Laser setup warnings/thoughts

General Chat
1

I have been working on the EX controller/laser aux box upgrade.

Been a little rocky.

First issue was ex controller came with the nic card unattached, had a few internal issues on the board so they swapped it out completely. Great turnaround and service.

Success ex controller worked.

Laser came

One caveat for everyone.

Those bearing blocks are a pain in the ass and there is no catch on the assembly for the slide. (suggest adding one for avid.)

I managed to accidentally unset the rails on the first attempt.

(very tiny balls, can fix, bit need magnetic sharp point)

I managed to reassemble 1 and bought another:

Amazon.ca : uxcell MGN9C Stainless Steel Sliding Carriage Block with Plastic Anti-Fall Strip for 9mm MGN9 Linear Motion Slide Rail Guide, Black worked perfectly for those on the fly.

Avid did also send me replacements later (amazon just was quicker)

So then got the laser assembled but had air issues, which turned out was just all in the profile, mine was outdated.

Was on a video call with avid when we were testing the deploy.

“Press cycle start”

Chunk… fell past the bearing blocks again.

Didn’t actually drop to the table (power cord pretty much stopped it)

That back assembly could use a catch that secures the rod from slippage, as that’s what happened, the rod slipped off the back plate.

Awesome that air is working things look great…BUT

That bit of force when it dropped past the bearings somehow broke the laser fan blade. Now it is super loud…and not efficient anymore.

So then I guess I am curious if anyone has replaced a fan for these opt lasers? Have an email with avid but thought maybe check here in case someone knows and to warn about those bearings…big bane of install issues for me.

Suggestions for avid on that laser assembly:

1. Catch or latch on the back that can prevent accidental rail over extension.(mostly on the top)

2. Some kind of bar or catch that can pin across the assembly for the plunger to prevent outward slip. (once slip happens lack of bearing catch becomes evident)

Great support by avid so far, thought I would share this for people just in case.

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2

I don’t have the laser but I thought I would reply with a general tip for vertical linear rails. You can replace the bottom bolts with hex heads as an emergency stop. Quick and dirty.

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3

This is a great suggestion thank you.

I was thinking of a connecting a wire to the 2 parts with some of the extra tapped holes, but this would also solve the issue.

AVID pulled thru with a quick fan replacement, not too terrible to replace. Is an odd fan though, they may have parted out a laser on hand.

For those interested, this is what the fan specs are, https://www.sunonusa.com/product/dc-fan-60x60x38/

First tests later today, but thanks to avid for the fast turn around on a replacement fan.

4

I wouldn’t rely on the bolt as a repeated stop, but as a way to keep it from slipping off the end while assembly it works well. If it the linear bearing wiper hit into the bolt head repeatedly I am sure it would get damaged.

Good luck with the rest of the project.

5

Those bearing blocks are small was it the air cylinder that came apart that caused the fall?

6

I spent the better part of the summer getting my laser kit up and running - not AVID’s fault, just taking my time because I like to tinker. I ran into a similar issue with the air actuated cylinder that led me to the same conclusion with the positive stop. This is what I came up with:

backstop_photo_log.pdf (1.1 MB)