Beam Alignment. There are 4 mirrors used to direct the laser beam to the material.

Transcription

1 Beam Alignment It will be necessary to periodically check the beam alignment to keep the laser working in top condition. An improperly aligned beam may cause problems such as low power output both at the lens and at various points on the table or items being cut out at an angle to name a few. Mirror #2 Mirror #3 Mirror #1 Mirror #4 There are 4 mirrors used to direct the laser beam to the material. Mirror #1 - This is the mirror that is at the rear lower right corner of the laser. In order to access this mirror for beam adjustment purposes, the right side panel of the laser must be removed. Mirror #2 - This mirror is located in the back right corner of the laser. Mirror #3 - This mirror is located on the right side of the bridge. Mirror #4 - This mirror is located directly over the lens. Tools needed: Denatured alcohol Lens cleaning paper Scrap paper 5/32 allen wrench 3/32 allen wrench 5/16 nut driver *The scrap paper will be placed over the mirror so that we can leave a mark with the laser beam. Therefore I suggest the use of Post-it notes because the slight adhesive on the back is great for sticking the paper to the mirror without fear of damaging the mirror itself.*

2 Procedure: Aligning mirrors #1 and #2 1) Be sure that the laser is turned off, and clean all 4 mirrors. 2) Remove the right side panel using the 5/16 nut driver and the 5/32 allen wrench 3) Power up the laser 4) Place a scrap piece of paper over mirror #2. 5) Close the lid and put the laser in beam alignment mode. 1. Press enter on the laser keypad 4. Give the laser a power setting. A power of 6 should be sufficient to leave a mark on the paper. 6) Press start to fire the laser. *If the laser did not leave a mark on the paper, put the laser back 7) Watch as the beam fires and take note where the mark is made on the paper. 8) Using (figure 1) below, adjust mirror #1 to move the beam to the center of mirror #2. 9) Remove the paper, clean the mirror and replace the paper. Fig 1

3 10) Repeat steps 4-8 until the beam fires in the center of mirror #2. 1) Place a scrap piece of paper over mirror #3 Aligning mirrors #2 and #3 2) Move the bridge all the way to the back of the machine so that mirror #2 and mirror #3 are closest together. 3) Close the lid and put the laser in beam alignment mode. 1. Press enter on the laser keypad 4. Give the laser a power setting. Take note that when the #2 and #3 mirrors are closest together, a power of 6 should be sufficient to leave a mark on the paper. 4) Press start to fire the laser. *If the laser did not leave a mark on the paper, put the laser back 5) Once the beam leaves a mark on the paper, move the bridge to the front of the laser. Do not remove the paper from the mirror at this time. *Allow enough room so that mirror #3 can be seen while the lid is closed.* 6) Close the lid, put the laser back into service mode as shown in step 4, set a slightly higher power setting and fire the laser again. 7) Watch as the beam fires and take note where the second mark is made. Fig 2

4 8) Using (figure 2) below, adjust the screws on mirror #2 to move the beam into the first mark. 9) Remove the paper from the mirror, clean the mirror and replace with a new piece of paper 10) Repeat steps 3-8 until the beam fires in the exact same spot when the #2 and #3 mirrors are at their closest and farthest positions. 1) Place a piece of paper over mirror #4. Aligning mirrors #3 and #4 2) Move the bridge to the rear of the machine and move the lens carriage to the far right side of the laser. *At this time all 3 mirrors should be at their closest positions in the far right corner of the laser.* 3) Close the lid and put the laser in beam alignment mode. *1. Press enter on the laser keypad 4. Give the laser a power setting. Take note that when the #2, #3 and #4 mirrors are closest together, a power of 6 should be sufficient to leave a mark on the paper. 4) Press start to fire the laser. *If the laser did not leave a mark on the paper. Put the laser back 5) Once the beam leaves a mark on the paper, move the lens carriage to the left side of the laser. Do not remove the paper from the mirror at this time. *At this point the #3 and #4 mirrors will be at their farthest positions.* 6) Close the lid, put the laser back into service mode as shown in step 4, set a slightly higher power setting and fire the laser again.

5 7) Watch as the beam fires and take note where the second mark is made. 8) Using (figure 3) below, adjust the screws on mirror #3 to move the beam into the first mark. 9) Remove the paper from the mirror, clean the mirror and replace with a new piece of paper 10) Repeat steps 3-8 until the beam fires in the exact same spot when the #3 and #4 mirrors are at their Fig 3 closest and farthest positions. 1) Place a scrap piece of paper over mirror #4 Firing in the center of mirror #4 2) Push the bridge to the rear of the laser and move the lens carraige to the far left corner. 3) Close the lid and put the laser in beam alignment mode. 1. Press enter on the laser keypad 4. Give the laser a power setting. A power of 10 should be sufficient to leave a mark on the paper. 4) Press start to fire the laser. *If the laser did not leave a mark on the paper, put the laser back

6 5) Watch as the beam fires and take note where the mark is made. 6) Using (figure 4) below, adjust the screws on mirror #1 to move the beam into the center of mirror #4. 7) If any adjustments were made to mirror #1 it will be required to recheck the beam alignment between mirrors #2 and #3 as well as mirrors #3 and #4. Fig 4 8) Continue using steps 1-7 above until the beam fires in the center of mirror #4. 1) Place a piece of paper over the top of the lens. Firing in the center of the lens 2) Push the bridge to the rear of the laser and move the lens carraige to the far left corner. 3) Close the lid and put the laser in beam alignment mode. 1. Press enter on the laser keypad 4. Give the laser a power setting. Take note that when the #2 and #3 mirrors are closest together, a power of 6 should be sufficient to leave a mark on the paper. 4) Press start to fire the laser.

7 *If the laser did not leave a mark on the paper. Put the laser back 5) Use (figure 5) below, to adjust the screws on mirror #4 to move the beam to the center of the lens. 6) Remove the paper from the lens and replace with a new piece and repeat steps 3-5 until the beam fires into the center of the lens. Fig 5

8 This document was created with Win2PDF available at The unregistered version of Win2PDF is for evaluation or non-commercial use only.