Laser question

[sonolink]

I didn't know what section this belonged so my apologies if this is not the right place to post it.

I've got a 50w CO2 chinese laser machine that I bought 8 years ago. It's not like I was using it 8h/day 24/7 but it has always worked fine. I didn't use it since before this summer and fired it up today. The laser wasn't firing. So I unplugged the 6pin connector from the PSU and pressed the Test button to check if it's the tube or the HV PSU and to my surprise I saw sparks!! I made a video. This should definitely NOT happen when I press the PULSE button right? The PSU is toasted and I should replace it, correct?

View attachment VID_20241022_201837.mp4

 

[k brown]

"laser machine" is a little vague - what exactly is it?

 

[sonolink]

Sorry, it's a CO2 laser engraver like this one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2752518814...d=&campid=5338413729&toolid=10001&mpt=8988567

 

[JohnRoberts]

Did you try contacting customer service from the manufacturer?

JR

 

[sonolink]

No. TBH I don't even remember who I bought this from on AliExpress 8 years ago...

Out of curiosity, am I the only one to feel that those sparks look like there's something wrong inside that PSU?

 

[capacitorless]

Only if what's generating those sparks is contained and it's somehow designed that way. But 99.9%ish sure that's a fire hazard rather than a feature.

Is the test button designed to be used when the tube is connected? If so there might be nowhere for the HV to go, ergo sparks happening further upstream. I'm not ragging on the Chinese, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is a less than safe design or implementation.

If I was younger I would think it's really cool (and probably keep pushing the button until something else happened).

 

[sonolink]

Is the test button designed to be used when the tube is connected?

Thanks for your reply.

In one of my Google searches I found a troubleshooting protocol for a machine very similar to mine so I followed it:

-"My laser tube is intact, appears undamaged, but does not fire"
-> set laser power to 25% or above and pulse test the laser while monitoring the electric current on the machine mA reader.
-> my mA reading remains the same when I pulse my laser
-> the PSU is not working properly. Goto troubleshooting laser PSU

"My laser does not fire and the ammeter reads zero.
-> my laser will not fire or pulse at all
-> locate your laser PSU and disconnect the green 6pin plug. Then press the small TEST button to test fire the laser while monitoring the mA current reading.

At THIS point I noticed the sparks!!
The following point is:
-> my laser still does not fire using the TEST button
-> your power supply likely needs to be replaced.

So I put the green 6pin plug back in and tried again the pulse button, but this time kept an eye on the PSU. And that's the video I attached earlier.

After reading your post I read through the protocol again and noticed the following point:
- my PSU has an ELECTRIC ARC

Of course, I never knew the arc was there the first time! So this time I followed that path:

-> your power supply likely needs to be replaced !!!


So I guess I definitely need a new PSU. I just hope that's the only fault.

Thanks a lot for your input
Cheers
Sono