Ramp Test and Optimal Focus for Co2 Laser
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- Опубліковано 24 січ 2021
- The ramp test is an essential test when setting up any Co2 laser. This helps to identify the optimal focus for you specific machine. The only thing that is needed is some scrap material long enough to make a ramp and a sharp eye.
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To see the cutting profile of the beam I take a 1/4 clear acrylic piece 2" wide by 1/2" tall lay it on it's side and pulse the laser through the middle you will see the full cone shape and from that you can see the maximum cutting depth with out any deformation. I've also made that little step tool you have and pulsed a beam at each interval to show the cone shape, helps when doing stuff slightly out of focus for special cases.
Oh my gosh. This is key. I had my mirrors aligned and was getting tons of char and fire and the ramp test totally fixed it! Thanks so much!
"Ramp test for dummies"
I love this, thank you so much, this is so well explained and so useful!! I'm so ready to have fun with my new OMTech
MAN....Thanks for that video. I just got a 80 watt laser similar to the one in your video and could not figure out why the cut line was so thick. You were right 100%. The focal length tool they have with it was not correct at all. After doing your ramp test I got her dialed in big time. THANKS SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH. You got a viewer for life.
Great video. You have a knack providing simple easy to follow solutions. Thank you.
Great video, definitely saving for when my CO2 laser arrives. One suggestion, to get an even more accurate value between the nozzle and material during the ramp test, get a set of automotive feeler gauges to really dial in the gap distance.
Thanks for this. I have not unboxed my OMtech. Because this machine is scaring me. I had a FSL 90w pro and never never had to do any of the set up test that I see I have to do with this OM machine. Thanks again
Thanks for this easy explanation. Headed right to the laser and found out the supplied gauge was way off. Now it’s cutting better than ever. I had a suspicion it wasn’t right. Thanks
You’re welcome!
Thanks very much for this video. I fired up my new 80w laser yesterday for the first time, and had trouble cutting 3mm plywood, very similar to the final scene. I'll be doing a ramp test today!
very late reply but you should blast through 3mm with 80w, I work on lasers from 12w-150w in general and a 12w will still cut 3mm although fairly slow.
Wow, watched your video , then went down to my shed , started up the laser and did the ramp test.
What a difference it made to cutting acrylic and ply, at least 20% less power now to cut through the same material. Thankyou for the informative video.
You’re welcome! Glad it helped!
That's for the video. Very helpful for me. I just got my laser this weekend and tuning it in. I already created a video on how to make the air pump quiet.
Glad it helped!
I'm new to all of this although I have had my Omtech 60W CO2 for nearly 2 years and never used it. I worked some stuff out with trial and error but focusing was the thing I was stuck on. This method is genius and so much better than the cut...lift...cut...lift...cut...lift comparison that I was trying.
Awesome 👏👏👏👏
Will be checking this first thing tomorrow as I'm sure my machines 7mm tip to job surface default setting can be optimised.
Thank you
Pretty smart to use the hex tools to measure it! Great video, nice, simple, and straight to the point.
Thanks!
Spent about 3 weeks on alignment… turns out the head on that holds the lens was bent a bit and we had to shim it out. Ready to try this next, thanks for the video.
Very informative & very helpful....really need that little tool you made.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I've had my 90 watt FS Laser for about 15 years and have never been real happy with the cuts. I've always used the measuring tool that came with the laser. I've made several calls to customer service. They're friendly but, I've never been able to sharpen my cuts. After following your instructions, my cuts are sharp and I'm using about half the power as I usually do! Thanks again!!! Blessings!!! P.S. I'm now your newest sub!!!
I guess if you cut the beam width in half you are doubling the power, or is it quadrupling the power?
@@macrumpton Sorry, maybe I'm just too slow...I don't get it.
Nice Work!! I don't even have a laser yet and I still enjoy your videos. I like your troubleshooting method, I come from extensive 3D printing and thinking about trying my hand at these lasers now that the price point is reasonable.
Great video!! Helps me out a lot.
Thank for sharing.. I've been thinking about purchasing a laser machine and your videos are helping me with my decision.
You’re welcome! If you look to go with OMTech use the code LASERGUYS to further support my content.
Great explanation man, really helped me a lot, thx!
Solid video dude! I am about to go do my ramp test now!
Thanks!
Awesome timing on this one. My 55W arrives today :)
Out of curiosity, was yours ordered from stock or "pre-ordered"? How long did it take to arrive? I pre-ordered my 55W last week.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, this helped me out a lot.
