I noticed the laser just ain’t cutting like it used to, so I did some tests today to quantify a couple issues.
Alignment
It seems the laser is not perfectly perpendicular to the bed anymore. I cut a square out of acrylic to illustrate this.
Side-to-side, it looks like it’s about 6° out.
Top-to-bottom, it looks pretty good.
Power consistency
I find that the power level varies drastically depending on where on the bed you’re cutting. I cut a square in the four extreme corners of the bed, plus one in the centre to illustrate this.
The top left is the most powerful, and the bottom right is the least. This isn’t surprising given the laser’s path through the mirrors, but that it is such a drastic difference is surprising (to me at least).
Dear LCC: I’m interested in helping clean and adjust the lens and mirrors. If I can be of any help to you, consider this my application to be a LCC trainee.