I’ve reacently upgraded my Longer Ray5 5w with the 20w upgrade and I’m trying to set it up.
My X axis lines are wider than my Y axis lines. There is also a very slight warp to the X axis lines. Any ideas?
Your laser spot is not square. No surprise.
Make sure your focus is 100% correct. When cutting wood, you need to focus on the middle depth of the media rather that on the surface. If you focused on the surface…. The farther into the cut, the more the spot will diffuse, getting larger and weaker.
Wobbles on the left to right lines shows Y axis slop.
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Hi Matt,
As @JimNM mentioned, a rectangular burn spot is a common issue with diode lasers. I suggest you measure the kerf, then talk to the manufacturer and make sure it’s within their expectations.
The warp could be showing up now due to the extra mass of the bigger laser module. After you make sure you don’t have any slop in the drivetrain, it might also help to lower the GRBL acceleration settings to compensate for the additional mass - did the manufacturer provide instructions for that?
Thanks for the responses. I’ll check for slop in the drivetrain (though I think I got it pretty tight when installing the new head.
I didn’t see any instructions on adjusting the acceleration settings. I’ll have to look into that as well.
As already mentioned, the most likely cause is the laser dot not being square. This is very common in diode laser machines.
I’ve experienced the same thing before.
Original laser:
Then I bought another laser module (square dot), which, although it may not seem like it, makes a huge difference in the end, judging by the image:
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I have been testing and I think it’s just the shape of the beam. The 5w version seemed to have a more fine beam. I tested and if I want an item to be 10mm square I have to make the sides 10.3mm and the top/bottom 10.75mm.
I feel like this will make tight fitting parts difficult to make.
The 5w is a single diode. The 20w is 4 diodes with the beams combined with mirrors. Imagine how difficult this is to do.