Vector table works suprisingly well

[dave cox]

IMG_3045.jpgIMG_3046.jpg

Recently vector cutting double sided 4mm veneer I was spending more time cleaning the pieces than anything else.

I tried an oven rack which was ok except when the laser beam reflected off the shinny rack gave bad damage so tried galvanised 100mm nails glued into laser cut holes in 6mm acrylic and it works very well. A couple of photos may give you an idea.

[Steve Busey]

As we say around here, necessity is the mother of invention - well played, Dave!

[Dan Hintz]

There have a been a number of bed-of-nails designs over the years... I think my favorite for simplicity was sticking golf tees in the standard vector table. No reflection, and since they're wood, hitting it with the beam meant no more smoke than what was already being generated.

[Mike Berndt]

Wow,
Golf tees??? I think that is my next purchase for a vector cut table?

[Glen Monaghan]

I have a similar "bed of nails" that I use for larger pieces but found it a pain for smaller cutouts. If the pieces can fall down the way many of your circles have done, they all too often seem to land where the beam cutting a neighboring piece makes an out-of-focus burn across the dropped piece. One particularly unlucky batch of approximately 1" shapes had more than 1 in 4 ruined that way... but making a large BON with less than 1" spacing is a time consuming PITA. Now I tend to use a honeycomb with a few scrap L shapes of 1/8" ply at the corners and a narrow scrap ply strip or two near the middle as spacers to raise the work piece and prevent any back burn or melt from the honeycomb.

-Glen

[carl stevenson]

what about the plastic golf tees, then hardly any smoke at all...?

I sometimes put a sheet of perspex on the honeycomb and then cut paper on top which minimises reflection and smoke, seems to work.
Also I use expanded foam (the blue stuff from model shops) as a base over thehoneycomb, the beam doesnt reflect off it at all and it generates no smoke. Even if it gets cut slightly by the beam, its still supporting the work.

[Chuck Stone]

I have a similar "bed of nails" that I use for larger pieces but found it a pain for smaller cutouts. If the pieces can fall down the way many of your circles have done, they all too often seem to land where the beam cutting a neighboring piece makes an out-of-focus burn across the dropped piece.

maybe a bed of cribbage pegs would work better for small items? More of a pain to make
a tighter table, but someone with a CNC could probably whip one out pretty
quickly. And 1,000 wood pegs are under $50, so it isn't terribly expensive either.

(wood sheet full of holes.. big bag of pegs? Add some popcorn and get the kids involved!)

[Keith Outten]

At CNU we recently made the second generation Corian vector table based on the first one I made a couple years ago. This time we used a 60 degree vbit to cut the rows of prisms, there is much more depth and the table works so much better. I use the Corian table to cut engravers plastic, it works ok with acrylic but it is superior to any table I have used cutting thin plastic.

I can post some pictures later if anyone is interested.
.

[Mark Ross]

Keith,

I would like to see a picture of it. Thanks.

[Stephen Sullivan]

At CNU we recently made the second generation Corian vector table based on the first one I made a couple years ago. This time we used a 60 degree vbit to cut the rows of prisms, there is much more depth and the table works so much better. I use the Corian table to cut engravers plastic, it works ok with acrylic but it is superior to any table I have used cutting thin plastic.

I can post some pictures later if anyone is interested.
.

Would like to see those pictures of the Corian table.

[Frédéric PARROT]

Hi Keith,

I would like to see pictures of it too

[Ernie Martinez]

Another solutions is to use Cleco fasteners. They are used in the aircraft industry to hold aluminum sheet together for riveting, but they would make excellent stand offs. Just take a piece of aluminum .060 sheet, and drill a grid of holes. The you can position the Cleco's specifically where you need them.

http://www.amazon.com/Allstar-25-Qty.../dp/B000GHEZ4Y

[David Rust]

Hi Ernie, the head of the Cleco is probably 1/4" in diameter. If you vector over one you will get a reflection. Also When the Cleco is fastened it will extrude through the bottom of the aluminum sheet. You may have to put it on a piece of corrugated cardboard so you can seat the Cleco bottoms into it in order for it to sit even.

[Keith Outten]

Corian Vector Table.

The table and the support pieces are all 1/2" thick Corian.
This was a very simple CNC machining job using a 60 degree Vbit.
It is perfectly flat and we can pressure wash it when it gets dirty.
It absorbs the laser energy and does not produce any smoke at all.
The pics aren't the best quality and the first one is upside down....took them with my cell phone.

Oh yeah I forgot to add that I did not make a fence for either the X or Y edges. I prefer to be able to lay thin plastic on the table and wrap tape around the edge. This seems to keep thin plastic laying very flat even when we cut hundreds of letters from a sheet for ADA signs.

Any questions?
.

[dave cox]

Great thing about SMC, you think you have a good idea and someone has a better one, the corian looks like a great answer and it is available to us in the far flung corners of the world.

I have found cutting anything that isn't effected by water, wet brown paper on the back is good, usually it is impossible to see any clue how it was cut.