Laser Bed Cookie Sheet?

[vettha]

So, I’m making all these puzzles and it’s going fine… But then I have to take the cut puzzle off the metal honeycomb and life sucks. I’m thinking about making a sub-flooring tray out of metal mesh to be able to lift the small pieces all together…

Is this crazy? Chicken wire? Maybe have one stone cutting board I use as backing for cutting tiny bits? But then that would interfere with air flow…

Maybe I’m coming at this from the wrong direction and I should blanket them with painter’s tape and then lift…

Surely someone has wisdom?

[joshferintino]

I’ve been thinking about that problem and when I get my glowforge I want to try what happens if I lay down one of those silicon baking mats.

[soldiercoleman]

What about a metal screen? They make ones that have 1/8" openings for plenty of air flow.

[Sawa]

Would the matte side of aluminum foil be bad?

[Brandon_R]

We scoop up our kids’ puzzles with a thin plastic placemat. You could try that after its cut. Painters tape is a good idea too, but it might take a while.
I’ve thought of trying that press-n-seal plastic wrap, but I haven’t tried it yet.

[joe]

There were a lot of good ideas on this thread. A metal mesh would probably work fine, but I haven’t tried it.

Is there a way to put something under the piece we are cutting to "catch" small pieces?

When I cut very small parts on the laser at my maker space, the small parts sometimes fall through the honeycomb mesh under the part I am cutting. I’ve often thought about putting a “sacrificial” piece underneath the piece I’m cutting. Something that will not be cut all the way through, so will stay rigid. It would prevent small pieces from falling through. Has anyone ever done this? Are there problems with heat dissipation? Are there materials that are preferable to use as the “sacrif…

[Jules]

The tape isn’t a bad idea, but I’m not sure about painter’s tape. Brayer a sheet of vinyl transfer tape down over the top of the puzzle and pick it up. (You can buy it on a large roll, it’s sticky enough to hold the pieces and easy enough to peel back.)

[Maiman]

I have some wire mesh that looks like it would work to keep those pieces from falling through the metal “honeycomb”. http://www.mcmaster.com/ has tons of variety of this stuff. Search for “wire cloth”. The wire mesh I have looks stiff enough to hold all the pieces and not flop around as you lift them out of the laser cutter and looks stout enough to withstand a glowforge laser. (I don’t know for sure- I don’t have mine yet.

[Maiman]

Also call http://www.libertypuzzles.com/. They laser cut wood puzzles and may tell you how the keep the little pieces from falling through.

[soldiercoleman]

@Maiman

The wire mesh I have looks stiff enough to hold all the pieces and not flop around as you lift them out of the laser cutter and looks stout enough to withstand a glowforge laser. (I don’t know for sure- I don’t have mine yet.

I use this mesh at work occasionally. I doubt the glowforge would bother its integrity. However once it is bent it is near impossible to get it to lay perfectly flat again.

[dan]

We’ve tested similar mesh. It’s definitely laserproof, but you get quite a bit of blowback so the back of your materials don’t look so great.