After watching this video i have managed to set my mirrors up and my laser is cutting true over the whole of the bed. This is by far the best tutorial i have found for aligning your mirrors. Give it a try you wont be disappointed.

After trying loads of setup guides I came across this one. Watched it twice made notes and went into the garage, after half an hour I had it set up. After another half an hour I had it fine tuned spot on! It took longer to re do all my stored cut settings as they were completely useless, as all power and speed settings were different. I can now cut deeper and faster. My machine is now perfect. Thank you very much for doing this guide.

"First beam has to be parallel, not necessarily centered" was the crucial piece of info I was missing to get a perfect alignment. Killer video! If you have to shift a mirror's position for a good alignment, get your red dot laser and some blutak and point it back at the mirror, then align it with the first mirror - it's inaccurate, but much better than guesswork. Zapped my arm before I discovered this trick.

Best video I've ever found on aligning the mirrors. Thanks, you've saved me a whole load of ball ache.

This tutorial is great. Explaining the difference between position and direction has helped me heaps. SO many other tutorial are just focused on hitting the center of the mirror!

I wasted an entire day watching videos on this subject before I came across your video. I get the feeling you are a professional teacher because you helped me understand WHAT I was doing and not simply giving me instructions. Thank you!

This is the best alignment video on KZfaq so far. It's especially helpful for the final head alignment. It was very much a case of trial and error to set up my machine initially. Wish I had this video then!

Excellent video. My laser hasn't been 100% since I purchased it. Watched this video then got to work. Perfect cuts now. Thanks

I am doing 'pre-delivery' research on operating my impending K40. Your video was very concise and a wealth of practical information. Thank you.

Great instructions. They eased my pain. How horrible was my aligning before this video. Thank you very much for teaching me the right way. (I wish my kids would say that to me at least one time)

one of the best videos ive seen on how to set up your mirrors thankyou for taking the time to share

Fantastic Video, I like many others used trial and error to set up my machine, I think I will use this method and recheck to make sure that its all set up properly.nice of you to take the time to go into detail.Thanks!

My man....!!!!! Thank you brother. Your tutorial was simplified and detailed for the laymen.. You my friend have just gained a new follower. Keep it coming brother..🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽👍🏾

Love it, excellent description! Thank you! Regarding my comment earlier: cheap lasers often don't have the possibility to align the last mirror. They essentially just assume it's all fine with 45 degrees on solid piece of machined metal with a mirror set into it. It seems very worth investing into the last alignment stage as this seems to make all the difference. A centered beam on the lens not only improves the cut itself but also how tight your air assist nozzle can be. A tighter air nozzle means higher speed of air exiting the nozzle. Higher speed, given with a proper air stream shape through a well designed air assist nozzle, will increase the cut quality. Many things to consider when improving a laser from a cheap machine up...

Thanks for the video! I've just used your principals and techniques to help me perfectly align my mirrors. Thanks again!

Watched the video step by step , to setup mine . Fantastic results. ‘’Thank you “

REALLY REALLY Helpful video! Thank you, I had been struggling with my laser but this was immensely helpful.

This may be an oldie, but it is surely a goody. The best video of many to choose from on performing alignment of the China Blue laser machine. Thanks!

Great video!! Helped me set up my mirrors after having such a hard time..

This helped so much, my k40 is cutting great now. Thanks for this

Thank you. You confirmed my suspicions of the unnecessary steps in other videos!

The tape is a good idea, thanks. Just firing mine up for the first time, it's not new and has had a hard life, so it's good to check it all over.

Great Instruction Video! As someone else have said maybe the best on the net, so thanks so much!!!

Excellent video.

One thing i would like to add is that you need to find a material on which you can see a defined spot. I used paper before and was never able to see a clear circle mark from the laser beam. Now i am using double sided tape without removing the back cover, and i an see a precise mark that makes adjusting a lot easier.

