This IS the best way to approach alignment to get all over the table accuracy. It makes a lot of sense to my engineer's mind. Two mindset changes needed: . Don't aim for the mirrors - aim to get the beam parallel . Don't touch that middle knob - unless you want to move the whole mirror in and out. Cheers - Greg AUS
Hello my friend from Greece .... I have the K40 in my possession and the alignment of the mirrors was a big headache .... hahaha I followed your instructions that I saw in the video, and the result was great ..... !!! Now the K40 is flying ...... !!! Thank you very much, I wish you good health !!!
I just got my k40 delivered today and the laser and mirror mounting bracket was loose I had no idea how to get it in line. Thank you so much for the amazing explanation IV never used it so I had absolutely no idea what to do. You sir are a gentleman and a scholar
you my friend are a lifesaver, I got a k40 for Christmas and have sent hours messing with it. Had almost given up and decided to watch this as a last resort. An hour later its actually cutting like a laser not a band saw, it cuts through the material (it wouldn't before) and im super pleased. Thank you
Excellent explanation. I've done several alignments but this is the first time I've seen it broken down so clearly. This is also the first time someone explained the ability to translate the mount perpendicular to the direction of the incoming beam. I have a new tube for my k40 and printed mounts that I've been dreading because I'm still getting acceptable performance out of my 5 yr old tube, but I had it tested and it's now about 5w less than it should be. This guide gives me the confidence to tackle the task. BTW, co-linear refers to 2 lines that if joined would form a single line. Parallel is the correct term. Anyway great job on the excellent explanation!
Excellent video. Totally makes sense. No wonder this is a daunting task for others. Being parrel to the Y or X is just as important as hitting the mirror correctly. Off to try it. Thanks
Thanks that was really great! My middle screw broke on mirror two and i thought i have to buy a new set. Bit with your video now everything is aligned better than before. Things I won't forget: 1. Aligning by the bars instead of aiming for the center of the mirror 2. After aligning the laser, just moving the mirrors to the aligned beam. Really thank you! Have my laser sonce 2 days and was already down, but you made my day. Greetings from a student in Germany :D
A superb and very informative video. A really rational approach to mirror alignment explaining not only how, but why. Best setup video I have seen. Many thanks
Excellent video, i saw both the short and longer videos and i was able to align my mirrors within 30 minutes. I fumbled thru several hours before i saw your video. Thank you
Thank you!!! Of all the alignment video I watched, I finally aligned my K40! My case and gantry was skewed. What I thought my case was straight, wasn't. I was so frustrated before because if I aligned one mirror, it screw up the other alignment. It drove me crazy!!! But what you said made perfect sense. I ended up doing what you suggested and align the laser first. Forget the mirror. Once I aligned the laser close and distance... then I moved the mirror in place and align it. I was so surprised but so happy... cause I spent 3 days aligning the stupid mirror until I saw your video. Thank you!!!! You saved me a lot of time!!!!
I want to tell you a big thank you for posting such a short and precise video. I must've watched it 10 times before I figured out what I was doing wrong, my K40 is cutting perfectly across all 4 corners!
you sir earned this subscription . i had to remove the entire train and my laser was spot on till i moved the gantry to the next corner. the dot on mirror 2 was 1-2 mm higher. this is the only video that convinced me it wasnt the train but instead that it was a delicate game of splitting the difference. thank you !
this is by far the 100% most true tutorial how to align your mirrors and laser beam... most people think like myself... the mirrors dont align properly... and i go back and forth and the distance never cuts short... why? cause i aim for the miror and i dont aim for the parallel laser line like u said... i tough im insane or stupid or smth... but i was skipping the most crucial step ever... now it all makes sense... tomorrow... i got 2 machines to align... a k40 which crazy enough i bought it 2nd hand from a guy... and was "aligned" was working to say the least... untill i burnt the tube cause i guess im stoopid or tube was old and guy lied to me saying he only used it "for some tests runs" but tube was patched with glues and kits to dont fall apart... bought a new tube... aligned the laser beam of tube to the center of mirror 1... thats good so far... but i was totally getting frustrated with 2nd mirror... couldnt understand why its not straight i was having center beam in middle of 2nd mirror upclose but 2 inches apart 20cm away at maximum travel bed... so frustrating ... its like my brain died ... thanks bro... now it all links toghether... wish your video had more visibility .... this completes the rest of "mirror alignments" which forget to say to make the beam "square" all around the machine... cause the machine is crooked as hell...2nd machine is a 6040 "beafed up k40" 80W machine oh just in time ...
One of the clearest explanations of the aim of each step of an alignment. After watching this I don't need to follow anyone's list of steps. With the understanding gained from watching your video, it is obvious. Thank you. Oh, and by the way, collinearity is a word and the right one. Cheers.
I'll beg to differ on the collinear! I thought so too, until I looked it up! Collinear means points on the same line! Parallel lines are coplanar and infinitely straight lines that will never intersect. I've heard collinear used on many of these videos but they are all used incorrectly. Parallel is the correct term! "Today I relearned something!"
Yeah, this works! I originally got mine pre-set by OmTech. It worked fine like that for a couple years. Eventually, it moved out and had to be redone. This video really helped. Now lets see a video on correctly setting the x axis tension! Getting just the right balance is a pain. Okay, so are most things to do with these...
This helped me so much! I have a larger laser but the ideas translate really easily into what I needed to check. My mirrors WERE in alignment after checking with this method. I'm glad to know how very simple it is to get them right if something gets out of place :) Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, John really well put, the info is absolutely spot on, I've had lasers for quite a while now and when I first started there really was no help out there, so it was all trial and error, I eventually came up with effectively your method and it works, I should have shared my ideas, but I really don't have your presentation skills, well done, and to anyone looking at this video, this method does work, with the least amount of aggravation, although you still will have a little. A cup of coffee usually sorts it though :-)
Hi John I agree with you, a lot of people get it so wrong. One of the first things I did to my K40 was to check that rail carrying the laser head was parallel to the laser tube by checking the distance between each end of the rail to the back of the metal case and checking the tube was parallel to that part of the case. I found my rail was 1/4" out one end to the other, that's why I had so much trouble aligning the beam at first. So I loosened the four bolts holding the chaise in place and moved it to fix the alignment. Now the alignment of the beam is so good I can cut 5mm ply at 7amp's and cutting speed 8mm a second in one pass, 6mm ply at 10amp's, 6mm a second. Regards Richard.
