A mechanical galvanometer tilt control system includes two beam detection sensors that detect vertical displacement caused by the horizontal rotation of a galvanometer and the vertical rotation of a photoconductive drum. The galvanometer may be in communication with a mirror holder that holds a mirror. The mirror holder may be operable to horizontally rotate the mirror as the mirror reflects a light beam onto a photosensitive image forming surface of the photoconductive drum. The two beam detection sensors receive the reflected light beam as the galvanometer generates one or more forward-going and one or more reverse-going scanlines on the photosensitive image forming surface. The mechanical galvanometer tilt control system may further determine an amount of vertical correction required to correct for the vertical displacement caused by the rotation of the galvanometer and the rotation of the photoconductive drum.