RDWorks Learning Lab 51 Beam Setting for Beginners Part 1
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- čas přidán 2. 03. 2016
- 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 error - Věda a technologie
I want to thank you Russ for your generosity in sharing this video and it's part 2 as well as all your long and dedicated work on CO2 laser cutters (this video and "Understanding MY Laser Tube parts 1, 2 & 3 especially) . I've been meaning to thank you for a while for all this fantastic work! I re-watched this video recently and it struck me how much time, care and effort you put into your channel and I very much admire your dedication to helping others understand their laser cutters. Thank you.
Hi
Thanks for the kind words. I have to declare that I will never be able to retire from engineering and decoding this machine and the laser technology is very selfishly keeping my two remaining grey cells exercised. My other serious hobby for many years has been video and editing, so recording my learning experience has been win, win for me and allowed me to share my successes and mistakes with other interested individuals around the world. The fact that others could benefit from my videos was never part of my plan and just an amazing bonus.
The procedures you see during my learning journey are continually being refined as I acquire greater understanding. You may like to view the final beam setting procedure that I have been using for the last couple of years as it is logical and simple but requires some modifications to the head mounting bracket so that you have Z adjustment.
czcams.com/video/V_ehGE51rH4/video.html
Best wishes
Russ
Finding this channel was a pleasant suprise, i find your material very useful, thank you!
Thank you for your efforts to share your knowledge. Such a relief to learn from a master.
Very detailed and informative procedure. And that is due that you make experiments in order to understand the errors and possible fixes. Very good sir, thank you for sharing.
Russ,
thank you very much for the video - for all the videos in fact. They are very instructive and a great pleasure to watch!
I'm looking forward to receive my own little laser cutter and learned a lot from your videos.
Even though I do not agree with you about the necessity of parallelism of the lasertube to the axis.
Mirror 1 (the first one from the laser) has two degrees of freedom which allow the laser beam to reach
any point of a specific quadrant within the polar coordinate system. Meaning, you are able to correct
ANY misalignment of the laser just by adjusting the 3 screws of the mirror, als long as the laser beam
hits the mirror near it's center.
Also it's not important to adjust the mirror blocks exactly to 45° angle. That can also be corrected by adjusting the mirrors.
The thing that really matters ist parallelism between the beam coming out of mirror 1 to the Y-axis of the motion mechanism
and parallelism of the beam coming out of mirror 2 to the mechanical X-Axis.
There are only two parameters defining these parallelisms:
1) All 3 mirrors have to share the same hight above the (virtual) base plane of the mechanical movement of the axes.
This should be given by the mechanical construction.(is it?).
2) equal horizontal distance of mirrors 2 and 3 to the X-axis and equal horizontal distance of mirrors 1 and 2 to the Y-axis.
So there must be slots to move mirror 2 left-right and the mirror 3 back and forth.
Fulfilling these two requirements, in combination with the fact the laser hits mirror 1 at it's center, are the prerequisites to
establish a proper alignment. All the rest can be done just by adjusting the mirror angles.
Or did I miss an important point?
Lothar
you're a SCHOOL !
Hi Naif
This video was done 5 years ago when I thought I understood beam setting because I has done it many times and felt confident enough to let people see my method. However. I have learnt a lot since then and I suggest you jump to a much more up to date video where I explain some changes I have made to my machine to make beam setting easier and great detail about setting your beam perfectly.
czcams.com/video/6aNwKhTRnd8/video.html
Best wishes
Russ
Hi Russ
Hi Russ, thanks for the valuable information you are providing with you videos, I'm binge watching them on a regular basis, I've just got my (what was supposed to be a 60w Chinese laser engraver) turns out it only a 1000mm tube so i presume it's really a 50w machine, I was wondering if you could help shed some light on my issue. I have set my mirror's about as exact as I can to the middle on all 3 and the beam out the laser head is exact centre, when at the front of the machine, but when I move it to the back of the bed to check all 4 corners its no longer hitting the centre of the mirror on the laser head. if I adjust them at the back the front is no longer aligned, any idears??. I can slice through 3mm acrylic with no problem with power down to 35% but just will not cut through 3mm ply wood even at 85% @ 5mm/s with is as far as I want to take the power (I haven't got my ammeter yet) any help would be appreciated.