Thanks man, that's the engineering way to do the aligment process. Forget the mirror and first check the beam vs guide rail! Just replacing the mirrors (Stock vs Cloudray Si) and lense (Stock vs Cloudray CVD USA) + the alignment the laser changed dramatically!! And cuts 5mm light wood on 1 pass without any issue (25% digital lcd power). Thanks!!!
new tube installed and was having a hard time adjusting. Once I found this took minutes to complete. Thank you! square it up first and adjust from there.
This video just may save my sanity. My laser came out of the box fairly well aligned. Over the last year of ownership I like many others have performed mods such as removing the bed, updating mirrors, adding air assist and better smoke extraction, laser head nozzle from American Photonics etc. The problem is every mod I have done has made it cut worse than stock. I assumed part of the problem was when I did things like removed the bed I made the already flexible case even more unstable and prone to twisting and flexing. I have found that every time I move the case my alignment gets thrown off a little. Never really understanding what I was doing I would accidently get it marginally aligned and it would cut and engrave, but never as well as I felt it was capable of. I have spent hours watching videos, reading forums, and cursing trying to get this figured out only to feel like more of a failure with each attempt. I finally feel like I have a understanding of how the mirror holders work and how to "Catch the beam." Thank you for taking the time to help myself and others like me who otherwise would have given up on the K40 and perhaps the hobby.
thanks for proper method seen to many dummys that dont know what they are doing show improper method of adjusting but there is a small amount of adjustment to tube location by loosening the bolts under the mounts that allows the tube to move a small amount
Great explanations. I just got my K40 about a 1 1/2 weeks ago and the laser was out of alignment from the get go. I have watched many alignment videos and none of them mentioned moving the mirror mount in order to get the beam centered on the mirror.
there is a little bit of adjustment of the tube mounts 2 hex headed 6mm set screws hold each mounting bracket through two short slots in the base you can slacken them off from inside (do the left hand side first cos you are not messing about near HT power source, even when it's switched off it can kill you) it only gives about 12mm adjustment, but that can make a big difference
One thing I've found to help with the rotational adjustment of the laser head / mirror 3 was putting a long, straight rod over the entry hole to the laser head and pushing it against the head. That give a reasonable approximation as to whether the mirror is perpendicular to the Y axis.
now im looking at this completely different i was measuring at different points and i had a sway of 2 mm as the lazer moved on the axis so im aligning tonight again
Thank you so much mate, I was ripping my hair out trying to re-align my mirrors after fixing the gantry. the post-it note trick worked amazingly. I now have it aligned. raster engrave and vector engrave working great. But when I boost the laser up higher power to do a vector cut, I'm getting ghosting (the cut works) but theres also a scorched version of the lines next to the cut lines. trying to figure that one out :P
MIRROR #3 must be slightly rotated. Trial and error will tell which direction. If #3 is not facing #2 perfectly, the beam down to the material will be slightly tilted. The ghost line appears because a reflection off the inside wall of the tube is taking a slightly different path through the lens.
Awesome video! I have my alignment done perfect as shown in your video but i still can't get all 4 corners to shoot a single dot. I'm guessing my gantry is warpped? If I'm shooting from bottom left to top left I'm getting two separate dots.
You should re name this video to something like.......EASY K40 MIRROR ALIGNMENT FOR DUMMIES. Thank you so much...managed to align it in about 30 minutes.
Thanks John. So if I'm understanding this correctly, so long as the dots are aligned near and far AND hitting the mirror, it's okay? Or does it have to be in the center of the mirror?
Fantastic video John. Very much appreciated. I am still struggling though. My alignment from mirror 1 to 2 is perfect and parallel to the bar. They alignment from 2 to 3 is also perfect when the carriage is at the front of the bed. When i move the carriage to the back of the bed on the left it is also perfect but when i move it to the right end (top right corner) it misses to the left by around 3mm. Any ideas what i should be looking at or what i should be adjusting? Many thanks
Gantry twist. Tried making a video on this topic but forgot to hit record! I will try againg this weekend. In the meantime, take gantry out. Loosen all 12 screws in the corners with 4mm allen wrench. Lay the gantry on a hard flat surface like a stone counter top. Push down on each corner to determine which way it twisted. I will rock. Adjust until flat. Hand tighten the screws, and then tighten round robin in 1/8th turns until snug. place gantry back, but dont push down. Shim any high spots in the four corners and screw it down.
I know I am a year late, but this has helped me immensely, thank you so much. You explain the issue perfectly. Do you have any advice on removing micro bubbles from the tube? I've been struggling for 2 weeks, before I've even fired up the laser. I know that colder water can absorb more O2, but I can't budge them even when the water is warmed to 19°C and the pump is left on for more than 12 hours. It's a brand new tube, pipes, pump, flow indicator and temp readout. I'm baffled. 🤷🏼♀️
You don't need to worry about small bubbles. The areas that are critical are at the ends of the tube. There you don't want big bubbles hanging around in the bends of the glass tubing. Usually you can rotate the tube to a position that eliminates this.
Really love your video. I have an issue if you can help me with. I'm getting the beam parallel off of mirror 1 but the beam is hitting m2 very close to the bottom of the mirror, its like m2 is too high in comparison to the beam. Is this correct or am I doing something wrong
Glad to be of help! The red box with four buttons controls the lift bed. Fast/Slow Up/Down. I think I made a video on it. Files and BOM are on Thingiverse. Let me know if you want the link.
John, I used your video to align my K40. I get overlapping dots at Mirror #1 to #2. Then #2 to #3. Then I do micro adjustment at Mirror #1 to get to get overlapping dots at the Rear Right position, but after I do that my Mirror #1 to #2 is out. So Mirror #1 is aligned on the right side front to back but not left. Can you PLEASE tell me what this means. I've been working on this three days and can't figure it out. If you covered cover this, I apologize because I didn't catch it. Thank you - Rick EDIT: Not sure if this matters, but I couldn't use calipers to get perfectly even spacing on my Cloudray mirrors, so I just eyeballed it.
My machine arrived with the mirrors very out of alignment. If I put a bit of wood under the laser, it won't even fire to leave a mark on it. When I put paper over the first and second mirrors, it does burn a hole, but it's not going to the final mirror on the laser head. I'm at a complete loss. This helped, but I'm still not getting it. What do I do to go back to square 1 and try to get them all aligned
Thank you. This was helpful. Now I just need to make a deeper cut. Any advice? I’ve search for help on this and find none. Like what power level you should use. Thanks
How much deeper? A 40 watt laser in new condituon can only cut reliably to a depth of 3 mm. Running the laser at high power will cause the tube to degrade rapidly. It may even damage the partial mirror on the tube.
