laser Mirror replacement

[Tom Cullen]

Hi All,
I recently noticed the laser quality on my marble and granite jobs took a nose dive. The image would look mottled as if the laser was leaving areas unlasered. Usually when I see this , it's a reminder to clean my lens and mirrors , then everything is back to normal. Except this week it didn't work and I did notice my number 1 mirror was some what tarnished. The mirror is a sort of gold color but now looks like there is a permanent water spot on it. I'm guessing since everything else is working just fine that this is the cause of my degrading results. Mirrors are expensive, my question is , does anyone know where I can pick up a mirror for an Explorer II ( #1 mirror) I recall someone saying there was a web site? the mirror is also mounted on a stainless plate that slides into the holder. Does this come with the mirror? or do I need to pry the old mirror off when replacing with another? any suggestion would be welcomed.

Thanks
Tom

[Rodne Gold]

The mirror is merely polished steel thats gold plated , you might just try replating it , if there are micro scratches, it needs to be repolished.
Prolly cheaper to fly one in from Gcc.
It needs to come off the stainless slide.
Any gold plated precison polished and ground plate can serve as a mirror.
Whatever way you go ,repair or replacement , you need to re align the beam when replacing a mirror.
Check in your box of goodies you got with the machine , Gcc normally include a spare mirror with their machines.
There is another way , remove the mirror and shift its position on the plate so the beam doesnt hit the damaged part , doesnt matter where the beam hits the mirror. Will also require an alignment after this.

[David Lavaneri]

Tom,

I don't know how much replacement mirrors cost, but oemoptics.com claims to be selling lenses for less.

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri