Mirror alignment – the ultimate guide

k40laser.se/lens-mirrors/mirror-alignment-the-ultimate-guide/

HP Persson April 9, 2018

Welcome to the ultimate alignment guide for your laser machine.

This guide has some tips and hints regarding the popular K40 machine type, but this can be
used for any laser machine on the market as the science behind movement of a laser beam is
the same on all of them.

90% of the errors in laser machines are not skewed or non-square gantrys, it´s bad alignment
of the three mirrors in the machine not lining up with each other.
Some of you will have a machine of that 10% with a skewed or non square gantry, but follow
trough this guide to the end anyway and you will find a link my other guide how to fix gantry
problems. But first, you have to identify the problems by following this guide.

Please read trough the preface about this guide before you start to avoid doing it wrong.
In my old guide i had numerous examples of readers who skipped some parts and ended up
doing the alignment backwards. I know it´s tempting to skip a step or two, but please, read
everything and let me know if something is not clear :)

Did you know! You can hire me for personal one-to-one support trough Facebook
messenger/Skype to help you align your machine – click here for more information!

Introduction
This guide will help you align your laser machine to perfection.
It is very important that you follow each step and not jumping around, you will miss important
information or details how to identify your machines problems.

Tools you need to complete this alignment

– Any tools needed to adjust the mirrors on your machine.
– Screw drivers, sockets or wrenches to adjust mirror holders.
– Painters tape, labels or paper with adhesive backing for covering the mirrors when test firing.
– In rare occasions, files and drill bits to adjust the holes where mirrors are mounted.
– A pint of beer, wine or a good cup of coffee ;)

How to interpret the results

This guide has a lot of test-firing and looking at the tape/label what the beam does and where
it moves. Some parts need you to identify if the beam moves up, down, left or right – when
doing this the direction is always as if you remove the tape and hold it in front of you, if the dot
has moved right when you look at the tape – you choose right in the sections below.
It does not matter wich way the tape was mounted – just keep it horizontally the same from the
mirror to where you look at it.

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Preparations
Adjust the tube if needed so you hit aprox. center on mirror 1.
Also, familiarize with the three adjustment screws on the mirrors which screw moves the mirror
in what direction. This will help later in the alignment.

Machine locations and centering the beam

Here is a picture of different position i will refer to in this guide, please have a look to see what
is what.
When i mention centering the beam, this has nothing to do with quality or power of your
machine, it´s just a easy position to remember. You do not have to be exactly center – keep it
close to center so it´s easy to see where the next test-fire will go.

Now, are you ready to align your laser

machine? Let´s go!

Important details!
This guide has the main function in centering
the beam on a mirror – this is super important!
After each adjustment of a mirror, plate or
gantry part, always, always move the gantry
to the furthest position, adjust the mirror until
you hit center and then move gantry up close
to test fire.

If you do not do this after every adjustment, you will get the old error + new adjustment as a
total error and it will throw you off totally.

Part 1 – mirror 1 and 2

This part identifies the movement of mirror 1, moving up and down (from rear to front) of your
machine. Follow each step of the instructions and lick on the button corresponding with your
problem to find the information how to solve it.

Step 1 – first fire

– Move the gantry to bottom as the first picture shows
– Do a test fire and have a look at the tape on the 2nd mirror.
– Adjust mirror 1 until you hit center on mirror 2 in bottom left position.

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Step 2 – upper axis
– Move gantry to top right position
– Do a test fire and have a look at the tape on the 2nd mirror.

By looking at your tape – did your beam move up or down?

Click on the answer below to see the solution.

Yes, beam moved up

Your 2nd mirror is too low.

Make sure the bracket holding the mirror is square and not bent.
Remove the two screws holding the bracket, mark the position so you can put it back and add
some shims between the bracket and the gantry so the 2nd mirror is lifted some.

Start over with the alignment and re-center the beam in furthest position and adjust more if
needed.

A alternative solution is to lower mirror 1, but do not go that route until you tried the tips above
first.

Visual example of movement up.

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Yes, beam moved down

Your 2nd mirror is too high.

Make sure the bracket holding the mirror is square and not bent.
The solution for this problem is to bend down the bracket a bit if its bent up, which is the most
common issue. Second solution is to lower 1st mirror but almost never needed.

Start over with the alignment and re-center the beam in furthest position and adjust more if
needed.

Visual example of movement down.

