Laser Cutter Focus

[jason gessner]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Pete.  I have the same experience with the laser cutters.  :/

So I was trying to cut something yesterday and the results were very unsatisfying.  The entire cutter is just a hair off level, but the table is also not level.  Tom G and I looked at the table and the belts and it looks pretty complicated to level it.  Checking the table's level over the 12" of my piece of wood was pretty stable.

The symptoms i saw were very wide, unfocused cuts.  The autofocus looked good - i put the little focus thing under the laser and it lined up fine.  I wasn't sure if it was a problem with my file or not, so i made a simple square with a 5 pt. black outline in corel draw and it also came out out of focus.

I'm not entirely sure how to tweak the focus manually.  Does anyone know how to do that so we can dial it in?  We don't have any more lens cleaning tissues or q-tips as well, so i didn't try to clean off any of the mirrors or lenses.

:/

-jason

On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 12:12 AM, Shane <Imp...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Jason was using it and getting really W I D E cuts like the laser was
out of focus.  It was at 2".

Also, the table isn't level, though I'm not sure how much that was
behind the wide cuts.

On Sep 8, 10:28 pm, Pete Prodoehl <ras...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Shit... what do you mean "Hopefully the laser cutter is feeling better
> tomorrow" ??
>
> Seriously... every time I plan to head down in the morning to use it,
> there's some email the night before about it not working.
>
> So is it functional right now or...???
>
> Pete
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Saturday, September 8, 2012 7:29:36 PM UTC-5, Shane wrote:
>
> > Okay, the body and axles are nearly finished.
>
> > I'm going to go home and figure out some custom wheels for this thing.
>
> > Hopefully the laser cutter is feeling better tomorrow....
>
> > On Friday, September 7, 2012 8:33:19 PM UTC-5, Pete Prodoehl wrote:
>
> >> OK, so who is working on cars for the Nerdy Derby?
>
> >> I'm asking because Matt Richardson is looking to do a blog post for Make
> >> Magazine about us, and wants to include a round-up of cars being built in
> >> Milwaukee.
>
> >> So even if you are still in progress, would you consider writing up the
> >> info and taking some photos? I'll be writing up a blog post for it tonight,
> >> and after that any additional posts would be great.
>
> >> Pete

--

--

-jason

[Adam Cohen]

Did you use the autofocus with the plastic grid?  Does it know to account for this grid?

[jason gessner]

yes, the grid was in place.  I'm unsure if the grid interferes or not. It didn't seem to since the 2" focus tool did line up properly with the wood surface.

-jason

--
 
 
 

--

-jason

[Pete Prodoehl]

With the help of Dennis I learned how to manually focus the laser.

So auto-focus does not seem to be working, but manual does.

Though it still took me more than one pass to cut 3mm wood.


Pete

[jason gessner]

Yay!

Would you write up instructions on the wiki, please? Wait a minute. Look who I am asking.  :)

-jason

--
 
 
 

[Pete Prodoehl]

Lasers down!

Right now the 60 watt and 25 watt are being worked on, but hopefully we can get one of them back online today.

The smart guys (as in, not me) are working on adding air assist to the 60 watt, as it was getting too much charring, and the cracked lens looks even worse. We're also looking for a replacement lens.

The 25 watt needs (we think) a new power supply, and Tom has one ready to be wired up, so that might happen today if all goes well.

But right now, there's no laser cutter online. :/


Pete

[Shane]

Damn. I was just getting ready to head down there.

I'll probably stop by anyways and see if I can offer to screw things
up somehow. :D

On Sep 9, 2:13 pm, Pete Prodoehl <ras...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Lasers down!
>
> Right now the 60 watt and 25 watt are being worked on, but hopefully we can
> get one of them back online today.
>
> The smart guys (as in, not me) are working on adding air assist to the 60
> watt, as it was getting too much charring, and the cracked lens looks even
> worse. We're also looking for a replacement lens.
>
> The 25 watt needs (we think) a new power supply, and Tom has one ready to
> be wired up, so that might happen today if all goes well.
>
> But right now, there's no laser cutter online. :/
>
> Pete
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sunday, September 9, 2012 12:50:35 PM UTC-5, jason gessner wrote:
>
> > Yay!
>
> > Would you write up instructions on the wiki, please? Wait a minute. Look
> > who I am asking.  :)
>
> > -jason

> > On Sep 9, 2012 12:14 PM, "Pete Prodoehl" <ras...@gmail.com <javascript:>>

[Tom Gondek]

I stopped down at the space to check out the laser.

A few things.

1st someone changed the auto focus to 4" instead of 2", so that was causing
most of the problems with the "wide" cuts.

2nd the lens was charred and cracked. It was covered with black smoke /
"ash". I assume this happened because of the focus being off, causing more
smoke, which covered the lens, causing the lens to over heat and crack. We
need to be aware of the fact that the exhaust fan is under rated, so the
lens / mirrors will get dirty, resulting in a loss of cutting power.

Tom, Rich, Dennis and I connect the air assist which will help keep the lens
and mirrors cleaner and working better. Once the replacement lens is in,
we'll post about the air assist and startup instructions.

When I left, Tom was going to work on the power supply for the 25 watt, but
for now both lasers are down.


Tom

--

[Ed Hagopian]

Tom would it help if people were trained on cleaning the lens? I'm assuming that when you have smoke on the lens, it heats the lens up since it's not clearly focusing the beam. The cleaning steps in the manual are very easy and very straight forward and I think it would help things in the future to avoid damage to the lens. The fluid is right there and a box of cotton swabs could be left in the drawer.

[Tom Gondek]

Probably a good idea.  Maybe a standard start up procedure – check and clean lens, move carriage to the front, check auto focus, etc

--
 
 
 

[Have Blue]

How much is the replacement lens? I'm still willing to throw in some
money towards it if needed (will need to laser cut plywood for my Nerdy
Derby car soon).

[Ron Bean]

>The cleaning steps in the manual are very easy
>and very straight forward and I think it would help things in the future to
>avoid damage to the lens. The fluid is right there and a box of cotton
>swabs could be left in the drawer.

There are Q-tips in the lab, on the cabinet that holds the soldering
irons.

[Tom Gralewicz]

Tom found replacement lenses for $40 each, I'll be ordering a pair, but they come from China so it will take a week or two.

See the next thread for Laser Cutter status

--

--
Tom Gralewicz
Miller Electronics Recycling
(414) 380-1716
www.deadcomputers.com

[Pete Prodoehl]

Both cutters have space on the metal part of the glass to put some signs, instructions, etc. we should utilize that space.

We might also consider a cleaning sheet with the date of the last cleaning, or the date of the next cleaning, or both.

And perhaps we need more training for people. We should members how to etch & cut something, but not much else. Cleaning, and going through all the menus would be a good idea as well.

Pete

[Ed Hagopian]

I can toss some cash that way too if needed. I love me some laser.