RDWorks Learning Lab 48 Mk4 Laser Pointer

[@phillbarnes]

A big shout out to Russ for all of his work making these videos. You're a legend mate.

[@SarbarMultimedia]

+Phillip Barnes Good luck with your build looks great. At my age you need short projects, really short projects!!! Aren't legends something you become when you're dead??? Thanks for your support Russ

[@tomdavidson258]

+SarbarMultimedia russ How can i get the dxf files for the laser pointer? tom davidson [e-mail] my machine is the k40 3020 with a 40watt co2 laser. I have a new focus lens 18mm 50.8 fc , air assist , all from light object. plan on making new 20mm copper mirrors thank you for all your great info

[@rotaone8513]

Hi Russ, i have just found something that may be of interest. I bought a pack of 5 laser diodes from china a while back. I took one and was playing with it and noticed a groove down near the wires (just like yours), i then gave it a twist and discovered that these are capable of being focused. I think they are set at the factory for long distance. By changing the focus i found that the dot produced at shorter distances can now be much smaller and more accurate. Please note that i think the factory glues the focus threads which require a bit of oomph to get moving the first time. Regards, Peter.

[@robertoaks1043]

Russ, Thanks for all of your information on laser cutting. At one time you where putting your DXF file on a forums somewhere. Where was that? I have not been able to locate this information in the videos that you have done. Also where was the beam alignment tool that you spoke in one on the videos. thank you

[@SarbarMultimedia]

Hi Robert Check your you tube messages Russ

[@duanecalhoon3322]

Hello Russ, I have the red & black box Chinese 100w laser, I got the rotary table with it that has the 3 separate rollers, problem is when the stepper motor steps on the rotary table it steps to much leaving a portion that isn't engraved, question is do I adjust that stepper motor thru the program on my laptop???

[@SarbarMultimedia]

Hi Duane I think I understand your problem so I'll answer accordingly. If this is not the problem then shout out again with a little more detail. There are ways to adjust the stepper BUT if you adopt that method then you will have to reset it when you plug your Y axis back in. The alternative method is to scale your drawing to suit. I have done a video on this calibration procedure that I hope will help kzbin.info/www/bejne/rarIp6WHjcZ6iNE kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXrPiYaQncyVm5Y Best wishes Russ

[@DIY3DTECHcom]

Nice build and as an FYI you can buy either 3 or 5 volt laser pointer heads by the dozens (literally) on eBay for cheap...

[@SarbarMultimedia]

+DIY3DTECH.com I did check to make sure that there were lots of alternatives. I used the Maplin one because it was an instant store buy and not a 4 week wait from China. Thanks for info Russ

[@MichaelEdmond]

+SarbarMultimedia hmmmm.... i have a green laser pen sitting here, it always had a dodgy battery terminal and was put in the 'be useful one day' box... looks like its now gonna be useful!

[@MichaelEdmond]

+SarbarMultimedia Actually... this sounds silly (and probably is) but... would there be any disadvantage to making a laser holder that slots in where the lens holder goes (ie, replaces the lens) and fires the laser backwards through the mirrors? I am just thinking it would be easier to locate, the laser would 'start' exactly on target (the middle of where the hole at the air assist guide is, where you want the laser to shoot out) and then trace the line back to source (the tube) There is likely a really obvious reason why nobody shines the laser 'backwards' for this purpose?

[@SarbarMultimedia]

+Michael Edmond Hi Michael It would work perfectly as a light path back to mirror 1 but when you get to the tube itself, you now have to fiddle with the tube alignment until you get what you think is a perfect reflection from the HV end mirror inside the tube. I have played with a laser pointer and my old tube and found it near impossible to find that sweet spot. I had dreamt of being able to use the pointer forward or backwards (as you are proposing) to set the beam path perfectly. I have reluctantly concluded there is no alternative to the pulse burn method BUT once you have your machine set, If you want to remove mirrors, (as I have done many time in my quest with copper mirrors) using the pointer as a temporary reference is a breeze. It allows me to replace all 3 mirrors (one at a time) in less than 10 minutes. I hope my negativity will spur you to experiment for yourself.........bumble bees are theoretically not able to fly, but they don't know it. Experiment with your green pointer and tell the world when you are successful. Good luck and best regards Russ

[@MichaelEdmond]

+SarbarMultimedia I will do, it was just a random thought while wife watched something on TV... also bumble bees, their wings differ in that the upstrokes they let air pass through them (like mini vents) meaning there is less resistance, they discovered it using a high speed macro camera, if I find the link I will share it!

