Quite early on, I realised that the main drawback to the design of the K40 laser cutter is the amount of space underneath the cutting bed.
Even from the get go, I had cut outs drop all the way to the bottom of the machine and I was fishing these pieces out by hand.
This project aims to do something about that.
You can buy after market spares on eBay for a fill 300 x 200mm laser platform that completely replaces the standard frame and spring loaded bed.
Rather than go that route just yet, I decided to see what I could do for a fraction of the cost.
I headed to the home and garden store, not the green one or the orange one but the blue one. In the hardware section I found all the parts I needed for this build.
- A sheet of stretched, perforated Aluminium.
- A metre length of Aluminium multi purpose U section, plain not anodised.
- A pack of 10 20mm M5 bolts
I also ordered four 30mm M5 connection nuts from eBay.
I used the U section and the assorted nuts and bolts to create a pair of support that sit under the existing frame of the laser bed. These were held in place by unscrewing the connection nuts, which pushed the bolts against the floor of the K40 laser.
I then cut a piece off the Aluminium sheet and slid that into place under the spring clamp and over the supports at either end of the opening. I also folded down the aluminium on the short sides to prevent the metal from flexing across the un-supported gap.
This worked really well and I now have a grill that will catch all but the tiniest of pieces that I cut in this machine, without them dropping into the cavity beneath.
