HI Guys…i feel a bit stupid posting this as i always thought i had my head around mirror alignment…but i purchased the AP alignment tool and placed it into my machine…
Let me state that i didnt think i actually had an alignment issue
however when i fitted the tool - yes i could see the red dot on a peice of tape at the mirror 3 entry hole…not too far off from where my beam is hitting (see photo 1.)
i haven’t changed anything yet as i need to get my head straight before i touch anything
what i also found after mucking about a bit is that currently and i move mirror 3 close to mirror 2 the reverse dot is in the center of mirror 2 but as i move mirror 3 away the dot moves to the right (see the sketch)
Logic would suggest that if you move the mirror when at it’s furthest from the 2nd mirror the change will put it right, as the deflection of the beam from a greater distance will be more. I would expect your ornage beam line would actually be parallal to the blue beam line (as the mirror is fixed), and as you move it further away the error is pronounced. SO if it’s correct at the furthest distance the error would be reduced moving it closer.
I’m sure everyone has a different way to align mirrors. I don’t have a visible pointer and I’m not convinced that they are accurate enough to align mirrors. At least not in these hobby lasers.
Some pointers:
Align from tube to lens
Align one mirror at a time with the goal of hitting the center at near and far.
Don’t use tape on the mount. It puts debris on the mirror and is in error due to the gap in front of the mirror.
Replace the mirror with a wood disk that you can put tape on.
After everything is aligned then worry about the pointer.
Unless the rails are bent or bowed, or mirror mounts are loose this should work.
The mirrors are not aligned, as that’s what this fixes…
Would you align a rifle from the target end?
Agree with @dean448 100%, at least for that device, you have to make a lot of assumptions for that to work properly. When you get to the end… and can’t move the tube…
There is no possible way to align that ‘laser’ beam to that of the co2 beam. Might be great for ball park…
I use paper cutouts that I just ‘stick em’ in the hole… M2, M3 and the down tube… sorry, old photo…
