Mario Laser Still Jumping

A fellow maker was on the Mario and was having trouble engraving his acrylic because the machine was triggering the safety homing switch. Let him know we worked on it and not to use until looked at again .

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Bummer. I’ll look at it again and probably replace the wires later today.

I still wasn’t able to reproduce the issue, but I’ve now replaced both the switches and the wire to the probe, so hopefully that fixes it.

This issue started re-occurring last night. The wire is failing near the end of the cable chain. I think we need some better wire and/or improved strain relief.

I’m not sure what you are using for a strain relief, but vacuum hose works great as a stain relief.

Depends on the nature of the strain. Sometimes where there is only a couple of wires in use, but the beginning and end of a curve to allow motion are at places where the wires are immobilized adding dummy wires and spiral wrap works well. If a rigid solder joint is causing strands to break adjacent to the joint a flattened loop tied at it’s ends often helps. If vibration is involved and not just smooth motion, you can get whip action, then lighter but stronger wire might help. (High temperature rated nickel plated). There is a lot of NASA funded research from the late 1950s through the early 1970s that demonstrates the obvious solution making the problem worse rather than better or just relocating the problem a few inches away. [I’ve spent many years as an aircraft technician and later doing experimental certification then as an engineer supporting design, manufacturing, and field support]

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As a quick fix I’ve replaced the wires again. Hopefully we can figure out a more durable solution before they break again.

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