Hi
Lets start at the beginning
1)Your beam need to hit mirror 1 approximately in the centre ,within 2mm say.
2) Drive mirror 2 close to mirror 1 and make a TARGET scorch mark.
3) Drive mirror 2 right to the front of the machine and watch carefully as you make a second scorch mark.
4) if the marks are perfectly on top of each other then proceed to 6)
5) If the second mark is off, adjust mirror 1 to get it onto your TARGET burn. When your target gets too confusing, replace the tape and return to step 1)
6) You have now set the Y axis perfectly. DONT touch mirror 1 again. Your final mark may not be on the mirror centre but up to 2mm off centre will be ok.
7)Put target tape on the head entry port. Drive the head right up to mirror 2 and make a TARGET scorch mark. Your final mark may not be on the mirror centre but up to 2mm off centre will be ok.
8)Drive the head as far away from mirror 2 as possible and make a second scorch mark
9). if the marks are perfectly on top of each other then proceed to 11)
10) If the second mark is off, adjust mirror 2 to get it onto your TARGET burn. When your target gets too confusing, replace the tape and return to step 7)
11) You have now set the X axis perfectly. DONT touch mirror 2 again. Your final mark may not be on the mirror centre. This WILL be a problem for setting the Z axis but that's a more complex problem to unravel and I will point you in the right direction later.
At this point, with the head as far away from mirror 2 as possible, put new tape on the head and make a scorch mark.
Drive the head to the back of the machine and make another scorch mark. Your marks should now coincide. If they do not, then there is a mechanical set up problem with your Y bearing rails OR you were not accurate enough when you moved to step 6)
If you cannot get coincidence then you will have to add your email address to a comment so that I can contact you and we can speak off line.
If you are now happy with your X and Y settings thenfinally to the most difficult axis ,Z. This is too complex to describe simply, so take a look at this video
czcams.com/video/eSjNsK2sjNo/video.html
Best wishes
Russ
i learn o lot, even if im working together with this machine for more than 5 years.
Love it "garage technology"
Having set up several lasers, the mechanical alignment is not precise and very difficult to get right. There is a much easier solution.
1 Remove all mirrors. Use a glass, cardboard or other suitable 20mm disk with masking tape on it and use that to test fire the laser at a low power pulse to make a light dot. The beam is not focused to a small cutting point here, so the spot will be about the diameter of a pencil lead. Adjust the mirror block and or tube for the beam to mark the center. Replace the first mirror.
2 Use the target in the 2nd mirror block. Move the carriage all the way towards the first mirror and test fire. Do not center at this time. Move the carriage all the way away and make a 2nd test fire. The most important part here is for both spots to overlap perfectly. Only adjust the 1st mirror at this time so the spot is in the same place near and far.
3 Move the 2nd mirror block so the beam hits the center. It should remain in the center near and far. When done, install the 2nd mirror.
4 Install the target in the 3rd mirror block on the carriage. Repeat the procedure for repeating spot location near and far while adjusting the 2nd mirror. Again do not worry about centering yet. Repeatable spot location near and far is the metric for this adjustment.
5 Align for centering in the 3rd mirror as before. This can be tricky as on some machines you can shift the lens assy to center on the beam. If this is the case, the alignment is easy. If not, the 2nd mirror has to shift while keeping centered on the beam from the 1st mirror. Unfortunately this almost always screws up the beam to the carriage, so that needs repeated.
6 Check your work. Test fire onto the target in the 3rd mirror location at all 4 corners. Beam should be in the center at all 4 locations.
