We at Laser Maintenance Group encourage our customers to do routine laser maintenance. Why? We’d rather catch a problem before it becomes a catastrophic breakdown. Still, sometimes people forget. Or they’re too busy. Or … they come up with any number of excuses. And things break. In this post, IF you insist on pushing the limits, running your machine “just a little while more” before maintenance, I’ll show what one company did to prevent a catastrophic breakdown.

In this case study, the laser-owning company didn’t tighten a bolt on a shroud. Because of the laser system’s poor design, it was difficult to do. (Still, routine laser maintenance — such as our laser techs here at LMG do — would have caught and fixed the problem.)

The bolt wiggled loose. The laser beam fried the bolt, sending debris into the output coupler. The coupler nearly cracked all the way through, which would have led to a catastrophic breakdown. The beam also reflected away from its normal path, cutting a water hose. That spewed liquid into a number of sensitive electrical components.

The misguided laser beam also went into the copper tip. It super-heated the tip, fusing the opening almost completely shut. With all this laser energy going in all the wrong directions, things were ripe for a catastrophic breakdown.

Shut Down Prevents Catastrophic Breakdown

Despite their mistake in not getting routine laser maintenance, the laser operators responded correctly in this emergency situation. When they saw the laser wasn’t cutting, they shut down the machine. That simple action prevented a catastrophic breakdown.

So many times I see companies where the laser isn’t working quite right. Something is off. Things smell, look, sound or feel “funny”. They know something is wrong. But they keep going. They keep trying to make it work. They adjust a few minor things. They accept that the laser is going slower … and slower … and slower. They don’t perform laser service. And a catastrophic breakdown happens.

In this case, the laser operators simply shut down the laser. They could see it wasn’t cutting. They smelled the rubber hose burning. They knew something was wrong. They shut down their laser system … unlike these folks, who took a video of their failing laser cutting machine bellows:

Are you getting the message? “Shut Down to Prevent Catastrophic Breakdown!”

When they called LMG for laser service and repair, I was able to come out and repair the machine fairly quickly. They were only off-line for a couple of days. The parts that needed to be replaced were not that major or expensive. It could have been much, much worse. So, in that regard, they did the right thing. HOWEVER …

Scheduled, Routine Laser Maintenance And Service Is Always Cheaper Than Catastrophic Breakdown

Believe it or not, we at Laser Maintenance Group would rather do routine laser maintenance / laser service than emergency laser repair caused by catastrophic breakdown. It’s for purely selfish reasons:

• Routine laser maintenance lets us schedule our out-of-office trips
• Laser service usually takes less time
• Maintenance is less of a crunch / panic mode
• That makes the trips much less stressful
• Even though maintenance and laser service visits bring in less money than repairing catastrophic breakdowns do, we’d rather save our customers time, effort and money
• Maintenance is much less difficult and less dangerous than repairing and cleaning up the carnage of a catastrophic breakdown

How Often Should Routine Laser Maintenance Be Done?

For those reasons, and others, LMG encourages customers to schedule routine laser maintenance (here’s a video) on a regular basis. Most Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) recommend laser service / maintenance after approximately 800 to 1000 hours of operating time. In the case study mentioned earlier, the laser was being run for two shifts a day, totalling about 20 hours a day. As a result, their maintenance schedule should have been about every six weeks.

It wasn’t (and look what happened!)

Most machines actually run less than a full shift (because there is setup, loading and unloading, etc.) Typically we find that having a routine maintenance visit once every three to four months is enough. Again, it depends on how much you are running your laser. 800 hours to 1000 hours is a solid benchmark. (Go here to find out about LMG’s laser service packages.)

Trust the Laser Services Experts at LMG

To schedule laser service, including maintenance, analysis or repair visits, phone LMG at 423-593-7206 or email: lasersolutions@comcast.net. Our consulting technical support staff is on call to answer any questions you may have about your laser equipment.

Take care!

Scott, the Laser Service Guy
LaserSolutions@Comcast.net
423-593-7206

To see this video — and others — on routine laser maintenance, laser operations tips, and other laser services we provide, check out the video on our Laser Service Guy / Innovative Laser YouTube channel … and please subscribe!)