Hi guy’s once again, so i am checking my laser mirror alignment trying to get the alignment as best i can to center on all the mirrors so i 3d printed a target i found on thingiverse so i check the first mirror nearest the tube found it out so i aligned it as close to center as i could get it and now when i check the next mirror in the chain it’s way out the beam isn’t even hitting the mirror so now i am going crazy trying to figure out what the problem is this nut’s.
Dennis
Align the first mirror so you hit the 2nd mirror spot on, if you miss the 2nd mirror you have either a 1st mirror mis-alignment, or the tube itself is not level with the machine internals.
Also, check out this PDF. Can´t remember where i found it, but a well written guide for alignment.
(if anyone got the official link, let me know and i´ll edit my link)
Okay, I recall specifically when I first received my machine there was major issues with alignment. It was almost impossible to get the 2nd mirror in the centre (at back & front) or anywhere near centre on the 3rd mirror (at all 4 corners).
It turned out that the first mirror, the mount that it sits on had some issue with not being level with the y-axis rail. So, basically mine was pointing down. So when it hit the 2nd mirror at the back of machine, it could be perfect centre. But when I moved to the front, it would hit nowhere near centre.
So after finding that, I padded the bracket that holds the first mirror underneath with some spacers (just a few random washers of the right thickness) to level it out.
I suggest checking this sort of thing first. Start with Mirror 2 at the back & adjust Mirror 1 until you hit perfectly in the centre of Mirror 2. Then move Mirror 2 to the front & check what is causing the issue. Is it too high/low, is it to the left/right. If nothing you do fixes it, then possibly your Mirror 1 is not level or even the laser tube needs a level adjustment.
Ok if i align the first mirror to hit the next mirror on the gantry the beam from the tube is way off center that dose not make sense and now i am checking the machine square and it’s way out of wack man this is a mess i
may leave it for now and come back to it if and when i figure it out.
Dennis
Yuusuf
Ok i am trying to think through all this but i find more and more out of wack where do i start should i square the tube to the machine first and then to the first mirror and then on to the next wow it’s bad
Dennis
@Dennis_Fuente I am not certain how you go about all of that, as my machine was fortunately quite square. However a couple of others here have had the machine all bent out of shape & had to square it all up first.
I’d suggest take the gantry all out (there is just 4 bolts holding it in) & check it is square, adjust as necessary. Then the laser tube I am not really certain, but would be worth checking it is level to the 1st mirror’s centre. I actually removed all my mirrors & just put tape on the wall where the laser would hit (behind mirror 1) to see where it hits. Then I added mirror by mirror & adjusted bit by bit. I will have to do it again in the next few days, as I’ve got my machine totally disassembled at the moment.
Hopefully one of the others who has experienced the tube being out of level & the gantry being unsquare can give some extra thoughts.
@HP_Persson Wow, that is an extremely well written guide. They should ship it with the K40s lol.
Ok so i took the machine completly apart and found the tube out of alignment then found gantry frame bent oh and what a joke the forward stop was a piece of tubing now i have a 12x12 machine took out the bed found the gantry frame not square with the machine because the bolts that were used to assemble the gantry to the bed were forcing the gantry side way’s so i got all this fixed and as square as i can make it with out making a whole new machine maybe that’s what i should have started with anyway now back to aligning the mirrors should the mirror next to the tube be centered or don’t worry about that just make the beam centered on the next mirror on the gantry centered the one before the cutting head thanks for the info.
Dennis
Yes I went with laser draw
@Dennis_Fuente I made the beam of the laser hit the 1st mirror pretty much spot on in the centre. I found that if it wasn’t centre, I was having issues hitting the 2nd mirror in centre (at both front & back). If you can get it to hit the 2nd mirror in centre for both spots, then I wouldn’t be too concerned with hitting the centre of the 1st mirror.
Yuusuf
So far if i make the beam hit the first mirror dead center the beam dose not even come close to hitting the next mirror but from every video i have looked at they all have the beam hitting the center on all the mirrors so i don’t knwo what gives with mine as yet working on it today thanks for the help.
Dennis
@Dennis_Fuente My suggestion is take a piece of paper & place it somewhere close to where the beam exits the hole (from Mirror 1) to see where it is hitting (too high or too low or too far left or too far right). Then you can see which direction you need to adjust it to. Your Mirror 2 on the Y-rail must not be in line with where the beam is going, so maybe when you straightened the gantry it caused it to not line up any more.
Yuusuf
I fianly got the mirror to hit on the target i moved the gantry to the middle of the machine and adjusted the mirrors until it hit mid target, next i opened up corel laser to try and cut a part out of 3mm ply but when i opened corel it some how lost the tool bars i finaly got those back and i am able to open a file again anyway i tried cutting the file out of the ply at 4MA and 10 MmPS it won’t cut the ply how many passes are nescessary to cut 3MM ply and at what power setting’s
@Dennis_Fuente I haven’t cut ply yet. I have some sitting downstairs that I got to do some tests on, but haven’t got around to it yet. However, I have cut 3mm mdf & just earlier I managed to cut it @ 2 passes, 5mA @ 30mm/s. For leather, I’ve cut it at 7mA @ 7mm/s in 1 pass.
For ply, I’d imagine something around 5-7mA power for a start, then try 10mm/s. Should be able to get through it in 1-2 passes. Others here manage to cut ply with reasonable ease.
Yuusuf
Yes i have read others get through ply in just one pass i can get through the ply in one pass but at a high power setting someone here said that’s not a good idea as it’s bad for the tube could it be that my mirrors are bad one of the is heavly scracthed , so i guess i will have to try an experament
the next thing is the table the one that the machine comes with is junk.
Dennis
@Dennis_Fuente Yeah I imagine the mirror being scratched might not be very helpful. The higher the power you use on the tube the quicker it will die as far as I understand. Although I wonder if doing 2 passes at 5mA is the same as doing 1 pass at 10mA (in terms of how much quicker the tube dies).
You’re right that the table it comes with is junk. I ripped it out pretty much straight away. Until you have something to replace it with, it does the job at least.
So i did a search on the forum here for the focal length of the machine and found that it is 50.8 MM so i made a precise block on my CNC mill and then measured my machine bed to lens distance it’s no where close to this now i am wondering what gives here so i guess i will have to make blocks and see what happens when it’s the right height would be nice to know if these figures are correct
Dennis
@Dennis_Fuente 50.8mm from the lens is correct for the stock lens. After I ripped my original cutting bed out & replaced, I was 4mm lower than the original bed. It was causing no end of problems with cutting things. As soon as I raised it (by adding a couple of magnets to the top of the stand-offs) my cutting was pretty decent again.
wow this started out to be what i thought a nice tool to have now it’s turning into a major project i did the same thing with my 3d printer
the bed thing on this machine is a big headache i don’t want to make it a big deal and spend lot’s of money on it just functional would be just fine
Dennis
@Dennis_Fuente Yeah I thought the same. But I only spent about au$50 to get mine to a functional point. Just purchased a piece of perforated galvanised steel (to use as a replacement cutting bed) & a cheap air pump (to use for air assist). I’m reasonably happy with mine now & it is functional. Could be better, but that’s when it costs more money to improve it for what you need.