I know you should never assume, but given the crappy stock lens holders on both my machines held the lens flush and didn’t scratch it, I assumed the LO head would do the same. By the time I removed the first one to clean it, it was too late and both were scratched. :\
Great idea @Scott_Marshall I’ll make a gasket before I next pull them out to clean.
@Venuto_Woodwork are these items what you speak of?
http://www.lightobject.com/High-quality-18mm-ZnSe-Focus-lens-F508mm-P670.aspx
http://www.lightobject.com/18mm-Laser-head-w-air-assisted-Ideal-for-K40-machine-P701.aspx
Would none of the other heads work on the K40?
Interesting thread guys. So is the LO head the best option out there? I have read mixed thoughts regarding it.
Just recieved my LO 18MM lens and purchased the head to go along with it, the only thing i can see that would be a draw back is you loose height with the new head assembly but the air assist keeps the head area under pressure this i would think will keep any debree away from the lens I currently have my machine torn completly apart it makes me want to scrap everything except for the electronics and start over.
@Dennis_Fuente Hope the new lens & head assembly works well for you. I too know the feeling of wanting to scrap it all. I want to redo the frame & extend it so that it can do larger material eventually. I think when I get around to it I will do my conveyor table idea for the Y-axis & just have the laser tube mounted directly inline with the X-axis (meaning I can remove 2 mirrors as I will fire straight at the lens mirror). It will be a nasty large machine though, but functionality is more important than size.
I am also looking at making the frame larger as mine was bent and i had to take it over to the press to straighten it out just crap steel, so i just finished up installing the LO lens and head assembly i have to say in test so far i can’t see any difference in cutting my ply, also the tube coneections are realy crap i re did mine again the connections are in a bad spot this is because if i rotate the tube to rid it of bubbles the connections hot connector is up against the case and it has arched i am thinking of cutting away the case to allow more room for the connection are the larger machines any difference in quality how much would one have to spend to get a good machine
@Dennis_Fuente Check with @Scott_Thorne regarding the larger machines, as if I recall correct he got the 100w version. He did mention not much difference in the cutting quality I think, but you do have a significantly larger cutting area.
I think if you are looking for extremely good quality cutting/engraving, you’re probably looking at the more professional quality machines (epilog, trotec, etc). I don’t know for certain, but the prices I have seen are in the $10000 range (but that’s on ebay, so might be different from official suppliers/retailers). Also, I think you would need to evaluate the kind of tasks you are using it for. As it seems there are other options that are more suitable for certain tasks (e.g. CNC machine). Might work out cheaper & much better investment.
@Yuusuf_Sallahuddin_Y …my machine is a 50watt…with 20 x 12 work area…it has adjustable z table by push button and ruida dsp controller.
@Scott_Thorne For some reason I thought your new one was 100w. I knew it was much larger work area though. Basically A3 size. I want something in the range of 1m wide & conveyor setup so I can roll through massive lengths of material off a spool hahaha. Not half greedy lol.
Building that frame is not that complicated at all. http://www.openbuilds.com/builds/openbuilds-freeburn-1-v-slot-co2-laser-60-100w.1001/
BTW thats +Peter van der Walt design
So regarding the LO air assist, do you only need to change one mirror?
@Ariel_Yahni_UniKpty Thanks for that. It looks like a good design that +Peter van der Walt has done for it. I like the use of angle brackets for affixing the corners of each piece.
I am not sure about the LO air assist, so hopefully someone who got it can get back to you on that one.
Ariel
I just installed an LO head and lens don’t need to change any of the mirrors, as to a larger frame only thing is a source for the rails and belts other then that it’s a piece of cake as we already have the guts we need