RDWorks Learning Lab 156 The Holy Grail of dots

If you own a Chinese laser cutter this little series of videos about me learning how to use the free software provided, may solve the problem of trying to learn from a virtually unreadable manual.
I am nothing to do with RD Works, I am not an instructor and I am no expert. This series will document the essential bits of many hours of trial and error

[dalehartley]

THANK YOU I enjoy these video you make I learn so much and then I forget so I have to watch again

[whycyber]

Hi Russ. After seen some of your videos, I did some tests and experimentation. Getting great results.
Thank you for your valuable knowledge.

[patprop]

A fantastic watch on a nice snowy Sunday afternoon. Thanks, Russ, for all that you do in regards to the laser teaching! I wish I had a rich sugar mama too lol

[denniscarlin]

I just came across your videos a couple of weeks ago. They are awesome very helpful. I have started watching the videos from the first one and I think I’m up to 60.

[homiethefish]

I have never been so happy to watch an hour long, as some would say, boring video. I appreciate the crazy amount of time you have put into this testing. Then giving us just the cream off the top, Thank you.

I have a stock China blue, which should I spend my money on first; new mirrors or new lenses?

[neatpleats]

WOW!! Russ. 54 minutes of solid knowledge. I feel smarter already...

[yNakache]

As usual, great info, waiting impatiently to your non-commercial / commercial production with cloudray ;)

[davidstrawser]

I'm curious. If you were able to keep the lenses parrell to each using a threaded ring, instead of an oring, if that would create more repeatable results? Then that brings the question, how many combinations were overlooked because they weren't properly a lined? You do great work sir! Thank you so much for your generosity!

[TheLastBoyScout]

Russ you said at the end that we need to use your test program on each material to get good results with pictures. Where can I download this test program as well as the plans for your lens head and ladder? Is there a website repository of those files? I’m very grateful for the hard work you’ve done and I’ve literally spent days watching your videos. Thanks for freely sharing the knowledge.

[ynnebbenny]

So if 0.5 of a mm can make all the difference, this prompts me to wonder about your metal table. If it is just sheet metal it would certainly have variations of flatness. It it was machined steel it would be much more even and stable. I was wondering if float glass was actually more uniformly flat. What negatives can you envisage using glass as the surface instead of steel?
Also did you know if you use the 'normalise' option on your sound in the video editor, it will give an average sound level across the whole video. This mean your workshop recordings will have the same average volume as the computer recordings. ;)
P.S. I LOVE your work and detail.

[LikesGadgets]

Russ, your series continues to impress and educate! Thanks for keeping up with it. With respect to dot size, have you seen the reference material on the ii-vi infrared website? They post some equations for estimating spot size given various beam parameters and none of the curves approach 0.025mm. The most interesting thing to me was that the optimal beam diameter entering the final lens appears to be much larger than what it is on the china laser machines, on the order of 25mm, not 8. I played around with the equations in a spreadsheet and had to add a few unit converting constants here and there so that my spreadsheet gave the same answers as their examples, but it is interesting to look at. Cheers!

[Lowbattery_fpv]

hi Russ, great as always! So..best combination is 1.5 plano convex ( up ) and cvd 2.5 meniscus ( down ) both with plano side down ? thanks.

[jameswares]

Hi Russ sorry for bothering you is it possible to get a copy of the file to make your lens ladder. Thanks again James 🥃🥃👍

[OtherWorldExplorers]

Am I reading to much into things.. is that Morse Code for rdka on the top line??
Am I close on my guess :)

[bwyskiver]

Hello Russ,
Big have a idea for a session. I have recently hade some mirrors that went bad and a friend told me to make mirrors from hard drive platters.. I made some 20mm mirror that I have to admit works pretty good ..Maybe we are on something here....Secondly, Will the compound lens work with the china blue (which I own ). Thanks for your videos

[rjlatheart]

Great job can't wait to try this with my new head!! Thanks

[leslawdomagala]

Hi Russ i would require your magic power meter for my bodor laser:) Please send me info on that matters. Im a big fan of your series been with You from the start and cant wait for another tutorial:)

[BrendaEM]

I suspect that is a homemade spatial filter, followed by columating lenses would clean up the beam. It would be silly, but a faraday resonator would go that last little obsessive bit by keeping the reflection from reentering the optical system. Either of these would cost power, the latter perhaps half.

[mazukamba]

Hi there. I'm new to the laser world and I need help from you. I bough a laser from a lady, is a 50w Morn and there is no CD so I downloaded RDworks but it wont communicate with laser, I tried calling them, emailed them and nothing, can you please help me? thanks in advance

[Irish-kimv]

Hello I was wondering if you or anyone could help me figure out a potential homing issue on my Chinese laser. It is a 1400mm by 900mm work area. My laser homes to a different position on the y axis between layers. The change varies from 2-8mm. I have adjusted my stepper motor pulse settings for the y axis and it cuts exactly to programmed dimensions (100mm by 100mm). The X axis works perfectly and homes to the same position every time. It appears to me it loses track of it self moving back to the home position on the y axis. Are my Y axis belts potentially not tight enough or is it a software error (RDWorks)?