@@johncabrer2328 thank you. It wouldn’t cut into my wood at all. A friend told me to clean the mirrors. I did that and their was a few little particles I could see down in the lense, so I vacuumed them out. Tried it again and it works great. I used tape to try to align at first before I found your video. Yes, bad advise from others. I think maybe some tape residue was on the mirrors. I couldn’t get my dots to line up perfect and it is pretty close to the top on the head or going into mirror 3. I think I need to shim it like you showed, but it is working for now. I am running it on 15% power. I just got the k40. Maybe you could do a short video about power setting and what the temperature should be. I have 2 gauges on mine. Not sure what is safe. The water was running 27C. Thank you so much. This was a little overwhelming since I had never worked with one before. But I’m pretty excited now.
I have looked these gids short and long several Times but.... Trying to allign mirrors. So I make beam perpendicular and bring mirror 2 in the beam. So far so good. Then I make the beam perpendicular to mirror 3. But when I want to move mirror 3 to the beam path its hitting to far left. Have no more mounting space to the left of mirror 3 (looking from mirror 2) so I need to make the whole beam path more to right. (Again looking from mirror 2) hope you can understand this. Some help much appreciated.
When this happens, you must adjust the positions of the tube and mirror 1. Usually this is more common when the tube mount is 3D printed, or the mirrors are not original equipment
John! What computer or laptop would you recommend I should get to work with my K40 and my eleksmaker pro that are both in my man cave the K40 is brand new with some adjustments done like the earth wire (ground) that was screwed to the blue powder coated paint work ( I’ve sanded it back to the bare metal and I’ve put a micro switch on the lid so when the lid is opened the power will be cut off ect,ect - I bought the K40 thinking I could use with any old computer or notebook but I’ve been told this model of notebook is useless it’s a > MSI U135 DX, HDD160GB,RAM DDRIII,ODD- none (I’m a hammer +nails guy and computer’s are not my department as I say to people a iPhone to say hello and goodbye is all I’ve ever had and wanted because as I said computers didn’t interest me or social media as that’s just a area for people who tell each other to f*ck off or do the back stabbing as we call it in the UK ( insulting you behind your back) Any help would be greatly appreciated then I’ll ask the wife to take control in that department.
Any PC capable of running Windows 7 should be adequate. If it is a laptop, be surr to turn off any power saving features controlling USB, hard drives, and sleep. Rarely you will see some specific hardware that has USB issues. The best advice I can give is to not go cheap on the cables.
Hey there ! I am having issues with the key "USB" , every time I plug it into my pc it states USB malfunctioned, therefore I haven't been able to use it. I have been looking around for information but honestly I can't find a resolution to this issue. The USB is marked it says lihuiyu studio labs - 2019.08.15 .If you are familiar with this issue what would you recommend me to do?. nice videos I have the exact same laser engraver but the brand is preenex. I'll appreciate it if your can help me out with this one !, Thank you!.
Hi there and thats a perfect video!I have a question. I managed to allign all the back and front positions but on my second mirror the beam hits the mirror offcenter. Is this a problem?Will it lose power if it doe not hit the mirror center?
If the center of the beam gets close to the edge, say 5mm or less, the power will be reduced. This is because the actual diameter of the beam is larger than the dot it makes.
So if my dots are lining up at front and back, does the dot need to be in the centre of mirror 2? It is current a bit below centre in terms of height and I can’t seem to get it right, does this matter?
Hi can you help, please ! So ive alligned to gantry so from mirror 1 - 2 and mirror 2 to mirror 3, the same way in the video, but if i move the head to the top right, its always off, so it will be slightly higher than the other 3 corners that hit the same place, does this mean my gantry is misaligned or is there something i'm missing?
This indicates that your gantry has some twist. There are four bolts attaching the gantry to the sheet metal frame loosen the one in the corner where you think it is high, or tighten the corner if it is low. Best to use a washer or two to shim it before tightening up the bolt.
I just watched your video. It explains perfectly. I'm totally lost tonight. Until yesterday, I was able to cut leather at 10% 2 passes, .125 acrylic 24 % normally 1 pass...sometimes 2. And .060 cast acylic at 10% 1 pass. Today, all of the sudden, I cannot cut at those rates. In fact, after cleaning mirrors and lens; aligning, changing my water, I still can't cut acrylic. Now, my 3rd mirror test shows beam hits center when on far side of laser, and when close it hits above, and a bit to the left. Does that mean that I need to raise my head by adding washers to the screws. Any help would be appreciated. Thx
My guess is that you lost alignment after cleaning everything. Possibly installed the lens flat side up. Look at the lens from both sides. The side that shows smaller reflection is the curved side, which should face up.
I’ve got the lens curved side up, in fact, I tried it both ways. I’ve had the laser almost a year, could the tube be losing power? It’s still pinkish/purple. I guess tomorrow I’ll shim with some washers. Thx for replying.
@@johncabrer2328 This video is super informative, thank you for taking the time to do it. I fear I have fallen at the first hurdle, I get two very distinct dots instead of one. Faulty tube? Any way you know of fixing this issue?
Depending on who you bought the laser from, the tube mounts may be adjustable so that you can positiion the tube so that it hits in the center of mirror 1. The beam does not have to be perfectly centered, but it should be away from the edges by at least 4mm to avoid power loss due to partial blockage of the beam by the mirror housing ring.
@@johncabrer2328 it hits close to center but to get it to mirror 2 I have to adjust the 3 screws like crazy. The old tube layer in there and everything was adjusted. Let me ask this. If I hit center on first mirror but won't hit mirror 2. Let's say it's to high, what adjustment should I try first? Thanks
@@johncabrer2328 they are not adjustable. I'll have to shim the mirror. It's hitting to high. I messed up all the setting. After I get the tube centered do I need to turn the mirror to the right. Right now the beam hits the mirror and I can't find where it's going.
Can I please ask you something...I've been pulling my hair out all day trying to get my mirros alligned. I have my mirror #1 shooting a parallel beam (I assume)...When I move the laser head in the farthest position, the laser hits Mirror #2 dead center...but when I move the head back to the closest position for the 2nd burn...the hole moves down about 1/4" directly below the first burn. My question is, wouldn't any adjustment you make to mirror #1 affect both burns? I feel like it is shooting parallel to the rail but that it isn't horizontal???smh I'm not a mechanical engineer but I feel I have a lot of common sense and this mirror allignment has got me topsy turby. I almost feel like the rails need to be shimmed/raised a little bit on one end? (the end closest to laster tube? Any advice would be appreciated.