Great instructions

Clear directions. Thank you

thank you very much. you made the task much less daunting for a newby.

Perfect tutorial. Question: how do you make it to fire a pulse and what power setting do you use? I'm gonna try this tomorrow. Thanks!

"trust me, I'm a physicist"

"Trust me, I'm a physicist" famous last words

The control panel has a button labelled 'pulse' for firing single pulses. In the control panel menu you can set it so the laser either stays on the whole time you're pressing the button, or you can set it to shoot a pulse for a fixed time. I usually set 30% power and a pulse time of 100ms. Fire 2 or 3 pulses if the spot is still a bit weak. If you're still having trouble, find my email in the about section of my channel page.

Hi use a tubing with a cross hair made copper wire then use the tape that you are using right now then open and closed the shutter then adjust the mirror with low power

this was really usefool tutorial video.Thanks for it

Two things to point out that would get better alignment than shown here. Don't get me wrong, the technique is spot on, however, the mirror center in the head is actually sitting above the center of the entrance hole, so to hit the center of that mirror, which is critical for final alignment and max output, raise the horizontal center line up about halfway between the hole center and the top of the hole. If you were to eyeball that mirror, you can see what I am referring to. The center of the opening is about 2/3rds down the mirror. The other thing is, use an inspection mirror (Make sure the laser is OFF!) and place the tap on the tube opening instead of on the bed. For those without a flat steel or aluminum bed this is a much easier way. Pulse the laser and look at the tape via the mirror (Laser OFF). Repeat until the pot is centered in the opening, just make sure the mirror is removed before turning the laser back on and pulsing. One more note, for easy check of alignment, tape the head and run it all the way out and front, pulse, then run all the way in and back. If the spot doesn't move, alignment done. :) It might also be a good idea to clean the mirrors after this so that any smoke residue from the tape is removed.

you have a air bubble in your tube.

tip, use mini post it notes not tape much better and run your nail round the mirror , much easier to see and rollies work better than lens tissues , they are basically the same material anyway. Thanks for the vid.

Eggs sell ant. Can we purchase the mirror blocks separately. I found some but they don't look the same.

thank you so much

very very... very good

Great video very helpful! Quick question what if I don't have an adjustment mirror on the laser head like you do?

you are great

Feel much more confident in getting it right after seeing this vid, thanks! Re. getting the beam parallel to the rails out of mirror 1... Can this still be done if the rail is not completely square to the tube? Some of the "cross hair" videos you mention, talk about making adjustable brackets for the tube, squaring the entire bed to the tube etc. etc..

You can't fix people, they knows every thing on comments. Thanks for the video!

Can I use the preforated sheet for co2 laser bed? What is the thickness of the sheet used in your bed?

I tell ya, aligning the mirrors are an absolute nightmare. Also, I wonder if it's possible to adapt a beam combiner into the 50w unit so we can get a red laser dot, some folks say it works wonders with helping to align mirrors.

Superb video, many thanks. When you centred your beam in the head, you loosened the bolts and physically moved it. My machine does not have this function and the beam is off centre. Any tips would be greatly appreciated as, having started from scratch a number of times with all mirrors and moving the tube, it is always off centre on the head... consequently it cuts very very poorly. Many thanks

Thank you for making this tutorial....Thumbs up!

Hi, thank you so much for your fantastic video. I followed every step of your work but I think I have a laser tube problem. I have seen that, by putting the paper tape on the first mirror and pressing the Pulse button, 4 distinct burn points are formed on the paper when I believe there should be only one. The same thing happens on the second mirror and on the third. If there are 4 points it means that the laser power is dispersed. Do you confirm that there should only be one burning point? Thank you so much for your help.

My red & black 80-watt laser did NOT come with any mirror frames, where did you get the mirror covers you mentioned in your video? Or dies anyone else know where to get them? Thanks

I’m at the 3rd mirror. When I pulse I’m getting 2 separate burn holes. Doesn’t matter if it’s close or far from mirror 2. What causes that?

