Hi! I recently bought a 60W omtech 2028 and have been having some issues. During initial testing, I started noticing that the cutting was significantly better in the top left corner compared to the rest of the bed.
After troubleshooting mirror alignment and bed leveling, I noticed that when taping over mirror 3 and moving it across both the x and y-axis, the dot produced from the same pulse is much larger in the top left corner, when all the mirrors are closer together, and the dot barely shows up in the bottom right corner where all the mirrors are far apart. The effect is reproducible on the x and y axis, on both mirrors 3 and 2 (only the y-axis position affects it in the case of mirror 2, of course).
Has anyone had a similar issue or know what could be causing this? Thanks!
Assuming that Mirror 1 is at top left in your laser, it’s not unusual for cutting performance to be better in the top-left of the bed.
Even with good mirror alignment and setup you’re going to get laser attenuation at greater distances. In addition, you’re getting power losses for every mirror involved since they’re not 100% efficient.
Having said that, have you confirmed that your mirror alignment is solid at every position of the laser head? How much of a power drop are you getting between top-left and bottom-right?
Thanks for the reply. Yep, mirror 1 is at the top left corner.
The power drop is quite significant from one corner to the other. When I tape over mirror 3 I am getting barely any marking on the tape at the bottom right corner, but full holes in the top left. In the pictures, the M3 you can see the two little light dots on the right are from the bottom right corner, the other two holes are from the top left corner. In the M2 photo the slightly larger hole is from the top left (4mm vs 3mm, but consistently different.
I think I have the same machine, the power difference between TL and BR is, after all, relatively small here with me. When I do a test (in all four corners) engraving with 10% power setting in LightBurn, I can hardly see the difference.
I am guessing that the alignment of the mirrors and the angle of the tube to the frame is not 100% ok
The holders of the tube in (min) are not the best from the factory.
I started by leveling the machine, then I checked the level of the tube, it didn’t fit, there was too much rubber under the front tube holder. Then I tried to get the holder and the tube as parallel as possible to the machine housing. Now a test would like to point in the center of mirror 1.
What you’re seeing is too severe to be attributed to normal power loss at those distances.
I’d suggest going through a full mirror alignment process to make sure you’re well tuned. Also clean the mirrors if you haven’t recently. You may be dealing with dirty mirrors.
After inspecting the mirrors more closely I found that they were cloudy. I was unable to clean them with alcohol, so I ordered a new set. I’ll update when they come in and I install them
@berainlb is absolutely correct… if they are going into the circular bin anyway, use them to educate yourself as to what you can and can’t do using something you’re going to pitch anyway…
Nothing to lose…plenty to gain without lightening your wallet…
