Hi,
I’m in the process of cleaning the 2 galvo mirrors. I’m having trouble actually identifying what the mirrors are.
I’ve got the shell off and the baffle removed. I see the plate protruding down. Are the mirrors on the two sides of that plate? I’ve attached the picture that’s in the guide which can maybe be used to provide to me some guidance.
Also… if that plate is in fact where the mirrors are located, can that plate be rotated to get access to the other side of that plate.
and the larger mirror on an angle (that definitely looks like a mirror) should that also be cleaned in some way?
I should mention the printer is a form2
Just need a bit of help. Thanks very much.!
The two galvo mirrors are where the head of the cotton bud is in the photo. They’re the tiny rectangular mirrors mounted on the galvo spindles. They’re rather tricky to clean so be patient and gentle! Yes, while you’re at it definitely clean this larger mirror as well as it’s quite likely it will be coated with a thin film of unwanted ‘stuff’.
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thanks very much for the help. Couple of follow up questions.
Are the mirrors on both sides of that flat plate, or is it just one side, like the side shown in the photo?
If you just clean that one side, are you getting both mirrors? Or do you clean both sides of that plate?
That flat plate (with the galvo mirrors) is mounted to a cylinder. Can that cylinder be rotated? The side being cleaned shown in the photo is positioned in such a way on my machine which would make it difficult to access the side to be cleaned… as it’s facing toward the back of the machine.
Also… any tips for cleaning the large mirror? It’s rather far back in the shell. Getting ones hand back there seems tricky. Would you use one of the wipes Formlabs provided with the Cleaning Galvo Mirrors kit?
Thanks again for the help.
Only one side of each mirror is reflective (the reverse side of each mirror is bonded to the galvo motor spindle). You’ll find that the mirrors will rotate (as they’re designed to do) but they are still very difficult to get to. Don’t be tempted to loosen any of the screws clamping the laser or the galvo motors in place!
When operating: the laser hits the first mirror and is reflected to the second mirror which in turn reflects it to the large mirror and then up through the window. Each galvo mirror is responsible for a single axis and it is these mirrors that ‘steer’ the laser.
IIRC I used some long arterial forceps to hold a lens cleaning wipe to clean the large mirror.
EDIT: These are what are called ‘First Surface Mirrors’. This means that the reflective coating is on top of the glass. Overzealous cleaning can result in you losing the reflective surface so be careful not to ‘over clean’.
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Hey,
You better clean both sides of the galvo mirrors. The mirror connected to a very precise motor so please dont try to rotate it by force. It have a lil free movement so you may use this to adjust the location a bit. It is not so comfortable angles to work with but it is what it is.
Be sure to clean both galvo mirror and one large mirror, total of 3.
For the large mirror, its just pushing your hand inside and clean it. I do it by wipe it from the far side to the close side, then I move a bit to uncleaned area and again wiping it. The idea is to be thorough, to cover all the mirror surface and to move dust from the upper side to the lower side with the gravity. After you clean it give a closer look from different angles, you might discover some small particles left over from the wipes.
My advice to to clean the glass (the one sits below the resin tank) from the inside as well because it is all open up and accessible. Make sure to do it before cleaning the large mirror as dust might fall on the mirror and then you will need to clean the mirror once again.
Good luck and keep us posted.
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thank you both for the help.
Regarding the larger mirror, I think if I undo the baffle a bit more than what I’ve already done, accessing that mirror should be a bit more easier.
Again, thanks for the help, appreciate it!!
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