7 Install the 3rd mirror. Ensure the tube is vertical. If tilted, the beam may enter the lens off center and your cuts will be angled. There is no tilt adjustments on the 3rd mirror. Done.
Hi
I greatly appreciate the effort you have gone to to explain your method. You must remember that that this is not really a tutorial series but as I say in each video, this is a record of my learning journey with this machine/technology.At the time this was done , there was no you tube help available to guide me so I was fumbling my way through the problem. As you progress through the series you will find me trying different beam setting methods. The major realization about beam alignment came when I discovered that setting the beam to the centre of mirror 3 can be a BIG mistake with some machines. see from 12min 30 sec in czcams.com/video/ELeqP3tHlp0/video.html . At this stage in my journey I had already established that one big design flaw in these machines was the absence of any Z adjustment on the head, so you will note the adjustable mounting bracket that made it easy to fix this mirror 3 issue.
Having now set many different machine types and sizes I can advise that your steps 6 and 7 of your procedure gloss over the many difficult yet vital aspects of beam setting. The first is to make sure that the beam is firing at mirror 3 "sweet spot" see czcams.com/video/eSjNsK2sjNo/video.html and this Z setting technique is much clearer to see in this video from 24min 30sec czcams.com/video/jVGByifge_Q/video.html. You will also note that by this stage I have become so fed up with the limitations of my original head that I have been back to the drawing board and made my own. I hope you will see from this that a small mechanical error in head angle is not going to have any disastrous results for cutting off angle but that if the beam is not passing exactly through the lens axis, that will cause the beam to exit the lens at an angle much bigger than any mechanical error. I agree with your point about getting the beam correct at all 4 corner locations but first things first. By the methods that we adopt, we will certainly be setting Y and X absolutely true at three corners. Big problems now arise when you drive to the 4th corner and the scorch mark on mirror 3 is maybe 8 of 10mm off of true. What do you do at that stage?
Thanks again for you comment and great explanation because others following in my footsteps will register my naivety at this stage and watch further ahead before resetting their beam.
Best wishes
Russ
@@SarbarMultimedia Thanks for the great and detailed feedback. I do have the solution for 3 of 4 points in line. I did not detail this. The basic physics is 3 points define a plane. If 3 corners align perfectly and the 4th corner is out of align, it means the rails are NOT all in the same plane. Cheap Chinese laser engravers do not have a strong frame, but most often a sheetmetal box. Either the table it is placed on is not perfectly flat, or it had shipping damage. This can be corrected by either shimming the low corner of the table, or use shims on the internal bed to place all 4 corners in the same plane. My prior alignment only works if the bed is properly level and all 4 corners are in the same plane. Hope this helps if you are fighting this. Had this problem with my Rabbit 40. It arrived with a broken tube and dented corner. Due to the larger size, it has two upgrades. a 1000 mm long 50Watt tube, and an AWC708C Lite controller panel, with stepper drivers. to eliminate the software key and computer. In addition the stepper drivers are now run with a separate 30V supply for faster engrave speeds. With the two upgrades and a full proper alignment, it now works very well. With the new controller, I can add a rotary table, my next upgrade. The network interface is fantastic. I don't need to be in the shop to do the graphics. Just upload the file. In addition, it now directly runs with Gcode files, GIF, JPEG, AI, and many other files with the cut and scan functions combined. This alone is a huge improvement over NewlyDraw which can either cut or scan in one operation.
Re mirrors tarnished ... those machines are great for smoke extraction so you'd be hard pushed to get the back and side mirror dirty ... The other 2 larger machines I have have the extraction from underneath and I find smoke gets to the tube and it gets very dirty . Im looking at building a bulkhead to stop the smoke getting to the rear of the machine with holes for the belts and laser beam and possibly put a few fans on the tube cover sucking into the machine to put positive air pressure in the tube box . Im currently watching this because the 3rd machine (cheap chinese machine) has major mirror issues after the wife gave it a knock .
