news is power supply is going great, the cooling is functional, and the laser is running pretty much at full power. It creates a nice white spot into the concrete floor.

The notgreat news is the laser controller could be better. It was not designed properly because I should have got the laser going first and looking at the status of the digital outputs before designing the circuit. For now I'm switching to manual override, by sending my wave generator to a line driver chip. The wave generator allows me to set the duty cycle. For now I'm not going to have digital control of the laser power.

Motor control. Its not like the laser controller was a waste of time. It still does a lot of motor control. Having motor control will be essential for cutting metal. I have a way large number of cables that will have to be constructed in order for it to get running.

Cooling. The cooling is pretty good for short tests of the laser. Its at level where I'll be able to try cutting metal.

Optics. So far its working. But I had a piece of tape over one hole of the optics and then I pulsed the laser. This introduced smoke into my really expensive optics and there's a good chance I put a deposit of crap on the mirrors. I will run a test of the power of the beam with and without the optics on to see if there was a major penalty in performance. I might have to get the optics cleaned if there's a serious problem. I have yet to get anywhere near ready to put the cutting head on and watch the action.

Gas lines. Oxygen and nitrogen gas lines have to be connected, shouldnt be a big problem.

aloha for now, I'm taking a couple weeks off in hawaii. I'll do some development of the controller during any free time.

Romos V. called me just now. He has the same power supply and suggested that I connect pin 6 and 8 rather pin 5 and 8. I went to the bench, did some soldering, connected the power supply and it ran like a jet engine.

Thanks Romos! You are very kind to have taken the time to call me.

Owen

Made a beam stop.
Rigged the controller so it would behave for an hour or so.
Then applied voltage to the power supply.

The power supply model # HC2511 doesnt power up when I put 220 volts on its terminals.

On application of power there is a single click that is heard that sounds like a small relay. The fan does not come on, the light does not come on, and five volts does not appear between pin five and 20 of the DB-25 connector of the power supply.

Hooked up plumbing between chiller and laser cooling lines.
Hooked up wiring between laser and power supply.
(things are getting serious when bolt cutters are used to cut wires to PS)
Hooked up 220 cord to power supply.
Set up table to temporarily set up cpu, laser controller, oscilloscope.
Connected laser controller to laser for the first time.
Connected laser controller to linux machine.
Set up EMC to override homing switches.
Began to engage the servo-controller board.
Placed rubber shark on laser head.
Sat down at the table.
Noticed laser head points beam directly at my ear.
Decided to make beam stop.