How to operate A1 Pro properly - Focus / Laserchange / Calibrate

Creality Falcon Creality Falcon
1

Hi Folks,

at first, I am a Newbie to this Pro-Laser-Thing. I operated a Neje Master 2 before and I feel quite confident with Computers and Engraving at all, but I know I still have to learn a lot to operate my brand new Falcon A1 Pro properly.

Here are my Problems and my Steps I already did.

  1. Stats with Calibration of the Laser and the Camera.
    To adjust the laser head (20W blue) on the wooden board, I used the supplied three-stage metal piece before.

At daytime i put the Calibrationcard (the white paper with the dots) in my A1 Pro and got most of my Numbers up to 70+ something. So far so good.

I used the piece of wood provided to laser mark the centers of the circles. It worked well. I thought.

  1. Now I replaced the laser head with a 2W IR laser because I wanted to engrave stainless steel shopping cart release buttons. I adjusted the Laser again with the metal piece.

  2. I placed my shopping cart key on the wooden board from which I had cut out a piece. It fit perfectly on the wood. I took a photo and placed my text and graphic appropriately on the shopping cart key. But when I let the laser trace the outline of the planned engraving, it deviated by about 5 to 8 millimeters from the photographed position.
    Then I changed the engraving height to 5 millimeters, which I had measured beforehand. I took a new photo and placed my text and graphic again. However, the border deviated again by about 5 millimeters.

After recalibrating the 2W IR laser head with the metal piece, I tried to laser engrave the shopping cart release. Even at 100% power, nothing was visible on the shopping cart release—not even a scratch. In the videos, engraving is done quite easily on a comparable metal piece at 100% power and 200 mm feed rate.

I also used the autofocus repeatedly in between. I also reset the Z-axis and used the autofocus over and over. None of these steps helped. I watched many YouTube Reviews before purchasing. No one mentioned any problems with focusing or deviation during laser cutting.

Therefore, I am sure that I am making a mistake in the operation.

Now my specific questions (so far):

  1. How is the laser head mounted correctly? Do I have to lock the laser head into place at the bottom of the z-axis, or can I secure it somewhere in the middle?
  2. Do I have to recalibrate with the 3-step metal piece after every material change or is this an “emergency-Calibration-Tool”.
  3. Do I have to calibrate separately for IR lasers and 20W blue lasers?

I would like to apologize in advance for any questions I may ask that seem silly. I hope I haven’t forgotten any important information. Thank you in advance for all your helpful information and support.

Best regards