No vertical movement
Sweet, your vertical movement is already aligned. You can now go to the next step.

Visual example of perfect alignment.

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By looking at your tape – did your beam move left or right?
Click on the answer below to see the solution.

Yes, beam moved left

Your 2nd mirror is too far to the left. Loosen the two screws holding the white plate and move it
slightly to the right.

Start over with the alignment and re-center the beam in furthest position and adjust more if
needed.

Visual example of movement to the left.

Yes, beam moved right

Your 2nd mirror is too far to the right. Loosen the two screws holding the white plate and move
it slightly to the left.

Start over with the alignment and re-center the beam in furthest position and adjust more if
needed.

Visual example of movement to the right.

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No horizontal movement

Sweet, your horizontal movement is already aligned. You can now go to the next step.

Visual example of perfect alignment.

Part 2 – mirror 3 and laser head

Half way there! This part helps you align the laser head in square line with the 2nd mirror. We
know the 2nd mirror is in line now since part 1, and now it´s time for the laser head.

Just remember, after each adjustment – re-center the dot on the laser head before test-firing
up close to mirror 2 to see where the beam moved.

It´s important that you do not touch the alignment at all from part 1.

Step 3 – bottom right

– Move the gantry to bottom right position
– Adjust mirror 2 until you hit center on mirror 3 (hole in the laser head) in bottom right position.

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Step 4 – bottom left
– Move the laser head to bottom left and do a test fire and have a look at the tape on the 3rd
mirror.

By looking at your tape – did your beam move up or down?

Click on the answer below to see the solution.

Yes, beam moved up

Your laser head is too low.

Mark the position of the three screws on the laser head with a pen or small mark, remove one
screw at the time and insert a washer between the standoff and the plate holding the laser
head.
Doing this will not ruin the location of the plate, confirm with your marking and adjust if it
moved.

Start over with the alignment and re-center the beam in furthest position and adjust more if
needed.

Visual example of movement up.

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Yes, beam moved down

Your laser head is too high.

This is not a common problem and is mostly due to a low 1st and 2nd mirror.
You can try to lower the laser head if possible, but i would suggest shimming mirror 1, 2 and
the laser tube with 1-2mm thick washers and start over with the alignment guide.

Start over with the alignment and re-center the beam in furthest position and adjust more if
needed.

Visual example of movement down.

No vertical movement
Sweet, your vertical movement is already aligned. You can now go to the next step.

Visual example of perfect alignment.

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By looking at your tape – did your beam move left or right?
Click on the answer below to see the solution.

Yes, beam moved left

Your laser head is too far away from the gantry. Loosen the three screws holding the bracket
and move the plate up (if you look at your machine standing in front of it – looking down on the
work area). Up – away from you.

Start over with the alignment and re-center the beam in furthest position and adjust more if
needed.

Visual example of movement to the left.

Yes, beam moved right

Your laser head is too close to the gantry. Loosen the three screws holding the bracket and
move the plate down (if you look at your machine standing in front of it – looking down on the
work area). Down = towards you.

Start over with the alignment and re-center the beam in furthest position and adjust more if
needed.

Visual example of movement to the right

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No horizontal movement

Sweet, your horizontal movement is already aligned. You can now go to the next step.

Visual example of perfect alignment.

Laser head centering

Aligning the machine in horizontal and vertical plane is almost good enough. The last little part
is the laser head. Hitting the hole centered is often not enought but close.

Easiest to do this is to use my tool, cut it out from 2mm acrylic or wood and put on the laser
head, test-fire in each four corners and look at the tape to make sure your beam is hitting well
inside the lens. Too much movement between the corners needs attention.
As you have perfected the alignment between the mirrors i suggest you add small pieces of
paper between the mirror and holder for the laser head if you need to do any smaller
corrections.

Conclusion
You have now aligned your machine by all means possible. If you still have problems it´s time
to look at the gantry if it´s square, level and in line with your bed and machine.
Click here for the old article about aligning, where i go in to adjusting the gantry a bit more.

If you still have problems you cannot solve, consider hiring me for remote help with your
machine, or join the facebook group to aquire help from others with similar or same problems.
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I´m sorry to say it, but if this guide cannot align your machine, it has some bigger issues and a
general guide like this will not cover the problems it might have if i want to keep it quick and
helpful for 95% of the users.

Feel free to comment below, contact me or join the Facebook group to learn more!

The old version of this guide is archived – it can be found here if you still want to read it!

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