RDWorks Learning Lab 12 mirror alignment
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- čas přidán 10. 08. 2015
- If you own a Chinese laser cutter this little series of videos about me learning how to use the free software provided, may solve the problem of trying to learn from a virtually unreadable manual.
I am nothing to do with RD Works, I am not an instructor and I am no expert. This series will document the essential bits of many hours of trial and erro - Věda a technologie
Thank you VERY much for your most terrific videos on this laser cutter. I like to know as much as possible before I start on something. I have not received my cutter yet, but now I know what to expect and how to do so many things. You have saved me tons of time on the manual translation and confusion! Videos are about the best way to learn something, especially with all the examples you provide. Thank you.
Your vids are brilliant, thank you!
I found best way to adjust 3rd mirror is to take nozzle with lens off. Lower head on piece of paper and draw circle around it. Fire, raise head (or lower bed) and see if it's in the center. Or use one of your round targets.
BTW thank's for all your videos, I'm learning a lot! :)
+bratan007
Luckily I have never had to do a full mirror realignment. If you check out session 21 after I replaced my tube, I was incredibly lucky with the alignment of the new tube and needed no mirror adjustments. In this video I show you a quick and accurate way to align the focused beam using a piece of wood. Fortunately it's a large hole in the nozzle so alignment doesn't have to be perfect. Thanks for comments it's good to know that my hours of experimentation are benefiting others.
Russ, thank you very much! Very helpful video! great respect!
Vladimir
Hi Vladimir
Mirror setting was a bit frightening to begin with but as you progress through th series you will see that I developed better and more logical ways to set the mirrors. Never forget that these videos are not tutorials but a record of my learning journey with this machine, so there will always be mistakes and improvements.
Best wishes
Russ
Wish you would show exact centering. I've been a carpenter , home builder, and wood worker luthier for over 40 years . I understand your theory of making the beam parallel is good enough. Trouble is I'm hoping to hook up a autofocus sensor (Z) . I've always found when you are depending on multiple things and you aren't exact sooner or later something will suffer. You as I have a redlocating dot, plus the software I assume it's positioning of XYZ are all on center. So at least for me ilearned decades ago weather setting up a laser level or anything else for a bench mark and on getting your alignment done that's one of there desires. Maybe I'm too I don't know I hate saying perfectionist. I use a 5 HP overhead pin router. If I don't have my table andcutterhead 100 % perpendicular and say I want to fit a guitar neck to a body it won't work . Once it's no longer aligned my cutting area or hole will not be round
Really love your work, and your help. Have a question, you spent some time in your videos making the laser tube aligned as best as possible to start with in its holders, by even making special mounts. But after watching all of your videos and other information online, I can't figure out why or if this really makes a difference as long as you get a nice straight beam between mirrors 1 & 2 "Y axis" far and near, and mirros 2 &3 "X axis far and near, and then get your beam centered coming out of the laser head. The only thing that I can think of that would make it beneficial to spending the extra time in the laser tube compartment messing with the brackets to get the tube as perfectly aligned to the machine body "which may not be parallel or perpendicular to the x and y rails anyway, would be ease of adjusting the beam to get it aligned correctly on mirror 3 at the top of the laser head without messing with the previous mirrors that you already set in the alignment process. Any advice or tips?
+Todd Mueller
Hi Todd
Remember this video series is all about me learning. At this point, I'm doing my first mirror setting but as the series progresses you will find mirror setting several times with slightly different methods. I eventually worked out the ultimate and most efficient method when I reset my new 60 watt tube (czcams.com/video/Vl6QKlwRKlk/video.html)
There you will find a series of logical steps and minimal mirror tweaking. Also at this point I had not discovered that my lens had been factory fitted upside down. In these early days, like you, I could not see the logic of spending too long in the laser compartment. However, I came to realize that although it may not be true to the X and Y axes, it was two stable reference planes to work from. The key mirror in the setup is mirror 2.The principle I ultimately discovered was to use the tube to steer the beam true onto mirror 2 (true to Y axis) and then MOVE the head (mirror 3) to catch the beam after it has been set true to X axis. I had to make my head adjustable to achieve this but all of a sudden life became simple. It's taken me a long time to suss out all these details ...perhaps I'm a slow learner as I get older!!!
