Big Thunder has an error message for the chiller. Checked the water level in the back and it’s filled to normal. Need me check anything else let me know. Blitzen & Fusion are working.
Most common is a kink or air in the line. Given the power issues, could be anything though. Any lights or error codes on the front panel?
Yes the alarm and the red light
Also the iPad is locked.
I looked into this. It seems to most likely be a bad water flow sensor or a bad pump.
https://www.laserengraverforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=10825
I am leaning more to it being a bad water flow sensor but I am uncertain.
Here is the contact information page for the seller of the chiller.
the pump could be blocked up as well, we have seen alge growth in the chillers in the past
So I unscrewed the case for the chiller and vacuumed and blew off the immense pile of dust on the broken chiller to work on it. First thing I noticed is that the ground/shielding wire of the alarm output to the laser is broken. The red and black look fine. However, I doubt this would cause the error unless someone thinks otherwise.
I checked the water and it looked pretty clear throughout, so unless somehow it gets clogged or grows only in the pump itself, algae is probably not the problem.
I am going to safely test the capacitor on it today, which might have gone bad. The display dims whenever it triggers the cooling line solenoid and water pump motor when turned on. Let me know if any of you have any other ideas or suggestions to get this thing working again. Otherwise, maybe laser committee can buy a replacement. I really need to use the large laser as soon as possible.
@Team_Laser
Might not be a bad idea to remove the hoses & run some water through it. Just to make sure there is no obstruction in the water loop. Over time you can get growth or mineral buildup. Additionally does the machine have a flow switch for the water?
Since I’ve had this come up with other people (I don’t know if this is your circumstance), I encourage everyone to read this part of the rules and understand that we discourage commercial use, especially the taking of orders and then requiring the use of our tools - nobody ends up happy. While I understand you want to use it, if you require it for a business, you need to buy your own.
You left the chiller plugged in and taken apart - please make sure to tag things out or at least de-energize them if leaving them in that state again, it would be much appreciated.
I’ve left one of our backup units by big thunder. If an authorized maintainer would like to try to get that one to work, please feel free. I’ll be in tonight and may have time to take a look myself. Please note that the laser is still out of level and even if the chiller is operational there is additional maintenance required before others can use it.
1 Like
Just for clarification, I am intending to use it for personal use and left it unplugged. I plan to be there tonight to continue work on the broken one. I would like to learn how to level the laser so that I can help level it when needed in the future. Who are the authorized maintainers?
1 Like
Boo, sounds like someone decided to play with it anyway. I did forget to thank you for your assistance when I got on my soap box, so thank you!
The list has been dwindling for “authorized”, but mostly folks that have been trained in the basic maintenance during our training days or have been given the go-ahead by @cvrana
2 Likes
I might have a few minutes to look this evening at it.
3 Likes
I can install the backup unit if you let me know the settings for it and give me the permission to do so @cvrana. The capacitor on the broken one is good, 35.3 uF of 35 uF. I am going to clean out the pump on the broken one.
I’ll actually be at the space in about an hour, so we can work on it together if you want to wait, but otherwise yeah swapping the chiller is fine. I don’t actually know the settings off-hand though.
Something else to add to the confluence page once we figure them out.
Change of plans my car is super dead. So uh… yeah, I’m not gonna make it up there today.
I got the other one cleaned and installed. It seems to be working. Pump on other one appeared fine, intermittent with the rest of it. It appears to be the 12v 2 amp power supply although I was not there for full testing. Probably not able to draw enough amps.
So, thunder is back online?
I don’t see where anyone has addressed the out -of-level issue…
I can level the bed when I go in
1 Like