Cleaning Your Laser Engraver
Have you ever tried watching TV with stained or dirty glasses? If so, you'll know how distorted the images are and how to clean them back to crystal clear images. You'll also know that using the wrong cleaning material can damage or even destroy your glasses!
Your laser cutter uses mirrors and lenses to reflect and focus the laser beam onto the workpiece, and is as susceptible to deformation and degradation as a TV picture - but unlike a TV picture, the laser beam is hot and powerful. Once you set up your laser engraver and start laser cutting various materials, the laser beam vaporizes your workpiece, releasing airborne solids, fumes, and other gases into the air.
How CO2 Laser Mirrors Work
When a laser beam hits a mirror, nearly all of the beam's energy is reflected along a single path if the mirror is perfectly clean. However, if debris is present, it may cause the beam to fragment, thereby weakening the beam. Not only does a weakened beam affect the quality of cuts and engravings, but the mirror heats up and absorbs the infrared energy in the beam. This can trap dirt on the mirror or lens surface and eventually cause it to crack.
If you want to use a laser engraving machine for a long time, then I recommend you to buy a laser engraving machine with a higher power, especially a fiber laser engraver, such as LaserPecker 2, which is very suitable for engraving logos and marking, and compared Very clean.
So, you can see - keeping mirrors and lenses completely clean is critical to maintaining the performance of your laser cutter and extending the life of your laser mirrors and laser focusing lenses.
What Causes The Laser Mirror And Focal Length Lens to Become Dirty?
When cutting wood or acrylic, the material under the laser beam evaporates. It then condenses into fumes, which are ideally drawn from the laser by a ventilation fan. However, even with good ventilation, smoke can spread around the laser machine, and over time, particles can stick to all surfaces, including mirrors and lenses.
When sculpting, some of the material will evaporate, but some will be charred or charred, which creates more smoke and exacerbates the problem.
When the laser is working, air is supplied to the nozzle and should create a positive pressure inside it so that the air is pushed out of the nozzle along the laser beam. This airflow should prevent debris from the kerf (the area being cut) from re-entering the nozzle when the material is being cut or engraved. However, this is not 100% perfect and over time smoke or debris can be drawn into the nozzle and contaminate the lower surface of the lens.
It is also important to note that when aligning the mirror and laser head, using tape on the mirror or laser head may result in mirror contamination or fumes on the upper surface of the lens.
Regular cleaning of mirrors and lenses is essential. It's also important to keep your workspace clean and remove excess dust from around the room. We perform a simple clean-in-place routine at the end of each job, and weekly deeper cleanings.
Among the many laser engraving machines I use, the LaserPecker machine is my favorite. Because I like to customize my own logo very much, I bought the sculpfun s10 laser engraver. It has not been replaced for several years, and it is rarely used. To clean the lens, there is still a good engraving effect.
