Thanks my friend, saved me a lot of money buying auto focus I didn't need.

Great video Brandt. One of the benefits that comes along with having an autofocus is having a motorized z table. I often run operations where I will engrave out of focus and then go right from engraving into a cut which needs to be done in focus. I'm able to do this in light burn so that the machine automatically adjusts the z-axis in between The engraving and cutting operation. While the autofocus itself itself isn't a game changer, having the motorized z table is the real benefit for me.

Have you done a video on adjusting the autofocus yet?

I really appreciate your video. You are a very good presenter and have helped me decide to save the money and by manual focus. I am thinking it is also one less thing to break too.

I just received my 80w this week, it's all setup in place, now going through the process of alignment and ramp testing! Been watching you videos regarding mirror alignment and focusing... very informative! Thanks so much!

There are some instances where it is desireable to have the lens just slightly out of focus. I've found it works well sometimes on species of wood that should be aromatic/oily enough to produce dark marks when lasered but for some reason don't (due to that particular specimen's growing conditions or something). For that reason, I decided on a manual focus machine for my chinese laser. Coming from an older Epilog with a motorized Z-axis, its just faster for me to slightly turn the Z axis knob by hand.

i have a similar controller and and trying to install the auto focus on. Im newer to the co2 world but have a good understanding of it. just have trouble finding wiring diagrams. thank you good videos

Brandt, did you ever do the other video on setting and adjusting the auto focus system? I can't seem to find any documentation on it printed or otherwise.

Did you ever do the video on adjusting the Z-height for auto focus?

Just purchased my first laser, other than a little Ortur that I hardly ever used. I think you have several videos I will be taking advantage of. Thank you for your videos.

its a good video thanks, people have huge hangups about focusing and should not, its easy to calculate if you know the focal length of each lens you own, after that it is simply maths. Even in the film industry today they still use a tape measure to work out the distance between the lens and the object they are filming, the reason it has to be perfect ais that they want a good depth of field either side of that sweet spot , then they can use that to create the stunning images that you see on films and tv when the subject is in focus and the front and rear spaces either side are blurred. You have to do the same on your laser, its paramount to a good cut, a good engrave and a clean lens...if your doing photographs it has to be more than perfect, the distance between a good or a bad photo can be as little as 0.1mm Assuming that your lens is the standard 50.8 mm below the lens, get a wood toothpick, measure 50.8 mm along the length, stick the tooth pick into the nozzle or onto the bottom of the lens if yours is a flat one like on a K40 with no air assist until it touches the bottom of the lens, then raise your bed until the top face of your bed touches the mark on the cocktail stick. Your bed is then in perfect focus. Goto final paragraph if you do not have autofocus. Then install your autofocus pen, check the gcode for bounce back and Z offset and work out very simply how far you need to calculate the distance below the nozzle and your focus pen. allow enough room so that your nozzle is clear of the wood by at least 1 cms clearance , this might mean placing your lens further down in the tube, most holders have this ability...you need a good clearance between the nozzle and the item being engraved or you will end up with a dirty lens or nozzle.... If your not using a autofocus then ignore the last paragraph, once your bed is at the optimum height, mark on the toothpick where the bottom of the nozzle is, then the distance between the two marks ( bottom of nozzle and 50.8 mm) is how long you need to make your focus gauge. I would make a stepped focal length gauge like in the video but allow the steps in 0.5 mm because when you do photos or items that require more than once pass you have to be spot on every time and 0.5 means you get a better resolution . Its that simple, not rocket science at all and use a soft wood toothpick not bamboo otherwise you can scratch the lens. soft wood will not but be gentle as its a optical instrument like camera lens, just different. You only need to do a ramp test if you do not know the focal length of your lens. or if you want to see how the lens behaves either side of the sweet spot. The focal length of a lens is fixed. it will never change so maths is the best way to do this. its only addition and subtraction, know formulas or cleaver stuff. Just remember that the autofocus device is only in focus once per job. It will not compensate for irregular shaped pieces of wood. you can use it on stepped wood buy breaking the jobs into single sections and then refocus every time but on normal flat wood you only do it once and run the entire job, the gauge will also work on the rotary unit, its the same focus, it only will change if you change the lens, in which case you start all over again and create a second or third gauge like I have done as I use 4 lenses in total. For irregular shaped wood or object the controller board wood need a very powerful processor to cope with all the changes, starts and stops on the fly and its possible the engraving would not work . I dont know as i have not seen a machine capable of altering the focus as it travels across the object.. I haven't seen one yet that does this so place your item on the bed, run the homing sequence and youre done.... Enjoy...

