Page 1 of 1

Mirror alignment - how often?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 8:32 am
by lovethis
Hi.

I recently bought a laser engraver and it seems I spend a lot of time aligning my mirrors. Once they are aligned it cuts and engraves great. But after 5 or 6 small 10 minute jobs the cutting power gets less and I start to get secondary burn marks and not cutting as deep on the same settings and when i check my mirrors they are out of alignment again. Not by much but it seems enough to degrade cutting power.

How often would you all expect mirror alignment is necessary?

Regards
Paul

Re: Mirror alignment - how often?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:16 pm
by FelicityPi
hi! please check the laser path each two months and clean the mirror each job done

Re: Mirror alignment - how often?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:53 pm
by BiVecyMisy
Alignment laser beam was no standard time.When you found the laser power suddenly dropped.

Re: Mirror alignment - how often?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 2:16 pm
by lovethis
Thanks Guys. They go out of alignment after a couple of hours of use.

Re: Mirror alignment - how often?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 6:12 pm
by lovethis
Additional:

I realigned the mirrors tonight and they are spot on. However, on a test cut a second burn appeared. see pic below.

I also cleaned the head lens tonight for the first time properly by taking it out. It had like a silver glitter over the edges and when I looked at it at an angle I could see like a metallic film on the lens that looks like it has come away and that is what the glitter was.

Can anyone please advise as I don't seem to be getting anywhere with this machine?

Many thanks

Paul
IMG_20161026_185953.jpg
IMG_20161026_185953.jpg (772.55 KiB) Viewed 3718 times

Re: Mirror alignment - how often?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 8:31 pm
by Wayne Rees
What brand machine is it.....

Do the adjustment screws on the mirror mount have lock nuts, on a lot of manufacturers that dont fit lock nuts the vibration will start the mirrors moving out of alignment as soon as you start the machine back up.

Re: Mirror alignment - how often?

Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2016 8:36 pm
by Wayne Rees
forgot to mention, we have several machines, but the best for mirror alignment is Thunderlaser, I have a several Thunderlasers, some I have never had to adjust the mirrors and they have been used over 3 years, yet the rabbit machine we had to adjust daily ( until I fitted lock nuts )

Re: Mirror alignment - how often?

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 1:30 pm
by lovethis
I have an LS6040 PRO Edition Laser Cutter

http://hpclaser.co.uk/index.php?main_pa ... ducts_id=6

The mirrors do have lock nuts and I do them up after alignment.

I have ordered a replacement lens anyway. I think I wrecked the current one.

Re: Mirror alignment - how often?

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 2:19 pm
by AmasJok
just need it when cutting didn't meet your demand