RDWorks Learning Lab 98 A beaming new world

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

[patprop]

I don't know if i ll ever get a machine to be able to make this Jig for, but i can recognize a good design when i see one! Nicely done Russ.

[billkaroly]

I love the design you have created with the tube holder and the swing away pointer. As for a red dot on the work surface I created an acrylic holder for two line pointers so the two lines always intersect where the beam hits the material.

[polakis]

Hi Russ. Great construction. You are a skilled and detailed man indeed! And i can understand this fact because i am a perfectionist my self and thus can identify your madness to make it perfect!

[jeffshackelford]

Russ,
if you are available, I am looking all over and cannot find the message button. I am on a desk top now looking because I did not see it on my mobile device either.

[chuckjones]

Russ,
Second question for the day! I am curious about the beam combining mirrors you showed at the end of the video. The Chinese manufacturer I am looking to buy from refers to these as "red dot on laser tube" I wondered if the mirror that reflects the red (visible) laser light also reflects some of the main beam away from the intended beam path. This would reduce the overall power of the machine. In your research have you found out how much this reduce the power? Have you found any ways in which the mirror design mitigates this loss of power? I would imagine that the beam combining mirror material could be transparent to IR energy but reflective to visible light? Thank you again!
-Charles

[davidcarlos]

Suggestion for a new direction for Sarbar Multimedia concerning Lasers: discuss DIY sources for making your own laser. Not just CO2 lasers, but fiberoptic lasers. Also discuss open source CNC control software and hardware controllers. 3D cutting. Work holding and work alignment methods for precision cutting. Post processing to prepare plastics for "welding." Sources for DIY components.

[blasterpm]

Hi Russ

In the first place, many congratulations, you have an excellent channel here

I bought my machine there in UK last november, it is a Lotus Laser Blu 60W DC, the components are Chinese, the wiring and assembly is made there in the UK
So to my disgrace I was left with a very expensive Chinese machine :P
I found your channel last november, when I needed tips
I have watched all your videos, which have helped me a lot.
But I still have problems with laser alignment, I tried it in every way and I was not able to align it correctly.
There are many removable mechanisms and the laser tube holders are vertical on my machine, and not to mention that nothing is 90º
The cuts are always angled, and the thicker the material the worse.
I really liked your idea of ​​creating a fixed system for the laser tube and for the first mirror, that eliminates 50% of the problems.
I'll try to create something similar for my machine

Regards
Petter aka (blaster)

[btg]

I love your structural design and approach.
It's been a long time since the video was uploaded, but if it's still possible, could you please share your design?

Thank you in advance.

[thebeststooge]

WOW, we are getting extremely technical in these latest vids.

[sanjaydubey]

hey russ,
awesome presentation as always! I was wondering if you are going to engrave the acrylic with part number on sub-assemblies and a -ve and +ve sign or dot and dash to indicate the intended plug and receiver?
Thank you for sharing

[HaynesRoadsterOz]

Russ,

You have a brilliant set of videos here. I haven't been through all of them yet, but I sure plan to. And I plan on making the wife watch them too for the theory seeing as it is really her machine lol.

I just made up the MK7 laser pointer and it worked great! Only issue I had was with the operator. I have a massive problem with my 80W "Redsail" clone. I have started doing some accurate measurements with the mirrors and have discovered that they are out of alignment in height and position. The mirrors are even mounted to bent sheet steel brackets which love to flop about. Anyway, i really am looking forward to you finishing this mount project.

Out of curiosity, what CAD do you use to come up with all these designs? I am attemping to learn Fusion 360 after teaching myself how to use BobCAD V26.

[kriskumaroo]

Wow...you are quite the builder. I don't think I've seen anything like it.

[jeffshackelford]

Russ,
I desperately need your guidance! I just received my 80 watt laser, after setting it up I was able to cut 5 or 6 pieces of acrylic and marked a piece of stainless steel a few times and suddenly it quit firing! The unit will fire when pressing the "pulse" button. I can cut manually by pushing pulse and moveing it. When I run a project it will travel around but will not fire. It has no alarm events showing in diagnostics tab. Thanks for all of your videos! Please help!
Thanks!
Jeff

[ruiverissimo]

Hi, Russ. That´s my question. Thank you so much. Best regards.

[grandpa]

Russ, I got my Beam Combiner,  that we talked about last year, to work perfectly.  I was able to use it to line up all of the
mirrors very quickly after installing it.  And it is a very fine dot on the material to be cut.  I did all of the setup with the
lens removed.  I finished everything tightened everything down slid the lens back in and fired it up and no RED DOT.  The lens ether disperses the red dot or blocks it completely.  I am not sure which, but with the lens in there is no red dot on the material to be cut, however there is up to that point however.  I am not sure what lens material I have, (it came unmarked with the unit), but it
may not pass the infra red light range? 
Just thought I would let you know before you ran into the same frustrating issue.    Keep us posted,   Skip

[ruiverissimo]

Hello Russ, sorry about my English, my question is: i have a great lybrary in rdworks, and i want to install again the rdworks, you know the name of the file to save my actual lybrary?? thanks.

[bialyk]

Very interesting video and many really bright ideas - really thank you! I'm actually on changing optics in my machine and will use few of your solutions presented here. Unfortunately x700 clone is a too tight to fit exactly same design (there is a stepper and long shaft in the same area), so I have to design it from scratch. I will inform about progress on my channel. But still have few concerns: a) No fire-proof (ok, we can live with it :) ) b)Thermal expansion of material vs. influence on laser beam way c) 5mm acrylic which I use is a cracking easily - can this be solid enough, especially when machines are working 10h/day and vibrating? It will be really interesting to see how it works in bit longer time.

[johnny]

Absolutely brilliant. You amaze me lol...

[chuckjones]

Russ, The decision to protect your laser tube and coolant system from freezing is quite poignant, particularly for those of us in colder climates. Your system of halogen lamps and automatic recirculation is quite functional. However, is there any reason you chose to protect your system from freezing using this "active" method vice using a "passive" method such as adding antifreeze to the coolant fluid? As I understand things, pure food grade propylene glycol when mixed with water can reduce the freezing temperature to −50 °F/−45 °C at a 40:60 PG:H2O ratio. This would be more than sufficient for anybody using their laser cutter north of Antarctica and south of Greenland! Because propylene glycol is clear, colorless, non-corrosive, has low volatility and very low toxicity (and cheap I might add at $18USD per quarter gallon.) Because you don't need to regularly change the coolant fluid wouldn't a PG:H2O mix be ideally suited for this task? Thoughts? Thank you for your consideration and as always thanks for the fantastic set of videos. -Charles

[tonylorentzen]

Hi Russ, been meaning to ask this for a while; I've been going through your impressive backlog of videos to see if I could find some relevant information about issues with "backflash". I'm cutting fairly small and somewhat intricate parts in acrylics and thin wood and I'm getting some markings on the back of my parts from the honeycomb bed (which I hate btw) that are quite undesirable. I could use your idea of holding the raw stock off of the bed by using nails in a plate of some sort but my parts are to small and will bend off and I risk hitting them with the laser again and scorch them. What would the best non-reflective material be to use as a bed on my laser? Ideas?