I suspect that you missed a critical point of my video about needing to ignore where on the mirror the beam hits. Ignore the mirror completely. Once your beam is aligned to the rail, you can move the mirror to catch the beam Since you make no mention of mirror 3, there is a bit of ambiguity in your description as to what is going on where. Lots of ppl I help forget that there are 3 mirrors and refer to #2 as #1. I'm happy to help if you want to jump on a call. YT does not seem to have a DM feature, so reach out via Facebook Messenger if you have that. John Cabrer is the name.
Hi, I focused everything from mirror 1 to mirror 3. my problem is i cannot focus the head straight. The burn is too wide it it never goes to thin line. What else should I do? I cannot cut anymore because the burn is too wide even if I am trying cut a line. Please help. Thanks.
If the final alignment result is the dot being too high or too low you have two choices. You can adjust the mounting up or down and do the alignment again or adjust the mounting height of the lens holder by replacing the hex standoffs with M3-35 screws and nuts.
hello i have the the left to right good but when i move mirror 2 the the front of the machine away from mirror 1 the beam moves up how can i fix this please help. thank you
You have to line up front to back first, and then left to right. If you need help, send me a friend request on FB messenger and I can talk you through it some time.
Hi! I can adjust the screws of the 1st mirror to get a straight beam, so both holes are in the same place, but if I check where the beam hits the 2nd mirror, I can see that the beam is up. The explanation says that I have to unscrew the screws that are under the 2nd mirror for moving to the right or to the left but, what do I have to do to move the beam down?
Different topic: K40 Whisperer on a Mac. I have installed Python 3.9 and Inkscape on my Mac (running MacOS Big Sur) but I don't know how to install K40 Whisperer 0.58 src. I have tried running the copy and paste commands that you posted to Scorchworks, but am getting (not found) errors. It seems like I have all the right pieces, just not sure how to make them work together. Thanks!
There are lots of persistent issues with K40 Whisperer on Mac. Install VirtualBox and download an image of Windows 10 or 7 and set up a minimal virtual machine. You dont need a license and it will all run perfectly. On Mac OS, just updating the OS can break Whisperer and force you ti start over.
This should be really easy to do, John. I use K40 Whisperer on Mac OS (Big Sur) with no problem. You first need to git clone libusb (you can find it on github) - then compilation was easy enough (from terminal, cd libusb; ./bootstrap.sh; ./configure; make; sudo make install) . If you are unfamiliar with using terminal, it may be a bit tricky. Reach out to me in that case. So that's libusb. K40 Whisperer runs absolutely fine using python 3.9, and does NOT need home-brew at all. Inkscape is available for download onto Mac OS, but the software works with SVG, so you can use illustrator or whatever you like for your file generation. K40 Whisperer is pure Python, so it's trivial to get to work on Mac, if you know a little python. One has to use the source material, unpack it, put the entire folder somewhere, and then (via terminal) "cd K40_Whisperer-0.58_src" folder, and run "pip3 install -r requirements.txt". - again, this sort of expects that you know some terminal.. Then, with the USB connected, and the power switch on (with the water pump pumping, the fan blowing, the earth earthing, etc). "python3 k40_whisperer.py" You can test that it works by pressing the button "Initialize Laser Cutter".
@@johncabrer2328 This is an awesome service. But see my comments re. Mac. The guidelines about using homebrew/virtualbox are quite out of date now, especially as Big Sur is far more Python friendly. Having said that, I'm a dev. so it's 'easy for me'!!
@@ben.griffin Thanks Ben. I am not very familiar with Terminal or Python, so the order of operations is not obvious to me. Email me at john at howtobrewdotcom if you would and we can talk about it. Thanks!
I'm trying to aligned it without savety goggles, turning off, adjust, turn on, but the auto homing is getting in the way ... if it's@not possible to align without goggles somebody should mention it. because I believe you can use it without them (if careful)
This IS the best way to approach alignment to get all over the table accuracy. It makes a lot of sense to my engineer's mind.
Two mindset changes needed:
. Don't aim for the mirrors - aim to get the beam parallel
. Don't touch that middle knob - unless you want to move the whole mirror in and out.
Cheers - Greg AUS
Spent almost a year, talk to several people and watched dozens of video to find an answer. Had no luck until this video, a hue thanks to you!!!
Hello my friend from Greece ....
I have the K40 in my possession and the alignment of the mirrors was a big headache .... hahaha
I followed your instructions that I saw in the video, and the result was great ..... !!!
Now the K40 is flying ...... !!!
Thank you very much, I wish you good health !!!
Spent hours looking at how to do this, stumbled across your video. Completed the alignment in 30 minutes, following your steps, thanks!!
I just got my k40 delivered today and the laser and mirror mounting bracket was loose I had no idea how to get it in line. Thank you so much for the amazing explanation IV never used it so I had absolutely no idea what to do. You sir are a gentleman and a scholar
The best alignment guide I've seen so far. Thanks
you my friend are a lifesaver, I got a k40 for Christmas and have sent hours messing with it. Had almost given up and decided to watch this as a last resort.
An hour later its actually cutting like a laser not a band saw, it cuts through the material (it wouldn't before) and im super pleased.
Thank you
That means a lot to me thanks for the compliment
Excellent explanation. I've done several alignments but this is the first time I've seen it broken down so clearly. This is also the first time someone explained the ability to translate the mount perpendicular to the direction of the incoming beam. I have a new tube for my k40 and printed mounts that I've been dreading because I'm still getting acceptable performance out of my 5 yr old tube, but I had it tested and it's now about 5w less than it should be. This guide gives me the confidence to tackle the task. BTW, co-linear refers to 2 lines that if joined would form a single line. Parallel is the correct term. Anyway great job on the excellent explanation!
Excellent video. Totally makes sense. No wonder this is a daunting task for others. Being parrel to the Y or X is just as important as hitting the mirror correctly. Off to try it. Thanks
EXCELLENT video. Thanks for posting!
Thanks that was really great! My middle screw broke on mirror two and i thought i have to buy a new set. Bit with your video now everything is aligned better than before.