Note of caution....if she can do that to a machine, for your own personal safety , I would make damn sure to keep her sweet!!
Sorry for all the typos, i am fighting with the buttons on an IPad :-)
+pyrofilm
Makes for good entertainment this end!!
Russ
Hi Russ,
again a nice video ( as expected ) but let me ask you a question.
Why do you not use the laser itself to get the perfect position (sideways and hight) for mirror nr 2 ?
I myself do it this way.
1. i do a rough and basic setup of 1 mirror and tube
2. i fire the laser agains a big sticker put on the mount of mirror 2 when mirror 2 is driven to the back (y axis to back).
I then do the same when mirror 2 is away from mirror 1 ( Y in front)
then i reajust mirror 1 tilt and redo this again until front point and backpoint is on spot.
Until this stage i dont care about where the point hits the big sticker as long as it is not moving its ok.
After this i know the beam is parallel to the y axis bearing tail
3. Now i open the screws of the mounting angle ( the black coated metal part) of mirror 2 and shift the whole assemble up/down and sideways until the beam comming from mirror1 hits the center of mirror2.
Now i have a parallel to yaxis beam hitting the center of mirror 2.
+pyrofilm
Hi Walter
Yes, I understand your method, we have achieved the same result but in different ways. I would hope that my mirror mounts were set up in the factory with jigs to be at the correct mechanical positions but who can be sure when I see some of the other mis-sets on the machine. I have often considered mounting mirror 2 on its own little XY stage that would allow me to collect from mirror1 and send to centre of mirror three. Maybe a future mod.
Thanks again for you feedback. Always a pleasure.
Russ
Thx you sir
8. due to tilting the mirrors to get them parallel to mechanical x and y axis and the bad construction of the mirror mount on mirror 1 and 2 ( they are not tilting at the nirror plane but instead far behind the mirrors) the incoming beam might not more hitting the mirror perfectly in the middle. Usually this is not a problem as a mm out of center is not a problem but as i always want to have it perfect, i may redo the complete setup again for doing the finetuning then.
Ar least after a second itteration it is usually perfect, even with this wrong designed mirror mount.
Russ, I cannot thank you enough (again) for posting these informative videos. I followed your alignment procedure and now it is like I have a new machine.
I have *much* more power, produce finer cut lines, and all of my cuts are exceptionally clean-even at the corners. I am amazed at how such a simple process could make such a difference.
I am properly chuffed!
Cheers,
Chris
PS: You can see the lack of quality in my original cuts in the upper left corner of this image. The "new and improved" work is below.
i64.tinypic.com/2pz9n5i.jpg
no matter what I do I just cant get the beam to hit the same point at all 4 location, 3 are good enough but the back right position is to low and to the left and if I adjust to get it in the center of the last mirror then the others go out of alignment, kinda losing my mind trying to get it sorted.
Still have trouble with that? Had the same issue. Only use mirror 1 to bring the front (!) right position down (!) to achieve the same hight in the two right positions. The front right position reacts faster than the back right position since the laser path is longer. It is a common mistake to adjust the laser to the left rail first. If there remains a position error on the left side after that procedure, it is because of mechanical imperfection of the machine. Check whether the rails are parallel in all directions.
I can't find a way to reduce the test pulse power directly on the ruida controller. Is there a way to do it in rd work ? 100% of 150W just make the tape on fire.
To answer your question you press the MAX POWER button on the key pad and reduce it to maybe 10% by using the arrow keys.
Secondly DO NOT USE 100% power , other than for a quick test or you will quickly kill your tube.
