Manual Focus

The autofocus probe is out of service for now—its mounting bracket got badly bent, probably in a collision of the laser’s head with something. So, you’ll need to focus the laser manually. Do not attempt to autofocus the laser without the autofocus probe in place!

I’ve created a focus aid tool to make this easy. Actually, I made several, just in case they get lost or damaged. The tool is shown in use in the photo. To use it, follow this procedure:

  1. If necessary, lower the Z axis table until the top of your material is below the focal plane. To do this, use the leftmost button to set the mode to FZ (Fast Z & Test) and push the down arrow button until the table is low enough.
  2. Hang the focus tool on the laser head as shown in the photo. The tool’s tabs should sit down squarely on the ledge of the lens tube.
  3. Using SZ (Slow Z & Test) mode, raise the Z axis table until your material just touches the bottom of the tool, without lifting the tabs off the ledge.
  4. Remove the tool before running your job!
Manual focus tool in use.

Manual focus tool in use.

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