Thanks for your appreciation. If you are only at session 12 then there's a lot of discoveries I've yet to make.
Best regards
Russ
Hello, thanks for this it is really useful. I wonder if you mind me asking your advice? I'm just trying to get mine set up and I have printed an air assist nozzle which funnels to a point (which makes it similar to the nice brass head your machine has except it's not really quite as lovely!) but I notice that the beam doesn't come through the centre of the point which I guess means it's not going through the middle of the lens; in fact it's a good mm or so out. The mirror on the head doesn't have adjustment the way yours does. Obviously I can just make the nozzle wider, it is for the air assist after all but should I be concerned that the beam isn't going through the centre of the lens? I hope you don't mind me asking your view...
Hi Nicola
I'm guessing you a small K40 desktop unit. I have zero experience with them. The hole in the end of my nozzle is about 5mm diameter and I try to get the beam within 1mm of centre when I set the machine up. If you take a piece of A4 card and program a rectangle say 280mm in X and 180mm in Y and burn a rectangle on it You can measure the diagonal to see how much difference there is . I would not expect more than 1mm (2mm absolute max) If the beam is staying with a fixed offset all over the machine then I don't think you should worry.
Best regards
Russ
That's really helpful (and achievable!) thank you! I will try this out. Many thanks!
Another really interesting video! I didn't know that you could adjust for the laser kerf with rdworks that's really useful! I love your method here and will definately use it far better than masking tape! But I must be much tighter than you as I'd probably go with mdf targets lol. Thank you!
+patrick whelan
Hi Patrick
Mirror alignment is something I tackle several times as the series goes on. I think it gets even better as I learn more. Remember that these are not exactly training videos, you are looking over the shoulder of an old guy learning and thoroughly enjoying himself
Regards
Russ
Hmmm, shouldn't the beam after the last mirrow that goes down to the target aligned perpendicular to the target surface.
If its perpendicular but not in the middle then the lase tube should be repositiond instead of adjusting the last mirror and so getting a wrong angle down on the target ?
+pyrofilm
Until I did my experimental work in part 2 where I demonstrated the effects of off-angle and also position of the beam relative to the centre of the lens, I would probably agreed with you. Howerver I can only act upon what I discovered. The last mirror is the least important because it does NOT have to steer the beam perfectly coaxial with the lens tube. Mirrors 1 and 2 are really critical They must be set to ensure perfect beam alignment with the X and Y axes in both horizontal and vertical planes.Once this has been achieved no matter where the last mirror is in the work area the beam will always hit the last mirror in the same place. You can then set the last mirror to steer the beam through the centre of the lens (ideally but not essential) and the focus point will remain stable.. If it's off centre to the nozzle, as mine was in the video, a little tweak on mirror 3 will correct this. The essential thing is to ensure that the beam strikes the lens in the SAME place (off centre is still ok) regardless of co-ordinate position. The 4 nozzle burn test is the final check to see if you have achieved this.
I want to cut rolls of medical patch material (somewhat like a roll of thin cloth) using my laser and rdworks. I'm thinking that the U-axis can be used to control a stepper motor to turn the roll and thus feed the material for automated cutting. I know there is a "Enable Feeding" section in the Output section. Can this this be done? If. so can you take a bit of time to give me some tips on how to proceed? If I can create a reliable machine for cutting material from a roll that is doesn't need constant intervention, I may be able to sell the machine to a customer who is interested. Thank you.
