[htl72]

Hello from New Zealand!
I am new to using a laser machine, as in have not used before, and I am really struggling to get it to do what I want.

I have been in contact with Bodor but finding it difficult to get any help or assistance, it took over a month for them to help me set the machine up and since they have decided to ignore my emails.

I can get it to engrave but it seems to be burning the top of the acrylic and it will not cut through. (is there a general guide I should be following, if so where do I find info)
I cannot get it to cut through (again is there a guide I should be using)
I will be cutting through an array of products and thickness from paper to card to 3mm bamboo, wood up to (again they told me 18mm max) and engraving glassware and ceramics.

I also really need to know how to move the bed up and down as I have a rotary glass engraver, and this will be a huge part of what I am doing, can anyone advise on this please.

I know this is all simple stuff but I'm really struggling, and I would appreciate any help/advise or directing me to where I might find how to guides etc as I cannot even begin on my business journey without being able to use the damn thing.

Many thanks in advance.

One very frustrated Kiwi
Kylee
Younique Gifts & Homewares Ltd

[epilotdk]

Have you aligned the mirrors properly? That is the first thing to check. There are several guides and videos available, just Google "laser mirror alignment".

[chuck767]

Hello from New Zealand!
I am new to using a laser machine, as in have not used before, and I am really struggling to get it to do what I want.

I have been in contact with Bodor but finding it difficult to get any help or assistance, it took over a month for them to help me set the machine up and since they have decided to ignore my emails.

I can get it to engrave but it seems to be burning the top of the acrylic and it will not cut through. (is there a general guide I should be following, if so where do I find info)
I cannot get it to cut through (again is there a guide I should be using)
I will be cutting through an array of products and thickness from paper to card to 3mm bamboo, wood up to (again they told me 18mm max) and engraving glassware and ceramics.

I also really need to know how to move the bed up and down as I have a rotary glass engraver, and this will be a huge part of what I am doing, can anyone advise on this please.

I know this is all simple stuff but I'm really struggling, and I would appreciate any help/advise or directing me to where I might find how to guides etc as I cannot even begin on my business journey without being able to use the damn thing.

Many thanks in advance.

One very frustrated Kiwi
Kylee
Younique Gifts & Homewares Ltd

It sounds like the Laser is out of focus. Do you know what the focal length is of your final lenses ? If so adjust the Z Heights to obtain the proper focal distance

Chuck

[fixtureman1]

I always do a slant test to see what the focal length is. What you do is set a piece of material on a slant and draw a line in your software and run it along the slant. Then look at the mark to see where it is the smallest and sharpest burn and measure to distance to the lens. I then cut a piece of acrylic to just fit under the lens an material as a focal tool. both my lasers have auto focus but I had to adjust it to get the best cut

[Dmart321]

Hi Kylee, boy are you in for a treat. We are currently a US distributor for Bodor and I can tell you this, great company, great machine, but their quality control can use some serious help. Especially with the 150W. That beam barely fits into the opening on the laser head. I'm talking threading a needle here to make sure you get the beam to the lens without losing a ton of power. Alignment is certainly your issue as we've developed a very thorough procedure for getting it just right.

You will also find that your bed isn't level, your rails aren't level, your gantry isn't square and that mirror #2 might need a spacer between the bracket and the gantry to steer the beam into the laser head just right. We just had a tech fly out twice last month and spend 2 full days helping 150W 1309XU customers in your exact situation. That's how long we spend on every Bodor machine we sell here in the US before shipping it to our customers. If you really want that machine to work the way it was designed to, you're going to need a lot more help than you'll find here.

Hope this helps for now,

Danny
Engraving Machines Plus, Corp.
Melbourne, FL

[fixtureman1]

Hi Kylee, boy are you in for a treat. We are currently a US distributor for Bodor and I can tell you this, great company, great machine, but their quality control can use some serious help. Especially with the 150W. That beam barely fits into the opening on the laser head. I'm talking threading a needle here to make sure you get the beam to the lens without losing a ton of power. Alignment is certainly your issue as we've developed a very thorough procedure for getting it just right.

