Recently purchased a 100W laser - used - so no manuals or support. I think I may have damaged a mirror when I was realigning (discovered the horizontal gantry wasn’t at 90° to the vertical). It’s all new to me - but I’m pretty mechanical/technical (I have a diode laser, 3D printer and CNC Wood router). It looks to me like the mirrors get installed ‘from the back’ of the mount with a threaded retainer ring. I measured that opening and it’s 20mm - so I’m GUESSING that I need 20mm mirrors?
Anyone here in the ‘brain trust’ that can confirm or redirect me on how to remove the mirror(s) and measure/replace?
They usually have a retaining ring that screws out. I’ve use snap ring pliers to loosen them.
Cloud Ray sells a mirror tool…
Take one out and measure it… It’s probably 20mm, it’s common, but it’s smart to remove and actually measure it… you will eventually have to remove it to change it out. Nothing more frustrating than getting the wrong sized part.
Unless you poked the mirror somehow, it’s a pretty solid holder. How do you think you broke it?
Where did you get and were is a link to the abDH57vE0 laser you have? Tried to google it, go a bunch of Blue Ray disk players…
Thanks for the confirmation of process… I appreciate it.
I don’t think I broke the mirror as much as I think I may have damaged the surface when I was using the tape over the aperture to try to realign the laser beam. I haven’t taken the mirror out yet to actually look at it (since I wasn’t 100% certain of the process) but I looking at it and taking a picture - it seems to have some ‘lines’ on the surface that are visible. I’m away from home for a couple days - but I’ll pull that mirror when I return and confirm the size and surface.
Acetone is what we used to clean mirrors with on laser imagers for the medical industry. Give that a shot, might just be glue from the tape. Very lightly wipe with a rag with just a touch of acetone on it.
I cut out targets for the mirror holders from watercolor paper. Make for a relatively stiff stock, cheap and easy to use and a rather wide range of power can be easily seen.
Not ‘beat a dead horse’ (to use an idiom from youth…) I finally got home and removed the mirror from the ‘head’ (because it was easiest). It definitely appears to be 20 mm and without wiping or otherwise modifying the surface - here are a couple pictures. Based on what I see on Amazon - I am expecting a much more yellow color than I’m seeing. Any guesses as to what the mirror substrate is for this unit? The first image is the rear of the mirror (the retaining screw ring leaves a dark circle in the middle) and the other is the mirror surface.
Unless it’s a solid molybdenum mirror, which will feel like a really heavy chunk of metal. If the backside & edges look like dull silver, that’s what you have.
Molybdenum is much more durable than gold-on-silicon, in which case you can pretty much scrub it with anything short of sandpaper until your arm gets tired.
It’s also somewhat less reflective than gold-on-silicon, but that’s not the problem you have right now.
The mirror is 20 mm - about the size of a nickel and possibly a tad thicker… but it feels to be about twice the weight of a nickel - possibly even more than a quarter.
Unless someone tells me otherwise - I’m going to assume Molybdenum and start ‘scrubbing it with sandpaper’ (quoting Ed in humor),