Hi Paul
I have no direct experience with the U axis which I know is uncommitted on most machines. I'm sure the intention was for it to be used as a feeding system because there are so many allusions to feeding options and parameters in RDWorks and in the RDC644 XG manual that you can download from here
en.rd-acs.com/Private/Files/a4d9f12fe9e32eb7.pdf
Although I may not be able to help more than this, if you like to message me with your email address I will try to link you up with an installation engineer who probably has that experience.
Best wishes
Russ
Thank you for the reply. My email address is paule.zacharias@gmail.com
I am new to the laser and i purchased a 130w laser and my beam coming out of the tube is like a 1/4" circle not a dot like yours and then on the number 2 mirrow it is a circle too what am i doing wrong if you could help me out. Thanks in advance
Hi
I think need to see some pictures of your tube and machine can you attach your disguised email address (johndotsmithatgmaildotcom) to another comment and I will reply and also delete your comment.
Best wishes
Russ
Excellent video! Helped me get mine dead on accurate.
Hi
As time went on I learned more and more about the principles of setting the beam. There is a 2 part video where I stop and look at the whole mirror set up logically in simple steps. You may be interested
czcams.com/video/Vl6QKlwRKlk/video.html
Best regards
Russ
Hi, i have question, I turnup side of focus lens on my laser, and results are inseine :D
I cut mdf on speed 25 and power 60
When I turn lens I can cut with speed 30 and power 50
Is it safe to stay like that? What can be wrong?
Hi Zoran
There is nothing wrong. The Chinese always deliver machines with lens flat side up. This produces a sharper dot for engraving but it is a proven fact that setting the lens flat side down will reduce the focal distance and improve your cutting performance.. Most people run flat side down it is completely safe.
Best wishes
russ
@@SarbarMultimedia thank you Russ
Hello. I have recently come across you video sessions and I congratulate you on the ammount of information you have been able to deliver. I have got a 40watt laser and cutter. I mostly do alot of engraving to ready made items as a small business. However looking on the internet and after exhuasting myself I still have not found what I am looking for. Hopefully you might know. I am talking about adding text. It all well and good adding a single line or two but when you wnat to add multiple lines RD works does not give you the option to centralise you text so its all got to be done manually or one line at a time. Any ideas?
Hi George
Sadly, you are correct. The text feature in RDWORKS is VERY basic, However, I have have overcome the problem with the following technique. I use another program with font manipulation facilities, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw or even my CAD program. Layout your required text as 72 point size and save/export it as a file format that RDWorks will recognize ie bmp, jpg, dxf etc.(if you are given a resolution choice make it high). IMPORT your text "picture" to RDWorks and then close the padlock and change the % scale from 100% to 10% in just one of the windows. Press ENTER and.........problem solved.
Thanks for that, I Have been down that road, and with the amount os work that I am doing at moment it is a bit long winded so I have found that ungrouping and centrelising is the quickest way. Truth be told right now I have more serious problems with the chiller. with the machine being in an enclosed area I am finding the temperature is rising a bit high especially in this weather. So I have had to purchase a small aircon to compensate. I am also thinking about upgrading to a 60w instead of 40. Do you find that you are cutting thicker material? I mainly use birch 3mm, and poplar 6mm laser ply and acrylics.
As I mentioned previously you will be struggling to cut with 30 to 35 watts unless you have a 1.5" FL lens. A proper 60 watt tube will breeze through your materials, However, from what I deduce, you have a small desktop K40 machine and I'm not sure you can upgrade that to a proper 60 watt tube that will be about 1200mm long and maybe 55mm diameter. So that may mean a new machine
Gladly I do not have any serous temperature issues because I do not use my machine for significant periods. I know that industrial chillers are very expensive. There are several alternatives to spending out that money.
1) A simple and cheap method used by many people is to freeze plastic bottles of water and drop them into your reservoir of warm water. With an adequate supply of frozen bottles you can keep your temperature down.
