⚠ Safety first
Do not look into the gun nozzle to check whether it is firing. Never.
Fiber laser at this wavelength is invisible to the eye and can cause permanent retinal damage before you can react.
The correct check: wearing eyewear matched to the wavelength, fire onto a scrap piece and look at the mark on the material, not at the nozzle.
Before opening any cover or removing any component: switch off the laser source, isolate the power, and wait as the manufacturer's instructions specify.
Order of checks
Step 1 — Interlocks and enable signals
| Check | What you see |
|---|---|
| Emergency stop still latched | Machine powered, screen on, but no output |
| Safety switch on the gun | Pulling the trigger produces no response at all |
| Key switch or lock mode | Screen shows a locked status |
| Contact sensor on the gun head | Fires only when pressed against the material |
Step 2 — Chiller
Most systems inhibit firing if water temperature or flow is out of range.
| Check | What you see |
|---|---|
| Is the chiller running | No pump noise |
| Water temperature | Outside range, machine inhibits |
| Water level | Low, the pump cannot draw |
| Kinked or blocked hose | Low flow although the pump runs |
Step 3 — Protective lens
This is the most common cause of "weak output".
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| Power falls off gradually over time | Contamination building up on the lens |
| Sudden weakness after a spattery weld | The lens has been hit by spatter |
| Visible burn marks on the lens | The lens is damaged and must be replaced |
The protective lens is a consumable, not a permanent component. Every workshop should keep spares on hand.
Step 4 — Fibre cable
| Check | What you see |
|---|---|
| Cable sharply kinked or crushed | Weak or intermittent output |
| Dirty connector | Unstable power |
Fibre has a minimum bend radius. One sharp kink can damage it permanently.
Step 5 — Only now consider the laser source
If the four steps above are all normal, contact service; do not open the source yourself. A laser source is not a workshop-repairable component.
The point most often misunderstood
"Weak output" is usually not a weak source.
In practice the order of probability is almost always: protective lens → chiller → fibre connector → source. Yet many workshops start at the source — that is, at the most expensive and least likely item.
The fastest self-check: fit a new protective lens and weld a test bead. If the power returns, you have found the cause in two minutes.
What to keep in the workshop
- Several spare protective lenses
- Tools and clean gloves for changing lenses without leaving fingerprints
- Wavelength-matched eyewear for everyone in the area
- A logbook: lens change dates, running hours, anything unusual
If it still does not fire after these steps, contact us. Include the symptom, the alarm indication on the screen, and how far through the checks you got — that way we arrive with the right part instead of arriving to diagnose from scratch.