It usually means that the high voltage had dropped out. This is most often caused by a E-stop. Best thing to do is turn the shutter key off and then see if there are any other alarms that present them selves. Remember, there are two alarm pages, "ALM" and "MSG". Assuming you have a 16L or 160i control.

That means that high voltage has not been supplied to the oscillator or the switch has goon bad. If you have high voltage and all the n numbers look good I would test the switch.

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have checked both "ALM" and "MSG" and there is nothing to report. This is a 16L controller.

I called the tech guy who is away for two weeks. On the phone, we checked few parameters and the power seems to be there.

Could it really be as simple as the key switch?
The machine starts cutting, but stops a minute or two into the program.

Just checked the key switch and found it to be fine.

We had a laser with a loose switch that did the same thing. The switch was good but when you moved it the alarm would show up.

Took the cover off of the back of the controller and connected a multi-meter to the terminals. I wiggled the key around and couldn't get it to lose connectivity. That would have been an easy fix.

Could mirrors cause this?

Not likely. If was mirrors, you would get "laser power down" or "Laser not generate". Those alarms would require you to completely shut the machine down and restart the laser.

If you get this alarm, and you don't do anything else, like hit reset, and just turn the key off, that alarm goes away and no others are present, its probably an e-stop.

I am sure if you look at the H/V light under the Laser key switch its out. If you look at diagnostic 908 (i think) "laser sequence" = 20. That would mean you laser is in "stand-by". And more than likely a E-stop has caused it.

I think your pulsar is about 20 years old and one of the wires that goes to an emergency stop limit switch has broken, kind of. I say "kind of" because it only separates when the y is moving back and forth. The e-stop circuit has 24v on it all the time. When the limit switch is activated, the 24v doesn't' get back to the control and puts the machine in e-stop. Same thing happens if the wire is broken. A.K.A. "Fail safe"

"If you get this alarm, and you don't do anything else, like hit reset, and just turn the key off, that alarm goes away and no others are present, its probably an e-stop.

I am sure if you look at the H/V light under the Laser key switch its out. If you look at diagnostic 908 (i think) "laser sequence" = 20. That would mean you laser is in "stand-by". And more than likely a E-stop has caused it."

Laserninja, SPOT ON!
That is the exact scenario.

When it does this, we have to power down the machine and power it up again. The time loss is hugely frustrating.

Thanks for your advice. I'll try to trace the wiring for the limit switches in the morning.

This has been a problem for about a year now. It used to happen once a month, then once a week. Now it's every ten minutes, rendering the machine unusable.

If you just flip the laser key off, then back to on, the laser should come back on in about three minutes.

If Joe is your repair guy, tell him said hi next time you see him.

Nope, not Joe I'm afraid.

Interestingly, just tried again. Part cuts, shutter enable alarm pops up and machine stops as above. There are two alarm messages. 4090 laser alarm: laser not generate, and 4076 laser alarm: laser power down.
Are these symptoms typical of an e-stop issue still?


Still tracing wires on the limmit switches. Nothing found to be faulty yet. Focusing on Z and Y for the time being.

Surely if it was a limit switch, the machine would log a message for it, or not?

What about faulty temp sensor in chiller?

It can also cause problems you are describing. I've had it with our LC2415.

We've had laser power down when we had a bad batch of laser gas. Had to move from Energas to BOC bottles. This special gas is what helps generate the actual laser beam.
This solved our problem

I don't think its the laser gas. We've used two thirds of the cylinder and it was fine before.

The chiller is a possibility. It's winter here at the moment. The chiller is set to 21.6 degrees.
In the mornings, after the machine has been shut down for the night, the water temp drops to around 9 degrees.
Saying that, it was still throwing the alarm at me when the temp was at 25 degrees.

The key switch ...
After the machine goes into error state, I turned the laser key off momentarily, and turned it on agin to get the high voltage back on. It never came back on so I shut the machine down again and started again.

Still baffled, but still tracing wires to limit switches.

When you turn the key off do you wait for the third beep before you turn it on again? or do you turn it off and on again right away? If you get the high voltage back check the coefficient and see if it's over 1150 because an internal leak could be the cause.

Oh... no .... (blush)
You learn some thing everyday.


Just thinking out loud, surely if it was a limit switch wire, an interlock error would be logged?

I looked through the schematics I have for that type of machine. I can not find an emergency over travel for z. I may be wrong. On the control side of the cutting head, there are three or four roller limit switches. Would you try manually pushing the switches to see if it causes the same condition?

Also, you said the alarm comes up a lot. If you run a program with the shutter key off, does the machine stop mid way through the program? I am trying to figure out if the machine is stopping the laser or if the laser is stopping the machine.

Correct. (Again!)
There are four switches. If pressed, a "Z-+ interlock alarm apears.

If a program is run with the shutter key disabled, the machine will run to the end of the program.

I've called Amada out to figure it out.
I'll let you know what transpires.

Amada are coming out to take a look. I'll let you know what transpires.

Hi , Just reading your thread ref the 2158 alarm . I have a 1212 1.5kw and we are getting the alarm .Did you find out what it was please .
Thanks

Hi Skinnedrabbit,

Yes and no ....

I had a local representative from Laser Experts take a look. Great people to deal with.

The oscillator was cleaned out and mirrors replaced. Two tubes had holes or cracks and we're replaced. The optical coupler was inspected and found to be not perfect, but ok.
A week later the machine was running perfectly.

Three days after that, the same error came back. I had a 5 ton paper weight again and mounting costs resulting from a complete lack of productivity.

The Laser Experts guy came out again and inpected the oscillator. It seemed fine.
There is a power sensor to the right of the optical coupler. He checked that as well as the connections to the board. It seemed to check out fine. Thesee items weren't replaced but when the machine was powered up again, it worked again. I have no idea what the problem was but suspect that it may be back again.

The 2158 error is very general and can indicate a number of problems. Pitty a trouble shooting type chart isn't freely available.

Ok thanks for that , I've bought ours and have had to replace the turbo, 1 power supply and now this . I'll get amada out and if they find the fault will let you know . Do you have the cutting parameters for 4,5,6 mm stainless . By anychance . For some reason they aren't on our controller

Thanks rob

Hi Rob,

I do have them at the office. Please supply your email address and let me know what Amada have to say.

Have you checked the float switch in your chiller tank? or the water level? I had an instance last week where we were dropping HV and found the chiller was low on water. It was at the fine line where the float switch was making/breaking because of the water level.

Good point Sparky, It's worth a check.
Would a chiller alarm not present itself though?

I didn't have a chiller alarm come up, although I thought the same.

Hi , email is pipeinstallations@btinternet.com
Im waiting for fanac to come out to do a mirror clean first and will then have amada come out . Will keep you informed of what they find . Thanks))