You’re welcome!
Nice one ..thanks . You could do 2 pieces side by side and see underneath one of them where it penetrated.
Great video! I hust assumed the spacer that came with the machine was fine
Trust but verify
Very good information. Appreciate the sharing.
Hugely helpful. Thank you so much. Liked and subscribed!
Awesome! Thank you!
Whoa thank you, game changer for me!
Good method, but I would definitely use a set of inexpensive feeler gauges to determine the space between the nozzle and the ramp. You're visibly pushing the cone up by an indeterminate amount with that 5mm allen. Once you have an accurate value, you can plane, mill, or sand down a piece of hardwood to make a focus gauge (I like mesquite, very hard and extremely stable). I do like your cut out gauge block, tho. That's pretty slick.
Thanks for the video!
You’re welcome!
Thanks man! Good stuff, keep the videos coming. Have a laser on the way and enjoy your teaching style. What magnets are you using for hold downs?
Thanks! Here are the magnets that I use:
amzn.to/3cGfCpz
Good video! Thanks for sharing!
Love the tip measuring by allen wrench!
Thanks!
Quick and easy. Thank you!
You’re welcome!
Excelente y gracias tomaré nota.
I will definitely have to do this on my new laser. Also how much did the insulation on the garage door help?
Thank you so much!
That is brilliant thank you man!
You’re welcome!
Thank you so mutch plise how to make a stemp ruber with lightburn rumpe effect with a video thank you
Thanks, I've been racking my brain trying to get this thing on the right track and I was doing ramp test but to steep of an angle. Believe I've got it now. For one thing the nozzle is probably the wrong type for a 1.5. My lens has to go in the upper part of the tube.
Your and most of them seem to go in the nozzle itself. I really probably need a 2" or 2 1/2'" for mine. They mailed. mine in the mail before the laser got here. The lens that came in it I have not a clue what it is I've not been able to do a ramp test on it it starts out big and gets bigger.
By chance do you have a lightburn file that you could share for one of those measuring tools, looks like mine could be 7mm
Thanks bro great video
🤜🏻💥🤛🏻
So I ran the laser test 3 times. used a half inch board and ramp and each time i used a longer line 8, 12, 16 inches and the line at no point got thicker. each time it went from thick to thin. So now I am confused as to where to set the optimum cut! I have the OMTECH 50W system.
Great info, Thank you for your time..:)
Glad it was helpful!
Great video and learned a lot...
Question. What are you usual settings for your 60w laser when cutting...
Specifically power and min power?
When cutting I always set my min and max power to the same. On 1/8” Baltic birch I am usually cutting at 40% power around 15mm/s
Did you adjust speed and power before pulse on 1/8" material?
Shouldn't you aim for having the narrowest part of the beam in the center of the material? Otherwise it seems like you would have all the cuts taper. It would not make much difference cutting ⅛", but cutting thicker materials the taper and also the reduced concentration of the beam at the bottom could make getting the cut all the way through difficult.
Thank you
Hi! If I may ask, can you give me the height adjusting template?
So do all these machines come with a 1 1/2" lens standard?
Thank you!! The last part of your video is the exact issue I’m having. Question.. when you get that 5mm measurement is that the height you always set it to cut on all materials or will every cut be different?
Pretty much the same height every time. If you are cutting thicker materials some times you can focus down into the material.
What if you want to cut through a thicker material say 3/16” birch plywood, is it general the same way of doing the ramp test to find the thinnest laser beam/ line and the try to find the power and speed to cut through what ever thickness you are working with?
You should only have to do this once and it will be universal for all materials.
When I run my ramp test and get my line I pulse my machine at that height and my dot does not go through. Any idea why b
Omtech needs to make a 50 or 60 watt desktop laser. I currently have a 40 watt that is to small, but everyone makes 50 watt CO2 lasers as standalone machines which are far to large for my workspace.
Very nice
Great video Brandt! I did this upgrade and the new air assist is working great but the stock built in air pump (noisy as hell) is still running. I see 3 ways to turn it off...a digital setting to disconnect (if there is one), trace the wires back to control panel and unplug or cut and cap at the pump. Which do you recommend? Thank you!
Trace the wires back to the 24v power supply, snip them and then wrap the live ends in tap so the are not causing any problems.
@@BeardedBuildsCo sweet. Thanks for your input!
Sure thing!