You will also find that your bed isn't level, your rails aren't level, your gantry isn't square and that mirror #2 might need a spacer between the bracket and the gantry to steer the beam into the laser head just right. We just had a tech fly out twice last month and spend 2 full days helping 150W 1309XU customers in your exact situation. That's how long we spend on every Bodor machine we sell here in the US before shipping it to our customers. If you really want that machine to work the way it was designed to, you're going to need a lot more help than you'll find here.

Hope this helps for now,

Danny
Engraving Machines Plus, Corp.
Melbourne, FL

So what you are saying is that a Bodor is not the laser to get as it is to hard to set up and run for a new buyer.

[Dmart321]

Not exactly, please allow me to clarify. Bodor makes a great machine, but unless you are an engineer or simply enjoy the challenge of getting the machine perfectly calibrated, I suggest you purchase from an authorized dealer that has implemented a quality control program. Not just with Bodor, but with any CO2 laser coming out of China, you are forgoing a lot by going straight to the manufacturer.

The distributor plays a very important role in everything from making sure the equipment is in proper working order to honoring the manufacturer warranty and supplying technical support and parts. So like with anything, there is a trade off when you eliminate the middle man. For some people, its worth it to save the money. Most, regret the purchase the minute they encounter their first problem.

We've spent the last 3 years absolutely perfecting the Bodor product. In that time, many dealers have come and gone. None were willing to put in the work required to supply a reliable product with reliable service. Every customer that has purchased a Bodor from us has had a great experience, even when things go wrong. Having free startup training and unlimited tech support is a big part of that. However, the level of quality control we put in before they ever plug the machine in, is the primary factor.

If you or anyone is looking to purchase a CO2 laser from Bodor or any other Chinese manufacturer, find yourself a reputable dealer that has been in business longer than a year and with a QC program in place. Otherwise, what little money you save on the initial purchase will quickly be forgotten as more and more of your time is sacrificed in figuring out how to get everything working properly.

Hope this helps,

Danny
Engraving Machines Plus, Corp.
Melbourne, FL

[jacquard]

Hi Chuck thanks for your response, I couldnt login to comment so created new account. I do not even know this? I will research focal lengths! Thanks Kylee

[jacquard]

I always do a slant test to see what the focal length is. What you do is set a piece of material on a slant and draw a line in your software and run it along the slant. Then look at the mark to see where it is the smallest and sharpest burn and measure to distance to the lens. I then cut a piece of acrylic to just fit under the lens an material as a focal tool. both my lasers have auto focus but I had to adjust it to get the best cut

Thanks I will give this a go also. Ill try anything to get it to do what its meant to. before I give up and get rid of the damn thing!

Kylee
(new account created cause I forgot my login :P)

[Dmart321]

Thanks I will give this a go also. Ill try anything to get it to do what its meant to. before I give up and get rid of the damn thing!

Kylee
(new account created cause I forgot my login :P)

Hi Kylee, you should really consider getting one of our techs out there to put your machine through a proper inspection and calibration. We put in several man hours on each Bodor machine before we are comfortable enough to send them out to our customers. Again, this does not mean the machine is no good or not worth the time, it just needs the attention of a trained technician or a very tech-savvy individual to get her tuned up properly.

Here is a short list of hurdles you will need to overcome before the machine functions the way it was intended to:

1) Rail Alignment - If the gantry rails do not share the same angle down to a fraction of a degree, then you will we certainly lose power at the back/right corner of your table as the laser head will either dip or climb due to the variance. I can't stress this enough with the 150W beam, you need to be hitting dead center on all mirrors and on your way into the laser head at all areas of the table. If you're off by even 1mm in either direction, you will experience a loss in power, melted O rings and eventually a cracked lens.

2) Bed Leveling - this is the first step in making sure that the laser beam remains in focus throughout the entire span of your 900 x 1300 work area. Without it, you will lose focus anywhere there is a deviation of roughly 1 mm. This requires that you crawl into the bottom of the machine, loosen tensioners and being to individually turn ball screws until each corner of the bed is equidistant to the nozzle on the laser head.

