We recently had (what we thought were) major problems with our 18″ Epilog Mini. When we were vector cutting, X axis (horizontal) lines would cut fine but Y axis (vertical) cuts would engrave poorly. The Y axis cuts would have a wave (sine wave) pattern in them. At high cutting speeds the cuts would have a wave frequency of about 1/32 to 1/16″, at real slow speeds (10-20%) the cut would be barely acceptable, but you could run your finger nail along the cut and it would feel like the teeth of a file.
We have been working with Epilog for about 3 weeks now and they haven’t been able to duplicate or solve the problem.
Finally, my partner (who is retired from the aircraft engine business) came up with the theory that external electrical noise was the cause of the problem. We experimented and shut off both our exhaust blower and air assist pump and the laser immediately begin cutting PERFECT! Turn either back on and the problem would return. We relocated the terminal strip that had the outlets for both to a different location, relocated the electrical cords for both and moved the air assist to the floor instead of on a shelf below the laser and the problem hasn’t returned!
During the time we have had the problem with the Y axis cutting we also had problems with the laser losing the X axis position during the process of engraving the job and then losing the home position when the job finishes. I now believe the problem was also related to electrical noise.
If anyone else has these problems I strongly suggest you check out the location of the exhaust blower and air assist pump before going any further.
I would also be interested if anyone else has had these sorts of problems.
One interesting note, at the SAME EXACT TIME that we were working on the problem and waiting for Peck in customer service at Epilog to return our call to tell him what we had accomplished, he told us that he was working with another customer with vector cutting problems that ended up with the SAME SOLUTION!