And after over 2 months of trial and errors, I mean ALL TRIALS WERE ERRORS, the laser is finally fixed!
What was the problem? One of the limit switch wires was broken inside the "folding duct": when in the home position, the wire was split, as the wire was in the apex of the bend (not allowing the limit switch to function). In any other position the 2 ends were precariously touching, giving me often a positive result, doing the screwdriver test suggested by Jeffrey.
How did a manage to find that? By chance. The LED pointer stopped working. I traced back the wires back to the switch and the power board, making sure everything was connected. Then progressively moved closer to the nozzle. During one of the many inspections, I noticed, by shear luck, one of the wires inside the folding duct on the X gantry being snapped. During the removal process (inside the duct), the wire crumbled: it was as dry as a piece of burnt toast. Once replaced, the LED worked fine.
This gave me the suspicion that I could have had a similar problem with the limit switch. I had already purchased what I believe was a direct replacement: wrong again. They look similar, but the replacement was a tad shorter, not adjustable in height and with a "S" rather than a "L" in the model.
Limit Switches.jpg
To solve the problem I created a thin aluminium plate that is height adjustable on the gantry and mounted the switch over it: It is too rudimental to take a picture of it, but it serves the job for the time being.
In all, bloody happy the laser is back to its former glory.
It has taken me 2 months to troubleshoot the problem, but the real pain was to feed the wires through the folding ducts: I have only replaced what was broken, but next time around (if any other wires will start play up), I will replace everything with the best, most flexible wires I will be able to source.
Thank you to all who provided help and guidance: really appreciated.
Parry
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