3) Laser Head Squareness - It is not uncommon for the laser head to sit at a slight angle in either direction. Especially with the 150W beam being as broad as it is, you need to ensure that the laser head is perfectly square to your gantry and table in order to prevent a loss in beam transmission as the beam makes its way to the focal lens. It's not uncommon for people to call and tell us their laser head is getting very hot or that the O ring around the focal lens has melted and through repeated use, caused the lens to crack.

4) Mirror Placement - The location of mirror 1 and mirror 2 are never in the right place. With 150W beams, you need all the real-estate you can get in order to ensure the complete beam is making it to the focal lens. This is a very tedious process and involves many many burn tests to ensure each mirror is catching the beam dead center. Mirror 2 requires a spacer to bring it away from the gantry some so that the beam enters the laser head dead center. Unfortunately, the Mirror 2 bracket on the Bodor does not have the proper adjustment to bring it closer or further away from the gantry. Therefore, you will never get full beam transmission which will result in early entry to the laser head and a tremendous loss in power.

5) Gantry Squareness - Once everything is perfect and I mean absolutely perfect, then we can run some cut tests to make sue the gantry is perfectly perpendicular to your rails. It usually isn't, but every now and then a machine will surprise me and will come from the factory within acceptable tolerances. Otherwise, you can instruct the machine to cut a square, but you will get a rhombus instead. We shoot for .5mm or less of tolerance from one side of the machine to the other. Getting this just right requires unbolting the coupler that marries both left and right rails to the Y motor and making adjustments to an individual side. Sometimes, the belt tension comes into play as even just a few turns of the tensioning bracket will pull one side of the gantry in either direction.

6) Red Pointer Alignment - Once it is all said and done, you can finally adjust the red pointer so that the cross hairs are shooting dead center to your laser beam when it's in focus. This anyone can do, but if you've never done it before, count on your patience to be tested.

7) Training and Maintenance - Lastly, once the machine is in proper working order, we will training you on everything from operating the machine to proper maintenance. This is a nice added bonus we include since the tech is already there in your presence.

I don't mean to discourage you. On the contrary, I don't think there is a soul on this planet that has invested as much time as I have into making the Bodor machine perfect. The very first machine we got from Bodor years ago had all of these issues. We ended up flying Russ Sadler in from England to help us sort through all of these issues. There was a point in the process where we were about ready to give up on Bodor all together, but after many long night of tinkering and learning what needs to be done, we realized the machine was not at fault and that the factory does a great job of giving you a machine that is 90% of the way there. The last 10% takes so much time to get right, it would never be feasible for them to incorporate it into their QC procedure.

Since then, we have developed an extensive quality control procedure of our own that involves all of these corrections. If you were to order a Bodor laser from our company, it would take us 2-3 working days before we can sign off on all of these things and deliver a 100% perfectly functioning machine. For anyone else considering a Bodor purchase or any laser purchase from China, expect that you will have to put in the same amount of work. We have tried many brands and they all require that a trained technician lay hands on them before they are fit to ship. Any dealer that is turning around a product without putting it through this arduous inspection, does not have your best interest at heart and is more focused on just making a quick buck.

Let me know if you would like to work on getting someone out there.

Danny
Engraving Machines Plus, Corp.
(321) 821-7774
Melbourne, FL

<img src="https://engravingmachinesplus.3dcartstores.com/assets/images/EMP_Logo_2_Small.png" alt="alternative text">

[fixtureman1]

Hi Kylee, you should really consider getting one of our techs out there to put your machine through a proper inspection and calibration. We put in several man hours on each Bodor machine before we are comfortable enough to send them out to our customers. Again, this does not mean the machine is no good or not worth the time, it just needs the attention of a trained technician or a very tech-savvy individual to get her tuned up properly.

Here is a short list of hurdles you will need to overcome before the machine functions the way it was intended to:

1) Rail Alignment - If the gantry rails do not share the same angle down to a fraction of a degree, then you will we certainly lose power at the back/right corner of your table as the laser head will either dip or climb due to the variance. I can't stress this enough with the 150W beam, you need to be hitting dead center on all mirrors and on your way into the laser head at all areas of the table. If you're off by even 1mm in either direction, you will experience a loss in power, melted O rings and eventually a cracked lens.