Several things that you must understand about your tube. Depending n the brand of tube It may not really be 150 watts. If it's Reci it will not be what it claims but if it EFR or SPT then it will be . You MUST NOT exceed certain mA current values or you will "over-drive" your tube to an early death.. Somewhere on your machine there will be an ammeter that tells you the current passing through your tube. It may a display panel on the HV power supply, it may be on a yellow strip across the bottom of your machine display panel or there may be a panel mounted ammeter near your keypad. If you can tell me the make and model number of your tube I can tell you the safe running current. In the meantime do NOT use power settings more than 65%. Take a look at this video as I explain all about how your tube works and the dangers of over driving your tube.
czcams.com/video/2F5O-1TH8b0/video.html
Bestwishes
Russ
hi , wanted to ask you what could possibly make the tube shatter, the replacement shattered too within 15 days ..
water to cold delivered to a hot tube ? possible bad power supply ? faulty tube !!
Russ, just curious. Did you check the back wall and floor of the tube enclosure to see if they were square to one another, and how level the bottom was? That might be going a bit out there for precision, but I can get obsessive about such things once I start going.
Hi Brian
Please be assured that the alignment of the tube in its enclosure has no effect on beam setting. Provided the beam strikes mirror 1 approximately central it is the reflected beam from mirror 1 that has to be set true to the Y axis. When I first encountered beam setting at this early stage in my learning journey I was making sure that things were as mechanically accurate as possible. Beam setting is something that most people do only as a necessity and are fearful that their machine will never work the same again. I would regularly go about setting my machine to develop methods and understanding. So now I have a complete 3D visualization of the mechanics and a simple logical procedure for setting each axis, the most difficult and least understood being the Z axis. The only reason for setting your tube to a known parallel to floor and wall position within the enclosure is for the final setting of the Z axis. I have made my head adjustable in Y and Z so that I can "catch" the beam onto the mirror 3 "sweet spot". Without this adjustment (and 99% of machines do not have it) you have to start right back at the tube and make absolutely parallel adjustments. This is an almost impossible task because any adjustments you make to the tube entails resetting the X and Y axes again. This can be a very tedious set of iterations.
Best wishes
Russ
@@SarbarMultimedia Thanks for the explanation. Much appreciated.
Ross, thank you for all information you put on this channel. Info on your channel helped me to decide what laser cutter to buy. Also I would like to ask for something I can not find the answer all over the internet. Two days ago I just got my 50w laser cutter but instead of dot after beam I always get something in this ) shape. My pulse is rounded:o If anyone know what it could be, please help. I've done some basic mirror alignment but it does not make much change. Thanks again
Hi Miroslav
I suspect your 50 watt laser is fitted with a tube 800 mm long and 50mm diameter. It is really a 40 watt tube.. Further to this bad news, if you bought the machine from Ebay or Amazon market place there is a very high chance it is fitted with a B grade tube. The tube will work in some way, enough to fool the average non-technical buyer. Your O saped burn is iindicating that the end mirrors within the tube are not aligned properly. Not something you can adjust but the reason your tube never passed final QA and was sold as scrap, retested by a third party and fitted to your machine.. Right from the lowest power there should be a high power central core to your beam that will burn a solid small spot and not an O If you set the keypad MAX power to 50% and put a piece of card between mirror 1 and mirror 2, then press the pulse button for about half a second, is the burn still and O or does it become solid as the power is increased?
Best wishes
Russ
@@SarbarMultimedia Russ, thanks a lot for your response. Changing power does not affect shape of burn it's always very big distorted spot compare to what I have seen on any of yours videos. I am just waiting for response from a seller. I have suggested to them to send me new tube and optics. I will add short video so you can see what it actually does. But by following steps in yours videos I came to the same conclusion. Can't thank u enough for sharing all your knowledge about lasers.
@@SarbarMultimedia czcams.com/video/7RhbrauvlWg/video.html
By the way you can have square measurements in plexyglass please
I’ve been trying to get my mirrors back in line for 6 weeks
4. follow up to prev post:
Next is to do the same on the x axis, means i put again a big sticker un the laser head and adjust the beam from mirror2 to not moving when going left/right on the x axis.
