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Hermes Laser Cutter - What type of laser is? How to drive the laser power supply?

Axxel

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Joined
Jun 2, 2018
Messages
7
Points
3
Dear friends!

I found an old 98's laser cutter abondonated in an enterprise. I asked for it and they said me: Leave it at your workshop! It's a present for you! Ohhh yeahhhh, great!!!

I thought this machine Hermes VanGuard Laser 2001 is a classic Co2 laser cutter, working with old parallel port and MS-DOS or windows 9x software, the only thing I have to do is quitting the obsolete electronics and use a classic Arduino UNO with GRBL to free the machine and give it a new oportunity and this tool can be helpful for some projects.

de1pWZb.jpg


I opened the machine, and I get really surprised when I saw the laser it have! Aparently, looks to be a CO2 laser air cooled... Only I have to understand how I can PWM drive the power supply and here we go! So I desarmed the power supply and I get rally surprised to see the quality of the electonics and these high frequency mosfets! Woooow! Why this technology?... I started to documente myself about this and I conclued this laser isn't a CO2 laser but a ARGON LASER!

UgZtLkL.jpg


ywXwceb.jpg


The laser power supply pictures:

rNUJN9b.jpg


lnMgQq2.jpg


imAGhvP.jpg


Here is the input to the "laser tube":

1ePDVh1.jpg


So my firt question is : What type of laser is it?

Unfortunaly, the machine miss some sensors and some unknown stuff (there is free conectors) and it is imposible for me to get working the machine in stock conditions due to these missing parts.

I tried to investigate to see what type of signals I can send to the laser power supply.

ABmp7Kj.jpg


GK514ag.jpg


The big red and black cable is the general power, 48VDC. The yellow cable have 12VDC, and it is connected to the open door sensors, like a safety.

And the three little cables red, black, and white are going direcly to some microcontroller outputs on the motherboard of he laser cutter.

I tried to send some PWM and low-high states to these 3 little cables with an Arduino, nothing... Impossible to start the laser.

Unfortunately, there is nothing of informations in the web of these devices...

My second question is : Anyone know this brand of laser power supply? Is there a known diagram or instructions of how to use it? Or if there is some instructions of a similar laser at electronics level for the way of how to drive a power supply like that could be helpful for me to get working this laser.

Here some pictures of the FPGAs and Uc Main Board of the laser cutter:

uIK6vrj.jpg


HpaLZeA.jpg


YQ7VpM9.jpg



Cheers :)
 





Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
17,622
Points
113
Gee... It would be nice if you would introduced
yourself to the members in the Welcome section
so that members can learn a little about you.

Members are more likely to help someone they know
a little about.

Have you tried to contact the manufacturer if he
still exists :thinking:


Jerry
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
9,399
Points
113
48VDC and air-cooling strongly suggest this is an RF-excited CO2 laser. These are much lower power than a similar sized HVDC-excited tube. 20-30W output would be my wild guess. You'll need to partially reverse-engineer the drive system if you can't find documentation. I personally wouldn't bother for this type of laser.
 

Axxel

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Joined
Jun 2, 2018
Messages
7
Points
3
Ok thanks! I have been registered here 5 or 6 years ago with presentation, but I lost it... I will make a new presentation soon.

OK I saw the difference between AC co2 y HF co2. This one is an HF co2. And you are true, this is an HF co2 of 25W. I will sudy how does it works and I will try to get this laser working.

Of course, i'm looking for a co2 DC kit to replace this HF laser. 25W is really poor. But it's interesant for me to understand how the HF co2 laser works, so I will try to make it working.

https://bosslaser.com/blog/2016/02/12/which-co2-laser-tube-is-best-dc-or-rf/

Here I found a good explaination to compare these 2 tecnologies!
 

Encap

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Joined
May 14, 2011
Messages
6,113
Points
113
Gee... It would be nice if you would introduced
yourself to the members in the Welcome section
so that members can learn a little about you.

Members are more likely to help someone they know
a little about.

Have you tried to contact the manufacturer if he
still exists :thinking:

Jerry

Universal Laser Systems still exist --maybe they can help see: https://www.ulsinc.com/
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2013
Messages
17,254
Points
113
Sam's laser FAQ has been the go to place for all sorts of lasers for years. I'm surprised no one gave you the link earlier. This is a great place to go for questions about any laser. You could spend years learning all Sam Goldwasser has put into this compendium since 1994.
 

CurtisOliver

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Jun 12, 2015
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I sometimes give Sam's FAQ a browse whenever I am in need of something to read. It is an amazing resource. Much appreciation to Sam for its existence.
 

diachi

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Feb 22, 2008
Messages
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48VDC and air-cooling strongly suggest this is an RF-excited CO2 laser. These are much lower power than a similar sized HVDC-excited tube. 20-30W output would be my wild guess. You'll need to partially reverse-engineer the drive system if you can't find documentation. I personally wouldn't bother for this type of laser.


Big fat RF transistors and other components shown point in towards RF Excited CO2 too.
 

Axxel

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Joined
Jun 2, 2018
Messages
7
Points
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Here we go! They answered me! (Joinded PDFs)

Unfortunalty, il look this laser is gas empty...:undecided:

I will confirm that soon!
 

Attachments

  • Manual - UL OEM INTEGRATION MANUAL MARCH 2004.pdf
    1.2 MB · Views: 38
  • Manual - UL OEM MANUAL JUNE 2002.pdf
    470.4 KB · Views: 28

Axxel

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Joined
Jun 2, 2018
Messages
7
Points
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Dear friends!

I managed to get other laser heads, Synrad 48 series and Coherent 350W Diamond series and having one synrad working!

I will make a simple PWM PCB with discrete components to have a CO2 RF laser driver for tests and will share here the design... (Eagle)

Please give me chance for presentation, I have some DPSS and HeNe, I need to found them to post pictures!

Regards.
 
Last edited:

Voltar1

New member
Joined
Mar 29, 2020
Messages
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3
Axxel, thank you for posting those manuals. Exactly what I have been searching for.
I have a Hermes LS200 complete that will be converted to Arduino GRBL for the cnc control.
Would like to use the laser if possible so this thread has helped me anew!
 

Voltar1

New member
Joined
Mar 29, 2020
Messages
8
Points
3
Discovered my Hermes LS200 is using a Synrad Firestar v40. Got absolutely no where with Hermes.
Synrad were awesome!
Getting ready to test her out tomorrow!
 

Voltar1

New member
Joined
Mar 29, 2020
Messages
8
Points
3
Laser cuts awesome. Can easily vary power with a PWM circuit.
Now to complete the Arduino controller
 




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