chinese laser table

[Aleta Allen]

I have a rabbit laser that doesn't have any rulers on the table. I am use to putting my object on the table, lined up with the tables rulers to know where to engrave every time in the same place. I understand how to use the red dot pointer to find my object which is great when cutting things out. But, when wanting to place thing such as a plaque in the same spot over and over and have it centered on the plaques each time, just not figureing out the best way to do this. Has anyone made rulers or jigs to help with this?

Thanks for any help learning a new machine!

[Ernie Balch]

Marked lines on a Rabbit laser would not help considering the table slop.

Remember that the table will move in X and Y when adjusting the Z. Mine always shucks over about 3 mm depending on if I go up or down for focus. The solution is to do a backlash compensation move and always adjust height from one direction.

Keeping this backlash like error in mind, I put magnets on the honeycomb table to bank my parts against. You can also put some birch plywood down banked up against 2 edges and cut out the shape thus making a jig to place your parts in.

[Joe Hillmann]

Jigs, Jigs, and more Jigs. I don't have a rabbit but one of my universals I took the bottom out so I could fit larger items in and both of my yags don't have rulers so I just have to find two points on each machine I can reference off of when I build the jig so it always goes in the same place. One nice thing about owing a CO2 laser is you can use the laser to make the jig with the jig place against your two points that way you know the exact place it will be when put your item in it and every time you put the jig into the machine.

A few pictures of my most used jigs
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[Aleta Allen]

Joe,

Jigs, yes, that is what I think I will be trying to do. I have a few that always went against my rules, but, no rulers, so will try to find that reference point to set things up to. You have a lot of jigs there! Thanks for sharing the photos and info. I appreciate it. I will look at this more from a jig point of view as I set thing up.

Thanks!

[Aleta Allen]

Ernie,

I didn't know that the x and y would move when adjusting the z! Wow, that changes the way I look at things. Good to know, but that makes things a little harder to figure. I guess there is no slid it to the ruler and go! Yes, I do love using the magnets!!!

Thanks for the info, will have to do some thinking now!

[Joe Hillmann]

Another great way to make temporary jigs if you only have a few parts to do is to use thin strips of wood and a hot glue gun. You can very lightly glue the part to the bed of your laser then glue the strips of wood to the bed in a way that they enclose the part. Then you can remove the part, scrape the glue off and place other parts into your temporary jig. I usually don't go with this method but for odd shaped items sometimes it works great.

[Ross Moshinsky]

Get a good stable piece of material. Cut out a right angle guide with inches marked off. Then stick it on your table when you need it. Align it using the red dot. Secure it with magnets or whatever you like. When you are done, lift it up.

I've never heard of a laser tables shifting as the Z changes. That sounds like a manufacturer's error more than a design choice. I could be wrong though.

[Aleta Allen]

This is what I was wanting to do, something like that with a ruler marks and and angel. Just was trying to figure out where to put on the table. Didn't think about red point, maybe I can get that to work. I never even realized there was no ruler and no setting jobs up with the ruler! Guess I need to start thinking out of the box! Thanks for the help!

I hadn't heard of that either, but I am still learning this machine. I know my old machine(us) didn't do that.

Thanks!

[Mike Mackenzie]

Aleta,

What we do to adjust our rulers is use CorelDraw set the page size to your engraving field size then add the page frame, set it to vector and then print it to the system. Place some masking tape along the top and left edges of the table and cut the tape remove the outside portion of the cut tape and align your rulers to to the inside cut.

Check with the red pointer and secure them now the page size in corel will match your ruler locations on your system.

[Aleta Allen]

Mike,

Good idea! I will give it a try. I like the tape for the edge.

THanks for the help, I appreciate it!