[@AoussafaahdAshd]

Please , I am in dire need of View I -machine and I can not set it properly

[@catweazle_1]

Hello Russ, I still follow you in your learning progress and am fascinated by your diligence, precision and inventiveness. Thank you very much for that - also for the replies to my two comments so far, I would be very grateful for the dxf-files for this Mk4 Laser Pointer and would post my mail address here after a first reply from you, so that you (or I) could delete them again promptly with very warm regards from Germany Stefan

[@SarbarMultimedia]

Hi Stefan This was the state of my learning almost 6 years ago.. Every new person (including me) seem to have difficulty setting the beam correctly. I imagined it would be so simple to use a visible red beam to set the mirrors without all the tape and scorch marks.. This is the Mk4 attempt and I persisted until Mk7 before I gave up the dream. They were all 90 to 95% there but none delivered perfection or even ease of setting. The only way to achieve perfection was with the scorch method. Unless you can simulate the invisible laser beam PERFECTLY then you are wasting time and effort.. Many people will proclaim that beam combiners solve this problem. Hmmmm....perhaps their standards are lower than mine OR they are not going to admit to wasting $80 on something that doesn't really work, is almost impossible to set and is worse than the 90% I was able to achieve . I investigated beam combining about 3 orn4 years ago and soon discovered its weaknesses. I never was a fan and that just confirmed it . HOWEVER, I am now 6 years wiser and understand a lot more about the technology. You may or not be aware that Cloudray approached me about a year ago because they wanted to make and sell a duplicate of the small format machine I had gradually developed to make it fast, flexible and user friendly. They saw that there was an opportunity to sell a well specified small machine that had a proper A grade tube and power supply along with other engineering improvements I had made to make beam setting easy I have recently taken delivery of that prototype for evaluation and to give Cloudray critical feed back. IF you watch the video kzbin.info/www/bejne/b369f6F-qdSrm5I&lc=UgxbQsvZzEvKItllrPF4AaABAg you will see that Cloudray wish to include a beam combiner as part of the upgraded specification. It seems like a great idea but as I have already mentioned , I have yet to discover a beam combiner that works accurately. Basically I have advised them NOT to ship their proposed beam combiner because it is is almost none functional and that is totally against the ease of use/quality specification of the machine..To cut a long story short, despite my negativity to the basic principle, I promised to set my two remaining grey cells to work at designing something for them that WOULD do the job properly.. I have now succeeded and the results are excellent. I will be publishing a video on the subject in the next week or so. If you wish to add your disguised email address (stefan=== at*****geeeeemail dot co===m) for example I will send the MK4,5 6 and 7 designs and remind you that these are nearly but not 100% successful. They were all good ideas but did not take into account the fundamental logic of beam combining. Best wishes Russ

[@catweazle_1]

@@SarbarMultimedia Hello Russ, thank you very much for the again very detailed answer and your assessment. I am still at the very beginning of my journey with the laser and will now wait for your next video. Of course, I have seen the "Cloudray video" and clearly recognized your handwriting. Have you ever thought about doing the whole thing backwards, placing the laser pointer in the nozzle? Just for the first step in setting it up? warm regards Stefan

[@phillbarnes]

Hi again mate. I am nearing completion of my laser cutter build and from watching your videos, I've come to realise one thing. The laser head is a fixed point that cannot be adjusted. After some research, I have found on ebay, laser pointers the same shape and size of a shotgun cartridge. They are designed to be put in the breach like a live shell and then projected out the barrel to a target for the purpose of ligning up a scope. So I am going to purchase one and make a sleeve to slide over it so that it fits snugly in place of the lense holder tube. Then I can simply work backwards to the tube. Could it be easier? These concepts have come from many parts of your videos and a few sleepless nights. Any feedback is appreciated. Phill

[@SarbarMultimedia]

+Phillip Barnes Hi Phil After spending a lot of time trying to overcome the "fiddling with mirrors" factor, I came to the opposite conclusion (almost). Set the mirrors to nominal 45 degrees then adjust the beam to be parallel with the Y axis by twisting the laser tube. Then when it's parallel, offset the laser to bring it onto the centre of mirror 2. Now just tweak mirror 2 to get the beam parallel to the x axis. At this point there are two choices. Either offset the laser tube again or, better in my opinion, move mirror 3 (the head ) to catch the beam. Seems to work wonderfully well and I hardly touch the mirrors. Looking backwards (as I do for initial sighting and crude mirror alignment) is possible but the problem you will have is the laser tube itself. Yes you will be able to set all your mirrors to look at the laser window but when you fire the laser it will almost certainly not line up. So I'm sure you will still have to go back to the pulse burn to set the tube up. I had great dreams of a full set up with the laser pointer but it.s not as simple as that. The beam combiner has the same issue. Good luck and please let me know how it all works out because I'm genuinely interested in your approach. Regards Russ

[@phillbarnes]

+SarbarMultimedia Thanks Russ. I get what you mean about the tube thanks to your videos. I have purchaed the adjustable plastic tube mounts and intend to as you suggested, with the head in the furthest away position, fire the tube back to a reference target on the head.

[@Mentorcase]

+Phillip Barnes I like this idea a lot my laser head has a nice collet style clamp that will hold your idea very nicely and using a spare laser pointer and adapter will do the job quite nicely.

[@phillbarnes]

The shotgun and other bullet alignment red dot lasers are apparently pre alligned but have xy adjust screws for correction. My laser head also has a nice clamp system so all i need to do is machine an aluminium bush and it should work perfectly.

[@Gaatech]

I nice upgrade to a very useful tool

[@powermate]

Great video.

[@ekpest]

You can upload them DXF's to the thingiverse, community would benefit.

[@phillbarnes]

my Facebook page facebook.com/Tassie-Cnc-Plasma-Cut-Metal-Art-Signs-Cad-Parts-590458527656502/

[@powermate]

+Phillip Barnes Great build on your page,

[@phillbarnes]

+Bradley Mohr Thanks Bradley, more pics to come soon.