50-60W CO2 laser tube hanger for SH-G350 laser cutter by bratan

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

This is a remix of Xnaron's Laser Tube hangers. I had to make some changes in order to fit my larger 60W tube (upgraded on SH-G350D laser cutter, also known as 50W Chinese Blue Ebay laser cutter)
Here's what's new:
Will fit CO2 tube up to 55mm diameter (i.e. SP 60W)
A little more travel space in adjustment slots (needed for larger tube).
Elongate one of the bottom mounting holes (as it didn't fit on my machine).
Added tons of comments in SCAD file so one can easily make changes
Inner support doesn't have space for nuts, instead 10-24 machine screws are screwed directly in the plastic.
Basically I wasn't able to use original deigns on my fatter tube mostly because when I used nuts to attach inner ring it would be very loose and wobbly and I had no space to add nuts on the other end of the ring. So I just made holes smaller and was able to screw 10-24 screws right into plastic. It seems to hold pretty well too. But please BE CAREFUL, if you screw it too far, you can crack your tube!
It's a tricky process mounting tube, but I'll try to explain it as best as I can remember.
Basically there are 3 main parts. Two Outer Supports, 2 Inner supports and 8 knobs.
Non-3D printed parts:
Four 10-24 machine screws (2" or 1.5" long) (10-32 or M5 should also work)
Eight 10-24 nuts (10-32 or M5 should also work)
Four 13" zip ties
1/16" self adhesive cork. (use thicker if your tube diameter is smaller).
Four 10-24 machine screws (about 1"). Optional, you can reuse screws from old mounting brackets.
Take inner support part and carefully thread in 10-24 screws. When you feel it's not going in any more, stop and mark this length. This way you'll know how far they can go without breaking thru plastic and possibly damaging your CO2 tube.
Remove screws
Insert 8 nuts into 8 knobs
Remove old CO2 tube support.
Attach Outer Support brackets to the machine, open end facing front of the cutter. Either use old screws or use 4 shorter 10-24 screws.
Measure, cut and stick cork pieces to the inside of the inner brackets.
Place inner brackets (one by one) around your CO2 tube and fasten with long zip ties. Don't over-tighten. You should still be able to slide brackets along your tube.
Thread knob with attached nut onto each of the longer screws.
Put remaining two knobs in the slots of the outer support bracket, and thread screws from previous step into them slightly.
Position CO2 tube where you want it and slide Inner Support brackets until they inside outer support brackets.
Carefully thread screws thru all knobs and into inner support bracket, making sure you don't go too past mark you made in step 1. There's nothing stopping screw from going thru cork and into glass tube!!!
Finally you can use adjustment mechanism to position your tube. Once it's been positioned correct you can fix it with outside knobs.
Other suggestions.
Do a dry fit to make sure nothing is sticking out and you can close your machine's cover.
This construction not super rigid, so you might want to check your tube alignment from time to time. Don't push tube down with your hands, as you can strip screws out of inner support bracket.
Print with ABS or PLA plastic, and you can use pretty low infill and resolution. I think I used 30% infill and 0.4mm layer height.
You can generate models for each part separately by editing SCAD file. Just comment out hanger(); or ex_bracket(); at the end of the file!
You can find complete how to upgrade article on my site: https://www.lensdigital.com/home/?p=1498
Credits for knob:
Parametric knob generator
by Gian Pablo Villamil
May 2011