Blog – The Cradle of Intrigue

Christmas Gifts

2015-12-31 No Comments

Samantha and I are very deliberate with our budget; it allowed us to pay off our debt including our house. You can only be so strict before it wears you out, though. So part of our budget is “blow money”. We each get money to spend on whatever we wish, no questions asked. (though legal and ethical limitations probably still apply) We also try to be deliberate with gifts and avoid blatant consumerism. We both became annoyed at family gatherings that just seemed to be an exchange of gift cards. Generosity is also supposed to be part of our ethos,

K40 Wiring Diagram

2015-12-29 No Comments

The power supply that came with my K40 was a bit different than the typical one that I have seen in the various builds. In the end the only difference is the placement and labels on the output pins. I received a question about how to hook it up, so I dusted off and completed a wiring diagram I had started for when I get around to making a comprehensive page of my build (minus all the trial and error). It seems people are stumbling upon this blog now; I should really think about completing the design of the website…

New Air Assist Nozzle

2015-11-29 No Comments

I mentioned in my previous post that, after installing the z-table, the air assist nozzle proved to be too long and ran into the frame of the table. Though, there was already a problem with the length; the gap between the tip and the work surface was too small. The close proximity allowed loose bits that popped out (which also happened more with the air blasting out so close to the cut) to be pinched, which would stall the gantry. So, with two good reasons to remake it I pulled a piece of aluminum out of the scrap bin and

Installing LightObject Z Table

2015-11-26 No Comments

The Z table arrived a few days ago and I got a chance to install it thanks to the Holiday. It was pretty straight forward, but I do need to remake the air assist because the frame interferes and the gantry can not reach the home position. I just put some countersunk through holes in some 2″ x 1/8″ aluminum flat bar I had and tapped a matching holes on the frames of the Z table and and laser bed.

I Purchased a Z Table

2015-11-15 No Comments

The bed on the K40 is terrible. There is a spring clamp (which is not very accommodating to begin with) in the center to hold a work piece, but it’s only a fraction of the travel area of the head. After spending a good deal of time trying to align the mirrors to be able to cut consistently across the entire area, I realized that since the bed was connected to the bottom of the case with standoffs rather than joined to the frame of the linear rails, the height on one side of the table varied by .8cm depending on

Air Assist

2015-08-21 No Comments

An air assist is a needed accessory for a laser cutter that my K40 did not include. An air assist does a few things. It helps blow away bits of carbon out of the way so the laser is more effective at cutting through the material and it keeps a flame from forming which makes black smoke that fouls up the lens, blocks the laser from cutting the material, and instead heats the lens– eventually damaging it. The few things I have cut usually resulted in me lifting up the lid to blow on the laser point because when the