2) This is a method I use for the very few occasions I run into temperature issues. If you look at my 4 month review ( czcams.com/video/g5k6YhNqfSw/video.html at about 6min 30s) you will see a coper coil that I made to drop in my tank and around my pump. I connect that to my domestic water supply which even in the hottest UK weather, never exceeds 15C and most of the year is below 10C. A small flow of about 2 litres /min easily keeps my water below 25C. This PLAN A works well enough for me but I also have a PLAN B and a PLAN C
3) Plan be involves a rainwater collecting tank which sits in shade outside my workshop Another submerged pond pump in there would circulate the large reservoir of cool water through the tank coil.
4 Plan C is a method I have designed and used for a client who sells germination water baths that run at 30C during an 8 hour "day" but need to cool down quickly (within 1/2hour) to 20C (sometimes 15C) for a 16 hour "night " cycle. For this I buy a cheap small chest freezer and fit a plastic water tank inside it. The tank contains a submerged circulation pump and a temperature probe to switch the freezer off when the temperature of the water is below 5C. Unlike an industrial chiller that attempts ( very inefficiently)to produce instant cold, this method exploits the fact that you are only needing cooling for part of the day. During non-working hours you are building a reserve of "negative heat" with very low energy usage. If you can redeploy an existing freezer, this system is almost free but a second hand freezer will cost very little also.
Hope there is something here to stimulate your imagination
Best regards
Russ
Thats great Russ. You certainly know your stuff. and well informed. As far as the tube upgrade the answer is yes I ca, I have already checked with the people I purchased the machine from, it will need to have a small extension fitted to the back and its only aroound £50 for the part and £250 for the tube, so for around £375 I can get it all and fitted. Thats for the advice. Much appreciated.
Just saw some of your videos and they are informative with regards to laser cutters as I am thinking of getting one using that looking at your videos do give some insight. What I noticed when you mentioned the scale of the output and the drawing is a 1% difference is likely to be due to the stepper motor steps per mm setting which is in the firmware is not calibrated correctly thus giving you a slightly different size. This is the same problem in 3d printers which the correct steps per mm is needed to be programmed into the board firmware in order to have exact 1mm to 1mm scale.
Hi Cary
Yes you are correct, there are places in the vendor settings that allow you to correct any small errors. But. unlike most CNC machines you have to very careful that what you see is caused by stepper error. If your beam alignment is a bit off then it's quite easy for the beam to move off true at mirror 3. If this happens then the beam hits the lens at different off-axis positions as you drive the head around the machine. The beam is no longer perpendicular to the table and could burn a geometrically incorrect rectangle even though your stepper motion is correct. You do not experience this sort of error with a normal cnc machine, the tool always stays true to the spindle axis.
What you must remember is that these video are not training or tutorials, they are a record of my learning journey with this machine. I sometimes jump to dubious conclusions but as you get further into the series you will see that I usually discover the whole story. It took many months to arrive at a logical and efficient way to set the mirrors which you can see as a two part video starting at czcams.com/video/Vl6QKlwRKlk/video.html
I spent the first 8 months of ownership fighting to understand why I was either not getting power out of my tube or where I was losing power in the system. My 8 month review sums up the struggle and the modifications I made to the machine. czcams.com/video/4qy5cPZWGj4/video.html
As I now find out from many correspondents, my story is fairly typical of buying and ebay machine so don't be too disappointed if you have to work around a few problems
Best regards and thanks for your input
Russ
+SarbarMultimedia thanks for the input. it is great that you record these learning process. For me, having build the cnc machine and now working on the 3d printer firmware it is very much a hassle to look into the programming.
As one of my experience gotten a chinese printer that was on the more expensive side. it is built quite well but let down by crappy extruders and unsupported boards. so have to strip out all the wires and board and redo it with a new firmware. so now sourcing for a laser cutter is more cautious in getting the details of those systems to lessen the potential unexpected issues.