Again, when this has been done, the beam is parallel to the x axis
5. next is to move the laserhead up/down and front/back to hit the sweetspot of the laserhead mirror.
When this is done, i know that the beam should be easy to get to the center of the lens without having any angle error to the x and y axis planes.
6. next what i do is to adjust the high between the table and the head nozzle on all 4 corners of the table by turning the single beltwheels of the table.
7. last step is to loosen the basemount frame of the table and shift it x and y until there are 90 degree at x/up and y/up between the table threads and the table itself, this could be easily measured when the table is in a lower position.
+pyrofilm
Again all good stuff, I made my own adjusting bracket for the head to catch the beam in the mirror sweet spot, but as I mentioned in my previous answer, a little XY stage at mirror 2 would be a neat solution.
Thanks again
Russ
foi o melhor por inqunto
Hi sir. My laser tube is burning. but beam not coming to the first mirror. Why is it
Hi
This sounds pretty serious and I think we need to communicate by emails so you can send more information
You can contact me privately via this form
forms.zohopublic.eu/ndeavorlimited/form/K40XtreeemLaserCutterContactRussSadler/formperma/k2Cn0QN5ChpazfTMAUw25lZ-FKpjZa96TQWHjv3ntOg
Can you post the company you order the new tube thanks mike from the us
Hi Michael
I'm not sure you can still get this tube (it's still running great 4 years on) but you will find an equal quality tube at Clodray. The have their own website, an amazon presence and an Ebay presence.. A tube bought from their website will be shipped from China via DHL or UPS. The courier shipment will double the purchase price and you will still have to pay purchase tax and a handling charges to the courier before your tube is delivered (within 2 or 3 days though). if you buy the same tube via E bay it will arrive in about 2 weeks for 1/10th of the cost and no additional charges as far as I know.
The equivalent of my Mactron tube is a CR70. Sadly I have just checked ebay.com and Amazon.com and they are not listed.
www.cloudraylaser.com/products/35-45w-720mm-co2-laser-upgraded-metal-head-tube-cr35?variant=12892224553011
You can email/message them to see if they do a slower non courier shipping.
You willbe able to see me fitting and testing this exact tube in czcams.com/video/V_ehGE51rH4/video.html
Best wishes
Russ
Why don't you show what buttons you are pressing on the control panel to test the alinement?
Hello,
I have a question about the laser beam
it is normal for the laser beam to hit the metal can just before the end of the tube
Thank you for doing this tutorial
They are very helpful and informative
Hi Ron
This video was done 5 years ago when I was at the beginning of my learning journey. I have discovered so many new things during those intervening years including the fact that God is cruel because he has now made me old, gery, fat and ugly. However, I have still kept my two remaining grey cells active and managed to learn a lot about this technology.
The first bit of bad news is telling you that that pink beam in the tube is NOT the laser beam. No, that is ionized nitrogen, effectively lightning in a bottle. If you watch the beam colour as you change the % power from 15% (weak and fuzzy) to 70% (solid bright ink) that change of intensity is caused by allowing more current to flow through the ionized nitrogen. That ionized gas is acting like a wire and the current flows into those metal electrodes at both ends of the tube which is why you see the lightning striking those tubes. As I said, this is NOT the laser beam but the mans by which the laser beam is created. The laser beam co exists within that tube and is INVISIBLE and is not bent . It escapes from a "window" at the end of the tube and bounces off the first mirror,
You may like to watch this video that gives a basic explanation of how your tube works.
czcams.com/video/2F5O-1TH8b0/video.html
Best wishes
Russ
I watched one video clip and they set squareness by firing beams on minimum and maximum y and x axis and adjust the mirrors that it strikes the same spot . . . newbie here . . .
