Please do not use the laser cutter, as it is faulty. The laser maintainers are in the process of investigating the issue, and have no expected date on which it will return to service. Updates will be posted here and in Telegram.
Technical detail: the bearing on the left hand side seems to be binding under some circumstances, usually towards the front of the bed. Further details are currently unknown, pending the disassembly of the laser. This is expected to occur tomorrow, depending on the availability of laser maintainers.
Two laser maintainers - myself and Conor - have disassembled the laser and found excessive wear on the linear bearings and shaft on the left hand side, which is believed to be the cause of the issue. Replacement parts are currently on order and we hope to have the laser running by the end of the week, although this is not guaranteed as things might go wrong or maintainers might be unavailable.
The laser has been returned to service - please report any issues through the usual routes. The red dot is not currently available, and should reappear within a day or two. You will notice that the focus tool is now lilac - it works in exactly the same way as the old wooden one, and sets the focus on the surface of the honeycomb.
The extra delay was due to a slight misalignment during reassembly of the gantry which necessitated the removal of the frame from the laser enclosure to access the adjustments. This issue should now not recur until the next time we have to strip the laser down fully.
Thanks to Conor who has been instrumental in getting the laser up and running in the timeframe we managed (and who was observant enough to notice the problem in the first place).