RIGA TECHNICAL UNIVERISTY

FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, TRANSPORT AND AERONAUTICS

Artūrs Vēvers
Production technologies
(Stud. ID Nr. 091RMC274)

Machine repair technology

“Laser power measuring and laser adjustment for additive manufacturing
machines”

Supervisor
Dr.sc.ing.
Artis Kromanis

Riga, 2018
 Content

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 3

Laser alignment .................................................................................................................................... 4

Laser power .......................................................................................................................................... 6

Bibliography......................................................................................................................................... 7

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 Introduction

Paper has been made for Riga Technical University in subject Machine repair technology.
Paper describes maintenance for additive manufacturing machines which are equipped with CO2
lasers. Paper describes laser alignment and laser power measuring. Practical side of experiments has
been tested or Aurora Labs Titanium Pro additive manufacturing machine.

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 Laser alignment

Metal additive manufacturing machines uses laser to melt the metal powder in each layer.[1]
There are 3D printers which use fiber laser but there are also some manufacturers which use CO2
lasers. For machines which are equipped with CO2 lasers, laser alignment is very important factor
to achieve good quality parts. If the laser alignment is wrong it is possible to damage machine or
you will lose power which will not be focused in right spot. The Aurora Labs Titanium Pro uses six
mirror system to steer the laser beam from two 150 W CO2 lasers to build chamber and focus in
one point. Laser beam have to be perfectly parallel to each other while it travels through all the
mirrors till the focal lens. Additionally laser beams have to be as close as possible to focus both
beams in one point. It is complicate, because beam from one laser have to travel pass by mirror for
second laser but it cannot be too close, otherwise it will start to heat up mirror holder (See Fig. 1. A
and B mirrors). [2]

Figure 1. Mirror system of Aurora Labs Titanium Pro metal 3D printer

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 When laser beam goes in built chamber it has to be parallel to Y-axis. And reflect in the last
two mirror parallel to X-axis of machine. To make aligment it is necessary to use visbible light laser
pointer or set laser power to minimal power and make impusle shots with 70 ms. It is possible to
use paper tape on mirrors to make small shots which will indicate where the laser beam is aimed on
mirror. See Figure 2 b). Mirrors are adjusted with 3 bolts so the beam can be adjusted around 3 axis.
After mirror adjustment last step is adjustment of focus lens. For Aurora Labs Titanium Pro
machine focus length is 100 mm. It is important to make adjustments for focus lens to achieves the
smallest possible focal point on built plate. It is possible to make small shot or make cuts un built
plate and check with microscope before each adjustment to indicate the smallest possible focal
point. If the miror and focus lens adjustments are done correctly then focal point should be round. If
it iss oval it means that both laser beams are not focused in one point.

a) b)
Figure 2. a) Laser adjustment schematics. B) laser point shot on paper tape

Figure 3 Laser focal point adjustment

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 Laser power

To determine how much power is left when beam reaches powder laser power measuring
was done using Mahony laser power meter. The Mahony laser power meter fits CO2 lasers and
YAG lasers. It works with lasers that operate at 10.6 microns and 1.06 microns. At 1.06 microns
it works for YAG, fiber, diode side pumped, and diode end pumped lasers and any additional laser
technology operating at this wavelength.[3] This Mahony laser power meter model is with scale
from 0-500 W. To star measuring with Mahony laser power meter it is necessary to cool down
thermos head of laser power meter sensor and adjust scales indicator to zero. Then laser power
meter can be placed in spot where it is necessary to make the measurements. When power meter is
fixed in position for this Mahony meter it is designed to measure power for 9 sec. For Aurora Labs
Titanium Pro it is possible to make G-code which turn on laser for exactly 9 sec. During
measuring process laser heats up the sensor and scale indicates power which was generated.
In experiment with Aurora Labs Titanium Pro laser power was measured at both lasers and
each laser at max power emitted 120 W. After checking each laser separately laser power was
measured at build plate where both laser are focused in one point. Laser power reached 160 W from
both lasers which means that there are around 35 % loses in mirror system. If the loses are higher
than 50 % then it can indicate that some of the mirrors could be damaged or laser alignment should
be checked.
CO2 laser have longer wave length compared to fiber lasers which means that to get the same
energy density it is necessary to use more powerful CO2 laser than fiber laser. Aurora Labs
Titanium Pro printer when focusing both lasers in one point with focal length 100 mm have around
0.5 mm focal point diameter which means that focal point area is 0.2 mm^2. With previously
measured 160 W power it gives energy density of 800 W/mm^2.

Figure 3- Laser power measuring

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 Bibliography

[1] Ian Gibson David W. Rosen Brent stucker „ Additive Manufacturing Technologies: 3D Printing,
Rapid Prototyping, and Direct digital manufacturing” 2006
[2] S-Titanium Pro Installation Manual V 1.2 (2016)
[3] Mahony laser power meter user manual http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-measure-CO2-
laser-power-on-a-Laser-Engravin/