Hi
Beam setting is something I have played with almost from day 1. You must always remember that my videos are of me learning about this technology. I am certainly not an expert but someone climbing that ladder of experience by a process of making mistakes to learn more. Some things I have done on camera seemed so right at the time but subsequently I found better and smarter ways to do the same thing. It took a couple of years to fully understand the critical nature of some beam setting elements. I always remember the first time I removed a mirror, there was an immediate fear (for a few seconds) that the machine would never work again. Then rationality kicked in "it's only metal, mirrors and a few screws. Some little guy half a world away made it work, so what's the problem??" The bits you mentioned are the two simple X and Y settings. It took me sometime to learn that Z was the most import and and most unmentioned axis to set. (see czcams.com/video/eSjNsK2sjNo/video.html ) If you don't have a machine yet don't sweat about beam setting. If you do have a machine, it will sort of work right out the box but the Chinese only assemble these machines to "the picture on the box" they do not understand what they have built. Often as a result of their lack of assembly precision, you will never get your beam set precisely at all four corners. . Time and experience helping many folks have forced me to go beyond simple beam setting because I often have to unravel the Chines puzzle that has been exported before we can set the beam true. After 4 years of in depth learning I now, feel I'm getting closer to the top of that ladder. Wait until you are in trouble and then send me your email address.
Best wishes
Russ
@@SarbarMultimedia
Good day Russ, thanks for your very inspiring reply, I previously bought a Prusa 3D Printer, assembled and successfully tweaked it to print some decent objects, I am googling for a laser unit and came across your great videos, I'll surely be following you if I will acquire a CO2 laser in the near future but I am inclined to have some sheet metal cutting capabilities as I am from the construction industry.
Cheers!
Nest
@@nes-t326
Hi Nest be careful what you wish for and do a lot of research. If you have a laser profiling job-shop anywhere near you then I advise you take a visit. I owned a sheet metal and leaser profiling business for 10 years. . The infrastructure you require means you need to either be rich to have it as a hobby or do it with a proper machine and lots of turnover if you plan to sell product/services. The cost of gases is an area you must investigate. I urge you to visit a pro outfit so that you can see the issues that you must take into account when you buy a Chinese machine. When I acquired my cheap Chinese hobby machine (non metal cutting) it was a completely different process to metal cutting and I had to start almost from square one and get used to designing structures in ply, ,mdf and acrylic. Hugely more useful than metal cutting. If I need industrial bits now, I pass them off to a local profiling shop, because the parts can be amazingly cheap if a company is operating large scale.
Best wishes
Russ
Thank you for the video, but why oh why would you assume the people at the factory would have made sure all the sheet metal on the machine is plumb and square? I highly doubt it. I've worked with sheet metal people and they are not typically a highly focused technical group.... just saying...
Hi
As it happens the squareness of the metalwork is not critical. The fact that it is a fixed reference allows you to use blocks to position and shim the tube from base and back surfaces. Any tube adjustments that need to be made can be accurately achieved by adding or removing shims..
If you examine the construction of these machines you will see that they are all manufactured from brake press formed sheets that are spot welded together. There is a natural accuracy in the manufacturing process that makes the "boxes" pretty square, although, I agree, not necessarily aerospace perfect.
Best regards
Russ
I see you’ve hacked your machine corners. I’m so mad that I ever touched my mirrors.
how about using a cheap laserpen and have someone with vaporizer blow some smoke and align the laser by site.
Bear in mind that this is a record of MY learning journey. As time progresses I begin to understand more and more about the fundementals of beam alignment. You will find that I have tried many red led alignment systems. All work to about the 90%+ level but none has allowed me to set the beam inthe continuous dynamic manner that both you and I dream of. At the end of the day the scorch method is the only true way I have found of setting the beam path accurately. I have been looking for more than 2 years for the holy grail and I'm pretty sure your idea is not a viable solution BUT that is an opinion based on bitter experience and does not mean to say I'm right. If you have a machine that you can test it on I would gladly be a convert if you can prove it.
I do sincerely thank you for the comment because i find that the silliest of suggestions can sometimes contain a germ of an idea that others will explore and develop.
