New Fiber Setup

Community Laser Talk
1

OK, newb here.

I have the drivers for my 50w JPT laser installed.
Imported the markcfg7 file for my 100x100 lens.
Have the my new Fiber Machine name selected in LB.
When I frame contour, I see the letter A on my work piece.
I press start and I see a green bar and it says busy for 3 seconds, but nothing is firing.
All Buttons on the Fiber are on. Key is in the on position.
Speed 100, pwr 30, Freq 20. Just to see if I can get a chirp out of it.

What am I missing?

Footnote: I have it working… Kind of. I had to reduce the speed to 30, and power to 60 to see it burn the small piece of wood I had down on the table.

2

For new users this almost always this ends up being a focus issue - please ensure your focal distance is correct.

Note that using a fiber laser on organic materials has a very high chance of creating a fire.

2 Likes
3

It won’t work on wood … you purchased a metal engraver…

Focus is more critical the shorter the lens… you have a short lens, it might have only a mm or so variance in proper focus.

  1. Don’t use wood
  2. Adjust the Z height to proper focus

:smile_cat:

4

Thanks all. I was just wanting it to do a letter or something. I did a small test on a sacrifical tumbler… i know wood is not what this guy is for… :smile:

Just messing around to see it do something…

1 Like
5

Now I have to go through the learning curve. I have my seatbelt on as well.
I actually marked a tumbler late yesterday.

I’ve seen vids on tumblers and other metals where they make one pass to mark, and another to clean up the first marking. I’m assuming it’s just another layer of fill with lower power or so.

I’m going to create my usual 10mm x 10mm square and try to engrave that on my sacrificial tumblers until I get something that resembles my CO2 engravings.

My first tumbler test burn

I’ve seen folks use a jig of some type or a clear ruler for measuring focus. My laser had 2 led lasers up front on the galvo head, and of course the center one. I rotate the knob to bring it up and down until the 3 dots line up on each other. Is that ok for focus?

6

I never rely on the 3 dots to focus my laser, I use the manual method then make a focus stick as per the video @Colin posted.

Every lens will have a different focal point, so without adjusting the 3 dots it would be useless on the other lenses.

I have 3 lenses 70mm, 110mm and 200mm each with its own focal stick.

7

Thanks. Yeah, I’ve seen folks using one, and I figure I’ll be there as well.

1 Like
8

Focal sticks are the way to go. I have a DRO on my column but still double check from time to time with the stick.

9

I don’t really trust sticks… I have one for each lens made out of 1/4" acrylic from the co2.

I like to fine tune the focus, especially with short lenses…

Cut these out of brass from ACE to mark general locations on the column… Wish I had the money for a powered one… elbow grease is much lower cost :face_with_spiral_eyes:

:smile_cat:

10

I watched the focusing video listed above. Did it exactly. Found the focusing sweet spot, so I figure lets knock out some anodized alum. keychain/bottle openers I still had to complete.

I put my jig on the bed, and knocked out 1 keychain every 4 seconds. I used the foot pedal but pressed it with my right hand. That was really sweet.

My cardboard jig will hold 4 of those things, but I figure the field size might prohibit that, so I opted for 2 of them. BUT, when I did a frame, I only saw one design. I moved the 2nd piece in Lightburn closer to the first one, but never saw it in the framing outline.

Wasn’t a show stopper, so I opted to do one at a time.

11

Don’t know how big your key chains are, but you have a pretty short lens if I remember…

Thought you might like to view this video on building your own rotary table for this… kind of a long video, but it’s also pretty clear…

Make something for your fiber with your co2… :wink:

Waiting to see some of the photos…

:smile_cat:

12

I would never have the time, knowledge, or patience to do something like that… Just a lot of stuff going on here on the farm. Anyhoooooo, here is the keychain that I’m doing. I put a pile of them to my left. Place one, press the pedal pad, remove with my right hand and place another with the left. Rinse / Repeat.
Been in the shop since 8:00 am. trying to finish this freak’n cork coaster order of 1500. Almost there.

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20230610_1112061896Ă—539 273 KB

13

Looks great…

Have fun … rolling in the dough you’re making :wink:

:smile_cat: