For what it's worth cutting Deleon requires a ton of air to prevent melting. I think that's true for some othe tgermoplastics to. It would be nice to keep the option of the big compressor for jobs like that.
Good to know.
Maybe see if the mini compressor can handle it, and if not, have instructions on using the building compressor.
I think the idea is to have the mini compressor available so people aren’t locked out from using the laser during quiet hours.
Make that Delrin. Stupid autocratic.
I thought the air supply we were talking about was to keep the laser’s lens clear, not supply cooling for the material being cut?
I think the air does a few things.
I don’t think it can be cranked up too much, or the rubber hose will pop off.
Yep, yep. The air is multi-functional. It does keep the lens clear from the smoke, but it also helps materials cut better, clears what I’ll call “smoke deposits” (basically charred dust), allows melty materials like acrylic to be cut in finer detail because it does cool it down, and extremely importantly, the air prevents fires. I’m sure there is more, but that’s what I can think of right now.
Found the compressor above the electronics area. It is almost exactly what I was going to order from Amazon. The only weird thing is when I plug it in it hums but no air comes out. I think it is actually set up for 220 V even though it has a 110 V plug.
Is the laser cutter 220V?
The box says 110-120v/220v but the label on the compressor says 220v, but the plug is a standard 110v style. Weird.
We could put a 220v plug on, or wire it into the laser main feed.
I tried to find the short on the PTDR setup but all the wiring checked out with the continuity tester.
I also looked at using the slightly larger project boxes I bought but they still may be on the small side. The data connection to the microcontroller came unplugged and I’m not shure how it goes back. I left it unplugged for now.
Good times.
Brad
If it is like aquarium pumps, there may be a torn diaphragm. Dunno if that is the case, but the next things to check might be if it is mechanically stuck due to rust/corrosion, or if the motor has a bad capacitor, or incorrect voltage. I have seen some equipment that runs on 220 on inverters from 110. Is there a chance a converter is running but the motor is switched off? My guess is for school systems it is easier to get a converter than run new 220 wiring. And the lasers do sell to school systems.
At the pot luck last night we were able to plug the mini compressor into the 220v outlet (with standard 110v shape!) on the back of the big laser and the pump worked great!
After much smiling and discussion we still didn’t actually hook it up so, so we are still on the main air setup.
We will connect the pump up to the big laser and purchase another pump for the small laser (actual 110v). The pumps will run when the laser has power.
This should enable laser operation during quiet hours.
Yea!
Brad
Damn you NEMA 5-15!!!
At the meeting Bill spoke how China is on 220v with different plugs.
I did some digging and it looks like they mainly use a two prong version (similar to the US) and a three prong version with the three prongs set at angles. (see below).
The US style plug that the air pump has is not a traditional 220v arrangement but the laser has a specific outlet labeled 220v with the US style plug. (Don’t plug any of our 110v stuff into that outlet) 
When we plugged it into our 110v outlet is didn’t have enough voltage to properly cycle, it hummed a bit.
I guess it is not as bad as a 110v device with a 220v standard plug. 
I put the 110v pump on the warden’s list.