Intermittent Laser Output

#1

I have tried printing the example image and find that the laser travels back and forth gradually moving down however for about 90% of the print run there is no laser, at the very end of the run there is a circle but with varying intensity of burn.
I found that there are various test run files in the memory which I assume was done by the inspection team, however, running this file although produces a complete image once again the burn intensity is variable.

Therefore I think the laser output is not consistent through the burn for some reason or other.
When burning the test file the laser head follows the outline which is not the same as the example file. I assume this is because they are different images, vector or bitmap, maybe?

#2

Perhaps try checking the mirror alignment.
Out of the box I found mine lost power on the right side of the bed. The second mirror was out of alignment and caused the laser to miss the 3rd mirror when it was on the right.

#3

I’m thinking the same as Alex. If you lower the work plane and burn onto a piece of heavy paper, you might be able to observe the caustic that results from the beam reflecting off the inside of the exit cone.

#4

Thanks Both,

I’ve cleaned the mirrors and upgraded the firmware and that seems to have done the trick, unless of course I’ve made some other adjustment that I’ve forgotten about.