How do you adjust power once you know your optimum focal length, say I want to cut a object but also burn a design in it as well? How would I make those adjustments
All of that is controlled in your cut layers.
Hey, does a ramp test need to be done if your machine has AF?
Great video, I have the same laser and lens cracked do you have any suggestions for a replacement?
Check out American photonics.
Thank you brother.. Needed this course.
You’re welcome! Please share with the community!
Thanks. Does it need to be done again when you replace the lens? I just recently replaced it. Same size just a new one.
New lens new ramp test
great!
How do you make that little tool you made?
Awesome video,
But how is the ramp test on the auto-focus?
I got the exact same machine as yours blue one.
Regards from Denmark😉
You do it the same way but you can assume the focal point will be below the auto focus pin.
How can you tell what lense your machien came with? I have the AF2440 100W omtech, and my focal distance seems to be so much taller than yours.
You likely have a 2” lens. The lens on the machine in this video is 1.5”.
why does my pulse does not look clean nor did it do thru the other side?
How often should you do a ramp test? Does it go out of whack. I did one when I first got my machine 3 years ago but it doesn't seem to cut as well as it use to.
You should only have to do a ramp test once for each lens. If you have had the same lens for 3 years it might be time for a replacement.
I did the ramp test several times to get it dialed in. Took a bit to figure out that the correct distance between head and working surface is 18mm ! Is that normal? I have an Omtech MF1624-60.
Yes that is normal for a 2” lens. When I made this video the stock lens was 1.5” and now they are all coming with a 2”.
Side question: where did you get your garage door insulation and do you like it?
I got it at Lowe’s. It has worked well, no complaints!
learning alot from you.. the only problem is the audio
Great video! Do you need to run a ramp test if you have an auto focus machine?
Yes you do the test and then make the offset adjustments for the auto focus in the machine settings.
@@BeardedBuildsCo do you need to loosen up the autofocus and move it out the way during the ramp test and then set accordingly?
I get the ramp test and the 5mm. What do u do with the new info? What settings do u adjust to dial in the new height? Tks
If you are using a manual focus machine make yourself a 5mm gauge and use that to focus. If you are using auto focus then you need to follow this video👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
Co2 Laser Auto Focus Offset Adjustment for Correct Focus Height
ua-cam.com/video/axDyrARXdjw/v-deo.html
Hello there...a quick question for you...I did this ramp test per your instructions because my 80W OM Tech laser stopped cutting through my .25" MDF.....It was on a roll for a while, but then, it started to cut inconsistently. Do you have any experience cutting .25" MDF? Should I do a ramp test on the MDF as well since that's what I mostly cut?
First things you want to check is that you have cleaned all the mirrors and the lens. Next to check would be your beam alignment.
@@BeardedBuildsCo I cleaned the mirrors, What's a beam alignment? Is that the same as the camera alignment?
Beam alignment is aligning the mirrors.
Wow. I just got an OMTech 60W laser (500x700mm) a month ago. The plastic focusing gauge it comes with is just under 21mm thick, which is also about what it auto-focuses too. If 5mm is that much sharper why do they calibrate them so much farther?
I’ll try your ramp test and report back.
If the gauge you got is that big then you probably have a 2” lens.
@@BeardedBuildsCo Thanks, good to know. Is there an easy way to tell? I picked it up in person (since I’m less than hour away) and I know they had already calibrated it and it looks sharp to my untrained eye, but I’d still like to do this test so I can dial it in in the future as it gets bumped and used.
The gauge that is sent with it is the first indicator. The other way is doing a ramp test. You will want a nice steep ramp so you can see the results.
Total newbie here. When we sent the job....it says something like failure..there was a problem sending data to the laser. What could we be missing?
Have you tried just clicking start rather than send?
Are you kidding me? I have same laser, same default settings, and same bad, non cutting results!!! I can't wait to try this tomorrow.. everyone's asleep now.
Thank you, sir!
YUP !!! Did the test today and it is amazing!!! Thank you for this video!
Awesome! Glad it helped!
Where did you find the little guage for focal length
I made it with my laser.
Does this apply to autofocus models or only manual focus?
All
Must the scrap wood be 1/2"? I only have 1/4 nch
Anything that can make a good ramp will do.
test worked great but how do i fix the focus without propping up all my material to that height?
You adjust the bed height or extend the nozzle down.