Things I won't forget:
1. Aligning by the bars instead of aiming for the center of the mirror
2. After aligning the laser, just moving the mirrors to the aligned beam.
Really thank you! Have my laser sonce 2 days and was already down, but you made my day.
Greetings from a student in Germany :D
Most comprehensive and crystal clear instructions on K40 alignment. Thank you for doing this shorter version of your original!
I've had my machine since. 2014. This is far and away the best simplest explanation of alignment I've seen.
Traduzir para português (Brasil)
Parallel is the word you were looking for my friend. Other than that this video was amazing thank you
A superb and very informative video. A really rational approach to mirror alignment explaining not only how, but why. Best setup video I have seen. Many thanks
Excellent video, i saw both the short and longer videos and i was able to align my mirrors within 30 minutes. I fumbled thru several hours before i saw your video. Thank you
Thank you!!! Of all the alignment video I watched, I finally aligned my K40! My case and gantry was skewed. What I thought my case was straight, wasn't. I was so frustrated before because if I aligned one mirror, it screw up the other alignment. It drove me crazy!!! But what you said made perfect sense. I ended up doing what you suggested and align the laser first. Forget the mirror. Once I aligned the laser close and distance... then I moved the mirror in place and align it. I was so surprised but so happy... cause I spent 3 days aligning the stupid mirror until I saw your video. Thank you!!!! You saved me a lot of time!!!!
I want to tell you a big thank you for posting such a short and precise video. I must've watched it 10 times before I figured out what I was doing wrong, my K40 is cutting perfectly across all 4 corners!
you sir earned this subscription . i had to remove the entire train and my laser was spot on till i moved the gantry to the next corner. the dot on mirror 2 was 1-2 mm higher. this is the only video that convinced me it wasnt the train but instead that it was a delicate game of splitting the difference. thank you !
Was using the other method for aligning the mirrors. Watched this and had the alignment sorted out in 30 minutes. Thank you for saving my sanity.
this is by far the 100% most true tutorial how to align your mirrors and laser beam... most people think like myself... the mirrors dont align properly... and i go back and forth and the distance never cuts short... why? cause i aim for the miror and i dont aim for the parallel laser line like u said... i tough im insane or stupid or smth... but i was skipping the most crucial step ever... now it all makes sense... tomorrow... i got 2 machines to align... a k40 which crazy enough i bought it 2nd hand from a guy... and was "aligned" was working to say the least... untill i burnt the tube cause i guess im stoopid or tube was old and guy lied to me saying he only used it "for some tests runs" but tube was patched with glues and kits to dont fall apart... bought a new tube... aligned the laser beam of tube to the center of mirror 1... thats good so far... but i was totally getting frustrated with 2nd mirror... couldnt understand why its not straight i was having center beam in middle of 2nd mirror upclose but 2 inches apart 20cm away at maximum travel bed... so frustrating ... its like my brain died ... thanks bro... now it all links toghether... wish your video had more visibility .... this completes the rest of "mirror alignments" which forget to say to make the beam "square" all around the machine... cause the machine is crooked as hell...2nd machine is a 6040 "beafed up k40" 80W machine oh just in time ...
Thank you! Thank you! My machine has had me almost to tears trying to get the alignment right just to have it still be messed up before I found this.
One of the clearest explanations of the aim of each step of an alignment. After watching this I don't need to follow anyone's list of steps. With the understanding gained from watching your video, it is obvious. Thank you. Oh, and by the way, collinearity is a word and the right one. Cheers.
I'll beg to differ on the collinear! I thought so too, until I looked it up! Collinear means points on the same line! Parallel lines are coplanar and infinitely straight lines that will never intersect. I've heard collinear used on many of these videos but they are all used incorrectly. Parallel is the correct term! "Today I relearned something!"
Best alignment tutorial 👍🏻👍🏻 Thanks so much. Highly appreciate it
Superb, made easy work of a task I struggled to get right, huge thanks
This was so helpful to me when aligning my K40 expansion for the first time. So many thanks John!
Yeah, this works! I originally got mine pre-set by OmTech. It worked fine like that for a couple years. Eventually, it moved out and had to be redone. This video really helped. Now lets see a video on correctly setting the x axis tension! Getting just the right balance is a pain. Okay, so are most things to do with these...
That was all I needed. My mirrors are working better than ever. Thank you
Thank you for the video. It made a daunting task so much easier.
Thank you!! I was pulling out my hair trying to get this thing align. You explained it perfect. 👍👍
Thanks for the help!
This helped me so much! I have a larger laser but the ideas translate really easily into what I needed to check. My mirrors WERE in alignment after checking with this method. I'm glad to know how very simple it is to get them right if something gets out of place :) Thanks for sharing!
Hallo,i would like to Come in contact whit you beqause i almost want to trow my laser outside😠😊😁
How can i contact you?
Greetings Sandra
Thanks, John really well put, the info is absolutely spot on, I've had lasers for quite a while now and when I first started there really was no help out there, so it was all trial and error, I eventually came up with effectively your method and it works, I should have shared my ideas, but I really don't have your presentation skills, well done, and to anyone looking at this video, this method does work, with the least amount of aggravation, although you still will have a little. A cup of coffee usually sorts it though :-)
Hi John
I agree with you, a lot of people get it so wrong.
One of the first things I did to my K40 was to check that rail carrying the laser head was parallel to the laser tube by checking the distance between each end of the rail to the back of the metal case and checking the tube was parallel to that part of the case.
I found my rail was 1/4" out one end to the other, that's why I had so much trouble aligning the beam at first.
So I loosened the four bolts holding the chaise in place and moved it to fix the alignment.
Now the alignment of the beam is so good I can cut 5mm ply at 7amp's and cutting speed 8mm a second in one pass, 6mm ply at 10amp's, 6mm a second.
Regards
Richard.
Well said sir, this is the best easiest way to align your mirrors, it simply makes sense. thank you John
Thanks man, that's the engineering way to do the aligment process. Forget the mirror and first check the beam vs guide rail! Just replacing the mirrors (Stock vs Cloudray Si) and lense (Stock vs Cloudray CVD USA) + the alignment the laser changed dramatically!! And cuts 5mm light wood on 1 pass without any issue (25% digital lcd power).
Thanks!!!
Excellent video, thanks for this
new tube installed and was having a hard time adjusting. Once I found this took minutes to complete. Thank you! square it up first and adjust from there.
