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View Full Version : Moved the scanhead on my fiber



Kev Williams
11-17-2018, 3:06 AM
My fiber, being a 'portable', has the scanhead bolted to the machine proper. Came with a scissor-lift table that was bolted to the bottom of the machine. Disconnecting the table from the machine was the first thing I did.

The scanhead mounted like this results in clearance limitations. Like, with a 150mm lens with a 6" work area, I'm limited to parts no bigger than about 17" tall, and my 220 lens is limited to about 19-1/2" tall parts...
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This is because the center of the lens is about 5-1/2" from the front of the machine, add 3" to that (half the 6" work area) and that means the beam can only reach 8-1/2" away from the front of the machine, the 220 lens can reach about 9-3/4"...

I have a big plate to do that the customer would rather have fibered than C02'd, an it's pushing the boundaries... I've been going to have one of my machine shop customers make me a new longer snout to push the scanhead out a few inches but never have. So this morning I decided to see what I could rig up myself...

Part of my extensive scrap pile contains a whole bunch of billet machined bicycle wheel hubs that were never picked up. I found found a rear hub that looked promising, very close to the size of the original snout. I chucked it into my 20 year old HF mini-lathe and faced the edges nice & flat. I used another scrapped part (the 3/8"-ish thick aluminum disk) as a shim, I needed it because the small end of the hub's diameter was too small to take the bolt holes. I pocketed both ends of the shim, to fit the hub, and the protrusion on the original snout. The way it's bolted in the middle, the hub and shim is just a squeeze fit- wasn't sure it'd work out but it worked great, and allows me to rotate the head for vertical alignment!
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Might look cheesy but it works great, didn't cost but maybe a buck for the screws, nuts & washers. My level says the head in exactly the same XY horizontal plane as it was before, and it's still square to the machine. The only variance I may have is dead-center alignment as to where the beam is hitting the mirrors. I have a job saved that showed the extreme reach the beam had with my 150 lens, and the only difference I found is I lost about 1/16" from the top, and a little less than that from the far right. But I may have gained that back on the opposite ends, but I didn't check.

The new extension is 2-5/8" long, which means I can now hit the center of a 22-1/4" part with my 150 lens, and the center of a 25" part with the 220 lens...

Gary Hair
11-17-2018, 6:09 AM
I'm curious why you did't just rotate it 90 degrees and put the machine on its side?

Kev Williams
11-17-2018, 1:34 PM
I would've done that but I don't have a place with room to lay it sideways! Right now it's standing on top of a small bookcase that's anchored to a small desk. On the side of the bookcase I've attached an adjustable shelf that allows me to engrave and focus to anything up to 40" tall. The bookcase also provides me a place for clamps, the rotary and other assorted stuff.
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Right now it's deep engraving some SS plates using the 2" lens, notice how close the lens is to the plate-- These crates are the only thing I have handy that's tall and square enough to use as a riser... it's clamped to a big aluminum plate that's screwed to the scissor table that's resting on a piece of stair tread that's screwed to the shelf arms-- it all looks precarious but it's actually quite rigid.

If I get another fiber like I want, the only place I have to put IT, is where the Vanguard 3200 engraver is sitting, on a desk in a far corner. The LS100 laser displaced my vinyl cutter, it's sitting on a shelf now, and when I need to use it I have to make room for it on our main work table. This business has literally swallowed this house! :D