Thunder out of focus?

@Team_Laser

Looks like Thunder might need new mirrors/lenses. Ran a job and everything came out squiggly instead of nice and clean. Let me know if I can help. Thanks!

Please take the laser out of service. Signs are in a holder on the whiteboard. Thank you for opening a ticket.

This could be related to the issue where the bed is not level… in that case it would be in focus where you set it, and then move out of focus at other points on the bed.

Thanks @heyheymama, I don’t see those, made a home made sign out if some tape :slight_smile:

Dan Dornback
469-759-9570

No worries. I checked. Signs are there for future use. It’s an acrylic literature holder mounted onto the whiteboard.

Just did a test on scrap, and had no issue. Did find that the bed and laser head was set as high as each would go. Once adjusted to the material we were testing on, the focus seemed fine.

Over the last week thunder was completely aligned and all mirrors were replaced. We eliminated the focus problem that was a continual problem for over 6 months by replacing some other parts. Test cuts were run and came out fine and we measured the power, all working well.

The bed was slightly unlevel, but nothing a small shim wouldn’t fix. Adjusting the bed level will probably wait until th next maintenance day as it requires undoing belts to fix front-to-back issues, which is a two person job that requires a lot patience.

If you’re having issues, please try to post pictures. It’s difficult to duplicate issues with knowing what to look for.

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What’s speed were you running? Squiggly sounds more like speeds too fast for the current belt condition and tension, than focus. Ironically over tensioning a belt leads to internal damage where it will never be right again.

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I was cutting 4mm ply with speed 30 and power 85, same setting I’ve used many times before. I didn’t save it, sorry, if it happens again I’ll leave at the machine. It was really weird, it looked like it had been drawn by someone with Parkinson’s tremors, every line was squiggly.

I tried saving the file, but I’m unable to reopen RDWorks files anywhere (whether I create them on the jump server or on the laser machines). Very possible I had a screwy setting that made it go wonky, unfortunately can’t go back and look.

Anyway, glad it is working for others!

I haven’t tested this, but if the lens barrel is as high as it will go, is the cut quality worse than if it is extended a bit further out? And also, if it is extended too far, does this also make it hard to get good focus?
In other words, does the lens barrel position need to be within a central range for effective focus?

Maybe this could explain why some people see poor cut quality, but it works fine when tested later?