Epilog owners - how often do you align?

[Mark Ross]

We have a 36EXT at work, I am wondering how often other Epilog owner's find they have to align the optics. It seems like we are having to do this more and more.

If you are familiar with 1,2,3,4 on the table location, we are spot on the crosshair on 1,2, and 3, but the number 4 location is off slightly. Not sure if I want to start using some loctite that can still be broken free to try and resolve the issue. I can get it back on dead center with about a 1/64 or 1/32 of a rotation of the one allen screw, but aligning once a week?

I still think our tube is dying but it has only been in 14 months.

[Gary Hair]

Mark,
I can't speak for an Epilog but I have aligned my laser (GCC Explorer XZ) three times in three years. First time was when I first got it, second was when I moved it to my shop and the third was when I moved it to another shop. Unless you are moving it around I can't imaging why it would go out of alignment.

Gary

[Martin Boekers]

I have 2 Legend EXT36, One holds alignment real well (maybe once a year it need adjustment).

The other maybe twice a year.

Tech rep suggested a dot of super glue on the screws to hold it tight.

Check to make sure thumbscrew is tight on the mirrors, it may be slipping a bit.

Epilog support can run you through a test (I think it's with anodized aluminum) it's been awhile since I did it. (had a tube going out then) I was losing details in fine smaller point type.

It was a pretty good indicator.


Marty

[David Fairfield]

Alignment? You mean I have to align this thing? :) As soon as I get my act together in January I'll check the alignment for the first time since delivery in '06. Still performs as new, as far as I can tell. If I can get even better peformance out of it, that will be a pretty nice surprise!

Dave

[Barb Macdonald]

I believe our legend ext60 watt needed a new tube within the first year. Alignment was checked and re-checked, but it was the RF unit, and the tube, ultimately, that is what proved faulty, and they were both replaced upon diagnosis.

Make sure the table is level to the carriage. A "smitch" out of alignment doesn't seem to impact performance, as far as I can see, with and without my glasses:)
Flatness of material is key,of course.

Good luck, and Merry Christmas to the Creek!
Thanks for all of your help this past year!

[Bob Tate]

I do check mine every once in a while but in four years it has never needed it. Pretty much spot on. Now I feel lucky.
I have a Mini 18. Do you suppose the smaller tables stay in alignment better?
Bob

[Tony Dietz]

we have had to ours 3 times in 3 years, mostly noticeable on very large orders/runs of hard to engrave colors (red/white)

[Joe Pelonio]

I have aligned mine twice, both times after replacing the tube. As they suggested I glue the screws and unless you have a crash they shouldn't really go out of alignment.

[Rodne Gold]

We align a lot .. it depends on the machine , how anal you are about perfection and the way the mirror mounts and lens housings are made and how often you clean the optics.

The XY table moves and over time wears and this contributes to misalignment , as do stamped and less than stellar mirror housings which dont seem to hold an alignment setting.

I have GCC machines , spirits and explorers - and we do an alignment of each about every 3-4 months - my machines work constantly 8 hours a day and the optics are cleaned every day at a minimum.
Seems to me removing and replacing optics/mirrors as well as table vibration are enough to let the alignment drift over time.

My guys take about 20 mins to align , as we have the proceedure down pat. We measure laser power at all points on the table on a weekly basis - if I find a greater than 10% variance or a loss of power greater than 10% ..I align.

The most important thing in alignment on our side is to align the red beam pointer to the source (our red beam pointers originate at the first mirror) and then you dont have to futz around with burn check , burn etc..All you do is get the red beam pointer which is easy to see , aligned and your actual beam should follow.

Ideally the beam should hit the last optic , the focus lens , dead centre for best results

A 10% increase in productivity is significant for us , as is the ability to cut perpendicular to the table.
At some point in time , I will re engineer the mirror mounts to be far more robust and have some sort of vernier adjustment. The issue with alignment on all the machines I have had is that when adjusting the grub screws that position the mirrors when the machine is static , is that the torque of adjusting seems to "overadjust" due to housing flex and tension and one has to allow the adjustment to relax or take a set after some carriage movement before being 100% positive it is effective.
One can easily have lost quite a bit of power due to alignment issues and if you take into account how much extra one would have had to pay for that power if you had bought a higher powered tube , alignment is a real cheap option.
There is an easy test to see if you need alignment and that is to cut an 8-10mm square out of perspex , if the sides slope universally to one direction , it's needed.
The other test is to use a piece of EXACTLY 3mm perspex and use the same setting (which JUST cuts thru) to cut a square out of it at the 4 corners and middle of the table , if the pex doenst cut right thru at all points , you need to align (or have some other issue like a non level table)

[Stephen Beckham]

Alignment? You mean I have to align this thing? :) As soon as I get my act together in January I'll check the alignment for the first time since delivery in '06. Still performs as new, as far as I can tell. If I can get even better peformance out of it, that will be a pretty nice surprise!

