How to verify your laser output at the tip

a surprising number of weak weld tickets we see come down to the machine simply not delivering the power the display says it is before you spend an hour tuning parameters spend two minutes verifying output two quick checks 1 power meter reading fire at 100 into a laser power meter rated for your wavelength 1080 nm for most handhelds if you re more than 10 below the nameplate rating the source or fiber has an issue and no amount of parameter tuning will fix it 2 burn pattern on thermal paper with the beam defocused slightly a quick pulse onto acrylic burn paper should give you a clean circular spot an oval doughnut or off center burn means the fiber connector is dirty or the collimator is misaligned if either check fails stop welding and file a ticket running a bad beam wastes filler wire and shielding gas and produces work you ll cut out later