Laser Committee/Maintenance History
From Dallas Makerspace
Thunder Nova 63 "Big Thunder"
- 02 December 2017. Tube Power: 125 out of 130. Full alignment: tube, mirrors, lens. Cleaned mirrors & lens. Cleaned and vacuumed housing.
- 05 December 2017. Wavey vector line issue (open). Per Pearce, "We have new belts and they will get replaced after the other new machines are installed."
- 11 December 2017. Relay installed so that blower operates automatically when a job starts. Switch removed.
- 07 January 2018. Tube Power: 125 out of 130. Cleaned mirrors & lens. Vacuumed.
- 04 February 2018. Z-axis support brackets loose and causing supports to fall out. Tightened by Josh. Suggest leveling bed properly next service. Drag chain #1 bracket broken; Josh procuring new one. Zip-tied as temp fix.
- 03 March 2018. Bed out of level. Most likely a bow in the bed itself, not a true leveling issue.
- 08 March 2018. Drag chain broke due to inflexible air assist tubing that has aged. 3D replacement anchor link was printed. Air assist tubing replaced with aquarium tubing.
- 16 April 2018. Replaced mirrors. Old mirrors had white spots due to misuse.
- Belts due to be replaced.
- 29 August 2018. Logan says: Kerf is too wide by a factor of 3. Bottom left mirror light unfocused, despite cleaning lens and mirrors.
- 31 August 2018. Pearce reports on Discord that the focus tube is overheating. Says that the beam is aligned.
- 02 September 2018. Normal monthly maintenance.
- 03 October 2018. Head crash due to un-level bed. [1]
Thunder Nova 35 "Donner"
Thunder Nova 35 "Blitzen"
- 11 December 2017. Received and installed. Ready for use!
- 07 January 2018. Tube Power: 130 out of 130. Cleaned mirrors & lens. Vacuumed.
- 29 January 2018. Left hand belt tightened.
- 04 February 2018. Normal maintenance.
- 04 March 2018. Normal maintenance.
- 09 August 2018. Taken out of service. Laser tube not plumb. Air Assist valve broken. Belts are loose; gantry shifts.
- 02 September 2018. Normal monthly maintenance. Needs intensive gear/drive maintenance.
Epilog Zing
- 02 December 2017. Tube Power. 30 out of 30. Cleaned housing, mirrors, and lens. Improved exhaust switch, installed blast gate.
- 07 January 2018. Cleaned mirrors & lens. Vacuumed.
- 29 January 2018. Leveled bed. Adjusted lower right bed screw to stop grinding when raised.
- 04 February 2018. Normal maintenance. Bed re-leveled.
- 04 March 2018. Normal maintenance. Lens needs replacing.
- 08 April 2018.
- June 2018
- 01 July 2018. How to stop the vector grid from binding: Remove the Grate-Box, then loosen 3 of the 4 bed attachment screws in the corner (leave upper right tight) and then run the bed up and down. Should not bind. Then run bed to bottom limit and tighten screws.
- 02 September 2018. Normal monthly maintenance. Lens needs replacement.
Chillers
- 04 Februrary 2018. Chiller units given numbers. #1 is between Thunder 63 and Blitzen. #2 is between wall and Thunder 63. #3 is between wall and Donner. Water levels: #1 "Full", #2 "Normal", #3 "Normal.
- 02 March 2018. Chiller #3 has air bubbles in line. Needs distilled water. Donner taken out of service.
- 04 March 2018. Water levels: #1 "Full, #2 "Normal", #3 empty. Filled #3 with 1.5 gallons of distilled water; used a paper funnel from automotive. Drain plug was loose and water stains were on the floor and the bottom of wood stored in area. Tightened plug. Will check level frequently.
- 05 August 2018. Chiller #2 needed one gallon of water added.
- 05 August 2018. Chiller #2 needed 1/3 gallon of water added. At top of "Full" on gauge.
- 02 September 2018. Chiller #1 was found "low" and refilled.
Thunder Rotary Attachment
- 05 December 2017. The motor was rubbing against a pulley. John Gorman, Mike Churchill and Tim B fixed it. Also added a cable tie strain relief so the cord doesn't get pulled out.
Computers
- 04 February 2018. Cleared user profiles. Local group policy points to N://laser/windowsdesktopimage/dtopimage.bmp, which includes a safety warning. Stan installed PStoedit on Blitzen (unknown Donner & Big Thunder). Doubled size of file recording logins (Blitzen and Donner).
- 06 April 2018. Blitzen and Zing's drives upgraded to solid state.
CO2 Canister
- Spare full (50 lb) canisters are stored in Electrical Room, between a wall and an open door.
- Specialty canister dolly is located in Metal Shop. Lift canister with a "bear hug" onto dolly. Canister must be transported with shroud over valve to prevent deadly accident if canister falls and stem is broken.
- Shut valve closed on empty canister.
- Slowly open the outlet valve on the regulator.
- Watch the pressure gauges drop to zero.
- You will need an adjustable wrench to disconnect & reconnect the regulator.
- Shrouds are kept on windowsill behind canister. Use sharpie to mark it "Empty". Place over valve stem on canister before moving from wall cradle.
- Put new canister in cradle & rechain. Remove shroud and place on windowsill. Install regulator.
- Put old canister on cradle. Chain or rope canister to pipe next to back door. Canister must be transported with shroud over valve to prevent deadly accident if canister falls and stem is broken. Return dolly to metal shop.
- Contact AirGas for pick up and refill. Contact and DMS account number are on the admin wiki.
- When new canister arrives, mark shroud with letter "F" for "full" and store in Electrical Room between open door and wall.
Fire Extinguishers
- 08 January 2018. Ethan W. repaired bad welds on 3 CO2 extinguishers. Amazon sent two replacements, which were donated to Automotive Committee. See Laser discord channel beginning at 01/07/18, 1:02pm.