This video just may save my sanity. My laser came out of the box fairly well aligned. Over the last year of ownership I like many others have performed mods such as removing the bed, updating mirrors, adding air assist and better smoke extraction, laser head nozzle from American Photonics etc. The problem is every mod I have done has made it cut worse than stock. I assumed part of the problem was when I did things like removed the bed I made the already flexible case even more unstable and prone to twisting and flexing. I have found that every time I move the case my alignment gets thrown off a little. Never really understanding what I was doing I would accidently get it marginally aligned and it would cut and engrave, but never as well as I felt it was capable of. I have spent hours watching videos, reading forums, and cursing trying to get this figured out only to feel like more of a failure with each attempt. I finally feel like I have a understanding of how the mirror holders work and how to "Catch the beam." Thank you for taking the time to help myself and others like me who otherwise would have given up on the K40 and perhaps the hobby.
Hey
Very awesome video.
Made it much easier to adjust.
thank you
Great explanation, thank you!
thanks for proper method seen to many dummys that dont know what they are doing show improper method of adjusting but there is a small amount of adjustment to tube location by loosening the bolts under the mounts that allows the tube to move a small amount
Thank you my friend, very helpful video...
Need new tube...circle instead of solid beam. Thanks for all your help.
liked, subscribed! thank you for taking the time to post this!
Great explanations. I just got my K40 about a 1 1/2 weeks ago and the laser was out of alignment from the get go. I have watched many alignment videos and none of them mentioned moving the mirror mount in order to get the beam centered on the mirror.
Great video. Thank you for the great information
You bet!
there is a little bit of adjustment of the tube mounts 2 hex headed 6mm set screws hold each mounting bracket through two short slots in the base you can slacken them off from inside (do the left hand side first cos you are not messing about near HT power source, even when it's switched off it can kill you) it only gives about 12mm adjustment, but that can make a big difference
Awesome video. I was ready to toss it 😂
Thank you
wow watch this video and it made perfect sense so thought id give it a go, massive thumbs up thanks so much machine cuts again :)
Wicked helpful, Thanks
One thing I've found to help with the rotational adjustment of the laser head / mirror 3 was putting a long, straight rod over the entry hole to the laser head and pushing it against the head. That give a reasonable approximation as to whether the mirror is perpendicular to the Y axis.
Great video thanks
This makes more sense... Thanks!!!
Nice guide :)
now im looking at this completely different i was measuring at different points and i had a sway of 2 mm as the lazer moved on the axis so im aligning tonight again
Finally, thank you, thank you!
Thank you so much mate, I was ripping my hair out trying to re-align my mirrors after fixing the gantry. the post-it note trick worked amazingly. I now have it aligned. raster engrave and vector engrave working great. But when I boost the laser up higher power to do a vector cut, I'm getting ghosting (the cut works) but theres also a scorched version of the lines next to the cut lines. trying to figure that one out :P
MIRROR #3 must be slightly rotated. Trial and error will tell which direction. If #3 is not facing #2 perfectly, the beam down to the material will be slightly tilted. The ghost line appears because a reflection off the inside wall of the tube is taking a slightly different path through the lens.
i figured the dots needed to stack but couldnt figure out how to stack them thanks alot
Awesome video! I have my alignment done perfect as shown in your video but i still can't get all 4 corners to shoot a single dot. I'm guessing my gantry is warpped? If I'm shooting from bottom left to top left I'm getting two separate dots.
You should re name this video to something like.......EASY K40 MIRROR ALIGNMENT FOR DUMMIES. Thank you so much...managed to align it in about 30 minutes.
That's the fastest way I've ever seen. Thanks.
Thanks John. So if I'm understanding this correctly, so long as the dots are aligned near and far AND hitting the mirror, it's okay? Or does it have to be in the center of the mirror?
Fantastic video John. Very much appreciated. I am still struggling though. My alignment from mirror 1 to 2 is perfect and parallel to the bar. They alignment from 2 to 3 is also perfect when the carriage is at the front of the bed. When i move the carriage to the back of the bed on the left it is also perfect but when i move it to the right end (top right corner) it misses to the left by around 3mm. Any ideas what i should be looking at or what i should be adjusting? Many thanks
Gantry twist. Tried making a video on this topic but forgot to hit record! I will try againg this weekend. In the meantime, take gantry out. Loosen all 12 screws in the corners with 4mm allen wrench. Lay the gantry on a hard flat surface like a stone counter top. Push down on each corner to determine which way it twisted. I will rock. Adjust until flat. Hand tighten the screws, and then tighten round robin in 1/8th turns until snug. place gantry back, but dont push down. Shim any high spots in the four corners and screw it down.
It worked :)!
I know I am a year late, but this has helped me immensely, thank you so much. You explain the issue perfectly. Do you have any advice on removing micro bubbles from the tube? I've been struggling for 2 weeks, before I've even fired up the laser. I know that colder water can absorb more O2, but I can't budge them even when the water is warmed to 19°C and the pump is left on for more than 12 hours. It's a brand new tube, pipes, pump, flow indicator and temp readout. I'm baffled. 🤷🏼♀️
You don't need to worry about small bubbles. The areas that are critical are at the ends of the tube. There you don't want big bubbles hanging around in the bends of the glass tubing. Usually you can rotate the tube to a position that eliminates this.
Really love your video. I have an issue if you can help me with. I'm getting the beam parallel off of mirror 1 but the beam is hitting m2 very close to the bottom of the mirror, its like m2 is too high in comparison to the beam. Is this correct or am I doing something wrong
Thanks a million :)
Brill explanation, guess what im doing next week!!!! again,LOL
Thanks for the simplistic way to align the mirrors. What is the red box with the 4 color switch for? Thank you.
Glad to be of help! The red box with four buttons controls the lift bed. Fast/Slow Up/Down. I think I made a video on it. Files and BOM are on Thingiverse. Let me know if you want the link.
John, I used your video to align my K40. I get overlapping dots at Mirror #1 to #2. Then #2 to #3. Then I do micro adjustment at Mirror #1 to get to get overlapping dots at the Rear Right position, but after I do that my Mirror #1 to #2 is out. So Mirror #1 is aligned on the right side front to back but not left.
Can you PLEASE tell me what this means. I've been working on this three days and can't figure it out. If you covered cover this, I apologize because I didn't catch it. Thank you - Rick
EDIT: Not sure if this matters, but I couldn't use calipers to get perfectly even spacing on my Cloudray mirrors, so I just eyeballed it.