Thank you for this video! I wish I had it when I first purchased my laser cutter. When I realigned my machine I realized that the mirrors might need to be replaced but I don't know what kind to get or where to buy them. Do you have any tips? I have a 90 watt CO2 tube if that's relevant.

Tin foil or aluminium foil saves glue gunk getting on your mirrors. Just stuck it to your tape over the mirror. Then keep adding tape.

Great video. I have a 50 ebay chinese laser. If I draw an oval or other shape there is often a little disfigurement in the shape when it's cut. It almost looks like if the object were in node form that a few nodes are knocked out of wack. Could this be alignment?

I dont understant something. when you allign the second mirror on top than you adjust it on the bottom again won't that screw up the alligment on top? I hope you understant what I mean english isnt my first language

I have a 80 watt Chinese red and black laser, and when I get to the tube alignment, my dot is tee tiny,, where as yours is massive. Is this normal?

What do I do if my beam is not centered on mirror 3 up close to mirror 2? It's high.

I used this method and everything seemed fine but after putting the lense back on the laser cuts at an angle. Does anybody have any tips for me?

Hello sir, can you tell me how to do 2 more cuts in a row?

Hello, Could you tell me where you got your mirror covers? I am having a lot of trouble getting my mirrors aligned and have not been able to use the machine since buying it 3 weeks ago because of this.I think these covers might make it more do-able for me as a person who has no experience with these machines.

Hi. Excelent video! Congrats. At minute 2:20, I noticed some big bubbles inside the tube. Can these bubbles hinder tube cooling? In my k40, I make sure to remove them, but for that I have to raise and rotate the machine so that the bubbles come out

Dear I made all step and did the alignment with acquire but once comes to cut and it’s not cutting. Please advice to do

it took me a couple of times to watch this to get it, **K40 users tune in to what I am saying** you don't want to aim for the centre of the mirror because that can be out of alignment by a long shot. You just want to match your dots to the same position. Once done, you will have to move the "mirror assembly" again "mirror assembly" not the mirror angle screws.

Hi, wondering if you could help. I have a piranha 5060 that ive just bought. got it set up and laser aligned, thanks to your videos and others on KZfaq :) sent a test file to the laser and when i click start it says not enough extend space? have you any idea what this means and how I could fix it? Thanks Maggi

I followed your video to the letter but what happens if the last mirror to the laser head cannot be calibrated. You left no instructions on how to correct this situation. Do you have any solution?

Thanks for the video, but there is a much easier way to do this. Just take a cheap red led laser pointer and mount it in place of the laser tube. You only have to make sure it fires directly in the middle of your 1st mirror and also its at 45 degree to mirror surface. With this visible non-harmful laser ray you can set up your entire system and also check your mechanics alignment. Then just put in the CO2 tube and make sure it fires in the same direction, and you're all set.

HI, In your opinon what is the best distance betwin laser head and first mirror? tks

you had mentioned in the video on the 3rd mirror that you initially wanted to worry about the horizontal alignement, and that you would go back and touch on the vertical alignement later, you did show how to get the beam coming straight down and then adjust its left right position, but say if by chance when you were checking the laser position entering the laser head, what if it is coming in too high or low on the 3rd mirror (even if its hitting the same spot in the near and far positions), is there a procedure you have worked out for that, or do you not have to worry about it? just to clarify, im talking about when you put tape over the opening for the laser head nozzle itself, and if your dot is higher or lower than center there.

Be nice if u explainef which screws do what

i hv 50watt co2.. but i have a problem while engraving.. itwas not came back at origin position after engraving .. and made the cutting slight offset from origin position. i did few allingment. but its still gv me same problem

Awesome video- curious, is your Z (table) like on a hand crank? ha

15:02 "So I can shift it back... SHIT !"

you made a lot of high quality videos. Why did you stop?