2) Bed Leveling - this is the first step in making sure that the laser beam remains in focus throughout the entire span of your 900 x 1300 work area. Without it, you will lose focus anywhere there is a deviation of roughly 1 mm. This requires that you crawl into the bottom of the machine, loosen tensioners and being to individually turn ball screws until each corner of the bed is equidistant to the nozzle on the laser head.

3) Laser Head Squareness - It is not uncommon for the laser head to sit at a slight angle in either direction. Especially with the 150W beam being as broad as it is, you need to ensure that the laser head is perfectly square to your gantry and table in order to prevent a loss in beam transmission as the beam makes its way to the focal lens. It's not uncommon for people to call and tell us their laser head is getting very hot or that the O ring around the focal lens has melted and through repeated use, caused the lens to crack.

4) Mirror Placement - The location of mirror 1 and mirror 2 are never in the right place. With 150W beams, you need all the real-estate you can get in order to ensure the complete beam is making it to the focal lens. This is a very tedious process and involves many many burn tests to ensure each mirror is catching the beam dead center. Mirror 2 requires a spacer to bring it away from the gantry some so that the beam enters the laser head dead center. Unfortunately, the Mirror 2 bracket on the Bodor does not have the proper adjustment to bring it closer or further away from the gantry. Therefore, you will never get full beam transmission which will result in early entry to the laser head and a tremendous loss in power.

5) Gantry Squareness - Once everything is perfect and I mean absolutely perfect, then we can run some cut tests to make sue the gantry is perfectly perpendicular to your rails. It usually isn't, but every now and then a machine will surprise me and will come from the factory within acceptable tolerances. Otherwise, you can instruct the machine to cut a square, but you will get a rhombus instead. We shoot for .5mm or less of tolerance from one side of the machine to the other. Getting this just right requires unbolting the coupler that marries both left and right rails to the Y motor and making adjustments to an individual side. Sometimes, the belt tension comes into play as even just a few turns of the tensioning bracket will pull one side of the gantry in either direction.

6) Red Pointer Alignment - Once it is all said and done, you can finally adjust the red pointer so that the cross hairs are shooting dead center to your laser beam when it's in focus. This anyone can do, but if you've never done it before, count on your patience to be tested.

7) Training and Maintenance - Lastly, once the machine is in proper working order, we will training you on everything from operating the machine to proper maintenance. This is a nice added bonus we include since the tech is already there in your presence.

I don't mean to discourage you. On the contrary, I don't think there is a soul on this planet that has invested as much time as I have into making the Bodor machine perfect. The very first machine we got from Bodor years ago had all of these issues. We ended up flying Russ Sadler in from England to help us sort through all of these issues. There was a point in the process where we were about ready to give up on Bodor all together, but after many long night of tinkering and learning what needs to be done, we realized the machine was not at fault and that the factory does a great job of giving you a machine that is 90% of the way there. The last 10% takes so much time to get right, it would never be feasible for them to incorporate it into their QC procedure.

Since then, we have developed an extensive quality control procedure of our own that involves all of these corrections. If you were to order a Bodor laser from our company, it would take us 2-3 working days before we can sign off on all of these things and deliver a 100% perfectly functioning machine. For anyone else considering a Bodor purchase or any laser purchase from China, expect that you will have to put in the same amount of work. We have tried many brands and they all require that a trained technician lay hands on them before they are fit to ship. Any dealer that is turning around a product without putting it through this arduous inspection, does not have your best interest at heart and is more focused on just making a quick buck.

Let me know if you would like to work on getting someone out there.

Danny
Engraving Machines Plus, Corp.
(321) 821-7774
Melbourne, FL

<img src="https://engravingmachinesplus.3dcartstores.com/assets/images/EMP_Logo_2_Small.png" alt="alternative text">

Just how much would it cost to fly one of your techs to New Zealand.

[Dmart321]

Just how much would it cost to fly one of your techs to New Zealand.

Not cheap, sorry to say. We're talking in the neighborhood of $2000-2500 plus travel expenses.

Danny
Engraving Machines Plus, Corp.
(321) 821-7774
Melbourne, FL

<img src="https://engravingmachinesplus.3dcartstores.com/assets/images/EMP_Logo_2_Small.png" alt="alternative text">