My machine arrived with the mirrors very out of alignment. If I put a bit of wood under the laser, it won't even fire to leave a mark on it. When I put paper over the first and second mirrors, it does burn a hole, but it's not going to the final mirror on the laser head. I'm at a complete loss. This helped, but I'm still not getting it. What do I do to go back to square 1 and try to get them all aligned
John, does the laser tube have to strike the center of mirror #1?
Half the distance to the goal !
Thank you. This was helpful. Now I just need to make a deeper cut. Any advice? I’ve search for help on this and find none. Like what power level you should use. Thanks
How much deeper? A 40 watt laser in new condituon can only cut reliably to a depth of 3 mm. Running the laser at high power will cause the tube to degrade rapidly. It may even damage the partial mirror on the tube.
@@johncabrer2328 thank you. It wouldn’t cut into my wood at all. A friend told me to clean the mirrors. I did that and their was a few little particles I could see down in the lense, so I vacuumed them out. Tried it again and it works great. I used tape to try to align at first before I found your video. Yes, bad advise from others. I think maybe some tape residue was on the mirrors. I couldn’t get my dots to line up perfect and it is pretty close to the top on the head or going into mirror 3. I think I need to shim it like you showed, but it is working for now. I am running it on 15% power. I just got the k40. Maybe you could do a short video about power setting and what the temperature should be. I have 2 gauges on mine. Not sure what is safe. The water was running 27C. Thank you so much. This was a little overwhelming since I had never worked with one before. But I’m pretty excited now.
I have looked these gids short and long several Times but.... Trying to allign mirrors. So I make beam perpendicular and bring mirror 2 in the beam. So far so good. Then I make the beam perpendicular to mirror 3. But when I want to move mirror 3 to the beam path its hitting to far left. Have no more mounting space to the left of mirror 3 (looking from mirror 2) so I need to make the whole beam path more to right. (Again looking from mirror 2) hope you can understand this. Some help much appreciated.
When this happens, you must adjust the positions of the tube and mirror 1. Usually this is more common when the tube mount is 3D printed, or the mirrors are not original equipment
Can do 3 corners 4th one can't do it, any help pls?
John! What computer or laptop would you recommend I should get to work with my K40 and my eleksmaker pro that are both in my man cave the K40 is brand new with some adjustments done like the earth wire (ground) that was screwed to the blue powder coated paint work ( I’ve sanded it back to the bare metal and I’ve put a micro switch on the lid so when the lid is opened the power will be cut off ect,ect - I bought the K40 thinking I could use with any old computer or notebook but I’ve been told this model of notebook is useless it’s a > MSI U135 DX, HDD160GB,RAM DDRIII,ODD- none (I’m a hammer +nails guy and computer’s are not my department as I say to people a iPhone to say hello and goodbye is all I’ve ever had and wanted because as I said computers didn’t interest me or social media as that’s just a area for people who tell each other to f*ck off or do the back stabbing as we call it in the UK ( insulting you behind your back)
Any help would be greatly appreciated then I’ll ask the wife to take control in that department.
Any PC capable of running Windows 7 should be adequate. If it is a laptop, be surr to turn off any power saving features controlling USB, hard drives, and sleep. Rarely you will see some specific hardware that has USB issues. The best advice I can give is to not go cheap on the cables.
I'm getting a circle on mirror 2 not a dot... Any ideas
Pode me indicar como é que o espelho é alinhado?
Hey there !
I am having issues with the key "USB" , every time I plug it into my pc it states USB malfunctioned, therefore I haven't been able to use it. I have been looking around for information but honestly I can't find a resolution to this issue.
The USB is marked it says lihuiyu studio labs - 2019.08.15 .If you are familiar with this issue what would you recommend me to do?.
nice videos I have the exact same laser engraver but the brand is preenex.
I'll appreciate it if your can help me out with this one !,
Thank you!.
saw a video about alignment tools from a lenses manufacturer ....someone have already use it? Works?
Hi John, may i use a short clip from your video in mine for reference? I will share the link to your video in my description
Sure
Hi there and thats a perfect video!I have a question. I managed to allign all the back and front positions but on my second mirror the beam hits the mirror offcenter. Is this a problem?Will it lose power if it doe not hit the mirror center?
If the center of the beam gets close to the edge, say 5mm or less, the power will be reduced. This is because the actual diameter of the beam is larger than the dot it makes.
@@johncabrer2328 hm... I see....so i will have to rearrange it...thanks for the reply!
So if my dots are lining up at front and back, does the dot need to be in the centre of mirror 2? It is current a bit below centre in terms of height and I can’t seem to get it right, does this matter?
Hi can you help, please ! So ive alligned to gantry so from mirror 1 - 2 and mirror 2 to mirror 3, the same way in the video, but if i move the head to the top right, its always off, so it will be slightly higher than the other 3 corners that hit the same place, does this mean my gantry is misaligned or is there something i'm missing?
This indicates that your gantry has some twist. There are four bolts attaching the gantry to the sheet metal frame loosen the one in the corner where you think it is high, or tighten the corner if it is low. Best to use a washer or two to shim it before tightening up the bolt.
I just watched your video. It explains perfectly. I'm totally lost tonight. Until yesterday, I was able to cut leather at 10% 2 passes, .125 acrylic 24 % normally 1 pass...sometimes 2. And .060 cast acylic at 10% 1 pass. Today, all of the sudden, I cannot cut at those rates. In fact, after cleaning mirrors and lens; aligning, changing my water, I still can't cut acrylic. Now, my 3rd mirror test shows beam hits center when on far side of laser, and when close it hits above, and a bit to the left. Does that mean that I need to raise my head by adding washers to the screws. Any help would be appreciated. Thx
My guess is that you lost alignment after cleaning everything. Possibly installed the lens flat side up. Look at the lens from both sides. The side that shows smaller reflection is the curved side, which should face up.
I’ve got the lens curved side up, in fact, I tried it both ways. I’ve had the laser almost a year, could the tube be losing power? It’s still pinkish/purple. I guess tomorrow I’ll shim with some washers. Thx for replying.
@@johncabrer2328 I forgot to say...I started the whole cleaning process because of reduction of power in cutting.
Check that the beam is still round and not split.
@@johncabrer2328 This video is super informative, thank you for taking the time to do it. I fear I have fallen at the first hurdle, I get two very distinct dots instead of one. Faulty tube? Any way you know of fixing this issue?
