Project: Switching Beds for a Better Cut

Dilan Tuff-Overes
August 9, 2018

We laser lots of wood and acrylic... like seriously, it's hundreds if not thousands of sheets per year. This volume of throughput tends to cause the lasers to build up a lot of gunk and debris that needs to be cleaned on a regular basis. Besides being safer, it reduces the "flash" marks which are little black marks on the bottom of the material where the laser has burned through the material and reflected off the support table back to the underside of what was being cut.

Selecting the best surface used to support your lasered material comes down to a few options to which you need to ask:

  1. Is my project super heavy, or do I not care about table damage, scorching and just want a flat worksurface surface? (Use a flat metal tabletop)
  2. Are my parts small or risk being lost after being cut? (Use honeycomb)
  3. Do I want to minimize flash marks on my part? (Use slat)
  4. Am I doing the same thing over and over again and want best performance? (Use custom pin-table)

We've used all four methods at Solarbotics (five, if you include the rotary attachment for engraving ...pop bottles), with the honeycomb being the often used solution, but after our last laser cleanup, we've revisited the slat system.

Our latest designs are larger and better tabbed so they stay together. The slat system is ideal for these jobs, with its better managing of debris build-up, and vastly reduced flashing. Less support material below the cut means there's less to get in the way. For comparison, this is what a traditional honeycomb table looks like after a few months of cutting MDF (ug!). Look at that old and crufty thing... and the honeycomb too.

Now take a look at our new cleaned and re-slatted table! It's almost too clean...

As nice as it is, this bed of slats has no indexable edge for us to register our material against. Finding a common origin point on the bed crucial in production, so we used the laser to create our own registration edge!

Using the laser to laser parts for the laser... for better lasering...

Here are the results:

With this in place, we're ready for even higher quality laser cutting.

MORE POSTS

December 23, 2004
Solarbotics Holiday Schedule

Solarbotics will be slightly altering our holiday hours to enable staff to spend time with friends & family. We will be closed Friday, December 24th to Tuesday, December 28th and Friday, December the 31st. On Monday, January 3rd, 2005 we will resume our normal hours, 9:00am - 6:00pm MST. Solarbotics wishes all the best to […]

November 28, 2002
New Book - Robot Sumo!

Here's another book we quite enjoyed and recommend adding to your bookshelf - Robot Sumo! Check it out in the "New Items" or "Books" Section.

June 30, 2009
Closed for July 1st & 3rd

Yes, I know what you're thinking. "But you were just closed for, like, a bajillion days for Maker Faire!!" And yes, you'd be right. Except for the bajillion part - that's just getting carried away. Solarbotics (and HVW Tech) will be closed tomorrow (July 1st), and Friday (July 3rd). Standard rules apply - you can […]

August 26, 2015
Cool Links Wednesday: Cats, Whales and J...

Brought to you from every corner of the great internets. Laser Cut Junk Food..  by I'm Your Present (Via TLC) Leatherman Tread ..and the unboxing of it. Wonder how it will behave at airport security..(Via Notcot) Blue Whale Experience This is what it looks like being a blue whale and feeding on krill, by the Goldbogen […]

Solarbotics Ltd Logo
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!

Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.

cart