Dave

I'm with Dave... Check mine a couple times and never seemed to need it. I do have issues with the tube I believe. It seems at the end of the day after it's been running constantly, I have to increase the power or decrease the speed to get same results as the morning at normal settings. Got it in Feb '06, so it could be 'bout that time for a new tube. Or more breaks in between engraving jobs. :D

[Rob Bosworth]

Stephen, I would think optics and/ or alignment would cause the decrease in power to the piece rather than just tube. A real quick test to see if the laser is crapping out or the optics/ alignment: run the machine until you notice the power seems to be decreasing. Then carefully feel the backs or mounts on all of the optics. Any warmth indicates that piece is absorbing energy rather than reflecting it or focusing the beam. Temperature fluctuations of components or the room change the pointing of the optic path.

Stephen, I am not saying that your tube is fine, it is much cheaper to replace optics or do an alignment.

[Mark Ross]

Stephen, I would think optics and/ or alignment would cause the decrease in power to the piece rather than just tube. A real quick test to see if the laser is crapping out or the optics/ alignment: run the machine until you notice the power seems to be decreasing. Then carefully feel the backs or mounts on all of the optics. Any warmth indicates that piece is absorbing energy rather than reflecting it or focusing the beam. Temperature fluctuations of components or the room change the pointing of the optic path.

Stephen, I am not saying that your tube is fine, it is much cheaper to replace optics or do an alignment.

Rob,

Don't get me wrong, the one we have is a workhorse, but the fact that it has to be aligned with the lid down (not the plexi, the metal lid) tells me they cheapened up the crap out of the frame and there is way too much flex going on.

From what I have been able to determine, we had a "hot" tube and now it is just a 45 watter. I am going to call epi after the NY and see what it costs to replace the tube and upgrade to a better tube and power supply.

We really would love a 4' X 8' pass through system. We are to the point we really need this but we ain't bending over and paying 50k for a couple of stepper motors and a bigger table. If our rotary engraver was capable of handling 4X8 we could put that in front of it to handle some of the cutting we have to do now.

Then again, I am an electrical engineer, so all I know about mechanical engineering is you can't push on a rope (unless you freeze it first), and if you rebuild an engine and have 50 left over bolts and grin that you know more than the guys that designed the engine, it might last 50,000 miles (had more than one 2L that blew head gaskets every 50k) but when it goes without the 50 bolts...oh...you don't rebuild it...

The problem? If you want to call it a problem, is we are getting busy enough that we are getting to the point where we may have to have a second shift to do nothing but run the laser.

Now I have 20+ years in electronics, where for a second shift, we would stack blank PC boards, make sure all the reels are loaded on the machine, and turn off the lights and in the morning, (well most mornings) we would come in and have a stack of complete surface mount boards.

Why can we do that with an Epilog? Well...no standards for factory automation...I think all of our warranties are up. If we do end up doing something, I will post it and put a link. It will end up on something like hackaday dot com or something like that...making machines do what they should do.

Lets see...a bar code scanner in a scrap area so it knows if it is clear, mirror, 2 way, or some sort of wood... a loader and unloader...some way to run a script to load the correct cutting pattern (similar to a pick and place file)...I got that done...been there done that...

I think I will start on Monday...wait wut? Oh yeah...hands off and nobody around...there hasn't ever been a FIRE has there? Dang nabit! I don't mind a water misting addition when it is anything other that wood...how to...never mind...

Note to self...

Call air products and order a Nitrogen tank on Monday...

[Stephen Beckham]

Stephen, I would think optics and/ or alignment would cause the decrease in power to the piece rather than just tube. A real quick test to see if the laser is crapping out or the optics/ alignment: run the machine until you notice the power seems to be decreasing. Then carefully feel the backs or mounts on all of the optics. Any warmth indicates that piece is absorbing energy rather than reflecting it or focusing the beam. Temperature fluctuations of components or the room change the pointing of the optic path.

Stephen, I am not saying that your tube is fine, it is much cheaper to replace optics or do an alignment.

Rob, apreciate the advice and concur - I have ran alignment checks per tech support request and everything checks out - the fact that it does seem to loose power after long run times could be the heat issue. It's not noticable enough to warrant any replacements yet. The worse part is I forget in the afternoon to check the alignment after it's been running and the next morning it's fine again so I start the CRS cycle all over again.:rolleyes:

[Tim Bateson]

Well... Mine was dropped off the back of the UPS truck - 4 feet & still didn't align it for another year after that.

Once