Watched your video and I need to know where the laser will hit on the first mirror? I put a new tube in and the mirrors where out of wack. Thanks
Depending on who you bought the laser from, the tube mounts may be adjustable so that you can positiion the tube so that it hits in the center of mirror 1. The beam does not have to be perfectly centered, but it should be away from the edges by at least 4mm to avoid power loss due to partial blockage of the beam by the mirror housing ring.
@@johncabrer2328 it hits close to center but to get it to mirror 2 I have to adjust the 3 screws like crazy. The old tube layer in there and everything was adjusted. Let me ask this. If I hit center on first mirror but won't hit mirror 2. Let's say it's to high, what adjustment should I try first? Thanks
@@johncabrer2328 they are not adjustable. I'll have to shim the mirror. It's hitting to high. I messed up all the setting. After I get the tube centered do I need to turn the mirror to the right. Right now the beam hits the mirror and I can't find where it's going.
Can I please ask you something...I've been pulling my hair out all day trying to get my mirros alligned. I have my mirror #1 shooting a parallel beam (I assume)...When I move the laser head in the farthest position, the laser hits Mirror #2 dead center...but when I move the head back to the closest position for the 2nd burn...the hole moves down about 1/4" directly below the first burn. My question is, wouldn't any adjustment you make to mirror #1 affect both burns? I feel like it is shooting parallel to the rail but that it isn't horizontal???smh I'm not a mechanical engineer but I feel I have a lot of common sense and this mirror allignment has got me topsy turby. I almost feel like the rails need to be shimmed/raised a little bit on one end? (the end closest to laster tube? Any advice would be appreciated.
I suspect that you missed a critical point of my video about needing to ignore where on the mirror the beam hits. Ignore the mirror completely. Once your beam is aligned to the rail, you can move the mirror to catch the beam Since you make no mention of mirror 3, there is a bit of ambiguity in your description as to what is going on where. Lots of ppl I help forget that there are 3 mirrors and refer to #2 as #1. I'm happy to help if you want to jump on a call. YT does not seem to have a DM feature, so reach out via Facebook Messenger if you have that. John Cabrer is the name.
I sent you a message on Facebook
Hi, I focused everything from mirror 1 to mirror 3. my problem is i cannot focus the head straight. The burn is too wide it it never goes to thin line. What else should I do? I cannot cut anymore because the burn is too wide even if I am trying cut a line. Please help. Thanks.
Join the facebook K40 Group. CZcams is not a good platform for back and forth troubleshooting. facebook.com/groups/888394261237059/
you have a german movie poster in the background? do you speak german?
i try do it like u said ;( but 2nd mirror dot is always upper then x0 position :(
If the final alignment result is the dot being too high or too low you have two choices. You can adjust the mounting up or down and do the alignment again or adjust the mounting height of the lens holder by replacing the hex standoffs with M3-35 screws and nuts.
I could really use your help I’ve tried everything in this video and they are not even close
Reach out on FB Messenger and we can do some remote troubleshooting.
hello i have the the left to right good but when i move mirror 2 the the front of the machine away from mirror 1 the beam moves up how can i fix this please help. thank you
You have to line up front to back first, and then left to right. If you need help, send me a friend request on FB messenger and I can talk you through it some time.
Hi! I can adjust the screws of the 1st mirror to get a straight beam, so both holes are in the same place, but if I check where the beam hits the 2nd mirror, I can see that the beam is up. The explanation says that I have to unscrew the screws that are under the 2nd mirror for moving to the right or to the left but, what do I have to do to move the beam down?
i have this same problem when i bring the second mirror close to the first one, the beam rises
I have this same issue. Dots align perfectly but is too low on mirror 2. Did you solve this problem?
I have one ..but for some reason the alignment went totally off..
I was tried following but its still not aligning
let me know if you need a remote assist. Happy to help.
subbing
Different topic: K40 Whisperer on a Mac. I have installed Python 3.9 and Inkscape on my Mac (running MacOS Big Sur) but I don't know how to install K40 Whisperer 0.58 src. I have tried running the copy and paste commands that you posted to Scorchworks, but am getting (not found) errors. It seems like I have all the right pieces, just not sure how to make them work together. Thanks!
There are lots of persistent issues with K40 Whisperer on Mac. Install VirtualBox and download an image of Windows 10 or 7 and set up a minimal virtual machine. You dont need a license and it will all run perfectly. On Mac OS, just updating the OS can break Whisperer and force you ti start over.
@@johncabrer2328 Thank you! Really appreciated your alignment video here too. It took me about a half hour but it worked great!
This should be really easy to do, John. I use K40 Whisperer on Mac OS (Big Sur) with no problem.
You first need to git clone libusb (you can find it on github) - then compilation was easy enough (from terminal, cd libusb; ./bootstrap.sh; ./configure; make; sudo make install) . If you are unfamiliar with using terminal, it may be a bit tricky. Reach out to me in that case.
So that's libusb. K40 Whisperer runs absolutely fine using python 3.9, and does NOT need home-brew at all. Inkscape is available for download onto Mac OS, but the software works with SVG, so you can use illustrator or whatever you like for your file generation. K40 Whisperer is pure Python, so it's trivial to get to work on Mac, if you know a little python. One has to use the source material, unpack it, put the entire folder somewhere, and then (via terminal) "cd K40_Whisperer-0.58_src" folder, and run "pip3 install -r requirements.txt". - again, this sort of expects that you know some terminal..
Then, with the USB connected, and the power switch on (with the water pump pumping, the fan blowing, the earth earthing, etc).
"python3 k40_whisperer.py"
You can test that it works by pressing the button "Initialize Laser Cutter".
@@johncabrer2328 This is an awesome service. But see my comments re. Mac. The guidelines about using homebrew/virtualbox are quite out of date now, especially as Big Sur is far more Python friendly. Having said that, I'm a dev. so it's 'easy for me'!!
@@ben.griffin Thanks Ben. I am not very familiar with Terminal or Python, so the order of operations is not obvious to me. Email me at john at howtobrewdotcom if you would and we can talk about it. Thanks!
I'm trying to aligned it without savety goggles, turning off, adjust, turn on, but the auto homing is getting in the way ... if it's@not possible to align without goggles somebody should mention it. because I believe you can use it without them (if careful)
Please be safe
I’ve tried for hours to do this, can I just ship my laser to you and pay you to align it, I don’t know what else to do
Reach out to me on messenger. I can talk you through it.
Sorry but what is the red thing with wires going into it
Thats my z bed control