Blurry/Fuzzy rastering

[Brie -Anne Bryan]

Hi All!

Ok...I've been having this problem for quite some time but it seems to be getting worse these days. My rastering has been turning out very blurry and fuzzy, I feel. I particularly notice it on rowmark flexi brass but black brass and aluminum also don't meet my standards lately either. I have been able to compensate with beefing up lines etc. to make things turn out ok...but it can be quite irritating to do this. I know something is definitely off because on our other epilog 45 watt everything turns out really crisp and nice. Someone told me that maybe the laser beam isn't quite hitting the exact middle of the lens? I'm not really sure what the problem could be. Any ideas? I just put in a fresh encoder strip and flex cable...optics are cleaned regularly and I just tightened the belt for the x axis. Any input would be much appreciated!

[Dan Hintz]

Someone told me that maybe the laser beam isn't quite hitting the exact middle of the lens?
That's good advice... have you done an alignment lately?

[Brie -Anne Bryan]

Hi Dan,

I have no idea how to do an alignment! is it hard to do? I should mention I am not he most mechanically inclined person out there. I don't think it's ever been done on this laser before and it is about 5 years old now.

[Dan Hintz]

It's not difficult... contact Epilog and they'll help you out. Or you can search here for the procedure. In a nutshell, you're covering each mirror/lens in line with a piece of paper/tape, starting with the laser cartridge itself, and test firing... if the beam does not hit dead center, adjust the mounts and do it again.

[Gary Hair]

In a nutshell, you're covering each mirror/lens in line with a piece of paper/tape, starting with the laser cartridge itself, and test firing...

Careful how you say that Dan - if someone actually "covers" the mirror or lens and fires then they'll likely ruin it. On my GCC there is a hole in the entrance side of the mirror mount that works great for placing a piece of tape. It's about 1/2" away from the mirror so I don't get any residue on the mirror yet it's close enough to know where it's going to hit.

Gary

[Dan Hintz]

Duly noted... since she's a newbie, I figured Brie would be getting the full procedure from Epilog rather than trying to follow my nutshell version, but it's a good warning, nonetheless.

[Rodne Gold]

I would raster a thinnish vertical line and have a look either side of it (with a magnifying glass) to check whether there are "ghost" lines either side , normally when someone complains about engraving on the specific materials you mention , it is a tickle voltage issue.. easy to fix. Check this first

[John Noell]

A picture would be very helpful. That said, it was the deteriorating eveness and crispness of rasters (more than the loss of power) that caused me to replace my tube. The new tube has fixed the issue for me, albeit in a very expensive manner.

[Brie -Anne Bryan]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I guess I will give epilog a call this afternoon! Hopefully they will be able to walk me through it!

[Martin Boekers]

Make sure your document is RGB and not CMYK you can get an effect that looks "blurry" or low resolution.

[Michael Hunter]

It is a while since you posted about the fuzziness - did you find a fix?

I too have had a fuzzy engraving problem when doing larger items : 8" wide or more.

Today I have had the X-beam out and totally refurbished it -

New bearing
Turned the rail end-to-end, so that the least worn part is now towards the left (home) position
New drive motor
New drive belt
New guide rollers
Cleaned everything up really well.

I'm pleased to say that my fuzzy problem is now much reduced.
The remaining fuzziness I put down to the fact that the laser tube is now over 8 years old and is slowly going downhill.

If you can't afford or don't need to replace everything, then just a really good cleanup might help.

[Mike Null]

Adjust your speed and power to half your normal setting and check the results. If your results improve you likely have belt and/or bearing issues.