Great video and vrey informative for new users. Can I add one more thing that it's NOT. It's a red switch with zero intelligence so it will never AUTOMATICALLY focus if you change the lens to a different focal distance. It's at that point you will probably decide to (as mentioned in the video) take it off, understand how lenses work and use a simple step gauge ( along with the ramp test) to manage your focal point. The programmable Z axis is the REAL bonus of a prefitted autofocus.

@Brandt, Bearded Builds CO - did you do a video on how to do a ramp test on the aF 2440-100w?? That’s what I’m looking for next.

Already bought mine. 80w AF 2028.

Hugely helpful. Thank you so much. Liked and subscribed!

Very informative! Thanks so much.

Great video. Did you ever make the video discussing how to change the offset in the Ruida controller. I have the same autofocus but I can't get it focus down enough because of the preset offset. Thanks!

Very insight, thank you!

Love your videos man! Thank you!!

Great video. Thank you

Mine doesn’t back off when the height is being set and the spring gets pushed in so I still have to do it manually 😢

24 x 40 bed! Holy sheeeeiiiittttt! I thought I was big timing it with my 20 x 28 😆😆☺ Good Video man.. 💯

you just saved me $400! Thanks for the video

Hi! I just received mine a month ago. It’s a 150W and I don’t have the pen for autofocus- it’s built in. So how would I go about doing that? I tried and it sent it into my honeycomb and I had to manually lower the bed to disengage the nozzle from the bed. Thanks!

Nice video! I prefer to use manual focus since it doesnt add the extra weight on the head. But thats just my opinion :)

Thank you. 🙏

Can you share the source file for the measuring tool you made?

Thanks for this - newbie here! If I use the same 4-5 material thickness, once I focus on 1, can I just reuse that "Z" setting when using the same material again, rather than keep using the focus key each time?

Is there a way to make it so when you hit auto focus it will move the laser head to the origin position of a job and focus off your wood?

I did a ramp test and my focal length is 18mm. So I adjusted the lens height and the put a 3mm piece on top of my engraving material and dropped the auto focus. I then set the focusing to 3mm on my rudia Controller. Now when I hit autofocus it goes to like 20mm.

Nice video. Informative. Couple questions. With the auto focus every have the pen catch on the substrate being lasered ? Do you use a rotary on the manual focus ? If so is it a back breaker to manual lower then raise for it ? If the autofocus goes wacko can you move the table manually ? Thanks.

thanks very informative, one question how thick plywood can a 100w laser cut in one pass?

Curious what focal depth lens you normally use and what is the thickest material you have cut with your 100w laser? I have a 100w and tried cutting 1/2” mdf at 60% power with 4 passes and could not get through. I recently cleaned my lens and I don’t think I got my focus right. Gonna try the ramp test. Have you ever cut 1/2” mdf before? By the way awesome content, thanks for the info!!!

Yeah, cool... However! Do you not see a major issue with the clearance between the work and the tip of the sensor? Not everything on my laser stays perfectly flat upon cutting. Are tip-ups never an issue for you?

Cheers, I was wondering what all auto focus did, and having had a manual machine for a couple years now, I most certainly wouldnt pay extra for it as a feature. I was checking out omtech earlier and really like the variety of options you can get now. I dont even really know what the actual brand my china laser is. I think it was called ThunderLaser at a point, but there's no actual brand on the machine. Have you ever cleaned a laser tube? Mines looking pretty rough, I assume i can just carefully clean it alcohol and a microfiber cloth but couldnt really find any videos of people cleaning their tubes.

Can u plz tell me what kind of software you are using? Is that what u got from omtech or thats your own sftware Thanks you have a lovely content

How do you set the controller for the new focus setting after the ramp test?

hi, i lost my focus gauge, can you tell me the size. Thanks

is there a video on how to fit the auto focus part?

I dropped my focus lens for my 100w Omtech laser machine MF. Do you know which one I have to order? if you can provide me with a link please. Thank you

did you do the video on adjusting the autofocus to give the proper height?

Sorry I'm newbie here we got our machine couple weeks ago and I'm having issue doing cuts, I watched your Ramp test video but my machine have a metal stick besides the cone that doesn't allow me to get the cone close the the wood like you explained in the video, how can I fix that?

Hi I just bought a laser engraver because of your videos which intrigued me to get one any way I’m tryin to do a pulse test and a system alarm comes on and says machine protected how do I clear this fault

Thanks!

Now let's do a video on adding a beam combiner

when i push enter on the autofocus selection nothing happens...

Do you sell the jig you used ?

How do you like these omtech lasers? I've been debating on upgrading from the orion 20w desktop to the omtech 60w auto focus just haven't really seen many reviews

Nice

How do you do a ramp test on an autofocus machine?

i cant find where to connect the auto focus on a cohesion 3d board wnere do i find that info

How do you raise and lower the bed