Adjustable Bed for Laser Cutting

RE: Adjustable Bed for Laser Cutting

DAB — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 18:37:27 GMT

Very nice test.

DAB

PS, did the CNC bed come with the system?

RE: Adjustable Bed for Laser Cutting

Fred27 — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 17:37:06 GMT

The honeycomb is only really needed to draw smoke away from the rear when you're cutting and prevent reflections from marking the back of the work. It was very easy to cut as it's quite thin. It would definitely need a bit more support if engraving something small and heavy. If you were in the UK I'd send you some.

RE: Adjustable Bed for Laser Cutting

Fred27 — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 11:12:30 GMT

I made a similar adjustable bed a while ago but used an aluminium honeycomb because I was doing more cutting than engraving.

https://0xfred.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/laser-improvements-an-adjustable-honeycomb-table/

The dial gauge is an interesting addition. I went with the simplest solution which was a piece of acrylic that was just the right side to slide between the cutting head and the workpiece when at the correct height. I know a common way to do this is a Dambuster's inspired technique of two laser pointers which align at the right height. This has the additional benefit of showing where your laser will cut/engrave.

RE: Adjustable Bed for Laser Cutting

dubbie — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 10:20:22 GMT

The idea of using a dial gauge is a good one and should provide a good ability to obtain perfect levelling.

I know that on professional laser cutters that they use a thin wall cell/honeycomb structure as a bed for the material being cut, set in a water bed. I assume this is to minimised reflected laser light and to absorb heat. Does your aluminium plate reflect light? Get hot?

Dubbie

RE: Adjustable Bed for Laser Cutting

ankur608 — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 00:07:43 GMT

Even, I have faced similar issues on 3018 Woodpecker (though I used it for PCB milling, hence solved through 'conductive feedback heightmapping' ).

The Gauge-mod looks 'Perfect' on the machine.