Laser Mirror Alignment | How To Guide | CO2
How to align your Chinese CO2 laser. If you're laser is not cutting well, giving you double lines, or cutting on one side of the bed but not the other, this is often an indication that you're NOT aligned.
This video will guide you on adjustments at Mirror 1 (M1), Mirror 2 (M2), and Mirror 3 (M3). Pay special attention as to where you're standing as it's important when making adjustments on your adjustment screws. Also note the NEAR and FAR positions. Our adjustments will occur in the FAR position as it will have the great impact on where the pulse hits.
I specifically use the OMTech AF2028-80, but this process will work on most CO2 lasers with a similar mirror setup.
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I have been lasering for about 8 years...the catch to that is that I had a GF so never had to worry about mirror alignment. I got my new OMtech a few days ago, and was terrified at relearning everything. Thanks sincerely for taking the time to share your knowledge. You made my first bump in the road so much easier to figure out. If someone isn't paying you for your knowledge, they should be.
Hi, I also have a setup guide at laser-guys.com/setup Hope it helps
Really awesome video, I never try to do alignment, with your well descriptive tutorial will help so much, thanks again , cheers
Good luck. Hope it helps!
Thank you. We constantly struggle with this at our Makerspace because we haven't had a clear understanding of how to align the mirrors. Sending a link to your video to our Discord channel for people to reference.
Cam, this is the most detailed and comprehensive video about mirror alignment I've seen. Thank you!
That means a lot. I tried to be as detailed as I could be without being super confusing. I was worried about it being too long.
bro from one content creator to another you nailed this process I have seen tons of videos and never quite got the swing of it even still to this day...your video is by far what I have been needing and is the best, I have ever seen made in detail .. even over some actual manufacturer videos like Boss for example, great job and I have now subscribed, looking forward to future content
It took me a couple days and few reshoots to do this one. Its hard to explain alignment to someone who has never done it before. I tried to create this video as if the person didn't know anything. Thank you for taking the time to provide some feedback. A lot of work went into this one.
This is video is just what I needed, by far is the best alignment video I've seen. Gracias!!
Thank you for the feedback!
Think this is the BEST alignment video I have seen to date. Now, If you happen to have the American Photonics Reverse Alignment Tool, A video such as this one showing how it can be used would be awesome. :)
Awesome! Glad to hear. I do have the AP reverse alignment tool. That’s something I can definitely put together.
@@EdmondsWoodshop yes please make that next I have that tool and still dont know how to use it and the manufacturer video is terrible .... one thing I loved is how your system was out of whack and you showed how to tune it great work
So I am building my own laser, doing alignment tonight. Don't know why but your video just clicked. Thank you so much!
Building a laser from scratch and getting it freshly aligned can be a little different as you are aligning the actual mirror mounting plates first (which I don’t show), but the concept of near and far alignment is still the same. Glad it made sense to you! Thanks for the feedback
@@EdmondsWoodshop oh yeah, huge p.i.t.a. lol. I took a piece of 2020 extrusion, set it on top of the mirrors and used a torpedo level on top to get them level, then used the same piece of extrusion to eyeball them in line.
Your setup videos are fantastic! Very detailed yet well-explained. You do a great job! Thank you!
Was trying to make it as easy as possible…even though it’s long
Best alignment instruction video by far . . thank you!
Thank you for the feedback!
You’re a lifesaver, thank you!
Glad you found it helpful!
Thanks that was verry informative.
Nice uncomplicated vid, thank you.👌
Glad it helped
Wow wow sir, you did an excellent Work, congratulations
Thank you
Thanks Cam. Very informative.
My pleasure! Thanks for watching
Hi I am ajay you video is long but very knowledge full thank You nice to meet to you keep it up
Thank you for the feedback. I tried to make it as informative as possible while showing the process
Hey man. I just purchased the laser yesterday and need to get everything aligned. It's a used unit so I'm going to get everything cleaned up but this is exactly what I needed to try to get that process moving
Good luck! Hopefully this video helps make the entire process come together and make sense
Maybe all that was needed to shim the tube was to tighten the hex nut on the near tube clamp till the two jaws barely touched? That would orient the front of the tube down a bit which is what you were trying to do. Thats how I did mine and it worked perfectly. Great video btw. You're a natural teacher!
Absolutely! My way is definitely not the only way. It’s just a way to show how to get the desired intent. If you have another method to do the same thing, then that’s perfectly okay. Thank you for the comment! Glad it made sense for you.
@@EdmondsWoodshop I posted a comment but not sure where it went - was it deleted because of the link? I have, what I think, is a mechanical issue on my OMTech 100W MF2028 but can't figure out a solution. I'm seeing lines down the edges of cut pieces and these are very noticeable on edges where the y-axis travel is greater and much less so when there's little to no y-axis travel. I tightened the y-axis belts but that didn't help at all - not sure what else I can try. I'd appreciate any advice you could give. Hopefully this comment doesn't get deleted - here are some images of what I'm seeing: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dMLQLfUUACqxAWgtHkzZbXiqOd7uY5VK?usp=drive_link
I swear this isn't spam - I'm on the OMTech facebook page as well but my question got buried.
@@EdmondsWoodshop 2nd time that comment was deleted - the link might be the culprit. No link this time. I have, what I think, is a mechanical issue on my OMTech 100W MF2028 but can't figure out a solution. I'm seeing lines down the edges of cut pieces and these are very noticeable on edges where the y-axis travel is greater and much less so when there's little to no y-axis travel. I tightened the y-axis belts but that didn't help at all - not sure what else I can try. I'd appreciate any advice you could give.
