K40 laser work area side brackets - without spring

Last crawled date: 4 years, 3 months ago

The K40 lasers have a clamp that holds a work piece in place while lasering. Originally the focal point of the laser should be at the top surface of the rim around this clamp mechanism. The clamp will open enough to accept materials about 3.5 x 8 inches. But many suppliers sell wood in 4"x24" sizes. By taking advantage of the area behind the clamp we can easily use the 4 inch wide pieces cut to length.
My design is inspired by several others who use brackets that cause the top surface of the work piece to be at the same level no matter what thickness the work piece is. For these brackets, that is the same level as the top of the rim they push on to. One picture shows scraps of 1/8th inch basswood at the ends to hold the steel bar down that far. This allows the placement of a 1/8th inch thick work piece anywhere on the bars.
I drilled out the holes to receive 16D nails but may eventually replace them with bolt/nut combinations that will allow precise raising and lowering of the metal cross pieces. The nails tend to creep up but this is solved by filing down the burrs near the head and holding them down with tape.
The metal in the pictures is 1"x1" angle steel. The angle keeps it straight and the steel allows the use of magnets to hold thin materials. Unfortunately the steel is also heavy compared to aluminum so I had to use stronger springs. The system will accept work pieces up to about 3/4" thick. Note that because of the narrow tolerances the bars springs and nails of at least one end need to be assembled after the brackets have been pushed into position. Then they can be slid front to back as needed to establish the distance you want between the bars.
Printed with Davinci 1.0 Pro using PETG default settings and 100% infill.