Focusing your Co2 laser - Manual and Auto Focus
ua-cam.com/video/dPFcHsHRpQo/v-deo.html
@@BeardedBuildsCo Thank you, turns out my Omtech Polar350 has to be manually jogged into place with Lightburn. Your work is greatly appreciated!
@Winstead-Media on the polar it is the z axis that lowers rather than the bed that lifts. Looks at edmonds woodshops videos. He has several in the polar.
how do you do this on the autofocus machine?
Set the autofocus pin so it is just barely above the top of the ramp and then proceed.
Amazing video!! Expert knowledge and careful attention to detail. #beamingwithpossibilities
🤜🏻💥🤛🏻
OK, so I have tried the ramp test, with 1/2" block, also set length to 12" and then to 16". THe laser started thick and continued getting thinner, but never back thick. I do have the OmTech 60 Watt, I loosened the nut on the focal head and moved it all way up, then backed it out. However, the beam still start thick then ends at thin. I did experiment increasing the distance between the laser head and board, and achieved this, but distance is close to an inch. What can I do to help get this corrected?
That is correct because most of the new machines are coming with a 2” lens. My new 100watt machine as the same lens and the distance is 18mm for my optimal focus.
@@BeardedBuildsCo So does the height of the laser head needs to be at a certain height, since it is adjustable?
It doesn’t matter. You will still need the same focal distance because the lens is in the tube that has the adjustable height.
why does the ramp test go from left to right versus back to front???
You can do it either way. Usually you have more space for a ramp left to right.
Thank you!!! So what does that 5mm mean exactly? Distance from all materials to the lense from that point forward? Also, do you ever have to redo this test after a certain amount of time?
Ideally you should have to redo this unless you changed your lens. The 5mm is the distance the I set my nozzle from my work piece because that is where the beam hits it’s narrowest point and the most energy is focused.
So is this needed on an auto focus machine? I would think not since you are manually raising the bed?
Still needed. Auto focus is not magical. It is set to offset to a pre-set distance off the auto focus pin. If that distance is wrong it will help find out what adjustment is needed.
@@BeardedBuildsCo Got it, thank you for the response
does the ramp test differ for each material? Acrylic or plywood for example? Do you have a video or program for cutting through materials? Thanks, new to lasers so trying to get as much info as possible.
Ramp test will get you the optimal height for your specific lens. That height will be the same for all materials unless you are doing advanced techniques.
@@BeardedBuildsCo ok great, i did a ramp test last night but feel i must not have done it properly because the material still didn't cut all the way through with 1 pass. I have the omtech 80W, should i verify the glass inside the laser point is facing the correct way?
How thick is your material and what settings are you using?
Did you get your ramp test down to a pencil thin line?
@@BeardedBuildsCo the material was a 7/32 plywood we used this for the ramp test but I’m not sure if we had 1/2in ramp depth. I think it was close. Drew a 12in line, found the thinnest point and measured. The distance was close to the marker sent with the machine.
We used 1/8 acrylic to try & cut through. Used 30speed & 70power, it took 3 passes to just about cut through.
30 speed is going to be way too fast
Please zoom out so we can see what you are clicking in lightburn
Hello sir, can you tell me how to do 2 more cuts in a row?
I don’t understand the question.
@@BeardedBuildsCo I would like to say how to do repeated cutting
The easiest way is to create some type of template. Here is a video that might help.
ua-cam.com/video/VzCTIRRy2gY/v-deo.html
This is Lightburn.
is ramp test necessary when you have the auto focus?
Yes
My guess is that your 50mm/s and 20% power are not those you use for cutting. Try using realistic cutting parameters for the ramp test and then run the same test with engraving parameters of maybe 300 to 400mm/s. Can you explain the 2 or 3mm difference in focus? Also when you do that quick pulse test, what are you provin?. Hold it on for 2 or 3 seconds and explain what you then see. . Lenses are designed to be used flat side down. Is that your configuration. If you measure the disince inside your nozzle to the lens and then make the gap so that it matches the manufactureres focal distance, why does the ramp test and the designed focal distance not match? Are lens manufacturers that incompetent? I hope this will demonstrate to you that there is no such thing as a fixed focal distance when you pass a laser beam through a lens.. It will change with power, speed and material, Just do a few simple ramp tests with different materials and different parameters. The results should puzzle you.
Get your self a Rode wireless mic. Your content is good , audio terrible
OMTech affiliate link goes to 404 page
Link fixed! Thank you for the heads up!
@@BeardedBuildsCo did you do a video on focusing 80w auto focus?