There is also this option. To move the object getting zapped and not the GF.
https://www.lightobject.com/Power-Z-Table-Bed-Kit-for-K40-Small-Laser-Machine-P722.aspx
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Sorry! I missed that you asked a question. You can make the hole wider if you don’t care to re-attach the bottom with screws, you can make the hole wider and more rectangular. You’d still be able to set the plate with bottom piece attached into the hole and let gravity hold it in. I may cut mine bigger, in fact. You can’t cut too much taller, though, because of the metal plate below the hole. It carries wiring from the right side of the machine to the left. If you re-routed it, though…
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That’s a great one! I’ve been mostly cutting small stuff, so desk-level or propped up on a few boards has been sufficient, but I’d really like to get a cheap adjustable desk and customize it for cutting. I’d cut a hole in it, then use the cutout as the base for projects with a lower offset on rubber feet, allowing for adjustments of any value in z from the zero location of the laser focus plane.
Did some more water bottles today. These laser up really nice and take like 10 minutes from starting design to finished product in-hand. Make for good gifts. I may even start a little side business with them.
Pictures! I redacted my address / phone number with green boxes. Yes, my machine is pretty dirty. I did some wood projects the other day and haven’t cleaned it out.
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How wide is the engrave? I can get about 2" in the Redsail and then need to rotate it. I set the focus on the height of the bottle a half inch off the center line.
I should get a rotary attachment or build one but I don’t do much that needs it to make the $500 worth it.
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That looks nice! I have been successful with about 30 degrees without too much warping, then need to rotate. On this water bottle, the content was only about 1" of arc length. Ya, I have nearly finished making a rotary tool from a Nema motor and an Arduino. Hopefully I can finish it sometime soon and post a how-to.
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I actually did the entire bottle by sending it 5 different engraving sets. The blue tape is part if the indexing I did. Turn it by hand after each set of engraves.
I have so many other projects that making a rotary rig keeps falling to the bottom of the list.
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Finally cut the bottom out of mine 2 weeks ago. Been wanting to do it from day one! Not knowing if any electronics were under that metal plate kept me from finding out the hard way. I’m very thankful for the information in this thread. Its allowed me to engrave products that otherwise wouldnt fit. Thank you Matt.
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Matt- what were your height, power and speed settings for the water bottle? How are you setting your height settings without the bottom? Thanks so much
Wow thank you for being one of the first to start modding this machine. We all know it can do so much more.
Speed 1000, full power. I measured the distance from the head to the crumb tray. Call that zero. Then I removed them (the tray and the cutout are replaceable in the way I did it), placed the bottle in the cutout area on the desk beneath, and measured the distance from the head to the surface of the bottle. Subtract. That gives you the distance.
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thanks so much!!
@signatureproductsllc are you still here? Was wondering how your mod has been working and if you’ve come across any issues with it?
Yes, it’s been working very good so far. No issues
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I don’t know when/if I’ll get brave enough to pull the trigger, but hearing this helps. Thanks a bunch.
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You will be glad you did. Opens up a much bigger variety of capabilities and you might wish you did it sooner. I customize stuff all the time and this had me a little nervous as well. But it was easy once getting started. Having the right tool to do it was the biggest comforting factor.
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Update: After about a year, I can say I use the cutout about 1/4 of the time with my machine to cut large or irregular items. The rest of the time I leave the bottom in and it works just like a normal GF. I would certainly encourage anyone thinking of doing this to do so!!! Being able to laser items that don’t fit really increases the capabilities of your machine.
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I’m thinking about doing this today. Any tips? Also did you cut from the bottom up or from the inside out thanks for the tips
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Im ready for this Mod, do you have a video that you can make and sell for it.
Im sure many us would support it.
Thanks
Anyone else who would support it ?
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