Best wishes
Russ
I stand corrected. I missed the context of the video, but after watching the "etching"video i realized you show the scientific approach:-) you made laugh on how you mocked the American warning labels on the packaging..
My laser beam is not pointed rather it is oval in shape
It looks like a ring and not focused how to set it?
Hi
If you have bought your machine through Ebay then you will certainly have a machine fitted with a B grade tube. Such tube will "work in some way" but maybe not properly or with the correct power output. How can you complain or know it is wrong because you need special equipment to measure the power. The problwm you describe is very common with poor quality tubes and I have even seen it on expensive A grade tubes. It has been repoerted that this problem is sometimes caused by a poor eath connection (so just check if you can)but in general is is tube manufacturing fault. If you test the tube at low power you will find the circular burn as you describe, If you stat increasing the power in 10% steps can you make the circle change into a solid spot? If yes, thenthetube willbe usable but stillpoor. If the circle persists even at high power , your tube is junk. The beam that comes out of your tube should have a very powerful central core and get weaker to the outside. Yours has no power at the centre. This cannot be co rrected by any setting procedure. Sadly the cure is a new tube. HOWEVER. Do not be tempted to buy another cheap tube from Ebay as a replacement because it will almost certainly be another B grade tube. An A grade tube will cost more but will be trouble free and last between 3 and 5 years One trusted source will be Cloudray. They have their own website, but also sell through Ebay and Amazon. The low cost/free postage via Ebay is probably the cheapest way to buy a tube. The Cloudray brand (made by SPT) are excellent value especially the metal ended tubes.
Good luck
Russ
@@SarbarMultimedia I have LASER lamp of LASEA make.
One observation of mine is water is in outer jacket,
Is it normal?
@@gargatterajendraarunkumar5414
Your tube is made by EFR and they are good quality tubes. Your tube has a major problem if there is water in the outer tube,. There 3 three tubes. The central tube is where your pink beam forms and the lasing action takes place. The big outer tube is a gas reservoir and is connected to the inner tube so that the gas mix can circulate. Betweeh the outer and inner tubes. There is another tube in between where your cooling water flows to remove heat from the inner tube, If you have water in the outer reservoir then your tube is junk. You have some sort of major mechanical failure. Depending on where you bought your laser and the model number (is it KH****?) it may be a an EFR reject tube that has not been relabed K H Laser.
Best wishes
Russ
Thanks for guidance
LASER tube comes with no warranty/ guaranty,
How to confirm or check it before installation
Way 2 complicated
Use a machinist level to get x axis and laxer tube exactly level (horizontall)
Place your machine head in the position that makes the 1st and 2nd mirror closest to each other
Use tape and fire a test pulse
Adjust 1st mirror to get dot dead centre
Move axis so 2 nd mirror is as far from first as possible
Repeat test pulse and adjust mirrors to hit 2nd mirror dead centre
Move back and forth repeating until spot on
Everything needs to be square and parallel...... the best thing to measure that with is a laser....Do you know anyone who has one? 😂
Hi Russ, thanks again for the valuable information. Would it be possible for a copy of your adjustable tube mounts dxf. It will be one of the first cutting projects that I will tackle on my machine as I can see a great benefit from having a full range of adjustment. I have already implemented the adjustable head idea which is great.
Cgoddard.cg at googlemail dot com
Much appreciated Chris
ich ferthe nix nur warum mach irgtwi kein sin mus nur die mit den spigel täffen alls ok mus noch nie mein stallen eintellen imer 100% alls fumller
Hallo Peter
Dies war ein früher Versuch, die Probleme der Strahleinstellung aufzuzeigen. Ich habe es jetzt viele Male getan und habe ein umfassenderes Verständnis der Prinzipien. Kann ich dir raten, zuzuschauen
czcams.com/video/6aNwKhTRnd8/video.html
Besten Wünsche
Russ