Great video Cam! Very helpful. It appears my laser has adjustments on the laser tube. I have the AF 130 watt
I have hunted and hunted for good alignment videos for years (suffering the consequences of bad alignment all this time). Your video is BY FAR THE BEST ONE I HAVE EVER SEEN!! No one has ever even explained the adjustment screws going L/R vs Up/Down, let alone had such good footage of the details inside the machine. I can't begin to thank you! One question - how did you determine that 13% was needed for your pulse? What makes a good pulse power?
I’m so happy that you found it helpful! In regard to the power, I started at 10% and adjusted 1% higher at a time until I got a burn mark. When you hit the pulse button, it should be a quick tap. Don’t hold it down otherwise it will continuously fire. You should be able see a nice round pulse mark when it hits. If it ends up being a white spot on the blue tape, I’d bump it up 1% higher. You may have noticed that I had to hit pulse a couple times just to see the mark show up. You want it strong enough to burn, but not too powerful to blast a hole through it
Amazing video! But this is the #1 reason why I am hesitant in getting a CO2 Laser! Thanks.
The first time you go through alignment made take you a little while, but after you go through the video and understand the process, it may take 15 minutes.
Good to know...thanks! I think I'm leaning towards the Polar 350, this is purely for fun for me and my 16 year old daughter to make cool stuff with...no selling.@@EdmondsWoodshop
fantastic video, i had yesterday a problem i burned the bould from the air connection dont ask me how or what happend. I was fiddeling to fix it now is my pulse 3 mm of my light point on the wood what should i do
your video is excellent but I have a question. you showed how to shim the tube up and down but my tube needs to come left. I have adjusted the tube bracket as far left as it will go and am still a ways off center. Any suggestion there?
I’m a visual person. Can you join our FB page (link in the description) and post pictures?
This is a clean alignment video it looks so familiar I could almost swear I saw a video like this before where ever did you get this new source of information 😌
Brandt from bearded builds co has a similar video. We work together so it makes sense. The more information out there the merrier. Some videos just “click” better with others. Videos where people just talk through tutorials without actually showing what needs to be done is incomplete in my opinion and can be improved, which is why I created the video.
lol gotta give credit where credit is due we know the real reason this video was created but good job a simple shout out goes along way. @@EdmondsWoodshop
Please enlighten me to this fabulous person(s) I should be shouting out? You do know KZhead is made of thousands of video tutorials out there right now, right? Sure I’ll give a few shouts for inspiration….Brandt at bearded builds co, Vince at maker monkey industries. Thanks for the inspiration fellas! You sure sound like you’re taking this personal. Feel free to reach out to me and we can talk otherwise keep hiding behind your new account.
you've said enough to let us know why this video was made you keep hiding behind you group that you run@@EdmondsWoodshop
This video was made because other people need help aligning their lasers and the ones currently out there are missing the context on how to do it. I’ll give credit where credit is due, but this is KZhead brother. Everyone got their information from somewhere. Care to share the link where you think I need to credit?
did you set your max power 1 back to 50 after you were done? or does that really make any difference.
I left it. Whatever power % you enter in lightburn for your design will override whatever setting is on the controller when you go to start the laser
why shim the tube? doesn't mirror 3 have adjustments available on it where you can move the part to center the beam in the hole?
Because every laser head isn’t the same. Not every laser head has the ability to move left/right or up/down. Shimming the tube will work for everyone.
In moving the bed up and down ,my laser is in center but is not coming in one dot , at some point is big circle and at some point is the dot . It is my first time using co2 laser
If the laser head is too close or too far away from the material you will always get a big dot. That's because it's not at the best focal. When it's at the right distance it should be a very small dot.
Thanks @@Jay.perez1, so a material with thickness more than 10mm , the front will be in focus while the back will not ,and someone told me i have to readjust the laser head again , but even for a canson paper my head is only 5mm away from the paper for a perfect dot or cut
Good morning, i followed every single step of this video witch is simple to do. But, I'm having a little issue on the last step,on the back far write corner, It does not hit the center. It hits almost 1cm to the left in comparison to the other targets witch do hit the center. What am i supposed to do now? Left far corner perfect, left close corner perfect, right close corner perfect, write far corner BAD, 1CM TO THE LEFT.
Either your M1 or M2 is still off or something int square.
@@EdmondsWoodshop Thanks, it's your second opción, I think. This afternoon i'll know It for shure.
Question. When shimming the tube, why didn't you just leave the front of the tube normal, and just shim the very bottom of the rear of the tube? That way you could have left the stock shims in the front, and only put a thin shim on the stock rear shim. Unless I'm not seeing it right...
You can definitely do it that way too! Shim the front mount or shim the rear mount. Whatever you can do to aim the pulse in the direction you need to go. Shim it where it Makes it easy for you. Remember, my way is just showing the methodology behind the alignment process. If you can make the same adjustments by doing something different, and it works, then I’d say you’re still successful.
Great question by the way!
@@EdmondsWoodshop Agreed. By the way, excellent explanation on how to do this. Much easier than most of the videos I have seen on this.
I appreciate your comments and question!
Do you have a video or any info on the beam combiner? How to install?
I just want to know where you got the Beam combiner. 😂
It comes with the AF2028-80 OMTech model
@@EdmondsWoodshop thanks!
Why not just adjust mirror #2 until it hits #3 dead center instead of adjusting the laser tube itself? It seems the outcome is the same either way, no?
If you can achieve center at mirror 3 by making adjustments at mirror2, then yes it’s the same thing. I find that you’ll have a harder time chasing your pulse mark to align right on top of each at the center of mirror 3 rather than just reorienting the tube. Most people have a hard time grasping the concept of alignment as a process so if I can get get them to get the pulses to fall on top of each other, its easier to teach someone to aim their tube.