Looking to see if anybody would have advice on performing optical path alignment on an iKier Master. Manual says to reference video, but I can’t find any video and their marketing said Flylock Optical System was supposed to make this not be something I should have to do right off the bat.
I was trying to do a test grid on TruFlat Maple 3mm and seemed like it wasn’t getting through the material very well.
With this deviation you have no real chance of achieving proper results.
Most CO2 machines have set screws for fine adjustment of the optical alignment, typically 3 screws per mirror. But I don’t know your machine and can’t see how it is arranged on your machine, are there any instructions in your manual regarding this subject?
A 50W tube is about 1000mm in length, you whole machine is only 862 x 584 x 255 mm.
This is about all they say for this machine in the advertisement.
FlyLock™ Optical System: Engineered for stability—maintains perfect optical alignment even after transportation.
You’ll have to figure it out, I guess. They don’t mention anywhere what the flylock system is.
I’d drop an angry email to the vendor. Don’t get cross, just let them know you’re not happy and ask them how to fix it. Might want to ask them what flylock means.
Mine has set screws on each mirror… this is the backside of m2.
Yeah, the angry emails are getting a bit old at this point.
A bit hard to get to, but look like recessed screws right near the case, and I’m not even sure how hard it could be to get to for the one on the laser.
Yeah, just now looked back and saw the rated power: 40w… max power 50w it says on the tube.
Noticed poor cutting quality see attached image, cut quality.JPG, now that I am testing out the machine so I checked the optical path alignment and it appears to be off see https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oOIph_kWsY10b2o0CCDvlz3Ar7orC5YC/view?usp=sharing. The documentation in the user guide does not appear to be adequate enough to perform an optical path calibration, nor would I expect to have to be performing a calibration right after receiving the unit; especially with your claims of a Flylock Optical System.
Please instruct how you would like to move forward.
Thanks,
Maybe I should be wording a bit stronger at this point. Any suggestions?
Something I thought about while looking at your picture with the red inline laser point… it could be that it is the one that is not properly lined up and not the CO2 laser itself. (or both)
Have you done a test shot (short pulse-low power) on M1, M2, M3?
Yes, the red pointer and the CO2 appear to line up when doing a test onto tape. Here are new shots after I tried aligning some. Both are from the head after adjusting mirrors 1 & 2, 3 didn’t seem to need any. xy are just approximate in the names
I didn’t button it back up yet, but wanted to see if that looks to be aligned enough before I fiddle with it any more. Again, just a newb and wanting to make sure I’m doing things right.
I think you should evaluate what @bernd.dk advised. Many people have fiddled with laser pointers.
The problem occurs in multiple ways. It is difficult if not impossible to get the visible laser aligned with an IR one. Since you can’t really see the beam, you depend on the visible diode to determine where it’s going to lase.
I could be the led is not correctly aligned with the actual beam. Have you tried the burn or scorch method with paper targets?
It can also be the tube isn’t resonating in TEM00 mode.
That’s probably the only way to check alignment.
If it’s ok, you should (also) check your lens in the nozzle and do a focus test, then you can clarify those points in the troubleshooting.
Okay, tried tape in the path before, but yes I have now tried focusing scorching a point on paper which appears to look good to me. Thank you all again very helpful being able to learn as I go.
I didn’t end up needing to adjust the red diode just the CO2 mirrors 1 & 2, but it is very important that I do know how to do this for the future as I’m sure I’ll be revisiting these steps from time to time.
Your test shot on paper looks very good as far as centering the 2 lasers is concerned.
Did I understand you correctly that you “only” adjusted M1 and M2?, it is a bit rare that M1 does not fit from the factory setting, most people often struggle with M2 and M3…
Great that it works for you now.
ps.I have tried to find out how to adjust the mirrors but cannot find any useful information. The manual for your machine only talks about cleaning the mirrors but not adjusting them. How does it work?
Yes, mirror 1 on the laser tube was the one I had to adjust the most. Then I worked down the path to mirror 2 which didn’t need much. Once I adjusted mirror 2 where it looked good going into the laser head, I then verified it going into the nozzle which looked aligned and then did the scorch test from multiple parts of the bed. Took maybe 40 mins give or take.
That 40W rated / 50W max label would raise questions for me too. iKier says it was incorrectly applied to a pilot-production unit, and their published test shows 49.6W sustained at the workpiece, with a 50.1W peak.
I bought it directly from iKier as a new retail unit. Many 40 watt tubes will say 50w peak, but doesn’t mean you should be running them at 100% as it will lower the lifespan of the tube. Interestingly, it looks like they posted that video in reply to my comment on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvum8zMyX4I&t=336s .
I’m wondering @pjn are you with iKier/Atomstack? Since the video doesn’t say the extra stuff you are mentioning.
While I’m here, since this was originally related to optical path calibration, I’ve noticed something else worth mentioning.
I’ve since found that I need to recalibrate the optical path any time I clean the mirrors. It doesn’t even require moving the machine - simply touching the mirrors during cleaning can be enough to throw the alignment off.
I’m following iKier’s recommended procedure for cleaning the mirrors as outlined in their Master FAQ, so this isn’t a case of using an improper cleaning method.
At least with my machine, optical path calibration seems to be something I need to check after cleaning the mirrors, not just after moving the machine.
There’s definitely some questions about this device. Such as what is FlyLock™ Optical Path Stabilization? Sounds good, but if you change the alignment, won’t this change it back or correct for any adjustments a user makes? So why would you need to adjust it?
The machine is only (862×584×264mm). A 40W tube is about 850mm in length, so I doubt you can get even an 850mm tube inside the case with only 8mm at both ends. A tube is capable of supplying a wattage based on the tubes gas volume. These could have a fat tube, but I suspect they are running it at it’s limits.
My tube was 880mm, rated at 50W by OMTech, it was only 43W@20ma using a Mahoney watt meter. My 50W tube is 1000mm in length, will produce 50W all day drawing only 15ma. However, if you let the current increase it will eventually reach 64W, but that’s it’s do not exceed maximum, current wise.
Does this thing have a current meter?
It sounds like a good overall machine, but you can’t depend on their advertisement, all the Chinese seem to enhance it’s abilities.
Good luck, have fun, that’s the most important thing. Thanks for the video link.
