Apologies if this has already been posted/answered. I had a quick look however am not sure of the terminology.
I can’t seem to get my laser beam 90deg to the bed due to the laser head nozzle getting in the way. I have aligned mirrors multiple times recently and have found the nozzle to be the problem - I can’t work out how to correct the beam as it is pretty well aligned currently. Do I have to modify the nozzle - is this why cheap ‘red and black’ lasers are cheap?..
If I bring the beam into the correct 90deg alignment the nozzle gets in the way…
I’ve completed two full bed alignments to the end of the nozzle, in all four corners. On my red and black, at the bottom of all four z-axis threaded rods there are grub screws which, when loosened allow each rod to be turned independently, raising or lowering that corner. I have all four corners adjusted so that the distance between bed and nozzle are all identical.
Thanks for the comment - I will take a look at this tomorrow.
I’ve completed two full bed alignments to the end of the nozzle, in all four corners. On my red and black, at the bottom of all four z-axis threaded rods there are grub screws which, when loosened allow each rod to be turned independently, raising or lowering that corner. I have all four corners adjusted so that the distance between bed and nozzle are all identical.
Are the targets you’ve shown include both short and long distance marks? I only see one on each target.
How do you know where the spot is striking m3 where you have it marked? Most of these you can’t see inside.
You can align m1 and m2, but you have to catch the beam with m3. Meaning you have adjustments from m1 → m3 strike point, but it must be close to the center of the lens axes.
If the beam strikes the lens off center then the resultant output will have an angle to it leaving a cut that’s not 90 degrees. It really needs to go down the center line of the lens tube.
If you have anything along the lines of a good alignment, the head position shouldn’t matter. I align my vertical in the center of the machine. The only mirrors I do short and long is m1 → m3, not from m3 → table.
If this has worked before, then you broke it… more than likely, an alignment issues.
What kind of head do you have on this machine? This one came off my machine and you can clearly see the mirror is offset from the laser entry hole.
When you do your alignment, do you adjust the source mirror to strike the target where it marked close?
These are nice diagrams, thanks for posting them, but I’m not sure if I’m seeing what I expect.
I can check the vertical alignment rather easily with my current configuration. This also lets me easily check entering the lens tube to past the exit of the lens tube.
