Bigger Things

This is a bit of a rehash of what I posted a couple of years ago, but I’ll mention it again for those who might be newish to the K40…your projects are not limited by bed size. I have a vanilla K40 and I routinely make objects that are larger than 200x300. I design my object on Coreldraw, bisect it with the knife cut, and then cut separate pieces on the laser. The joinery is simple and basic; CN glue on the cuts and a wood or fiberglass doubler on the reverse side. Finish the seams with a thin coat of bondo or primer-surfacer. Once painted, all evidence of the seam disappears.




4 Likes

That is nice when you “pick” the right projects!

1 Like

@MikeMeyer doesn’t fret the small stuff!

2 Likes

You could also modify the K40 with a slot just under the frame, adjust the lens holder or a new lens and do a pass-thru. LightBurn has a feature for making marks outside the design to handle a continuous cut and you can probably DIY that in Corel Draw.

Thank you for the info! I’d like to see one in action.

Mike

As soon as I’m ready to up-end my machine and cut the bottom out I will let you know. This has been on my list for a long time. Not so much a full pass-thru but a pass-in through the front so that I can just rip 4’x8’ sheets of plywood in 12" wide strips and then pass the long strip in a slot on the front and run the laser across to cut it cleanly to size.

The slot has to be under the stock motion/U frame since the Y axis stuff is across the front and tucked inside the “U” beam. And the easiest way to handle the focus is to make an appropriate length adapter to mount above the lens holder and below mirror 3d-help
I currently have no space behind my K40 so unless I put it on a sliding track system or on a rolling cart I can’t work on longer parts. But I suppose with the slot in the front, I could work on 2x the length(18") by flipping or rotating a 12" x 18" piece of material…

2 Likes