Principles of Co2 Laser Mirror / Beam Alignment

There is a lot of talking in the video and I hope that it clears up some confusion on the alignment procedures and doesn’t cause more confusion 😁
In the next one I will walk through the alignment on my 60w machine.
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[@windtherapyandwanderlust3341]

Your very best video. Stull having a hard time with alignment but this realy explains it well

[@tttuberc]

This video helps me a great deal. Before watching your video, my near and far dots could never be together. Your drawing of where the aligned dot would be is so helpful. Thanks very much

[@kenm2679]

Thanks for this video. I just got an OMTech 100W manual focus machine and the tube wasn't installed. When I installed the tube, I was having trouble with the beam and thought that the other videos that suggest I needed to be dead on center at each mirror seemed wrong to me (it was correct in an ideal situation, but maybe not practically). Your explanation is what i thought the right answer should be. Now I'm going to try it to get the darn thing usable. Thanks again!

[@rickieboyd5769]

One of the best detailed explanations of alignment that I've seen. Thank you so much for doing this, it really does help tremendously !!

[@BeardedBuildsCo]

Thank you for the kind words! Glad it helped!

[@06TundraLTD]

Jumped in head first and bought a combined 300w CO2 to cut stainless steel, nothing was even close when it arrived. I level the machine first. I used my Bosch 3 axis laser level to get all the mirrors on the same plain, it was a huge time saver. But the Co2 Laser Alignment Tool from American Photonics was an amazing tool to get everything dialed in perfect across the entire bed.

[@BeardedBuildsCo]

That’s a big jump! Glad to hear the the reverse alignment tool was helpful! Any thoughts that I should highlight about it in my next video?

[@brandonbuchwitz7638]

Can’t wait to do the walk through with you. My 130w is driving me nuts

[@earleallen3799]

and i thought i was the only one having issues with a 130w :( i have small sweet spots and thats its...can never get it aligned completely at all

[@squidskunk]

thank you... two thumbs up!!

[@BeardedBuildsCo]

Thank you!

[@ChristophLehner]

You are da real mvp💪

[@BeardedBuildsCo]

🤜🏻💥🤛🏻

[@marthabruton5194]

where can I buy the reverse alignment tool in South Africa

[@blewprent]

I wish I could just pay you to align mine. I just dont understand where the pulses are supposed to appear on the tape. I get that they wont be completely on top of each other, but where are they supposed to be? On your illustration you said the second mirror pulse shouldnt fall to the right of the first mirror's pulse. So is the rule that the 2nd and 3rd pulses are supposed to be to the left of the first mirror's pulse? 😭 I'm going to go watch your other alignment video.

[@cristianbarranco5929]

How to troubleshoot misaligned/uneven font?

[@elamriamal8800]

I wish you speak Arabic 😅 cuz I really need to understand everything u said...I have the same problem in my laser machine right now and I stopped working cuz I tried fix it many times but I filled...

[@psychoslingers8732]

I messed up right out the gate by a heavy adjustment on the diagonal adjuster on mirror 1 & 2. The problem is now I have no idea where it basically should be set as standard. Is there any helpful ideas/ways to correct this and get it back to a normal Al standard position? (I don’t know what position is standard)

[@rickmccaskill7888]

I have a problem aligning my mirrors. The laser to the first mirror is centered. When going to mirror 2, when mirror 2 is close to mirror 1, the beam hits on the left edge of mirror 2 (looking at it from the laser side), in the middle of the lens it center of the axis, and when close to mirror 2 the beam hits to the far left. I can't seem to figure out which way to adjust the first mirror to get the center? Any help would be deeply appreciated. Thank you

[@SarbarMultimedia]

The Chinese designerrs were just too clever when they designed the L shape mirror adjusters. You are perfectly correct with your left/righ and up/down function of the end screws . However your understanding of the centre screw is NOT for diagonal adjustment. It's not obvious about the function of this screw and that's why I said the Chinese designers were too clever. I do not use this screw myself ether because it seems wrong to adjust all three screws after you have set the two corner screws. . If you put a 12 oclock mark on all 3 screws and adjust ALL 3 by the same amount at say mirror 1 then you can reposition its refection onto the centre of mirror 2 but only to the left and right. That's the real reason for the middle screw. Great in theory but far too complex for most to understand. In reality there is likeky to be some diagonal movement of the beam onto mirror 2 because it is most unlikely that beam will strike mirror 1 perfectly horizontally. I have spent several years perfecting the LOGIC of quick simple and perfect beam alignment and you fail to mention the REAL goal of beam alignment is to set the AXIS of the beam to coincide with the AXIS of the lens. I see myself 5 years ago doing exactly what you are tryng to explain. I now know how confused I was. I must stress that there is ZERO criticism of your video but I have seen so many people tying themselves in knots with confusing instructions. That was part of th motivation for creating a teaching aid that allows you to fully understand EVERY aspect of beam setting, except the 4th corner issue which you allude to but do not clearly explain. Perhaps you could make a MK2 version of this video after you have watched kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqGpgXSAZqymbtU I emphasise again that this is sharing knowledge and NOT criticsim Best wishes Russ

[@genius1a]

Thank you so much for this awesome, easy to understand explanation! It watched some alignment videos, to solve my problem. Your's the real deal - with your drawings you made it crystal clear how, why, and you did it down to the actual burning spot on the bed, with all back and forth that this iteration needs to get there. And it shows how relevant "live" pencil drawings still are in our age of fancy "powerpoint style" scematics. I Love it!

[@derek2593]

Great info, thanks! My dots are aligned, but they hit the nozzle mirror too low. Instead of raising the tube, couldn't I lower the nozzle containing the last mirror?

[@WallMan1013]

Love your videos dude! They have taught me so much in my laser cutting journey. :)

[@richied9305]

Thanks for this. Helpful in understanding what's going on inside. But I'm also being driven a little nuts trying to get the beam dialed in. Looking forward to your next video!

[@gme273]

Thanks for this fantastic video on how to alien the beam, Australia

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

complicated! May have to go to a diode laser!

[@drasus233]

1st comment! Wahooooo Good video..thanks

[@BeardedBuildsCo]

Thanks!