Hi Cary
It is certain that you will not get whats advertised (unless you are one of a few exceptions) Any machine that's advertised as 50 watts will be fitted with a B grade 40watt tube that will work, but not very well or for very long . 60 watt =50m watts, 80 watts =60 watts and 100watts =80 watts. How can you tell? look at the machine case width and subtract about 150mm to fit mirror 1 and another 25mm for air clearance at the HV end. Now go and look at the lengths of various power tubes from the Chinese tube makers and see what fits the machine you are thinking of buying . A year of experience and lots of correspondents. has taught me lots about the Chinese way of selling.
Good luck
Russ
+SarbarMultimedia hi Russ. that is a good insight on the size and what we are getting. thanks for the tip.
WHY NOT USE THE MARTRIX FEATURE TO ALIGN SIMILAR OBJECTS
Video brilliant
Hi
Never lose sight of this being a record of my learning journey. It took a long time and many experiments to really understand what beam alignment was all about. The first time I fiddled with the mirrors I did not understand the total beam alignment concept and was pleased that the machine still worked. To get a full explanation of how to align the beam jump to #192 czcams.com/video/6aNwKhTRnd8/video.html and a footnote video #193. This shows how I have modified my machine to make beam alignment logical and simple.
Best wishes
Russ
It seems to me with your fancy target that it would be super easy to get your beam 99.9999999% true. To get 100 percent would involve a super camera and software
Don't you agree the more true the beam the better quality the beam the better quality the Work?
Hi Mark
You are right about the trueness of the beam. What looks like the easiest part , bouncing off mirror 3 straight down the lens tube is in fact the hardest thing to achieve. Ideally you need the beam from mirror 2 to strike mirror 3 at the point where the tube axis intersects the mirror. I had to draw my head in detail to work out where that position was and have now marked an aiming line on the face of my head. It now means that when I steer my beam onto lense centre I know its also perpendicular to the lens.
Now beam quality is a different issue. There have been times when experimenting with my prototype copper mirrors there was beam shape distortion at mirror 3. and the beam was no longer perfectly round. Will this make a difference to the cut? Well no, because 40 watts of energy in a 6mm beam or a misshapen beam is still 40 watts. By the time it has been focused down to the thickness of a human hair the energy density is so high that shape is not an important factor.
Thanks for your comment. It's always good to analyse these details
Best regards
Russ
What significant advantages do lasercut pieces with cross-hair offer over mere pieces of transparent scotch tape? Why bother using software to draw them and then cut them? I don't see any point in that. Other than entertaining yourself. :)
Hi Georg
This was one of my early videos. It was mainly intended as an exrcise to show some of the tool in RDWorks. I did use them because if you hold them in place with tape there is no chance of the pulsed beam burning through the tape and "smoking" your mirror. 18 months on from there I now use removable card targets see
czcams.com/video/R1H71Zs2wxc/video.html
and
czcams.com/video/2SaOo5nFGrU/video.html
May explain better why I have gone this way.
Thanks for you answer. I'm sorry, I don't quite understand, how can you "smoke" a mirror? What does that mean exactly?
Hi Georg
If you stick tape directly onto the mirror and then burn through the tape you will leave a horrible sticky residue on the mirror. If you have entry ports as I have on my 3550 machine then sticking tape on those port entry will still produce dense sticky fumes inside the port when you burn through the tape. Those fumes settle on the mirror. Both of these ways of testing beam alignment will cause "smoking" of the mirrors. The mirror will then require cleaning. A thick card target allows you to clearly see wherethe beam is scorching but does not burn through the target hence the mirrors stay clean.. This is just what 2 years of experience has taught me.
I did not mean sticking scotch tape to the mirror directly, of course. I have mirror holders with tubes that go before the mirrors. Actually, you have the same type holders on your video. That's why I asked why you had to use plastic pieces. :) Thanks for your answers, anyway.
How can you make crosshairs on a machine that you need to align the mirrors on ? Won't that mean if it's off your crosshairs you just made are off too.