Did you buy the laser goggles from ebay? Is the plexi that's on the lid of the machine enough to stop the laser radiation from being harmful to your eyes?

Hello, could you send me the link of video about 3rd mirror alignment please? Because You have wrote in one of your answers "One day I will make a video entirely about the 3rd mirror, since it can be really difficult to get right due to weaknesses in the design"

which way should the mirror face and which mirror would you recommend for best results?

Any ideas how to allign head mirror if table has no z movement? On my laser i set focus with laser head, and it has about 10cm of z movemenet space

Too bad my cheapo laser does not have final mirror adjustment knobs. I guess I'll try to do it by introducing washers underneath the corner of mirror

Do you mind telling us which model Chinese laser you have?

where and what is the proper lens for these laser cutters cracked mine " HELP " first lens at laser beam

"Trust me I'm a physicist". Sounds like famous last words. lol

I still think this is the best tutorial on alignment and I've watched it more times than I can count, but I have to admit I've been at this for at least fifteen hours and I can't get my test fires closer than 3mm off the second mirror. If I had hair I'd have already pulled it all out. I'm reluctant to start fiddling with the mirror mount at this point but I don't want to make matters worse. Anybody have any advice? At one point I thought I had it licked, but when I replaced the cone it blocked the beam entirely. Back to square one.

where did you get the black mirror covers and holder?

i got 2 points on the second mirror :-( i guess the first mirror must be Kaput. its seems to be splitting the laser into 2 points. aghhh, thought this was going to be nice and simple. and inexpensive, im going to take the first mirror out clean it and try and find another point on it that it dosnt split it. could it be the laser tube itself as its getting older? not sure what characteristics a dying tube has. any how, thanks for the Video , great stuff.

What type of safety glasses do you have? If you're a physicist, than I trust you bought the right pair. Do you have an amazon link where I can buy them for me. I would appreciate your response. I have a 100W Chinese CO2 laser. Thank You.

:) i trust physicists more than i trust mechanics!!!!

Two questions: How much does it cost (us dollars)? And can it engrave on glasses that are tapered?

I hAVE A QUESTION WHERE DO YOU SET THE LASER GUIDES AT THE BACK OF THE LASER, WHAT I MEAN IS WHERE ARE THE SCREWS SET ON THE BACK MIRROR I.E DO YOU ADJUST THE SCREWS ALL THE WAY IN TO START THE ALIGN PROCESS

as I understand correctly - tube position is not important (like one end of tube is higher than other lets say 'y' and the position from machine side lets say 'x'), you just need to shoot it on the first mirror center of the lens and thats it?

Hello I bought a China (ebay) k40 laser and have problems to engraving with the same intensity from right to left. When it goes to the right it does not engraving with the same intensity, it seems that the laser loses power in the right. It will be because of the alignment of the laser / mirror? Thanks for some tips :)

how do you get the first mirror to hit parallel? mine is low

I sent you an E-Mail... Please help me out of my disaster :-( PS: I just replaced/upgraded the Mirrors and the Head. That's why I'm not able to adjust them anymore :-(

Hi. I have a blue Chinese cutter, and everything’s gone wrong randomly. We’ve replaced power supply box. Everything’s working, but it’s burning the hell out of the wood and not printing/ engraving what it’s meant to. I’m really hoping you can email/ text me to help. Happy to pay if necessary. I’m in Berwick Vic

What laser is this? It is not a cheap Chinese K40.

makestuff link is not working.

It's probably just my eyes playing tricks on me, but it looks to me like your table isn't as stable as it could be. It could be my imagination, but I could have sworn the table was jittering side-to-side as you were raising and lowering it, as if there was too much play in the system.

you know you have a massive bubble in your tube

"that's good enough" ?? Perfect is almost good enough. Strive for perfection, settle for nothing less.

The amount of tape you wasted is ridiculous. Just re use the same piece please ffs